a peek inside the fishbowl

It’s Day 9 of Sugar Fast Plus, in which I am not eating refined sugars or flour. (Read the how and why here.) Amazingly, it’s actually getting easier as I go. The only sweetener I’ve consumed is a bit of honey in an occasional cup of tea. The only processed/sweetened food I’m eating is a small bowl of All-Bran Buds in the mornings, which I dropped at the beginning and then started eating it again because, well, just because. :) 

So I’m doing pretty well!

My “trick” is that there’s no real trick. :) I have discovered, however, that it’s important to (a) plan detailed menus… almost right down to breakfasts and snacks, and (b) do a full grocery shop. If I don’t have any of “my” food in the house I know I will resort to hot buttered toast. (I work from home. It’s so hard to avoid hot buttered toast!) But most importantly I can’t buy groceries that might tempt me. It’s not like my family is being starved – far from it – but I don’t want to sabotage my own efforts, and what’s the point of making it harder on myself? I had a couple of close calls recently that came in the form of leftover Christmas chocolate, Chinese takeout (plus dessert!) at my in-laws, and a fresh loaf of garlic bread Mark brought home from the French Baker … but I NEVER CAVED.

Feeeeeel the power.

There has been some unintentional weight loss, not much, but a bit, and I am very happy to be at my ideal weight for my age/height right now. Yay me!

Edited to add: I had a bit of an ephipany about it just now. The Sugar Fast is not about denying yourself. For me it’s mostly been about finding new and healthy ways to treat myself. Mentally, this makes all the difference in the world. Eating a hot breakfast in the morning; snacking on marinated garlic and nuts, delicious cheese, veggies I love, etc. It makes me happy! When it’s over I will go back to eating sugar and flour, but it’ll only the “good kind.” A croissant or baguette from the bakery, a square of great-quality chocolate (less is more!), a beautiful cupcake or a homemade cookie. I think eating fewer sweet and/or butter-laden “good” things is better than eating more of that other stuff. In other words, one square of great chocolate is better than a dozen Mars bars. Don’t you think?

–

A couple weeks ago I started doing the one hundred pushups training program again. It is a great challenge, and I totally recommend it. I did this last year and had great success with it. It builds muscle in a relatively very short amount of time without a huge time commitment, special equipment, or sweaty gym clothes. I don’t think I blogged about it at the time, but I will say this … it really works. I never looked or felt better than when I was doing pushups (although I was admittedly doing it in conjunction with a Couch-to-5K program, which I will start when the snow melts). I am, once again, working towards having stronger arms and more definition in my abs. And it’s all about the pushups, nothing else.

I asked Donna Davis at Elation Centre (a Fishbowl patron) about the benefits of doing pushups, and here’s what she wrote:

“We do lots of these in yoga and I am a stickler for proper posture. Note, “yoga push-ups” are done with the elbows hugging the sides of the body pointing straight up and back as opposed to out to the sides, and the hands line up right under the shoulders. We do this to protect the wrists, the rotator cuff in the shoulder area and it builds amazing triceps.

Donna’s tips:

1. 1) Keep your lower abdominals strong – always. This will support your lower back.
2. 2) Do not let your lower back ‘dip/sway’, you want a nice strong flat lower back.
3. 3) Imagine my hand resting between your shoulder blades, notice if there is ‘dip’ between the shoulder blades (if you saw a picture you would see the shoulder blades pop up like wings) – if this is the case push up into my imaginary hand, making a very slight lift in the muscles between the shoulder blades – keep this area strong!
4. 4) When you lower yourself to the ground, keep your chest and hips in the same line.
5. 5) If your lower back starts to sway or shoulder blades wing out you have gone down too far.
6. 6) Options: only go down halfway, or put your knees down [I am doing mine with my knees on the ground a.k.a “girl” pushups. I get results, and they’re easier, so I know I am less likely to give up.]  
7. 7) Doing pushups with improper posture will injure your lower back, shoulders and wrists.

Pushups build an amazing amount of strength and endurance in your muscles; core, shoulders, chest, and arms!”

I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’m sticking with it, doing incrementally more pushups (as per the training program) every other day.

I was very sore when I started, but this only means that it’s working. I’m feeling stronger every day, and it’s a pretty good feeling.