Nearly two months after my sugar detox led by participating in the Mentor Me Off Sugar Program created by Laura Thomas, I am now BACK on sugar. It’s not like it used to be. I have been forever changed, but I do enjoy the occasional cookie or dessert, maybe once or twice a week.
It has become a habit to read the labels of everything that I buy and I feel a twinge of disgust when I see that anything has more than 2 grams of sugar in it. Before I left the Mentor Me Off Sugar program I was worried that I would dive back into sugar with a vengeance and Laura Thomas, the health coach, told me that as long as I reduce my sugar intake by any percentage, I can call the program a success.
Introducing sugar back into my life wasn’t easy. At first I didn’t have a taste for it at all and then one day I bought a mocha frappe from McDonald’s and I enjoyed it. I bought another a week later. Buying my favorite cereal was more difficult but necessary as I do not cook and I needed a quick fix for my meals so I bought a box of Frosted Flakes and ate it over a 3 day period twice a day. For every day that I ate cereal, I had consistent migraine headaches, similar to the ones I experienced when I was detoxing from sugar. After I finished the box the headaches were gone.
Now I realize that I experience cravings for sugar again. On Saturday nights when I don’t want to go out and I still want to have fun, I will really crave having some chocolate just to make myself smile.
I feel better about myself even though after losing weight during the sugar detox, my stomach is now extremely flabby which makes me feel like I haven’t lost any weight.
Do I regret doing the sugar detox? Of course not! I feel as though I care for myself more when I monitor what I am eating.
Would I recommend that people try doing a sugar detox? Absolutely! It will show you what you have been ingesting and change the way you look at food.
Do you need a health coach to mentor you off sugar? I found it helpful to be a part of a group of people with similar goals yet you can find those without hiring someone to personally coach you. I did find the information Laura Thomas presented to be helpful but there were times when I didn’t understand something like when I didn’t quite ‘get’ why it’s better to consume butter than sugar and when I asked Laura to clarify she told me that she didn’t have time to answer and to refer back to the literature she had given at the beginning of the program.
I looked over the literature again and still didn’t find the answers but since she didn’t want to answer me directly, I didn’t feel comfortable asking her again. Also, during the program, we were promised to have a secondary skype session to ask any questions, which I never received. When I asked about why I didn’t get to have a 2nd appointment she replied that it was my duty to set up the appointment and she did not have time to chase anyone.
While Laura Thomas may have the wisdom you need to help mentor you off sugar, because of her day job, she may not have the time to hold your hand through the process which is why I recommend that you find information yourself, join a support group either online or in person and have a go at it without hiring a personal coach.
I do feel great about my choices as is, and I do not consume as much sugar as I once did. In fact, I have reduced my sugar intake about 80%, I think. I exercise regularly and I now care about the fact that sugar is poison to my body.
