I started the downward spiral yesterday. Day 3, I woke up feeling extremely dizzy, light-headed and nauseous. As the day progressed, it didn’t get any better until I made my way to Costco and got myself some Pistachios for snacking. I still managed to make it through the day without any major setbacks, but I was feeling not-that-great.

Breakfast was my usual frittata (eggs and mushrooms), followed my large amounts of water.

Lunch was leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, including cottage cheese. Then I had some pistachios and cheese to help me make it through the afternoon.

Dinner was leftover Savory Baked Chicken. Admittedly, I did not eat enough yesterday. Not even close to enough, as a matter of fact. If I ate 800 calories, I’m lucky. It wasn’t on purpose…I was just feeling nauseous and not particularly hungry.

Then Came Day 4

This morning, I woke up to my alarm and stumbled my way into the shower. About five minutes into my shower, I started feeling extremely light-headed, dizzy, nauseous and my arms and legs turned to jelly. I’ve honestly only ever felt like that a few times before after a night of far too much drinking. I lost all strength in my body and ended up having to sit down in the shower to get the shampoo out of my hair (not cute, by the way).

I realized that I wasn’t even going to make it through the shower without getting sick, so I quickly turned off the water then slowly stood up. When I got to my feet, I felt so weak that I could barely walk. The spots in front of my eyes were so big that I literally couldn’t see (like a major head rush, but much longer) and it lasted longer than I’ve ever experienced before.

I had to sit on the bathroom floor and call for my husband to bring me an orange or something that would put some sugar in my body. I was literally minutes away from seriously bad stuff happening, I’m sure of it. I’ve never felt so weak in all my life. Once I got some fruit in me, I was doing better, but I still feel weak and I don’t like it.

The End of my Detox

It’s because of that scary encounter with my bathroom floor this morning that I’m throwing in the towel on the 21-Day Sugar Detox. At the very least, I won’t continue it in its original form. I’m going to add fruit back to my diet and moderate my sugar intake. Clearly, my body needs some sort of sugar to avoid hypoglycemia. I’ve lost four pounds in the last 3 days and I realize that’s not a safe weight loss.

I’m not willing to put my body at risk for weight loss. That’s not safe and it’s not rational.

I’m not saying that the 21-Day Sugar Detox won’t work for anyone…but it isn’t going to work for me in it’s original form.

Please note: This is not a poor reflection on the program in any way. The 21-Day Sugar Detox has worked for thousands of people and many people have gained a new freedom from sugar addiction because of the program. The low blood sugar level that I experienced is not a normal part of the program (yes, you may get low blood sugar, but probably won’t pass out in the shower) and is mostly because of my lack of knowledge about how to properly replace foods.

I was simplyNOT EATING ENOUGH and that caused my blood sugar to crash. I am still going to use much of what I learned from the 21-Day Sugar Detox book, but I will be modifying to fit my lifestyle and nutritional needs.

The 21-Day Sugar Detox is still going strong, but today was not as easy as I thought it would be. When I walked into work this morning, the first thing I ran into was a big box of cookies in the break room – free for the taking. I did manage to walk away, but the temptation was there and it was hard.

Luckily, the caffeine headache wasn’t too bad. I took a few Aleve in the morning and the headache subsided for the rest of the day. It hasn’t come back, so I’m thankful for that. I’m increasing my water intake, so hopefully being well-hydrated will help keep me feeling good. I got a ZeroWater pitcher yesterday (review coming soon) so it’s been easy to keep my water filled up all day.

The only time I “cheated” was at dinner. My hubby was making some yummy Savory Baked Chicken for me, but we didn’t have any butter set out to soften to go under the skin (the recipe in the 21-Day Sugar Detox book didn’t have olive oil, or we probably would have done that) so he used margarine. Technically, that’s against the rules, but in an effort to not make his kindness of making me dinner more difficult, I said it was okay. {By the way, you need to try that recipe – it’s SO good!}

Beyond that minor setback, I have managed to avoid all carbs (well, all that are possible to be avoided) and sugars. I’ve had a little bit of an upset stomach and a few stomach cramps, but I’m told that’s because of my body adjusting to the dietary changes and nothing to worry about. They will subside shortly, I’m sure.

Are you taking the 21-Day Sugar Detox challenge? Have you learned any tricks or tips that might help?

Today was the first day of my 21-Day Sugar Detox and its going well so far. It helped that my entire family slept until about 11 am, but that’s beside the point!

Breakfast/Lunch was actually something I was really looking forward to because I’m an egg fiend. I love eggs of all shapes, sizes and styles. So I had bacon and eggs for breakfast, even though I had to kind of force the bacon because it’s not something I normally eat. But, since I couldn’t have my usual egg and cheese sandwich, bacon had to suffice.

Throughout the day, my only real craving was caffeine. I’ve had a terrible headache since about 5 o’clock because of the lack of caffeine, but I’m coping. Snacking wasn’t too bad, but I did feel a little twinge of jealousy when my girls were eating caramel popcorn.

Dinner was actually easier than expected. My hubby made some country-style ribs with very basic seasonings. It was different to have ribs without barbecue sauce, but my hubby is a culinary genius and made some seriously delicious and juicy ribs. I paired them with some cottage cheese just to give me a little something extra.

Being off work today presented a bit of a challenge, but it will get easier tomorrow while I’m a work and can busy myself to keep my mind off food. Right now, I’m preparing for the rest of the week by making a ginormous frittata that will be my breakfast in the coming days.

Are you taking the 21-Day Sugar Detox challenge? How did your first day go?