The Dreaded Sugar Dragon

It has been 2 weeks since we finished our Whole30.

Photo: http://fatfriar.org

I have snuck in a few sweet treats. After we finished the Whole30 we went to New Hampshire for one of the most joy-filled, fun-filled, great-people-filled weddings I’ve ever been to. It was so great. The cake came out and I enjoyed both flavors heartily. And then, as if it couldn’t get any better, there were also Franciscan Friar Cookies. And they were soooo good. I ate two of those suckers. It was amazing.

Then we were up at 2am to catch a 5am flight less than four hours after eating that cookie. I didn’t really get to figure out how my body reacted to sugar since we all hated life anyway.

But since then I’ve eaten a few more sweets and I finally figured out how my body reacts to sugar. It shuts down. Like completely.

On Friday, I took the older girls to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden
(Holy cow, what a treasure this place is. I would like to sit and meditate in it every morning). But it was hot and we were near Barton Springs so we stopped by the Sno Cone stand on the way home. I told the girls if I got them each a snow cone, I got a taste of each one. Of course they agreed. Sharing with your sister is the worst, apparently. Got snow cones. Took a spoonful of each one. Got in the car. Got home. Bam. I was done for. I could barely keep my eyes open. I was so sluggish. I barely was able to drag myself off the couch to make dinner a little while after that. Then after the kiddos were asleep, I came downstairs and laid on the couch watching TV. I had zero motivation to do a single thing. It was one of those times when something crummy is on TV but the remote is just out of reach so you try to use telekinesis to no avail. Then I fell asleep so hard that I don’t remember Brandon trying to get me up before going to bed. I woke up at 3am in my clothes with all the lights on.

Whoa. I thought maybe this was a fluke. Maybe I was just tired.

Today I gave in and had my favorite snack: Ritz crackers with strawberry jam. The best. Even better if I had cream cheese and strawberry jam, but I settled for strawberry jam. Immediately I laid down and fell asleep on the couch. Thank God Brandon was around to watch the kiddos. Then I woke up and still could barely muster enough motivation to drag myself to the kitchen to make dinner.

What’s weird is that too-tired, no-motivation, sluggish feeling wasn’t life after all. Here I thought this is what life is supposed to feel like in this season of crazy little kids. But sugar, apparently, plays a big role. Don’t get me wrong, I was still tired when I was on the Whole30 but this feeling like I’m trying to pull myself out of a hole to make myself do daily activities is sugar. Exhaustion is different from total lack of power over my motivation levels. Sleepiness is different from narcoleptic episodes of falling asleep on any horizontal surface nearby.

Hmm. So that dreaded “Sugar Dragon” is real. Total bummer. But it is a nice piece of data to know about my body.