21-Day Sugar Detox Day 21: The Number One Gift, and What I'm "Going Back To."

It's day 21 of the 21-Day Sugar Detox. Technically, I could "break" it tonight, since I started it, Jewish-style, the evening before day 1. But I'm in no hurry to break it! In fact, I'm loath to disturb the goodness. 
Cravings?
Which is interesting, considering that going into it (I wrote about the "why" here) I was worried enough about cravings and habitual non-caloric "crutches" like chewable vitamin C and xylitol mints that I made an "insteads" chart to put up in the kitchen...

...as well as a long list of my "big whys" for doing the detox prominent on my bulletin board in the bedroom that I see while I'm rebounding in the morning. 
I thought I'd miss those things. I thought I'd miss stevia/xylitol/erythritol in my teas and smoothies. I thought I'd miss fruit.
But the cravings I was experiencing on a daily basis, before I went on the detox, were far worse!
As it turned out, I was fine with no stevia in my teas and I was surprised by how good my smoothies, even without fruit, could taste with no stevia or erythritol. I'm a spice-ist, though, and cinnamon and its friends were my friends.
I didn't miss the xylitol mints, etc., because I wasn't hungry all the time--I didn't need them to distract the hunger. This, even though I was eating even fewer calories.
And I didn't miss the fruit. The detox allows for one per day: grapefruit, green apple, or green-tipped banana. I can't do bananas (and thought it a very strange inclusion), but I was fine with green apples and grapefruit--both are detoxing to the liver, which seemed appropriate. I had grapefruit for the first half and green apples for the second half, but I still have half the bag of apples--I didn't even have fruit every day! And I did limit my beloved carrots also.
The one thing I did crave, calling myself out here, was the last item mentioned on my "insteads" list; a food item I really had no business ever eating in the first place. It's a chocolate-covered soy protein bar with sea salt. God knows why I bought it one day a few months ago: nothing about it would appeal to me in my right mind (I don't tolerate soy well, it has way too much sugar, and chocolate+sugar is a terrible idea for me). But in those couple months of alternate-day fasting, sometimes I'd break a longish fast with a piece of fruit, stressed, out running errands, and my blood sugar and hunger and anxiety would go through the roof and I'd end up eating something normally beyond the pale. This isn't an uncommon phenomenon, but in my life it's pretty unique. Even knowing that this happens to other people, I'm still boggled by my craving for that stupid bar. On day 4 of the detox, it was almost overwhelming, but day 4 was also the day it came clear just how much better my digestive issues were already, so I had some pretty darn good motivation to battle the craving.
The Number One Gift From the Detox
So yes, by day 4 --just Four Short Days! -- my gut issues were mostly better. They're not 100% "fixed," which makes total sense, but the transit-time/motility issues are basically resolved at this point (and were basically fine from day 4 on); I'm sleeping better, without the intense nausea and bloating. I still have more gas than I'd like, but it's actually moving through now rather than just doubling me over.
Other positive things, too, but the overall gift of the process I can sum up in a single word:
Clarity -- in so many respects. Going into this intentional process allowed me to acknowledge things I already knew but was in denial about, which liberated me to choose what works for me rather than cling to ideals. 
-- No more Garden of Eden. I was able to let go of my idealistic adoration of fruit and acknowledge that, bizarre as it may sound, fruit has always tended to constipate me, even in my fruitarian days! And if fruit does that, surely sugar would do so even worse.
-- Much more conscious eating, none of the crazy breaking-long-fast-while-running-errands scenario described above.
-- Clarity of skin. In my fruitarian days my skin was broken out about half the time. It's been consistently quite broken out for the past several months. But these past 21 days, it's cleared right up (although just today, the final day, I suddenly have one or two zits). I might have expected my skin to be worse during a detox. Once again, the clarity to acknowledge that it seems probable that in my leaky-gutted body all kinds of sugar (yes, including fruit) break out my skin.
-- Clarity to experiment. I'd always gone by the rule of "eat fruit first." But my obsessive blood sugar checking started from the observation that I'd break my fast with some fruit and feel hungrier, not satiated. And yet "eat fruit first" was an article of faith. But during the detox, I experimented with the other recommendation floating around, that if you're going to eat fruit (or a bunch of carbs in general), it's a better match for circadian hormone fluctuation if you eat it in the evening. I found that worked well for me, and meshed well with:
-- Clarity to make changes--with all the fasting, I was tending to eat more late in the evening. Having my fruit in the evening went along with noticing that an earlier, lighter dinner helped with my sleep and general level of comfort in my body.
-- Clarity: Hello! I'd noticed a while ago that fruit makes me hungrier. So then I go eat more fruit, and eat it first? And my m.o. is to eat as little as possible? (I do torture myself sometimes.) Yes, instead I got to be so much more satiated, on less food, without all those cravings I was having, without lots of chewable vitamin C that probably has questionable ingredients to hold it together.
-- Clarity: what a waste of money to buy foods that make me sick and then spend more money buying the most expensive enzymes, which helped just a little bit if I took them by the handful. Isn't that stupid? Don't eat the food, you don't need so many expensive enzymes, doh! 

What I'm "Going Back To" and What I'm Keeping
As I said at the top, I'm a little cautious about changing anything much. And since the only thing I really missed was what I described as a "completely inappropriate object of craving"--something I know is not good for me and never truly want to put in my body, I don't feel compelled to rush back to anything.
-- I probably will add back in pure stevia, erythritol, xylitol, and small amounts of raw honey because my honest experience is that they all work in my body, although I understand the rationale of leaving them out for the detox to reset tastebuds. But I'll use them a lot less. Where my smoothies used to have both stevia and erythritol and fruit (and, honestly, some pretty bitter ingredients too), I imagine I'll use a little of just one of those sweeteners, if any.
-- My Sunwarrior pea protein powder will come back into the mix (it was out because it contains some stevia) because it feels good in my body and it's convenient.

-- I imagine there will be room for the odd xylitol mint and chewable vitamin C and zevia soda. But if I continue to feel so satiated and free of cravings, there won't be much need for them
-- Oh, I'll be glad to put berries in my smoothies again--probably in the evenings, though. And I'll be happy to enjoy some of the local fruit. My favorite farmers at the farmers' market have many kinds of organic heirloom melon, some of which are new to me (and I'm a huge fruit nerd, remember, so that's saying something), and there's other farmers with local peaches and apples (we're at that magical cusp of summer and fall with both peaches and apples). But I expect I'll be cautious and strategic about the fruit. I'm no longer in a phase of life where it's normal to eat the whole melon.
Here's what it is: I'm not "Going Back To" -- I'm "Going Forward To"! 
ONWARD!!
Note: I'd be remiss not to review the detox itself. I will do so, but I'll give that its own space--this post has already gotten quite long. I hope it's helpful to anyone contemplating this detox.

Review Time! Vega Wholefood Vibrancy Bars; Sprouted Buckwheat Caution...and Snowy Angels

Speaking of looking forward and looking back...

Right before we left for England, the folks at Sequel Naturals were kind enough to send me a couple of their Vibrancy Bars to review: 'Green Synergy' and 'Chocolate Decadence.' I shared them with Phil, who has a very different palate (read: much more picky and 'standard dieter,' whereas I'm picky and 'greeneater'). So there's a contrast of views to share there.

Sorry it's taken so long! But here it is at last. One little tiny gripe first: I had a 'banana-peanut butter-spirulina' smoothie for lunch today, similar to the one that blissed me out at Organic Oasis, and per my Naturopath's instructions to eat something I think I 'shouldn't' 25% of the time. I was blissed out the other time I made it - ecstatic - but today, my tummy was so unhappy afterwards: as painful as a full-blown ate-something-I'm-allergic-to thing. Why? Only difference was I used half a banana and a few frozen cherries instead of a whole banana: I've had frozen cherries before recently with no problem and would have guessed that if anything that would have sat better with me. OK - griping over. Our bodies are so mysterious sometimes.

Back to the bars. They are so beautifully packaged: I like how the text is 'portrait' rather than landscape as most bar wrappings are - it looks sophisticated and striking.

Looking at the ingredients, I loved to see that there were so many good sprouted nuts and seeds and so many good essential oils and green powders. And pea protein powder is definitely the protein that works best for me. I wondered why it was necessary to have both dates and agave: since I generally avoid sugar as much as possible, I prefer if just dates are used. I was also interested and a little apprehensive about the sprouted buckwheat that is the first ingredient: I've had terrible stomach pain from buckwheat before, but it may not have been fully sprouted. **But please see my note below for a general concern about sprouted buckwheat** However, I liked that they use a sprouted, non-gluten carbohydrate source as a main ingredient. A lot of raw bars are mostly sugar and fat with a little protein added, the sugar really tweaks my equilibrium, and I've recently been overcoming my carb-phobia and recognizing that for energy bars and for prolonged satiation, it can be a good idea to have a carb in the mix that isn't just a sugar. The 'sorghum puffs' that are the final ingredient are presumably a textural addition.

I happen to think that buckwheat groats are beautiful. I love how you can see them in the matrix of the bar - and how well the bar holds together.

OK - now for the taste test part. I apologize in advance if Phil's comments seem unkind: I'm sharing them partly because they were so funny and partly because they balance my own. If it tastes green, I'm going to love it and Phil is not, and if you're reading my reviews it's worth knowing where my biases lie!

I liked the bar a lot. I love the 'green' taste and actually enjoyed the earthy texture and crunch of the buckwheat. I liked that you could taste the hemp, almonds and dates individually but that it didn't overpower the integral flavor of the bar. To me, it was very, very sweet, but the buckwheat actually toned that down a bit. For me, if they weren't so expensive and perhaps if they had less sugar (cut the agave), they would probably be the best raw bar I've tried for being satiating without tweaking my blood sugar. I was grateful that I garnered no excruciating stomach symptoms from the sprouted buckwheat. However, I'd caution against eating anything with sprouted buckwheat every day, and I'll explain further after looking at the chocolate bar.

Now, here's what Phil said: "When I was a kid and we had sheep on the farm, we had these alfalfa cubes that we fed them, that we'd dip in molasses as a mineral supplement for them. So, as a little boy, of course I tried them too. And they tasted pretty much exactly like this!" Phil is a textures guy and loves crunch, so I was a little surprised when he said that he didn't like the texture. He clarified (with my ingredient-explication) that he felt that the buckwheat groats tamped down in his teeth rather than providing crunch. That, I can understand. It's very hard to maintain a crunchy texture in a sprouted seed when it's included in a bar with all other kinds of softeners. Phil said he definitely preferred the Amazing Grass bars we sampled a little while ago.

On to the chocolate bar!

This has the same basic ingredients, but doesn't have the green foods and has some more added sugar with the added chocolate. As you can see, the chocolate is added into the general mix of the bar, as opposed to being a coating or internal chunks. That isn't usually my favorite way to enjoy chocolate, and it wasn't this time. I liked the bar perfectly well, but think I would have liked it even more if it had had green foods and chocolate! And maybe some cacao nibs whole in there, or something like that. Otherwise, this was fairly similar to the green bar (although some would say the absence of greens is an important difference). For me, it worked less well because of the adrenal-tweak factor of the cacao.

As for Phil, he first said 'it tastes less like fodder than the other one,' and then added that the effect of the chocolate just mixed in with everything else was to seem like it was lower-quality chocolate in there: enough to give you a jolt, he thought. He said it tasted like it was 'very good for you and very expensive!' He still didn't love the buckwheat texture, but he did prefer this bar to the Green Vibrancy.

Bear in mind, Phil and I are both loons. I think this makes us great reviewers, actually, because we're so imaginative and open to trying things. But neither one of us has tastebuds exactly in the middle of the ballpark.

**In all conscience, I have to talk a bit about buckwheat sprouts. Buckwheat sprouts and greens contain a compound called fagopyrin that can accumulate in your tissues when eaten on a regular basis and can cause a photosensitive rash. A few years ago, when I still lived in CA, I was living with another raw-foodist. He loved sprouted buckwheat and loved to make buckwheat hummus, but before we lived together he only ate it rarely because he didn't get around to making the sprouts. Along comes Miss Well-meaning sproutathonic, and now he can have his buckwheat hummus every day if he wants to! I didn't eat it because I don't tend to do well with starches and the other main ingredient was bell pepper, which makes me sick. Well, after a week or so of this, he came out in blotches all over his body and wasn't so pleased about it, as well as mystified. I racked my brains and remembered that I had read something years before about buckwheat lettuce causing photosensitive rashes. I asked him if the rash was worse in sunlight and he found that it was.

So, I quit sprouting buckwheat, he quit eating it and his skin cleared right up. I felt badly that my helping him out had led to such unpleasant symptoms but also thought that it was good to know and be aware that you can have too much sprouted buckwheat. I should add that he really was having a lot of it every day: many times more than is contained in one of those Vibrancy Bars, and was possibly more sensitive than most as well. But having experienced this reaction, albeit vicariously, I feel that I need to share the story.

Snow 'angels' on the beach today - Phil

..and me, all bundled up! And yes, that is the sun!

Much love.