I lost 2 pounds.

No joke. I weighed myself the first day, then proceeded to eat about 50 almonds so that I wouldn’t break down and rob the local Dairy Queen (holding up the joint with a whipped cream gun, perhaps?) And I thought about the 100 almonds I ate yesterday as I weighed myself today, and was shocked. Two pounds. Just…gone. Which is a crazy coincidence, because David Gillespie, author of Sweet Poison: Why Sugar Makes Us Fat, says that we each “eat 2 pounds of added sugar a week.” Well, I can assure him that I don’t normally eat 5000 almonds per week, either. But, there you have it. Except, now I have two pounds less of it. Sha-bam!

 

“Yeah, I could eat.”

If you’re like me, you’re always up for noshing on a little sumpin’ sumpin’. A friend wants to go out to eat, but I just had dinner? Eh, I’m sure I can whip up some hunger on the way to the restaurant. I thought it was just me—that I was one of those people who’s just constantly somewhat hungry. Turns out, I was wrong:

“When you are addicted to sugar and your appetite is stuck half-on, you can keep eating and eating and eating.” David Gillespie, it’s like you KNOW ME!

But it’s not supposed to be like that: “Once you are fructose-free and your appetite control is working, it will be counting your calories for you and will stop you in your tracks if you eat too much.” Looking forward to when that kicks in, buddy!

 

I really don’t want to become dumber.

The MOST CONVINCING science that made it easier for me to not feel like I was missing out was a study that shows how sugar hurts one’s ability to “learn and remember information,” and even though omega-3 fatty acids can “help minimize the damage,” there’s still been damage.

And, since I’m getting my body baby-ready, it makes it even easier to say no, since I’m also killing my sugar addiction for future little me:

“Fructose definitely affects iodine metabolism, which affects your baby’s IQ (and not in a good way).” (And also copper metabolism, which can screw with the baby’s growth of the developing muscles and organs.) Thanks for the heads up, Gillespie!

Do I want my future child (yet-unconceived, DAD, don’t even ask) to be a prodigy who beats Carolyn at Jeopardy or creates the next Internet or invents a convenient way to have a manatee as a pet? Yes. Yes, I do. So, I’ll do my best to give him/her the best chance possible by keeping this no sugar thing up THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PREGNANCY. (No, the pregnancy hasn’t started yet, Dad! Don’t worry! I’ll keep you posted!)

 

Not a shock, but worth a note:

Sleep has definitely gotten more sound. I have always been a light sleeper, but for years, I’ve laid awake in bed for an hour or so before finally falling asleep, and even when sleep would come, it felt as though I would just skim the surface of sleep the entire night and would wake up groggy. In the past week, I’ve definitely slept more soundly and have woken up feeling more refreshed than I have in a LONG WHILE, probably since the days when I couldn’t wait to get up and build some towers out of our used-toothbrushing-paper-water-cup-collection:

One week down! Check back in next week for another update.