operation sweet-tooth, pt. 1
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 book is the same as taking action. I searched for “sugar detox” because I had heard that’s a thing these days, and the first book that looked like something I could handle was this one. Rather than buy it on Amazon and wait two days for it, I decided to head to Barnes and Noble the next day so that I could rid myself of this evil as quickly as possible.
When I found the book at Barnes and Noble, I discovered a brand new world of lifestyles I never knew existed. Words like paleo and primal were foreign to me, but there were dozens of books about them. I wasn’t prepared to launch into an exhaustive review of the virtues of each of these various lifestyle choices, so I turned my attention back to books on sugar detoxing. I decided that anything that only took 10 days to accomplish couldn’t be powerful enough to create lasting change (hadn’t I heard somewhere that it took at least 21 days to do that?). I wandered over to another shelf and found this book and within a few pages I was hooked.
Not only did this book feed into the oft-perpetuated-myth that 21 days will form a lasting habit, but it included step-by-step guides, shopping lists, exhaustive meal plans, and recipes. I bought it. When I got home, I also bought the companion cookbook. I decided to wait one more week to get started - a critical week during which I would plan for success, read as much as I could, and convince my wife to at least give it a shot with me.
Project Charter #
Elevator Pitch: Eliminate all foods with added sugar for 21 straight days. When that time period is over, you will have eliminated sugar cravings and launched yourself on a path to healthier living and consistent energy levels.
My Reasons:
- Have the energy to excel in my career and keep up with my two sons.
- Avoid the current health-epidemics: heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
- Just to prove to myself that I can do something hard.
Requirements:
- Stick as closely as possible to the diet outlined in the book 21 Day Sugar Detox
- Find someone willing to try this with you.
- Exercise as often as possible during the detox.
- Plan to live more healthy following the detox.
Success Criteria:
- Energy levels – use an arbitrary and highly subjective measure of energy, and determine whether energy levels increase as a result of this exercise.
- Whole foods consumption – look at your shopping cart at the grocery store each week. Notice anything different?
- Sugar cravings – describe your need for sugar before, during, and after the exercise.
Posts will follow documenting the process and my results. As with any of my projects, feel free to join me - and if you do, make sure to tell me how it goes!