Last week I was getting way to stir-crazy, so I called my sister and told her we wanted to come down to California and surprise my parents, but just by chance she had Fall break so they were actually going out of town to the Colorado River (basically Lake Havasu area) where we go often as a family. I had to call my dad so that he would know to bring our life jackets for the boat and be prepared for us. Then I was talking to my older sister, Elisabeth, and mentioned that we were going and her family said they wanted to come surprise Mom as well! So Thursday night we drove to St. George, stayed the night, then got up early Friday and drove the rest of the way to the river. 

My mom was SHOCKED when she saw us drive up. She was so happy to see us, and Jeff & I were SO happy to get out of Utah for a few days and enjoy the nice warmth and boating with family. It was a really short trip but so worth it. 

Because of my hip problems, I was unable to do anything but surf but I still got a good surf in. 

SUGAR. Sugar is in practically everything. You may not realize it, but almost everything you are eating probably has sugar added to it, and is listed as an ingredient. Well, after my parents went on a particular diet and had great results and completely flipped their eating habits, Jeff and I decided to do the same thing. The diet was called "The Fast Metabolism Diet", and in a nutshell, for 4 weeks we couldn't eat any flour, dairy, or sugars. This meant that if sugar (in any form) was listed as an ingredient for something we wanted to cook with or eat, we had to steer clear. There was a list of foods we could eat on certain days of the week at certain times of the day. It was hard. But in the end, it was worth it.

While I didn't have quite the same weight loss results as my parents, and didn't even get the results that I had hoped for, Jeff and I learned a lot. For us, the diet was not a weight loss diet, but an eat healthy diet.

For a month we had to turn down dinner invitations, stay away from work lunches and events, and spend way more on groceries than we ever have before (healthy food is way more expensive, for the record). My body went through sugar withdrawals so bad that one of the days I could barely get out of bed! I was getting killer headaches and struggling to find the energy I needed. But after a week or so my body broke out of the shock and started handling things better.

Like I said, we learned a lot. Jeff & I have continued to buy things that don't include sugar, with the exception of our nice desserts we enjoy on date nights. We have gone back to eating dairy, cause I mean who can stay away from milk and ice cream, but we are sticking to omitting the sugar from our meals and snacks whenever possible.

It was honestly so crazy to see how hard it is to buy things without sugar. You don't realize how much sugar you are eating in a day, but something like garlic salt can have sugar in it! (Like why the heck do you need to add sugar to garlic salt?! Go check your garlic salt right now!) My eyes have been opened to the unhealthy foods we put into our stomachs.

Try omitting sugar for one week out of anything you cook with or eat. It's a lot harder than it sounds!

While I didn't really take any photos of the foods we were eating, I do have this one photo of us on our first date after the diet eating at a restaurant! We went to Cubby's, of course haha.. (the best burger place ever!)
love,
SK