• Day 349: Dreaming of Thailand

    Date: 2011.02.03 | Category: Uncategorized | Tags:

    Heading into my second day of  my zero sugar month meant a slight headache this morning – and the sense that I couldn’t go another 27 days without even so much as a spoonful of peanut butter or raspberry jam.

    Then again, I was tired today for the first time in ages and fatigue weakens my resolve and makes me crave chocolate.

    Feeling tired is unusual these days. Giving up candy and sugar-based desserts has given me more energy than I realized over the past year.

    Im fact, it occurred to me that I rarely need more than five hours of sleep a night now.  That must be the result of my year off junk sweets.

    So as the day wore I began feeling better and more inspired to go zero sugar.

    Tonight got busy, though, and there was no food for dinner in the house. I slipped outside into my ‘hood in the Vieux Nice (see illustration above from La Vie Soleil) for some streetside pizza.

    Pizza, with its sharp, tangy flavors and gooey, doughy texture is the perfect antidote for a day, week, month, or year without candy.

    But is it truly sugar-free?

    I was on the phone tonight with my friend Mathias of Florence, Italy who was detailing his upcoming month vacation in Thailand.

    Mathias pointed out that if you are really serious about going without sugar, you can’t eat pizza because there is a little sugar in the dough and the tomato sauce.  For chrissakes, as Kathy Griffin’s mother would say.

    Mathias will be spending two weeks at one of those luxe but inexpensive Thai spas where you can fast or do detox cleanses.

    If I had the time to go now, I’d jump right on a plane and do the 7-day liver cleanse. Fun!  I’ve got a few friends like Mathias who understand but most people don’t get how invigorating it can be to challenge yourself to a fast or very tough mountain hike or other physical tests.

    You feel amazing when you go to one of Thailand’s all organic fasting and cleansing spas.

    You could try it at home too, if you were as strange and obsessed as Gwyneth Paltrow.

    Mathias said he once did a month totally sugar-free and it meant “pretty much just eating vegetables.”

    I’m suddenly exhausted at the very thought.

    Bonsoir,