21DSD: Day 8

I'm now wrapping up Day 8 of the detox, or day 1 of week 2. I felt a bit of fatigue today, but I attribute that to the fact that it's Monday more than the detox. I went to yoga tonight, and that always leaves me feeling relaxed, so I may turn in pretty soon.  But, before I do, I thought I'd drop a little detox knowledge based on what I've learned in the 21DSD (and hopefully I've processed this all correctly)!

• The body has a limited ability to store carbs and sugars, but an unlimited ability to store fat.  Any carbs and sugar that can't be immediately used as fuel or stored in the muscles, liver or bloodstream, is converted into fat in the form of triglycerides (circulating blood fats), or adipos (body fat).

• Eating too much sugar puts our bodies in a constant state of stress.  Insulin works overtime trying to deal with the storage issue, which often results in sugar crashes...which ironically make us crave more sugar.  

• Cortisol, the "fight or flight' stress hormone, reacts to these crashes.  Thinking the body is in danger, cortisol levels spike.   If our bodies constantly produce cortisol, thinking we are in danger, other systems in turn start to slow down or shut down.  Reading that truth reminded me of the little that I know about hypothermia, and that under extreme cold your body only allows the absolutely necessary systems to sustain life to keep functioning, and everything else turns off.  I'd guess it's kind of like that. 

• Two of such body functions that get the ax are the thyroid, which controls your metabolism, and sex hormones, which impact everything from sexual drive, to dealing with PMS to impeding the ability to reproduce.

• In a nut shell, too much sugar gums up your whole system, throws your hormones out of whack, put a major dent in your immune system and make you susceptible to other illnesses as well.

• Sugar is a tricky sonofagun.  Sweets trigger dopamine, which is a chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) that sends our body messages of pleasure and reward. Who doesn't want to feel these things?!? It makes us crave these lovely feelings more and more. But don't be fooled! Don't forget about the old bait and switch -- you may THINK you're feeling the happy fuzzies...but what you're really getting is a gunked up system and the litany of issues mentioned above and plenty of others as well.

I'd say that's enough knowledge dropped for now.  Class dismissed!  For a little 'extra credit' Here's my Day 8 Rundown: 

Time Went to Bed Last night: 11:30 pm (but it took me a while to fall asleep)
Time I Got Up This Morning: 7:00 am
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  good, ready to tackle the week.
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Excellent/Good
Exercise (type/duration):  An hour of yoga
Breakfast:  Coffee with cream, and 3 egg white muffins with spinach, onion and sausage.
Lunch:  Lettuce and spinach salad with veggies, feta cheese, and lemon pepper chicken I prepared the night before (marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, and lemon pepper chicken)
Dinner:   Tacos sans shell - ground beef with onions, pepper, salsa, tomatoes &  sour cream
Snacks:  Almonds; Baby carrots with cream cheese
Water Intake: 6 glasses