Well, would you Adam and Eve it? A whole two weeks have passed since I decided to give up sugar. I know it may not seem like it because I stopped posting my daily consumption after I had my last chemo, but today is in fact the last day. As of tomorrow morning, I can eat chocolate again – yay!
So how did it go? Well, besides being rushed to hospital for a few days, the no-sugar diet itself went just fine. The chemotherapy had already altered my tastes and meant that I’ve been eating strangely for the past few months anyway, so the shock to my system wasn’t as great as it would have been. I have definitely wanted to eat sweet things, but funnily enough with the withdrawal of hard chocolate, I’ve been left desperate for the simplest and actually quite healthy things – for instance I would kill for a dark-chocolate-covered rice cake, and I almost cried last week when I could only eat the raisins out of my Graze box but had to leave these chocolate-covered apricots. I mean, apricots, for God’s sake! I don’t even like them that much! But they’re still sitting here, ready to be eaten tomorrow.
I haven’t especially noticed any effects – whether good or bad – of giving up the white stuff, but that is probably mainly because of the chemo. I have had lots of headaches, but again, probably the chemo. And I can’t say I am brimming with energy but that’s also most likely because I’m still on really strong antibiotics and and the after-effects of the chemo.
My Mum, on the other hand, was probably a better guinea pig for this experiment and I could tell she felt miserable a few times not being able to have chocolate. She also had a lull around day five or so where I thought she didn’t have any energy and was fed up having to eat bananas and nuts all the time. So, cutting out chocolate can also make you a bit miserable. (We didn’t really have to do this experiment for two weeks though really, did we?) My Dad is also doing the diet and for some strange reason it barely seems to have affected him. I’m not sure whether he’s secretly sneaking in loads of cakes, but I do know he had a can of lemonade when I went to hospital because he was worried about me. (We let him off).
The outcome of all this is that I still believe all the hype about how bad sugar is for us and how it’s one of the causes of cancer, so I’m definitely cutting down on it long-term. Though I believe going completely cold-turkey can make you much more tempted to eat sugar, so I’ll be allowing myself small amounts from now on.
Here’s the report on the minor cheating incidents:
1 glass of apple juice at home because Mum forced me to drink it (it would’ve been wasted otherwise)
1 glass of orange juice in the hospital because it was the only thing that could quench my thirst after the first night in the most stuffy, tropical room with a 38.6-degree temperature
Quarter of a tin of beans on my jacket potato in hospital out of sheer deperation
Clandestine sugar sprinkled on my porridge by the hospital
1 cup of Horlicks in hospital to try and help me sleep/get rid of the yucky chemo taste in my mouth
That’s it. I swear. I am too honest, really I am. No chocolate, no sweets, no packet food, no crisps, no hot chocolate, nada.
In case you have nothing else to do of a Thursday afternoon, here’s the list of stuff I ate for the last two weeks – some of it has been forgotten as I wasn’t writing it down every day but you get the rough idea. I think I ate an unhealthy amount of nuts to replace the chocolate…
DAY SIX (Wednesday)
6am pre-breakfast: A banana and four steroids.
9:30am actual breakfast: Porridge with blueberries, nuts, cinnamon and a cup of tea.
Lunch: Bowl of homemade cauliflower and almond soup with one slice of grain bread and butter. A flat white coffee.
Snacks: One cup of tea.
Dinner: Lamb chops, veg, mashed potato with an actual sprig of mint in it because I didn’t think I was allowed mint sauce.
Now that’s commitment! Bowl of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and Greek-style yoghurt. Mint tea.
DAY SEVEN (Thursday)
Breakfast: Porridge and banana, one tea.
Snacks: One flat white coffee.
Lunch: Two boiled eggs on toast with some salad. A fruit tea.
Snacks: A punnet of black-pepper pistachios and one of savoury biscuits/cracker snacks. Ginger-lemon tea.
Dinner: Fish, potatoes, veg, 1 slice of bread. Several pancakes with fruit, cinnamon, lemon and Greek-style yoghurt. One tea
DAY EIGHT (Friday)
Breakfast: One slice of brown toast and Marmite. One tea.
Lunch: Minestrone and bacon soup with one slice of bread.
Snacks: A load of seeds and raisins and one green tea.
Dinner: Mushroom and bacon pizza with salad. One banana with Greek-style yoghurt. One tea.
Then I got rushed into hospital… And stopped taking track of what I ate quite so much.
DAY NINE (Saturday) – in hospital
Several hours and litres of saline through a drip.
Breakfast: A bit of porridge and banana and some mandarin segments. A cup of tea. A clandestine half-glass of orange juice.
Lunch: Half a tuna sandwich and a bowl of fruit.
Dinner: Jacket potato with cheese. More fruit.
Snacks: Cup of hot milk.
DAY TEN (Sunday) – in hospital
Several more hours and litres of saline.
Breakfast: Full bowl of porridge with clandestine sugar. Bowl of mandarin segments.
Lunch: Cod mornay with rice and broccoli. Bowl of fruit.
Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce. And a cheese board.
Snacks: Half a bag of pistachio nuts, unsalted, and some more nuts and raisins. One cup of hot milk, one clandestine cup of Horlicks.
DAY ELEVEN (Monday) – in hospital
Loads more saline.
Breakfast: Full bowl of porridge with clandestine sugar. Bowl of mandarin segments.
Lunch: Some toast with chicken and bacon and a jacket potato with cheese and some clandestine beans. Bowl of fruit.
Dinner: Chicken in white wine sauce with rice and veg. Another cheese board.
DAY TWELVE (Tuesday) – in hospital
Breakfast: A slice of brown toast and butter and a bowl of porridge with a banana. Cup of tea.
Lunch: Beef bourginon with rice and sweetcorn and a bowl of fruit. Cup of tea.
Snacks: Flat white coffee.
Dinner: Chicken and mushroom pie, chips and peas.
DAY THIRTEEN (Wednesday) – back at home
Breakfast: Bacon sandwich with brown bread and fresh tomato. Cup of tea.
Snacks: Flat white coffee.
Lunch: Tomato and basil soup.
Snacks: Nuts and raisins.
Dinner: Fish, potatoes, veg. Mint tea.
DAY FOURTEEN (Today!)
Breakfast: One slice of brown toast with Marmite. One cup of tea.
Lunch: One boiled egg, one pitta bread, houmous, salad, balsamic vinegar, salmon.
Snacks and dinner: Nothing as yet, but I promise I won’t eat any sugar!
Has anyone else managed to do two weeks? Or almost two weeks? How’d you get on?
the big scary 'C' word 
Do you know yet how its affected your blood levels? My constant trauma is keeping them all up and have been scoffing dark chocolate to boost my red ones….
Well, apparently it was a coincidence that I got rushed to hospital with a dangerously low blood count…! The doctors said the no-sugar diet had nothing to do with my low white blood cell and neutrophil levels. I didn’t think it had anything to do with the red cells either but hey, if it makes you feel better then I’m sure it’s doing you loads of good! I’m going to crack over the dark chocolate in T-12 hours…. cannot wait! xx
Laura, once i did not eat sugar for over 1 year, it was terrible to get rid of it but i felt great after i got used to. Then i started to eat again… Funny how it is a lot easier to start to eat sugar again, second time I was already a sugar pro… Never stop ever since. Maybe i should give it another try 🙂
Wow, 1 year is very impressive! I’m not craving sugar any more so hopefully I’ll stay off the chocolate and things for a while. It must be easier in Canada away from the temptation of brigadeiros!!! Beijos
Have tried loads of things to boost WBC and neutrophils which have been notoriously rubbish but nothing worked – last time gave up trying and ate normally and they were both up and red down! So random. The big 24 hour after injection seems to be the most helpful. Hope you are feeling much better and go for that dark chocolate……! Xx
Lisa, it’s great if the big 24-hour-after injection is working for you. I went back after my first chemo with a terribly low WBC so my doctor scrapped the Neulasta injection and decided I would have to have an injection every day for 10 days after every chemo. I have learnt to do the injections myself now and it’s ok but I’d rather not have to do it! So fingers crossed the Neulasta keeps working for you! Other than that, I think there’s nothing you can do but rest. xx
Well done chick, you did really well sticking to the no suger diet, have to say the food you took photo’s of looks really nice, I could easily eat it all right now, hospital food has really come on xx
Thanks hun, most of that wasn’t hospital food though, that’s the stuff I was cooking at home! The beef bourguinon at the hospital was pretty rank but the rest of the food there wasn’t bad. Then again, you’d expect some good food when you’re paying a shelling out a fortune for a private hospital! Hope you’re doing well hun xx