Zits, bloated and drowsy from sugar?!
Ariane,
Last week went pretty well – I was eating clean (happily) and by the time Friday rolled around I was feeling fresh and full of energy and also light(er). I have almost completely cut out sugar from my diet over the last 2 weeks of Slim & Strong. I was actually starting to find my Jay Robb whey vanilla drink a little too sweet. Is that normal?
Anyway, my weekend was a bit of a disaster. I wound up eating out 3 meals and made some terrible choices. I ate way too much sugary dessert and basically over indulged. I have a sweet tooth and have tried to limit the crap I eat but I think after the 2 weeks of clean eating my body just did not like it. At all. I spent yesterday feeling drowsy and bloated and a little sick. Plus I got a zit. From all the information you’ve been sharing with us I take this to mean I am sensitive to sugar? Or was it just that I overdid it?
I spent yesterday beating myself up about it – but I guess not wanting to feel that crappy again is just more motivation to stay clean, right? Sorry about the rambling but I want to be held accountable for my choices so i wanted to share.
See you tomorrow!
Arita
Arita,
first off, congrats to cutting out the sugar for two weeks. As soon as you do that, your cells become more sensitive to sugar. After two weeks of eating clean, they regain their insulin sensitivity, so when you then eat sugar, it will hit your system much much harder than before when it was a regular part of your diet.
Everyone reacts a bit differently to sugar. Some people end up crashing from the sugar with mood swings and low energy, others develop ravenous cravings, some break out (you included), some get headaches, some experience increased joint pain (a sign of inflammation that sugar causes), some get bloated and retain several pounds of water…. What you experience is all completely normal and actually a sign that your cells have become more sensitive to sugar. That’s a sign of good health. The less sensitive they are to sugar, the greater the risk of developing insulin-related disease, such as diabetes, pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, and anything associated with metabolic syndrome, such as high blood pressure, increased waist size and increased risk factors for disease.
Your experience over the weekend was actually a good one, even though it felt awful. Feeling crappy will keep you away from sugar for a while because you surely don’t want to feel like this too often. So, there is your built-in turn-off mechanism to sugar. It’s not ME who is telling you to stay away from sugar, but it’s your body – much more powerful because it’s intrinsic.
Your tastebuds have also cleaned up. You find that sweets now taste sweeter and that’s a good sign as well. You may find that even veggies, such as carrots and beets are very sweet. Fruit should also taste sweeter and a little goes a long way.
Stop beating yourself up over having indulged. You are allowed to lose it once in a while. You’ve already paid for it by feeling badly, so don’t feel even worse now beating yourself up. You learned a very valuable lesson here: Sugar makes you feel and look crappy. What more do you have to gain by beating yourself up?
Next time the dessert cart rolls around you’ll quickly associate the sugar with pimples, bloat, a few pounds of water retention and feeling sick. And, before you know it, you’ll build that aversion to sugar. Sure, there will be times you’ll choose to have the sugar, but it will be a lot less frequently and that means you’ll be dropping pounds, improving your health and clearing up your skin in the meantime.
The best you can do right now is to stay clean to drop the extra pounds of water you probably gained. Before you know it, three days have passed and you’re back to your light and energetic self, continuing to make progress.
See you tomorrow!
Cheers, Ariane