Happy Friday, darlings!

The ol’ Oven Love family is embarking on another nutritional adventure. On Sunday, we’ll be starting the 21 Day Sugar Detox, created by Balanced Bites author and nutritionist, Diane Sanfilippo. For all the details on the 21DSD, check out Diane’s website and her two books, The 21 Day Sugar Detox and The 21 Day Sugar Detox Cookbook (I checked mine out at my local library, notice the pen marks in the photos?). This is not a detox in the traditional sense, so it’s completely safe for pregnancy.

Why? Why subject my poor family to another experiment? Ha!

Well, since we moved across the country a few months back, things have slowly fallen apart in the nutrition department. GAPS fell to the wayside when we arrived in our new house- I just couldn’t keep up with the preparation, I was newly pregnant with baby #3 (aka TIRED) and I didn’t know where to source our food. I tried to keep things paleo-style, but that started to fall apart, too. We started eating more grains, which was fine in moderation.. and then we spiraled down into treats and eating out and all kinds of nonsense. You know how these things go. 😉

Now, here I am, just a few months from having a new baby, and I’m feeling the push to get back on track. My carb and sugar cravings have been driving my food choices and I am not comfortable with that! I do not want to be controlled by food or give food more power than it deserves to have in my life. Christ is the one that should drive my thoughts, actions, and choices- not the treats calling from the pantry.

Sugar cravings were no problem for me after a week or two on GAPS, so I know I can benefit from the 21DSD. We are following Level 2 with Energy modifications for my pregnancy. Level 2 includes full-fat dairy, which I think will help the kids to cope better with the short term change.. they love their fruit, so I’ll be glad to have milk and yogurt as options for them. I’m looking forward to kicking these cravings and getting my gut balanced before baby comes (babies get their first beneficial bacteria from mom in the birth canal, it’s very important for me to be balanced!).

I’ll be sharing our experience here for each of the three weeks on the 21DSD. That means you’ll see all of our meals and hear about our experiences- that includes my husband and kids, too! I promise to share the good, bad and ugly. So look forward to at least some description of us completely melting down. 😉

Happy weekend- I’ll be back soon with an update!