Lessons Learned

I’ll keep this post simple. Here’s are just a few of the things I learned from my three weeks away from sugar:

• Almost everything has sugar in it.
• I love sugar.
• When you have gone so long without limiting sugar intake, a few days away from it can really make you cranky.
• Vegetables taste good - some of them taste REALLY good.
• Anything difficult you try to do becomes easier when you have the support of the people you live with. For me that meant a very supportive and helpful wife. She helped plan meals, and did her best to stick to the rules - despite being 8.5 months pregnant!
• You can’t quit on something when you’ve shared your plans with almost everyone you know.
• Sustainable and consistent energy levels really are possible.
• Meals based on whole foods, without “filler”, take a lot of time to prepare and cook.
• As such, this sort of diet has made me a better cook.
• I...

The Process

After reading The 21 Day Sugar Detox I realized this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. I thought that if I stockpiled nuts and cocoa nibs, I would be able to coast to sugar freedom. While the book includes a long list of yes and no foods, a full 21-day menu, and even shopping lists for heading straight to the grocery store - I realized there was going to be a lot of new foods and a whole lot of food preparation. This is when I started to quietly nudge my wife towards participating. This wasn’t going to be an easy task, considering she was just over 8 months pregnant. Luckily, she agreed to at least participate through the first week - perhaps this could be a success after all.

We were going to follow the book as closely as possible - so the next week was spent clearing out mounds of clutter-food, and eating our way through the remaining sugar in our life. I was...

Just over a month ago I read an update on Google+ that included this infographic:

Click Image for Full Infographic

If you didn’t bother to scan that infographic, I’ll summarize for you. Sugar is nasty stuff - and we’re consuming more of it every year - with quite alarming results. The picture includes a snippet about how sugar is as addicting as cocaine. I’ve never tried cocaine, so I can’t verify the validity of that statement.

Normally this would just make me angry. I might share outrage laced with statistics and act like a helpless victim to another government scheme to control another aspect of my life. For some reason, this particular infographic, and the corresponding social media post, pushed me directly into action.

Where is the best place to take action on something? Amazon.com of course, because there you can find millions of books, and we all know that reading a...

I didn’t mean to start this project. I was pretty happy with the way life had been going. I had settled into a nice set of comfortable routines. My whole life had been filled with audacious goals and mediocre results. Small bits of progress here and there - with an occasional noteworthy achievement - seemed likely to be my path forever.

About a month ago, I was browsing status updates, when one caught my eye. I felt moved to action, and rather than adding another item to my never-ending to-do list, I decided to do something. Within minutes, I had spent $50 on two books that would change my life.

This blog is about the first 21-day project those books propelled me into. It will chronicle that project, and subsequent projects designed to help me develop new habits, learn new skills, and change the way I see the world. Each project will include a charter, some progress updates...