I wouldn’t have even dreamed of it, until I ate enough sugar over Christmas to probably give me 3 cavities and diabetes.
My boyfriend, who was visiting over winter break, suggested that we go on a sort of sugar fast now that the holidays are over. In Korea, they associate anything with “diet” as a way to lose weight. Not true, not true at all.
It isn’t about weight loss actually, merely rather to rid myself of my addiction to sugar. I love sugar. I love ice cream, fruit, white rice, bread. I love putting brown sugar on my oatmeal in the morning that already is loaded with cranberries and a sauteed persimmon. So, the idea of eliminating sugar for a month seems quite challenging. Yes, by sugar I also mean fruit.
Week 1 has been interesting, but not nearly as difficult as I thought. Okay, since I hate labeling things as “cheating,” let’s just say that I have had a little bit of sugar here and there (natural forms of course, a few spoonfuls of white rice at lunch so I wouldn’t be rude, and a few mandarins which were leftovers from the holiday food shopping). Waste not, want not.
I must be hungry right? However, will I survive a month without relapsing into an eating disorder. Well, I’m making up for the lack of taste with a whole lot of spices and fat.
Yikes. The “F” word. The question I always see: will eating a lot of fat make you fat?
To healthy people, the response would be,”It depends on the fat because healthy fats won’t make you fat.”
Or will they? Is it possible to OD (overdose) on Omega-3′s and EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) or EVCO (Extra Virgin Coconut Oil)? What about nuts? 
The word “fat,” be it healthy or unhealthy, has long been source of great apprehension for me. I’m lucky to have a boyfriend who’ll push me quite far to try new things and explore my fears. So, I figure if the fat thing makes me fat this month, I’ll just cut back next month.
Thus far, a few things I’ve noticed since I’ve been loading up on fats:
- I have more energy
- My skin isn’t nearly as dry and my feet aren’t cracking
- My moods seem to be more steady and I have more tolerance
- I’m sleeping well, probably too well. This one is the most surprising to me because since my boyfriend left you’d think I’d be laden with insomnia. Not the case, while I miss him tremendously, I haven’t lost any sleep.
However, I have felt a quite a bit heavier during yoga practices. I don’t mean weight heavy, I mean stiff and sore, particularly in my hips and hamstrings. I don’t know if this is related to ingesting lots of oil and fat now, or if its residual junk in my tissues from the 2 1/2 weeks of alcohol, ice cream, and sweets over the holidays. Or it could possibly be because I was wearing heels too much over the past 2 weeks.
Another question to ask: how does one survive in Korea without sugar? You have to cook at home, you won’t survive otherwise. I suppose the same could be said of other places, but white rice has a whole lot of sugar in it. So, I’ve got to get creative because while there’s a lot of spices and items I can’t get here, I can order from Iherb.com and I do have a world of access to nuts!!
At the beginning of this week, I cut out caffeine, but I’ve decided caffeine and sugar is a bit too restrictive for me at one time. So, I’m still drinking coffee.^^
Can’t wait to see how the month transpires! Happy “Fatting!” Okay, that sounded wrong. Enjoy your healthy fats!!
