My 8 Day Fast from My Favorite Junk Foods

taking a short break from my Turning 30 rambling to talk about my favorite junk food.

Most of you know that a couple years ago, I found out that I have a TON of food sensitivities that prevent me from eating a lot of "normal people" food. While this has made some things very tricky (like finding food when I travel), it's been a blessing in so many other ways. I feel a lot better, for one thing. I also learned how to eat an appropriate amount of calories for my size, which meant that I went from a size 12 to a size 6 in the first 6 months after learning about my allergies, and have since been able to maintain a healthy weight (even the day I went into labor, I weighed less that I did before I learned about my food issues). I have also learned how to cook tons of tasty food and have gotten in a groove of making food to take with me places, which also saves us money. Finally, with all the research I've had to do to find tasty recipes, I've learned so much about eating healthy and the benefits of healthy eating. All great things that NEVER would have happened if I could still get away with just popping open a BPA-laden can of gluten-and-corn-and-sodium-filled Progresso Soup every time I was lazy and hungry, like I did for so many years before.

But because there are so many foods that I have to avoid, I tend to really enjoy the ones I CAN have. I was really praying that Zeke wouldn't be lactose intolerant like many babies are, because then I would have to give up dairy for as long as I was nursing. (Thankfully, a two-week dairy fast proved that it didn't have any effect!) I also really enjoy my chocolate and coffee (decaf, of course, because I'm sensitive to caffeine).

One great thing about nursing a baby is that you can eat a lot more calories and not gain weight. This means I've stopped counting calories (because who has time with a baby, anyways?) and have been giving into my sweet tooth a LOT lately. I even started to cheat and have some M&Ms and Snickers bars every now and then, because that little bit of corn syrup wasn't hurting me much, and they are soooo good. But the more I gave into my sweet tooth, the harder it's been to say no. I finally had to acknowledge that it was getting out of control, and that I didn't have the willpower to stop eating this stuff.

Another thing I started to notice is that I was getting caffeine headaches if I went a day without a decaf coffee or a green tea. I thought that was kind of ridiculous, that I could even develop a dependency on such a low dose of caffeine. I was also wondering if that caffeine was keeping the little man awake... we've always had trouble getting him to sleep, and he's VERY active - always needs stimulation - so I was starting to wonder if the caffeine and sugar from my diet had anything to do with it.

Then I kept reading about how sugar consumption makes you much more susceptible to colds/flus, and with this crazy flu season I didn't want to be increasing my chances of bringing something home to my son.

All of this combined kept me thinking about my dependency on my favorite junk foods, and how with the holiday season around the corner, between traveling and holiday meals my eating habits were only going to get worse. I needed to do something about this now instead of deciding to do something about it in January when I will already be burnt out.

So I decided it was time for drastic action. Telling myself to "cut down" on the junk wouldn't do the trick. I needed to detox from the junk... so I am doing an 8 day fast from chocolate, caffeine, and sugar. I'm now on Day 5 and doing great!

Why 8 days? Because I'm going out of town on the 9th day and I don't want to deny myself coffee or anything else that I can eat when I'm on the road and struggling with the normal difficulties of eating on the road. 8 days was as good as it was going to get - and I'm hoping a good week of eliminating those things will make it easier for me to make healthy eating choices over the holidays.

The decision was hard to make but it's been easier to do than I thought (except for the coffee... I just love coffee! I miss it!). I've realized that my mind works in a very specific way. Food that I know I shouldn't eat is a strong temptation that I almost always give in to. But food that I know I can't eat isn't a temptation at all. I just look right past it, like it's rocks or something. So I just needed to tell myself that I can't eat chocolate, sugar, or caffeine and then it's not so hard. I even made my husband some of my favorite no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies last night (ingredients are basically butter, sugar, chocolate, milk, and oats) and didn't even think of eating one.

I do need to come up with some reasonable limits to my junk intake for when I allow myself to eat these again, so I don't go right back off the deep end. Otherwise it will have all been for nothing. I'm thinking one cup of decaf a day, one serving of chocolate a day... but is that too much? Maybe 4 servings of chocolate a week? This is the tricky part... I'll get back to you on that.

In the meantime, I've just been chowing down on dried papaya chunks whenever I have a sweet tooth, and I've been drinking lots of fruity tea with honey. Those both help, but it also helps that my husband and friends are all very supportive (not tempting me or telling me I'm silly). I've been posting a Facebook status about this at least once a day to keep myself accountable and get a little encouragement.

And, of course, I keep dreaming of the coffee I'll make on Friday.