On to Fat Week!

I wrapped up my week of cutting out sugar on Sunday and sat down that night to read up on what's next: caffeine. I honestly wasn't sure what to do about this one, since I don't consume much caffeine. I've stopped drinking pop because of the aspartame. I've stopped eating chocolate. My one last vice is my Earl Grey Tea Lattes in the morning (just tea and milk, no more vanilla syrup), and Earl Grey is black tea which has caffeine. I love my morning drink, though, so I wanted to go without giving it up if at all possible.

So, I decided to conduct a little science observation. On Monday, I drank my tea as normal in the morning and paid extra attention as to how I felt throughout the day. I felt pretty even-keeled all day. None of the ups and downs of caffeine that Alex Jamieson writes about in her book. So, I think I'm going to keep the caffeine in for now. Just the one cup a day, and I'm steeping it less than before. Once I run out of these tea bags, I'll just buy decaf from now on. I'm drinking the tea for the delicious warmth in the morning, not for the jolt.

That means, then, that I'm on to fat week! The gist of the week is to try to eliminate the bad fats and bring in more of the good. I finally learned what hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils are and why they're bad for you. Ditto on trans fats. Basically, they're just harder for your body to process and can end up just sitting in your liver, diminishing its function. Never mind it clogging your arteries. The disturbing thing is how much those trans fats are hidden and so how much we're eating them. Ick.

To counteract that, I'm trying to eat more healthy unsaturated fats. Nuts, fish, avocados, and certain cooking oils (especially olive oil) are all good sources of healthy fats, as long as they're eaten in moderation. Did someone just tell me to eat more guacamole?!?! Okay!

And by the way, I'm still cutting out refined sugar and most sweeteners as a whole, and it's going great. I feel really well and am not suffering any cravings. I haven't had chocolate in a week and a half, which is likely the longest I've ever gone in my life. People have been really nice about not offering me treats at work and I've been keeping my hands in my pockets a lot. Besides looking like a weirdo, it's going well. Ditto on the drinking more water. I read somewhere that if you're feeling a little tired in the afternoon to drink more water and take a little walk, and that's really helping!

Finally, I've been following the recipes in The Great American Detox Diet for almost three weeks now, so I'm practically living as a vegetarian, with the exception of a little ground turkey and some fish. You know what? It's really not that bad and actually quite doable. Something to think about...