Round 2: Day Twenty-seven - Day Thirty.

The end feels a bit anticlimactic due to a week long internet blackout after my computer quit on me. However, I have been keeping up with the project, despite the lack of updates.

The final verdict? The results aren't quite as dramatic as last year. This is probably due to the fact that I was much less stringent this round, for my own personal sanity. In round one, I had the motivation to be strict with my diet for the sake of the ending article. I refused to write about a project unless it was fully realized and the results untainted. But for this round, my only motivation was the improvement of my own health, which frankly, isn't as strong as my urge for chocolate. That being said, even with my Miracle Whip cheating and my mid-work candy slip ups, my health and well being has improved. I'm not a part of the super immune like last year, but it is much more possible for me to wake up in the morning and I certainly don't have the overall ickiness that all the junk food was causing me before [not eating potato chip sandwiches on a daily basis probably helped].

So, in ending, I feel as though I should share some of my favorite non-sugar sweets that have gotten me thru the past thirty days.

1. hot tea: usually green and fruity flavored, hot tea has been my best unsweetened indulgence. There really is something to be said for relaxing after dinner with a warm cup in hand...even if it means cranking up the AC to do it in the summer.

2. sugar-free french toast: I've heard many recipes for french toast over the years, some including sugar, some not. Personally, my own method has always been a simple egg + cinnamon mixture to soak the bread, topped with pancake syrup. This recipe on it's own would be project approved with the simple substitute of pure maple syrup for the sugar-laden pancake syrup. However, after deciding on a whim to include the last few drops in the bottle, I made the discovery that adding pure vanilla extract in the mix makes this breakfast even more delicious. I suggest you try it if you haven't.

3. agave nectar: in anything you'd normally put sugar in, really. Throughout the month, I used it in baked goods, and any recipe from my mother. [My mother uses sugar in everything.] It worked particularly well to sweeten deviled eggs while only adding to the creaminess of the texture [since it's liquid instead of granule].

and of course,

4. organic dark chocolate: I prefer 85% or higher, but in a pinch anything above 70% will do. Enjoy it a square at a time and pair it with your hot tea for a melt in your mouth experience.

Now the ultimate question: am I sticking with the project after the 30 days?

Last year, I was obsessed with the positive results and vowed to continue indefinitely [we see how long that lasted though, right]. This year, I made brownies on day 31 and had two for breakfast this morning. So, no, I'm not sticking to it. BUT I am going to keep moderation in mind. The beauty of this project is that it makes you realize the fact that giving up sugar isn't just about an issue of weight or too many cavities, it really does improve your whole well being. As someone who often indulges just because I can, it's good to keep in mind what kind of harm I'm doing to my body. I will continue to shop for organics, continue to try to pacify my sweet tooth with cups of tea, and continue to ask myself if dessert is really what I need...but I'll also enjoy my ability to have a brownie for breakfast when the occasion calls for it.

Round 2: Day Twenty-six.

Today was bad. Quite bad. After a 3 1/2 hour interview at a temp agency complete with computer aptitude testing, I returned home ready to veg out. However, since the computer tends to stay on for at least a half and hour at a time now [I think it was the file clean out that helped], I knew I had some homework to catch up on.

One of my current assignments is actually to re-design my personal homepage. This is frustrating since, just three weeks ago, I finished a class dedicated to perfecting the original design, so it's hard to feel inspired to change it just yet. But today, I tried. And the more frustrated I got, the more I wanted to eat. Not just sugar, but really anything. [Emotional eating? I don't know what you're
talking about.] The victims of this frustration binge were as follows: an entire bag of Caesar salad, four slices of cantaloupe, two rows of dark chocolate, leftover kung pow noodles, a handful of sweet potato fries, my last Clif bar, and finally [shame] the last of some peanut butter cup ice cream still left in my freezer from just before the project started [I blame the Reese's cup commercials].

And now, I'm a bit nauseous.

Round 2: Day Twenty - Day Twenty-five

Alright, so I'm a bad blogger, but this time it's actually not my fault. My computer has been spontaneously shutting down for the past week, leaving me unprepared to work on anything important for fear of loosing all work accomplished. However, I'm awaiting the arrival of a brand new MacBook Pro this week so things should be looking up, who knows, perhaps I'll try some vlogging with my new I-sight camera.

To catch up [quickly in anticipation of an unexpected shut down], this week has been about resolutions. Despite this sugar free project, I have been less than exemplary in my eating habits as of late. Granted, I'm not eating candy by the handful, but the meals I've been consuming generally consist of organically sweetened cereals and pure maple syrup soaked french toast [which, btw was delicious]. And while this eating has not translated into sudden obesityby any means, it hasn't gone completely unnoticed by my body either. Now, don't hate me, but most of the time all it takes for my weight to return to 'normal' is just a little over a week of conscious eating and an extra 15 minutes added on to my workout every day. So that's what this week's resolution was: fruits, veggies, tea, water and some very sore muscles.

Anyway, back to my sugar free existence: in general most cravings have subsided. As I've mentioned, tea helps A LOT, but dessert has finally become a 'take it or leave it' option. That being said, stress can still become a factor. Example a: Monday night. I came home from work in need of some comfort food and decided to indulge in an organic chocolate peanut butter granola bar with my evening tea...one turned into two...two turned into three...and when I finally closed that box, I then broke out the dark chocolate for a few more pieces of indulgence.

This tends to be my problem with sweets and sugar, I have no middle ground. Like any true addict, the options are either abstinence or gluttony. Granted, when I'm in a steady state of mind and things are going well, I am completely in control. But the second I let my guard down, I'm a whole box of chocolates in with a bag of peanut M&M's on standby. As this project comes to a clost in a few days, this is the factor that concerns me: while I would like to return to moderate consumption of whatever sweets I choose, I'm aware that there could be some nights where the fall from the wagon is quite steap. So I'll probably attempt to keep up the sugar-free existence until that night of weakness comes.

In the meantime, the commercial I just saw for dark chocolate Reeses Cups will haunt my dreams.

Round 2: Day Nineteen.

I really am a hot tea addict. Thank goodness for my air conditioner or I'd never get cool enough to indulge.

Really, for me, the biggest hurdle in avoiding sugar is the habit. I imagine it's something similar to a smoker trying to quit. When you're used to having a cigarette after a meal or with your coffee, it's hard to finish a cup of joe without that familiar itch. I get the antsiest for sugar right after eating. I actually think I've become accustomed to rushing thru the meal to get to dessert. I have to force myself to slow down and enjoy, knowing there's nothing to come after. On those days where I get that post-meal sugar twitch that just can't be kicked, a cup of hot tea serves two purposes: 1. it's a great way to slowly indulge in those few small pieces of organic dark chocolate, letting it slowly melt with the warm brew in my mouth and 2. some days just looking forward to the tea is enough to stop the sugar twitch. Just the other night, I sat down with both a cup of tea and my last Green & Black bar after dinner, only to leave the chocolate completely untouched.

Progress.

Round 2: Day Sixteen/Seventeen/Eighteen.

I promised myself this round that I would do no combined posts like last time. Even if I was writing an update on another day, I told myself that they would be kept separate. That being said, there is just too much time to cover after three days of slacking, it's hard to remember what happened on which days. Therefore, I'll have to amend my rule just this once.

I've been feeling quite blue lately. The holiday weekend brought on a bout of homesickness that kept my moods swinging. In theory, I could blame it on the sugar withdrawal since depression and mood swings are common, but in reality, I think I was just a bit lonely.*

The good thing about feeling slightly depressed while withdrawing from sugar: lots of sleep. The narcoleptic tendencies continue with a vengeance. I believe I took an afternoon nap on all three of the above mentioned days.

It should be said that I'm actually a big advocate of afternoon naps. I really do think that a good twenty to thirty minutes of sleep after work are quite healthy and revive me for whatever evening tasks may await. However, these are not those kind of naps. We're talking two to three hour comas in which I hardly remember a thing that happens. My mother's called me on several occasions during these black out periods of sleep and, once they're over, I'm usually barely aware that I have spoken to her. I'm waiting for the day that I carry on a conversation with someone other than family during these sessions, who knows what might be said, or what friends I might alienate with my strange responses.

In all fairness, it should be noted that this extreme sleep cycle may not be completely due to the lack of sugar in my diet. Admittedly, I am staying up WAY too late working on homework and therefore, getting an average of around 5 hours of sleep every night. However, it also should be noted that often times, even after the homework is finished, I still cannot seem to fall asleep. Sugar withdrawal messed with my sleep cycle in round one so I'm sure it's not ENTIRELY innocent in round two, but I also should keep most of the blame on myself.

Thankfully, even with such pathetic amounts of sleep, my skin is still quite resilient. Just like in round one, no matter how haggard and deflated I feel with such little rest, I'm amazingly free of sallow skin and baggy eyes. This is perhaps my favorite side effect of abstaining from the sweet stuff: bright eyed and bushy tailed appearance even when I feel like death.

In closing, I'll leave you with this link to a blog posting I found while trying to find some sugar/depression facts for this posting. It's interesting [and short] enough that I'd rather just direct you to the writer's experience than try to paraphrase for my own posting.

*For those who might be concerned about my well being, I am currently feeling much less blue.

Round 2: Day Fifteen.

In honor of the halfway marker today, I finally tracked down last year's organic obsession: Green & Black chocolate. I've had the hardest time finding it here in Chicago, but today I happened upon it at Walgreens. However, they didn't have my favorite 85% dark and I had to settle for 70%.

The thing I love about dark chocolate is that it's more satisfying. I can have just a few pieces and be done with it, as opposed to an entire bar of milk chocolate. Tonight my chocolate was coupled with a few glasses of wine, but even with weakened willpower, I only made it thru a fourth of a bar. Besides, I now know that my raw organic sugar ingredient listing is not only better for me, but better for the planet. Plus, dark chocolate has the ever popular antioxidant factor that takes away even more of the supposed guilt.

Round 2: Day Fourteen.

Currently Watching: Eco Trip Season1, Episode 1: Chocolate

It's quite an impressive little series, following the travels of David de Rothschild to find out what the impact certain aspects of daily living have on the environment. In this particular episode, the subject is chocolate. From the cacao farm to the chocolate factory, the environmental impact of all the main ingredients are covered. But what interested me most [other than the delicious shots of chocolate] was the coverage of sugar. Apparently, sugar causes more biodiversity loss than any other crop. No only that, but the drainage of water sources and massive amounts of chemical runoff from cane production is causing an ecosystem collapse in the Everglades. The episode even recommends buying chocolate sweetened with raw organic sugar or organic agave nectar to help prevent such damages to the environment.

Think perhaps I'm on to something?

Round 2: Day Thirteen.

I have quite a headache this evening. Massive really. Couple that with a personal near-trauma and I'm not much in the mood for blogging, but here goes my best...

I'm bored with food. Dessert really is the whole point of the meal in my opinion and with nothing to look forward to, I get a bit discouraged. I have been pacifying my sweet tooth today with Clif Bars. They're organically sweetened so they're project approved, but since they're energy bars they're also around 230 calories each so eating three a day isn't very practical. When money is less tight, a trip to Trader Joe's for some non-sugar dessert ingredients may be in order.

Now back to my headache [it's the only thing I can think about so I guess it's the only thing you get to read about], it could be a sign of withdrawal. I experienced headaches early on in round one, but with all the cheats I've had in round two, it makes sense that they're a bit later in the game this time.* All I can do is chug some water, get some sleep, and tough it out.

*So I checked into round one's day thirteen to compare and found that I felt like crap at this point last year too, but for different reasons. Complete with headache.

Round 2: Day Twelve.

Something you may not know if you've never waited tables: your server doesn't get a lunch break. Sometimes your server probably hasn't eaten anything for the past 6 or 7 hours. Because service shifts are generally supposed to be shorter than the average work day, there usually isn't a planned 'break' at any point during the shift. Plus, when your job is to serve people their lunch break meal, when do you think you'll find the time to have one of your own?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm just explaining a common aspect of the job so you can understand that on days like today, I work almost 7 hours with no food whatsoever. So when someone hands me a free piece of laughy taffy, I take it, ponder for about an hour over whether I should eat it, and finally get hungry enough that it doesn't matter anymore that I have to blog about my cheat later in the evening. But no diet cheat ever goes unpunished and I immediately became cursed with a sugar sore throat. [The laughy taffy ingredients list pretty much looks like this: sugar, corn syrup, and partial hydrogenated soybean oil. yum, right?]

After work, I came home and was asleep within the hour, slept solid for about two. Practically narcoleptic. I've been doing that a lot lately and I'm not sure if I should blame sugar withdrawal or my own bad sleep patterns, but it has to stop soon.

Of course, then how could I get these 3am blog posts out there into the world?

Round 2: Day Eleven.

This will be a short post. I'm feeling a bit under the weather tonight. It's starting to get brisk out in Chicago and it's making me feel run down and sniffly. Perhaps some of that is sugar withdrawal, but most of it's just the unmistakable signs of an oncoming cold.

The one and only good thing about the impending cold weather [other than getting to wear some fabulous new coats] is that I can once again pacify my sweet tooth with hot tea. This was how I curbed my dessert cravings during round one and didn't realize how much it helped until it was too hot for tea during the start of round two. Now, whenever that post-meal sweet tooth hits, I'll simply put on the kettle.

Now excuse me while I curl up on the couch with my cranberry green tea before passing out in the exhaustion that comes with catching a cold.

Round 2: Day Ten.

Did you know there's sugar in LEMON PEPPER SEASONING? I have a nagging suspicion that I made this discovery last year, but I'd forgotten 'til tonight. Who knew that even your spice rack involves sweetener? It's quite disappointing since I've created a habit of eating baby peas seasoned with lemon pepper seasoning. It gives a nice little citrus-y kick to my veggies and makes it easier get my greens. However, now I'm wondering if the appeal doesn't have something to do with sugar addiction. So tonight I had to settle for plain pepper.

In sweeter news, I'm addicted to browsing the recipes in My Year Without Sugar. It's so handy to have found a site where the work has been done for me. I'm thinking of trying the sugar-free sugar cookies soon since they're really the only sweet treat on the list that I have all the ingredients for already. Had I not eaten my last banana this morning, I could have tried the peanut butter pudding, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Round 2: Day Nine.

Tonight, I don't feel so well. Possibly it's the half a bag of potato chips I just mindlessly consumed while watching television. They're sweetened organically [BBQ flavor requires a bit of sweetness], but still not the healthiest choice. Not to mention the fact that last night ended with a bit too much wine. Ok, WAY too much wine. And cheap, low quality wine at that. Without going into regurgitation details, let's just say I paid for my alcoholic indulgence when I got home. So I guess I even started the day on the wrong foot. I did however, get in my daily workout which has been absent while the parents were in town. But honestly, I'm quite ready to start taking this experiments seriously in hopes of a health improvement.

It's funny how just having a project like this to focus on makes things seem to come together in life more. I'm a firm believer in a daily purpose and this blog gives me that. No matter how pointless the job seems or how frustrating the homework, I always have this goal to work towards and that does amazing things for a girl's self image. But it really is time to take this seriously, no more cheating.

It helps that I found some inspiration today in the form of another sugar free blogger. Ironically enough, she started her sugar avoidance just around the time that my first month was ending last year. But at a year long, her goal was much more ambitious. Like me, she reached the end of her goal and felt so good that she didn't want to go back. However, while I slipped back into old habits in a matter of months, she's continued for another eight still going strong and gathering more information than I could ever dream.

Check out this inspiring project at http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/my-year-without

Just make sure you still come back to visit me some time as well.

Round 2: Day Eight.

In theory, day eight began my completely sugar free existence. My dessert free buffer week has ended; I now become a slave to reading labels. However, day eight was also the last day of the parental visit and a free breakfast at the Golden Nugget meant partaking of both ketchup and syrup, both of which I'm sure included not only sugar, but corn syrup as well. But, everything in moderation.

Speaking of ingredients lists, the recent Trader Joe's shopping spree left me with a variety of sweet treats which involve brown rice syrup. I've heard of this ingredient before since I spent hours looking for the ingredient during last year's experiment, but I've never fully researched it's differences and benefits. So here goes:

According to Bodyandfitness.com, brown rice syrup "is made by adding a small amount of sprouted rice or barley to cooked brown rice. The rice is then strained and cooked, becoming a golden syrup with a butterscotch flavor. It is about half as sweet as sugar, and, as with barley malt syrup, complex carbohydrates inhibit dramatic shifts in blood sugar levels."

So in other words, like agave nectar, brown rice syrup helps to avoid the blood sugar spike that causes so many of sugar's problems. That's enough for me to enjoy my organic granola bars with their brown rice syrup sweetness.

Round 2: Day Seven.

Today was exhausting. After a late night up with the parents the night before, we awoke earlier than my day-off minded body would have liked and I began breakfast. That's right, even in my sugar-free existence, I cook for my sleepover guests. Vegetarian biscuits and gravy. [Don't knock it til you've tried it, even my meat and potatoes father said it was delicious.]

It's a good thing we started off the day with a filling breakfast because we were in for some walking. It was time to take the 'rents on a museum tour way downtown. So after a bus ride, a train ride and a little walking in the wrong direction, we finally made it to the Field Museum. My dad's a big history and nature buff so this trip was mainly for him. I can get into parts of it, but pretty much if there's not pretty clothing or painted art, I'll eventually tune out any history lesson. For anyone who's never been, I would also like to point out that the Chicago Field Museum is like walking in a labyrinth of dark rooms with very little lighting. I think my body thought there would be no way out and started to shut down because by the time we decided to leave for a late lunch I was Tired.

Lunch did a bit to revive me, but I overindulged in ordering fish and chips [see what I mean by less than healthy eating habits? at least it wasn't a potato chip sandwich]. This was followed by a marathon grocery session at Trader Joe's where we purchased a treasure chest of organically sweetened goodies. Then last stop was a wholesome sushi dinner.

Once home [finally], a Netflix viewing awaited us. I feared I would not have the stamina to stay awake for a whole two hours of television and contemplated allowing myself an organic sugar rush to make it thru. But even faced with my own glorious loophole, I resisted. After all, I know it's cheating and I wanted at least one completely cheat-free day to end the first week of this project.

So I fell asleep during the movie [I'll re-watch that part tomorrow] and had a banana to make it thru the evening's homework [potassium rush, anyone?]. But now it's either chocolate or sleep, and, for once, I'm choosing sleep.

Sweet dreams filled with sugar await me.

Round 2: Day Six.

The interesting thing about starting a project like this is that, suddenly and inexplicably, you find yourself bombarded with free sweets. First, there was the free cheesecake on day three. Since then there's been offers of more cheesecake [we do employee samplings], chocolate chips* at work [when you'll pretty much eat anything to get thru the shift], and just today, free Starbursts* handouts from a inexplicably generous co-worker.

Now, as I've stated, my willpower is pretty good when it comes to saving my own wallet from sugar spending during this month, in fact it's part of the incentive for this project, but I'm not one to turn down a free treat. Junk food is expensive in Chicago so I cringe at the thought of passing up anything free.

With that being said, I should mention that the parental units are visiting for the next few days. Free meal outings and long touristy trips around the city may weaken my defenses, we shall see.

*For the record, while I safely avoided my second cheesecake encounter, I did partake in the chocolate chips and Starburst [I know, I'm so fired], but they're a small ripple in what used to be a wave pool of indulgences so cut me some slack.

Round 2: Day Five.

Day five was and interesting transition in a lack of self-control. While I maintained my dessert-less existence, I indulged in just about every other area.

Confession time: I love potato chip sandwiches. If you stop reading at that sentence, I understand. I think it sounds weird too. At one point I would have even thought it sounded gross. But being a broke vegetarian with an addiction to Miracle Whip will make a girl creative with her sandwich choices. I actually got the idea from an twitter friend who mentioned having them at a vegetarian BBQ. So one day I tried it: BBQ Potato Chips covered in Miracle Whip and smashed between two pieces of wheat bread. And now I have nights that not only does this meal sound appealing...I crave it. Obviously, this is perhaps one of the least nutritious meals a girl could have. I've been trying to wean myself away from them, but with no dessert to quell my cravings, I let myself indulge in my bizarre and unhealthy sandwich of choice.

And it's something of a farewell indulgence since next week I'll say bye bye to my beloved [high fructose corn syrup laden] Miracle Whip.

Round 2: Day Four.

Day four was not exactly laden with healthy foods. After day three's slip up, the dessert cravings did return and I scrambled to my kitchen to find something to satisfy my sweet tooth without cheating. I settled for organic strawberry yogurt, and eventually an organic PB&J.

In case you haven't noticed, my salvation for this project is organic sugar. In round one, I deemed it allowable without reason and I continue to allow it in round two. However, deep down I know it's still cheating.

Unfortunately, in today's society EVERYTHING is sweetened. Unless you have the time and money to slave over a home cooked meal, there's really little you can do to cut out sweeteners entirely. The only way I've found to avoid refined sugar and corn syrup [sugar's evil twin] is to shop organic. But even us health nuts like things sweet. We did, after all, grow up in America where the largest fast food chain puts sugar in even their meat. So most organic foods are sweetened with 'organic raw sugar' or 'evaporated cane juice' which are basically two apples from the same tree. Occasionally you'll get lucky [and pay more] when a company sweetens with agave nectar.

Agave nectar is heaven sent for a health conscious sweet tooth. Not only is it almost twice as sweet as sugar, it also has no effects on the blood's glucose levels, making it safe for diabetics, and avoiding the sugar crash for the rest of us. But, as I said, this is a rare find in the grocery section [try Amy's Kitchen if you're interested though] so I have to make an argument for the organics.

A little creative web searching tells me that organic sugar IS a healthier alternative. Because it is un-refined, it still maintains some nutritional value and is 50% less processed than regular white sugar. It is also metabolized in the body slower than the processed alternative [aka less spike in blood sugar levels].

For me, that's enough to ease the guilt.

Round 2: Day Three.

Confession: Only three days in and I've already had a slip.
Well, not so much a slip as a conscious decision to break the rules.

Here's the scenario: Today, a friend came in to visit me at the restaurant where I wait tables. Said friend had just spent her evening in town on my couch free of charge so as a sort of payment, she left me part of everything she ordered: appetizer, main course...and dessert. To be fair, the dessert was more than half gone, there only remained a few large bites on her plate. However, as I rushed back to box up my portion of deliciousness, I remembered this blog.

But this was FREE CHEESECAKE! [And rather pricey cheesecake at that.] While I'm not one to break my own rules, I'm also not one to waste good food. I'm a poor city girl and free cheesecake is free cheesecake, no matter how you slice it [pun intended]. So I ate it. And with the rush of sugar into my bloodstream, I instantly felt that comfort that only chocolate or a glass of good wine can give you.

Then, about ten minutes later, the sore throat that had finally disappeared after a week of threatening laryngitis suddenly returned. And just a few minutes after that came the stomach ache. Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was the quick pace in which I shoveled food into my face before returning to work, but most likely it was the 66 grams of sugar I'd just inhaled. [ok, so I didn't have a full serving size, but you get the idea.] And the worst part is that, while delicious, I wasn't even craving the cheesecake to begin with.

Lesson learned, back to the program.

Round 2: Day Two.

One of the best things about doing this project is finding new foods to fall in love with. Like last year, the dessert lock down makes me hungrier for real food. I don't know if this is just my body's calorie intake making up for the missing empty sugars or if it's because, without the ending of dessert, I just don't know when to stop eating the meal. Regardless of the reason, food becomes very important to me. And in the absence of a sweet ending, the taste of my meal is paramount. It has to be delicious enough to make up for the loss of chocolate.

Last night I found a delicious food combination: Pesto Pizza and White Zin. While both would have been good on their own, this is one pairing that just fit so perfectly together they could start cravings, like veggie burgers and milk shakes. While I'm aware that there are probably plenty of sugars in wine, as I said there must be some allowances. I'm by no means an alcoholic, but I am in my twenties and I do work in the service industry where dealing with a**holes all day requires a nightcap to wind down most evenings. [Be nice to your servers, you could prevent a drinking problem.] I prefer sweet wine to dry which implies more sugars by name alone, but I'm not sure if the sugars are added or if they are naturally occurring in the fruits within [which is allowed for this project]. So let's investigate, shall we?

According the results of a quick google search [under the oh-so specific search words of 'sugar' and 'wine'], the sugar is naturally occurring. More specifically:

'Sugar chemistry helps to explain its role in wine. One of these is fermentation, where yeasts metabolize sugars for energy, yielding alcohol as a major byproduct. In dry wine, yeasts consume almost all of the sugar from the grapes. In sweet wine, the yeasts are killed before all the sugar is used, leaving residual sugars.' [Source: CalWineries]

So perhaps my White Zin comes guilt-free after all.

Round 2: Day One.

It's not quite a year later, but I'm back for round two of Sugar Detox. This time is slightly different: the rules are looser, there's no article ending [that I know of], and I'm not exactly starting out in perfect health.

Some updates on the life of Candy Girl:

1. I now live in the Windy City, otherwise known as Chicago. Since moving here a little over two months ago, my daily habits have become less than healthy. With higher rent and a greater tax percentage, I've pretty much been living on Peanut Butter and Potato Chips [not together, but some days I wouldn't be surprised to try it]. There are the occasional evenings out for a good, healthy meal [sushi being my favorite], but when left to fend for myself, I'll pretty much reach for anything to stop the hunger.

2. I have a new addiction [much more shameful than my previous dark chocolate binges]: McDonald's strawberry shakes. With a whopping 63 grams of sugar in a small [I usually get a medium], I have one of these treats at least once a week. It's not entirely my fault really, the evil arches are literally steps outside my backdoor and much cheaper than a trip to the corner market where a pint of healthier yogurt can cost me almost $5.

3. Probably no surprise after reading 1 & 2, I'm not feeling so hot lately. Since moving, my energy level has plummeted and my sleeping cycle has gone haywire. 2am bedtimes and afternoon naps are a constant in my life, not to mention the fact that sleeping in often cuts into my daily workout time. Even now, as I write this, my brain is a bit sluggish and my eyelids a bit heavy.

Basically, it all has to stop.

So today is day one off sugar. As I said, the rules are a bit more flexible for this round. Refined sugar dessert is still a definite NO NO, but with a smaller budget the strict label reading may have to have a few loopholes. Like last time, organic is ok, but agave sweetened is better [avoiding the glucose crash is key, after all]. Alcohol has to have an in somewhere, but I'll opt for wine instead of sugary cocktails. Oh, and of course, Green and Black Dark Chocolate will be back, but not until after week one's initial withdrawals subside [otherwise I'll be eating it by the bar rather than the piece].

Ok, I think that sort of sums it up [again, my mind is not in top form, hopefully the writing will improve with my health and wellness].

Quick summaries on day one:

1. Incredibly dehydrated. However, it should be noted that this is not unusual nowadays, lack of sleep and lots of walking will do that to you sometimes.

2. Sleepy. Again though, not unusual [clearly this is not a controlled experiment like the last time].

3. No real sugar cravings, but perhaps that's due to an impending cold. [I don't crave sugar when I'm sick, instead I crave orange juice and soup.]

Perhaps tomorrow we'll see improvement...