I just...

I just have to share with you guys! Today is day 9 that I, Brittany Land, have gone without dairy, sodas, bread, and sugar. Last Monday Daniel and I started the AdvoCare 24 day challenge. Tomorrow will be our final day of the 10 day cleanse. I never in my life thought that I possessed the will power to keep from taking a bite out of the boys PB&Js. I baked two or three times a week. I always had homemade cookies or cupcakes or pie or SOMETHING that I can eat at a cravings whim. 

I am addicted to sugar. 

The first 3 days were very hard, but I stayed strong. Having Daniel, my mom, a friend and my coaches that I could text or call to take my mind off of wanting something I didn't NEED made this so much easier. At times I wanted to run down to the cupcake shop and stuff my face, but I didn't. And now, I feel like a brand new person. I use to CRASH every day between 1 and 2 pm. I was loaded up on simple carbs and my body just could not handle it.

For breakfast I've been eating steel cut oats (which I can't believe I never had before now) with either strawberries, blueberries or banana and just a tiny dash of Stevia in the Raw in it with a side of 2 egg whites (sometimes scrambled and sometimes boiled). This has been the hardest part because I am NOT a breakfast person…unless it's 6 bowls of Lucky Charms. 

I should add that the first and last 3 days of the cleanse I drink a fiber drink in the AM before breakfast. The first 7 days I took herbal cleanse supplements at bed time.

The last 7 days I took a pro biotic before breakfast. 

In between meals I munch on nuts, seeds, fresh fruit and veggies, hummus, peanut butter, and just anything that is high in fiber and protein and not processed. 

Lunches are either salads or left overs from the night before or both. Yesterday I opened a can of tuna, mixed in a tsp of mustard and sprinkled with pepper and it was so delicious. I have seen my sister do this before and thought it was gross… But I tried it. And I liked it. A lot. I ate that with a slice of avocado and some cherry tomatoes. 

For dinner I have been cooking a lot with ground turkey. We have had tacos with homemade seasoning wrapped in lettuce, Spaghetti squash with turkey meat sauce, Chicken fajitas and using lettuce again instead of tortillas (which I am surprised I liked so much. I usually hate myself after Mexican food but not this week!), ground turkey made into patties stuffed with mushrooms and onions (we ate them like hamburger steak), and turkey meatballs (made like meatloaf but with turkey and instead of bread crumbs I used oats). 

This is my second biggest accomplishment. Cooking EVERY night. I'm not going to pretend that we don't normally eat out twice a week. Because we did. And it was showing. 

Third accomplishment is my water intake. They say that you should divide your weight by 2 and drink that many ounces. I've been working out so I've been drinking about 100 oz each day plus my Spark once or twice a day. This is probably AdvoCare's freaking golden child because it is loaded with vitamins and has only half the caffeine of a cup of coffee. I would usually drink a cup or two in the morning but Daniel and my mom would drink it all day every day, and even into the night. Both of them have said that they have had no issues with giving up coffee solely because Spark gives them hours of energy without jitters or a crash. 

I first signed up as a distributor for AdvoCare so I could get 20% off when we ordered our challenges. Now, it is a company with quality products that I truly believe in. It isn't a diet. It is a lifestyle change. And I know that Daniel and I HAD to change the way we were eating or we'd be diabetics within a few years. Now, we will STILL eat our cake, but just a piece. And probably not every day. My friend Ashley who first introduced us to AdvoCare says it's about making good choices at an 80% to 20% ratio. If you're going to eat a muffin or bagel, just keep the rest of it clean. I feel like this challenge is getting us off to the jumpstart that we needed to show us that we CAN make good choices and that they can be healthy and delicious. I am so blown away by not only the discipline I've had these past few days but that everyone on the challenge with me has shown. 

(I feel that I should disclose that during Mr Peabody and Sherman on Saturday I ate 8 of the boys pretzel M&Ms and about 6 of the little sour gummy things.)