Less than one week to go.  I feel like I have already accomplished my goals for this detox.  I have lost the basketball in my shirt, I can sleep all night long without drying my mouth out by having it open all night long, I can go a day without sugar now without my hands feeling swollen and hot.  On the other hand, because I can’t eat a quick fruit, and my only snack is roasted almonds or pecans, I have a constant low-grade hunger, even right after a full meal.  Last night after dinner I sat there very hungry still and decided to eat whatever of our shrimp soup that would not fit into a quart jar.  It turned out that there was another full bowl of soup left, which I ate with no problem.  I still felt like I could eat more, but within the hour that feeling passed.  It takes some getting used to how long it takes to feel full on a no starch no sugar meal plan.

I am beginning to think about next Tuesday, though.  For certain I know that I won’t get a box of donuts and eat them all, I wont get a loaf of bread and make sandwiches out of every piece of bread and eat them.  In fact, except for eating fruit again I dont think I will change anything.  One thing that will be more interesting is desert.  Here is a particularly tasty idea for the kind of thing I have in mind.

Breakfast will include some of my home-made breakfast cereal and almond milk.

Lunch will be just like always, without ever drinking another pop.

My sodas will always be from home made syrups, or my own ginger ale, from my own ginger bug.  I have an ISI soda bottle that I use to put bubbles into otherwise flat drinks, to add a little sparkle and really sometimes it seems to liven up the flavor as well.  Try it in orange juice, for instance.  If you want something with no sugar that tastes like root beer, then try this licorice drink with a shot of soda water from your soda siphon.

Other drinks will just not have any sugar in them.  Tea is very good without sugar in it.  Coffee is very good without sugar in it, and if you start with very good beans, the coffee is very very good.

Dinner will have the occasional potato, yam, breading, cracker.  The party Saturday showed me that there is plenty to eat without making any one thing (except plants) a dominant thing.  A little bit of meat, a little bit of starch, no sugar, lots of vegetables is a great plan for the future.  If every meal was like a soup, stew, chowder, or stir fry then you would have the idea of what I have in mind.

As far as lifestyle changes go, this one is pretty easy to manage.  I can stand to look longingly at the container of M&Ms in my living room, and I can have some as long as I don’t have sugar in every other bite of food that I take during the week.