Finding my elusive mojo!
The end of week 2 of Pure 21 and I can’t stop doing stuff! This weekend, I fixed my decking – pulled it up and replaced some of the struts underneath it – fixed a fence panel at the front of the garden, and replaced two roof rails and two bike racks on my trailer (which I nadged driving into a car park a couple of weeks ago – note to self, ‘don’t drive into a car park with a height restriction with bikes on the trailer!’), and put a new lock on it too! I feel great! Energy levels are up, sleep is better, I feel more positive, hot flushes have all but gone and those niggling aches in my body have melted away.
You see, when I eat sugar, I get brain fog which means doing anything is tricky as my mind is blurry and it all takes so much more effort. I forget things, so I’ll go to the shop to buy something I need to do a job, and I’ll forget something else I need and end up putting the job off again because it all seems too difficult.
When I drink alcohol, I get hot flushes which wake me in the night. I then wake up anxious at about 3:30am and can’t get back to sleep because I’m worrying over silly little things, so I’m tired all the time and feel grumpy and negative, so don’t have the drive to do things I know I should be able to do, so again I put them off.
And when I drink coffee, it seems to set off the sugar and alcohol cycle – yes I feel great having the coffee, but on days when I do, I then reach for some toast, or cake, or chocolate, or I just graze all day, my body feeling as though it needs something but I’m not sure what.
One thing always leads to another. I’ve had a coffee, so I might as well have some cake, because I’ve already had the coffee. So now, I might as well have a gin, because I’ve already had sugar and the day is a right off… Guilt is a bizarre thing.
Or is it something else?
Well, yes, it is. I’m not saying that guilt doesn’t come into it, I’m 100% sure it does, but the fact of the matter is, that if you drink a coffee, then it will result in your blood sugars dropping and your body feeling low on energy and asking you for a quick fix. Caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands in the same way a sabre-toothed tiger would have done when we were living in caves. It primes us for action. But then we sit at a desk or get in the car to go to work, so all that sugar, released into the bloodstream to fuel a fight, isn’t needed and is going to cause a problem if the body doesn’t deal with it. So, we pump out insulin and send the sugar to be stored. Great – sorted! Well, yes, but unfortunately, insulin can be a bit heavy handed and often leads to blood sugars being too low and us feeling the need for that quick fix in the form of another coffee, or a big slab of Italian lemon and ricotta cake (‘Sisterhood Cake’ as it is now known in the Shaw family). And so, there we are, heading towards the inevitable 5:30pm Gin.
At the end of week 1, I was still craving coffee and cake and gin, but the combination of clean eating and the extra supplements in week 2 and cravings have gone and I’m waking up with a clear head, ready to face the day at 5:30am feeling great, which means that week 3 is going to be so much easier than week 2 and before I know it, I’ll be at the end of Pure 21 with new healthy habits and a balanced body and mind!
PS. Coffee at the right time of day, can be a good thing – a shot before you hit the gym or go for a run can release energy into the bloodstream to fuel your exercise and give you the extra kick you need if you are feeling tired before your workout, and there are several health benefits associated with coffee. But just see how you feel giving it up for a couple of weeks – see if your cravings diminish or your sleep improves. See if your hot flushes go. It may be just what you need to set you on the road to balanced bliss!