I am going to talk about bookshelves and how bookshelves really are related to how well I eat and the sugar cleanse. You’ll see the connection, I promise!
I bought the above bookshelves from a friend who is moving across country. We are in need of more bookshelf space right now, and in a couple months we are moving and leaving behind built in bookshelves, so we will have even more need of them. We set them up in our living room, and I finally had a place to store the books that were crowded into a tiny little bookshelf. I also found room in the closed cupboard below the bookshelf to store all of Elena’s schoolbooks that were crowded on our kitchen table and behind the couch. Alongside them, went her craft supplies that were overflowing in the office. That lead my husband and I to clean through the office, taking out bags of old mail to be shredded or burned, and trash too. Then, I found a place for some books from an upstairs bookcase in our new bookcase. The old bookcase was refitted into our music studio bookshelf so that we could finally find music a bit more easily. (Actually, Joel somehow always knew were to find the music, but I couldn’t find things easily at all). Those simple transformations were enough to inspire me to more change.
I’ve found in my own life that personal success breeds success, no matter how small the success was. Unfortunately, failure can also discourage me, which leads to more failure. I think that is true for getting our eating habits in order too. But our eating habits aren’t isolated, but can be very affected by the order of the rest of our lives.
What I mean is this, when our lives are so hectic and stressful, it can be really hard to put time and energy into making a simple, healthy dinner at home. When your life is out of control, sometimes your eating habits go out of control too. When the house seems turned upside down and out of order, I personally can find it hard to have my meal planning, shopping and cooking in order as well. One facet of life is not unrelated to the rest of your life. One part of your life in disarray can lead to other parts of your life in disarray too.
The last two weeks I have fallen behind in some of my chores around the house, as well as some of my writing projects. When you are faced with miles of writing to do, mountains of laundry and a sticky kitchen flour, it can make you want to sit down and look at pictures on Pinterest. (Okay, at least it does for me).
However, when my husband and I got the bookshelves in order, which freed up a lot of other disorderly areas of my house, I got so encouraged that I was able to start making good progress again.
Yesterday, I finally found a place to put all of the new supplements my daughter is on, cleared the counters, and got the kitchen back in order, so that when dinner time came rolling around, it truly wasn’t a big deal to throw together a simple soup. When I have my kitchen organized and running smoothly, I can make meals more easily, and resist foods that I really don’t want to feed my family or myself.
I still have my work cut out for me, but at least I see that I am making good progress again in the house, my writing, and back on track with my meal planning.
Yes, buying a bookshelf did all this for me and more. I think I could become a salesman for bookshelves!
But it also works the other way. Sometimes if you can get your meal planning, shopping, and meal preparation in order, you get so encouraged by your success, you start to get inspired to push through in other areas in your life.
For those of you on the sugar cleanse, which is now, officially at least, rolling to an end, you’ve probably found that if you didn’t plan your meals ahead, have healthy snacks, and a satisfied tummy, it was way harder to resist treats.
You know, I don’t have a simple solution to my, or anyone else’s scheduling, energy, or other roadblocks to a healthy lifestyle. But I can say this from my own experience, seeking to have a simpler lifestyle (which for us is including getting rid of extra stuff we just don’t need), pushing through to find success in one area (so that I get encouraged to seek success in another area), and intentionally planning out my life is all helpful in having a better balanced life. That better-balanced life helps me cook a better balanced diet too.
I am still getting there myself, and it’s just a very busy time for us, but I am hopeful that once I get over a couple of “roadblocks” in the form of laundry, sorting through stuff, and setting up better writing schedules, I will be well on my way to a simpler, less stressful lifestyle.
My personal results on the sugar cleanse:
During this time of reflecting on my life, seeing progress, but still needing to do a lot, it was really helpful to be doing the sugar cleanse. While there were many times when I would have normally put a dab of maple syrup in my coffee, tried a sample of gourmet dessert or chocolate at the store, or had another type of naturally sweetened dessert at home, that sense of denying myself of something helped me regain better self-control.
I’ve always found that if I have better self-control over eating food when I am not hungry or when I just don’t need the extra sugar, that self-control reaches over and gives me strength to have better self-control in how I use my time too. It’s a funny thing how that happens. It must be how each part of our life is interconnected with every other part of our lives.
For those who struggled:
Now, I know that some of you had a really difficult time with the cleanse. If you found that you just couldn’t stay away from sugar, I ask that you not feel that you were a failure. Feeling condemnation from this two week fast of sugar is not the point. My piano teacher always told me when I had a memory blank out when playing for her that I had “struck gold”. That mistake showed me an area in my music where I was weak and needed to work extra hard. In the same way, if you found it impossible to resist refined sugar during this cleanse, then perhaps you also “struck gold”. Perhaps the reason you had a hard time isn’t simply an issue of self-control (though it could be), but perhaps it’s a sign that the rest of you life is so hectic, you don’t have time to eat well. Perhaps your lifestyle is what needs to be balanced out, and then a balanced diet will follow. Or perhaps your body is addicted to sugar, unknown to you, and you “struck gold” in finding that out through trying to do the sugar fast. Now you need to dig deeper and look at your health with a broader viewpoint in healing.
I found that I was fine without dessert, except when I was tired. It made me realize how I liked to eat something sweet to keep me going. My problem was simply not having self-control to resist that second serving of yummy dessert, it was a problem of fatigue. Getting better rest and rebuilding my energy stores is in order (which will then make it easier to resist too many sweets). I also had such great energy when I was writing my salad cookbook, that I think I will start incorporating more raw salad greens into my diet.
For those who had success:
Others of you had great success on the sugar cleanse and found that you lost weight, gained energy, and a clearer mind. I’d encourage you to use that success to continue to breed success! The more you eat a certain way, the more second nature it becomes. Let that success spill over into other facets of your life, which should be easier now that you are more energetic and have a quicker mind.
Others mentioned to me that while it was easy to stay away from sweets, you were surprised not to feel any more energy. I can relate. Fatigue is certainly not always linked to sugar consumption. For me, removing foods that bother me (dairy), getting a lot of sleep (which feels very hard right now with my littlest one), and seeing a naturopath for help has been crucial for boosting my energy.
I am not claiming any simple answers to either finding success, or overcoming health issues. I am on a journey myself. But whether you had success taking out refined sugar from your diet, or not, I hope that this cleanse was helpful to you in either encouraging you in your success, or helping you “strike gold” in the sense of discovering something in your life that needs to be dug down deeper to remove.
I’d love to hear from you! Have you also experienced how success in one area, encourages you to find success in other areas? If you did the sugar cleanse, how did it go for you?
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Elissa
Great post – thank you!! For me, it was all about balancing the lifestyle! Not really a surprise, as we recently moved halfway across the country and started school (HUGE lifestyle change!!!) but it was a good “wake up call”… I did get super discouraged about some of my healthy-habits failures, but after talking things over with my husband, I’m ready to jump back on the healthy bandwagon and get back to feeling (and looking!) the way I used to – the way I want to feel and need to feel ..and looking better will just be one benefit.
Bad news: Still have some of those cravings to get over – and my husband, while claiming to be fully supportive of my healthy choices, isn’t making things easier for me by refusing to give up sugar again…:p It’s like pulling teeth…. sugar teeth…
Good news: Have lost a few pounds and am ready to start eliminating some of the other “bad” foods that have crept back into my diet – time to take control of my life again. 🙂
Thanks so much for this challenge – it’s all about breaking things down into manageable, realistic goals, and it’s been a super helpful reminder for me. 🙂
KimiHarris
Realistic goals are so important! And what realistic goals look like are going to be different for each person and for different seasons of life. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Cameron
Hello–I just discovered your blog and wanted to point out a potential problem with prominently using the term “sugar cleanse.” It may be picked up by search engines and lumped together with acai cleanse, fiber cleanse, etc. Although you mean that you’re encouraging your readers to cleanse themselves of sugar, the search engines can interpret that to mean you’re encouraging a cleanse with sugar. The engines can do nefarious things with an innocent term whose meaning may seem obvious.
I’m a trained chef and vegan, although I’m not a culinary professional. So far your blog is a delight, and I look forward to exploring the archives.
KimiHarris
Hi Cameron,
That’s an interesting thought! Thanks for sharing. Thankfully, people will understand what I mean by the phrase after reading my post! I am thinking about calling it a “fast” next year anyways, because that’s really what it is.
Biz
The toughest sugar moments for me? Dinner out with friends. I did great on my own but faced with social pressure, I did breakdown and have a few bites of a shared dessert. It was only 2 meals but I couldn’t help feeling like I’d failed myself and my body. Why couldn’t I be stronger? The “gold” moment came when I realized that we all need a sweet treat sometimes. And so I did some research. And then at one of the dinners, a friend gave me Elena Amsterdam’s almond flour cookbook. There are better and healthier options for an occasional treat (at least for me) and my new plan is to try a new recipe and freeze it – it’s my back up for social occasions when dessert is called for. Also my sweet cravings happened the last 3 days of the cleanse. I turned to mashed sweet potatoes and frozen fruit in a protein smoothie and did ok. I wish I’d done better but I believe that if I’m to make the long term changes, then I need to pick myself up from each setback and keep on trying. It was nice to know others were also in on this challenge, as the majority of people I know eat nothing like this. Thank you Kimmi and the rest of the posters here!
KimiHarris
Peer pressure happens at every age, doesn’t it. 😉 I love Elana’s recipes as they are so simple and easy to make! It’s a great idea to have some on hand to bring along with you, when needed. By the way, I would just encourage you to substitute the agave syrup in her recipes for something more traditional and less processed.
Shanna
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed in cutting sugars out of my diet is the detox reaction. At first I felt amazing–better skin, perfection digestion, more energy, no sugar cravings. But then I felt bad–breakouts, tiredness, and a UTI that I feel convinced was caused by cleansing yeast out of the body. Did anyone else experience anything like this? I’d love to talk to you!
KimiHarris
Shanna,
Wow! Thanks for sharing your experience! I’d be interested if other people experienced something similar as well. Detox reactions can be severe, but it’s kind of strange that it happened later, rather than earlier.
Anyone have any experiences like this?
Amanda
We definitely have gone through similar issues as our family has modified our diet to be lower in carbs and higher in healthy fats. We started on the GAPS intro and transitioned from there to Bee Wilder’s recommendations for candida overgrowth. Initially most of our eight member household felt like we had the flu, and from there it was a slow climb to much improved health. After a year and a half of eating this way, none of us (including the kids) wants to go back to our former healthy-but-high-carb ways, but we still have bouts of retracing and detoxing as our bodies work through all the gunk we’ve ingested over the years–not to mention some taken in just the other day! 🙂
Probably the most interesting thing we’ve noticed is that it takes about a week for us to stop feeling the effects of our last major carb intake. Before living this way, I would have thought the consequences would last only 24 hours or so, but there’s been a consistently observable pattern of extended repercussions, which also helps with the motivation to stay on track!
Susan
Great post!!! While I did not participate in the sugar cleanse, I have noticed the same thing you shared about how success in one area of me life spills over to success in other areas of my life. I have a very similar scenario to your bookcase story. We had a dresser/cupboard in our children’s room that wasn’t being used, because the runners for the drawers had all lost their screws. While my parents were visiting, my dad fixed the runners–the screws were all the wrong size) and moved the dresser/cupboard into my sewing room. I was able to better organize my fabric and sewing supplies, thus making my sewing room easier for me to be more productive. I was also able to move some shelves around between the kitchen, living room, and our children’s room to organize books & toys better and make the traffic flow much better between those rooms. In the process of doing all of that, I was also preparing to go on bedrest during the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy. So, I placed a huge order at a local farm for meat, cheese, milk, butter, & eggs. Then I browned several lbs of meat, chopped or sliced & froze a bunch of different vegetables—turnips, onions, & mustard greens—to add to some other veggies that I had frozen back in the summer. I tried to prepare as much as possible in advance of my bedrest so that we could still eat as healthy as possible. Our church has been providing meals twice a week, which has been a blessing, however, I know everyone doesn’t cook or eat the way we usually eat. So, in between those meals it’s been great for my family to be able to pull out nourishing foods that can easily be put together for a healthy satisfying meal.
All of this to say, I really enjoyed reading your post today. You are a huge encouragement, and I hope lots of others are able to see success start snowballing in their lives, too—not just in regards to food, but in other areas of their lives as well. :O)
KimiHarris
Thanks for sharing your story! It’s amazing how success can “snowball”, as you put it so well. And thank you for the encouraging words! It’s just what I needed after being discouraged with a negative comment elsewhere. 🙂
Maria
Hi there.
Love reading your blog and was encouraged to hear others doing a fast from sugar. We have decided to finally get rid of all processed sugars and food in general. We are almost completely off wheat (including whole wheat) and have seen tremendous success. I’m sure you know this, but wheat consumption is a strong leader in fatique. Removing it has done wonders. I have seen many changes. Arthritic pain is almost gone. Craving to eat more gone. Irrational mood patterns and anxiety also gone. I was surprised to find zero PMS or cramps due to this change in diet. It is still a challenge to stay clean. Once an addict always an addict? But the life change, aside from weight loss, for me has been dramatic. Great post. All of what you said is true!
KimiHarris
Hi Marie,
Good for you! So glad to hear that things are going well for you. It’s true that wheat is linked to a wide variety of problems. I think that many of these problems would also disappear if we used an older variety of wheat and fermented it well with sourdough. 🙂 We are actually a gluten-free family right now (except my husband), and life without wheat can be pretty good. 😉
Natalia
Sugar cleanse changed my life. I feel much more grounded and clear minded. Funny about the bookshelf and the snowballing effect you refer to. I am cleaning out more and more stuff that we just do not need. I tried to eat balanced meals – quality protein, veggie, whole grain…light on fruit and little to no natural sweeteners. Two crutches were PB lollipops (spoonful of peanut butter) on occasion and strong cinnamon tea with a splash of cream every evening. I took some liberties starting during the second week bc I decided I wanted to make this a lifestyle and not an all or nothing thing (I tend to do that and wanted to avoid my own extremism.) It was a great time to revamp the pantry and next I will work on revamping my son’s tastebuds (baby daughter is already there.) A great start – today my children gobbled up the lightly sweet raspberry-poppyseed half millet muffins I made (Lucas with a bit of organic jam – but still, I was happy.) Thanks again for the inspiration!
Natalia
I also wanted to mention the physical benefits to the cleanse (possibly tmi, but I think it’s interesting to hear everyone’s results – it’s like a study, proof and validation.) My eyes are clearer and greener and my skin has a much healthier glow. I gained a little weight (I think) and my cheeks filled out a bit – I needed this as I have a hard time keeping weight on while nursing and since I became a mother in general. I think these dietary changes just normalize weight – depending on which direction one is needing to go. I had no pms symptoms this month (one week into the cleanse.) And perhaps the biggest “proof” that I needed this is that a large spot of eczema on the palm of my right hand that I have been dealing with for eight months – at many times I have not been able to use my hand normally and have been in pain – is GONE.
Hannah @ eat, drink and save money
I have never done the cleanse, but I do find that I am less likely to eat sugary treats if I don’t buy them. In fact we don’t even keep sugar in the house!
Lynda
Truly wonderful post. Thank you. 🙂
Archer
Your comment about Pinterest made me laugh. When I feel overwhelmed, I usually read blogs or look there too!
Christie
I did not sugar cleanse (I don’t much care for sugar. I do eat some with fair regularity, but it isn’t hard for me to leave on the table), but I read the whole post for its wonderful inspiration. I hope I can remember the bit about mining for gold. Thanks for sharing your story.
Mireya @myhealthyeatinghabits
It’s funny. For you, getting and organizing a bookshelf is a good way to get other parts of your life ordered. For me, I find that a good yoga session gets me out of an afternoon slump and gets me energetic to go clean up other areas at work or home.
samara
Great post Kimi! Thank you for your encouragement. You’re a huge motivation!
Samara
City Share
Thanks for the great post. I have been avoiding sugar too (not specifically as part of your cleanse), and I find that if I’m “good” it becomes easier and easier to not eat sugar. Once I slip and eat something sweet, I want to eat more and more sugar. I know that I have some candida issues, and I’m still figuring out the best way to deal with that (I’m nursing and don’t want massive yeast die-off). It’s so true about success in one area spilling over. I always find if I make my bed in the morning and get the kitchen cleaned up first thing after breakfast the rest of my day is more productive.
Aurea@SurvivalGuide
Thanks for a great post! I’m a bit late in commenting & starting on my sugar cleanse but everything you said hit home big time! my mom is always talking about ‘like attracting like’ and thats exactly what I see all around now! …I’ve been trying to kick the sugar for over a month now, and normally I don’t find it so hard to give something up but I’ve been really busy as well as being in the middle of moving house so as my life became more crazy it became harder and harder to get a grip but now the last boxes are finally emptied and stored away and like a miracle I have been able to get a hold on the sugar elimination and actually start back with exercise and keeping better hours – I think my gold strike was during a pause towards the end of un-packing – thanks again, always great to hear one’s experiences are not singular!