WIAW- After 8 Week Sugar Detox

I'm back for WIAW! Don't forget to link up!

Please excuse my absence for the last 2 weeks. Our family took a much needed vacation last week! Technically it was a hunting trip. I will fill you in on all that fun in another post! For now, I should update you on weeks 7 and 8 of the sugar detox.

I ended up cutting the detox a week short. I knew there was no way I could go on a week long camping/hunting trip and adhere to all the rules of the detox! How can you go camping without smores? That's right, you can't! Week seven was to consist of cutting out all bread and starchy foods, and week 8 was to completely cut all sugars. I cut week eight and just eliminated both breads and starches, and sugars for week 7.  Here are some of my eats for that last week.

Clockwise from left: Slow cooker pork roast with roasted carrots and steamed broccoli; scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese with bacon and grapefruit; salad with broccoli, bell peppers, black beans, and peanuts with balsamic and olive oil and an all beef hot dog (sulfite/sulfate free) on the side; another salad with broccoli, bell peppers, black beans, left over bacon, and a banana on the side; 2 eggs fried in olive oil with bacon and grapefruit; roasted chicken breast with green beans and salad.

How did it go? Well I wouldn't say I ended the last week strong. Because I was trying to load everything up in our trailer for the hunting trip, I didn't have a whole lot of food to work with. I didn't want to have anything left over in the fridge while we were gone for a week, and I only have so much room in the trailer for food. Hence the black beans. Are black beans a starch? Or legume? Either way, they needed to be eaten before we left town!

So, what did we eat on our camping trip? Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of that. I'm not sure I want photo evidence of that anyhow! A lot of prepackaged stuff. At least a lot more than my family has been used to lately. I was able to make a few meals ahead of time and freeze them to eat while camping. I made spaghetti with my homemade canned spaghetti sauce and whole grain noodles, then I froze it in two ziploc bags for dinner for 2 different nights. It turned out okay, but the noodles were definitely too mushy. I also pre-made two pepperoni pizzas on this whole wheat pizza dough. I pre-baked the doughs for just a couple minutes, added toppings and froze. They turned out great! Another dinner we had was fajitas. Very easy! I purchased  pre-cut beef for stir fry, put it in a baggy with olive oil and my homemade taco seasoning and froze it. I then bought a bag of frozen sliced bell peppers. When I wanted to make dinner, I thawed the pre-seasoned meat and threw it in a pan with the frozen bell peppers. Cook through and place in tortillas with your favorite toppings. Yum!

I was very surprised at how much food I was able to fit in the trailer with a little preparation. Next year I will definitely do something similar by pre-making some of the meals ahead of time and freezing them flat in Ziploc bags to stack in the freezer.

I will definitely say that during the vacation week, I started feeling very bloated and actually was nauseous a few nights. I am sure it had to do with the food I was eating. Not enough whole foods and too much prepackaged snacks. It had absolutely nothing to do with the beer I treated myself to. Wink! Now that I'm home, though, I am feeling better! Yes I may have some sweets here and there, but I haven't been craving anything per say.

Will I ever do it again? I think I would like to do this once a year. I really did feel better, and I think it may help get my cravings back in check.

Have you ever thought about taking a sugar detox of any kind?

Update: Chore Calendar and Meal Planning

Obviously a lot has changed since having a second child. I still like to be pretty organized but the priorities have changed slightly. Almost a year ago I wrote a post about my monthly chore calendar and weekly meal planning. Since then, I've had to let some things go a little, and not be so anal retentive. This has really helped me keep my sanity! Let me show you what I mean...

1 year ago, my calendar looked like this. I used different colored pens to organize different things that needed to be done each day.

This is what my calendar looks like today. Get the picture?

I don't have time to spend 20 minutes using pretty pens to organize my month. Now, when I make an appointment I just write it directly on the calendar. As for organizing my cleaning schedule, that is just an impossible feat with two little ones constantly leaving messes in their wake. I do have some things I do each day to keep things from getting out of hand. 

Dishes every day- sometimes twice a day

Laundry- at least one load per day

De-clutter- At the end of the day, the kids clean up all their toys that are spewn across the whole house. I take this time to also pick up things that are not in their designated place.(used cups/dishes, craft supplies, papers, mail, etc.) 

Now, as far as cleaning room by room, I basically clean them when they need to be cleaned. For example, I just mopped my floors the other day. It had been about two weeks since the last time I mopped. Sounds crazy? I've taught my family to take their shoes off in the house! My daughter does it religiously. I clean the bathrooms maybe once a week. I vacuum when I start feeling anxiety. That is usually my sign that I need to clean. When I start getting anxious and uncomfortable, it's usually because I don't have a clean living space. For me, a clean home, is a calm mind. 

So now let me show you my meal planning...

1 year ago, I used these super cute "Eat Sheets".

Now I use a notebook.

I could still use the eat sheets. I did like them, but when I would take them grocery shopping, it was hard to write on them without a hard surface. By using a notebook, I can take the whole thing with me to the store and cross things off my list no problem. Then when I get home, I just rip that page out and put it on my fridge for that week. It might not be as pretty but it makes life easier. That is what I have been trying to accomplish. 

As much as I like lists and organization, there are just more important things to take care of now. Number one priority is my children. Kissing boo boos, building castles, coloring, or wiping butts, these things come first and that is how it will always be. I want them to have memories of mommy playing with them, not constantly cleaning the house.

Slowly my daughter is learning how to clean things on her own. I do still want my children to learn to take pride in the things they own. Helping around the house is the first step. I see chore cards in my future...

Okay, so I am still pretty OCD, I guess the things I find the need to organize are just different now!

Monthly Chore Calendar and Grocery Shopping on Labor Day!

Holy COW! That's all I have to say about grocery shopping on Labor Day, AND it just so happens to be the beginning of the month. Talk about a ton of people in one store! It's not very easy to squeeze past people when you have a huge belly! This post is late today because I wanted to do my shopping before writing it. Probably not the best idea for today. I'm exhausted!

I made my weekly meal plan on Friday, but didn't end up going to the farm on Saturday because I didn't need very many things. We made a Sam's Club trip on Sunday, though, for paper products and a couple other things. I ended up getting some strawberries and blueberries there for my next fruit strip project also.

 I decided to shop at Smith's. (A different store further from me) They have an actual organic food department and more of a selection of organic produce. I knew today was probably not the best day for grocery shopping since Labor Day is a pretty busy day at the grocery stores. ( I used to work at a grocery store, I should have known better!) I totally forgot, though, that it was also the 2nd of the month which means it's 3 times as busy! It took us a good 45 min longer to shop than usual. This week we didn't get as much organic and natural items as I would have liked but my list was a little long and I really didn't want to be in that store any longer than I had to. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!! It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that my pregnancy cravings have been off the charts!

Not including the 5 packs of soda I HAD to buy for my husband, the total was $89.56. 

 *Just for the record, the Fudgsicles and one of the loafs of bread were free! Don't judge me!

I did just hear of another natural and organic grocery store here in Las Vegas called Sprouts Farmers Market. From reading their reviews they seem to be a great alternative to Whole Foods and the regular grocery stores. The reviews also stated that their prices were great as well. I think this warrants a shopping trip there next week! They are quite a bit further from me than Whole Foods, Smith's, or Target (my usual go to's), probably about twenty to thirty minutes from me. ( I know! A lot of people drive this every week.) This probably means investing in more insulated reusable bags! Or possibly bringing a cooler for the cold items. We will give it a go next week and I will fill you in on my findings!

Monthly Chore Calendar

So I had mentioned in an earlier post that I may be a little OCD. I just happen to like organization! Since becoming a SAHM, I have tried to make my life easier by keeping things organized. I have read many a post about tips on organizing your home. Home management binders, free chore printables, and just what works for other people. But I couldn't find something I liked that could help me organize my housework. 

My problem was I would start cleaning something in one room, then while puting an item away, I would see something in another room that needed cleaning so I would start on that without finishing the first thing. By the end of the day, I had nothing fully completed, I was exhausted and had nothing to show for it! 

My first step in resolving this was to get a large desk calendar. I think I found mine at Office Max. (You could probably find one cheaper at Walmart.)

I took the front page and used the back to organize my chores. I basically appointed one day of the week to clean one room in the house.

Some things you may need to think about before assigning these days, is:
-What day is your trash day?
-Is your spouse needed for the specific task and if so, will they be home?
-Do you have any appointments or activities for certain days?
-If you meal plan, are there certain days that your stores/ farmers markets are open?

I also wrote down each of the things needing to be cleaned for each particular room. That helped show me how much time I needed for that day. Then I assigned the specific chores for each day of the week.

Here is what my schedule looks like:

Monday: Grocery shopping, food prep, majority of laundry
Tuesday: Floors- vacuum all rooms, sweep floors, mop floors, clean windows, dust living room and hallway.
               *once a month- baseboards, doors and handles
Wednesday: Bedrooms- wash bedding, clean and dust nightstands, de-clutter
               *once a month- organize closets and baby's room, clean baseboards, doors and handles
Thursday: Bathrooms- clean sinks, toilets, bathtubs, floors, mirrors. wash shower curtains, floor mats and towels, empty trash
               *once a month- organize under sinks and medicine cabinets
Friday: Meal Planning & Kitchen- clean stove, clean out fridge, deep clean sink, deep clean counters, clean microwave, clean and dust dining room, empty trash
               *once a month- wipe down and organize cupboards.
Saturday: Farmers Market & Outside Day- gardening, clean back and front porch, outside windows
Sunday: Church, Rest!

After writing down these things, I grabbed my colorful pens and made a key. Also, since cloth diapering I've had to change my laundry from one day a week to a couple loads every day just to keep up on it all.

As you can see, I have also added to each room, some chores that only really need to be done once a month and not once a week. I then assign one day a week to be the "once a month" cleaning day for that month.

At first I would list all the items that needed cleaning that day, but now I don't have to because I know what needs cleaning. I will sometimes look at the extra "once a month" items that need cleaning if it is one of those days. I keep a copy of the original chore schedule at the back of my calendar so I can easily look at it if I need to.

This system has seemed to work the best for my family. I clean only the items listed for that day and then I'm done! I feel like I have actually accomplished something COMPLETELY! I feel that my house is cleaner but I have more time to spend with my daughter. I didn't think that was possible! Now, I will say that sometimes I may not do the chores because something comes up. But it seems that catching up the next week isn't that much more work. Because I touch each room once a week, the time it takes to clean these things gets smaller and smaller. There is no need to really "deep clean" if you keep up with the small things each week! Unless you have a toddler who wants to be an artist! Then you may need to do the unexpected clean up.

Do you have a cleaning/ housework system that has worked for you?