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Pepper Place, Pumkin, and Penzys

And that was just in the morning!

 

Sugar Free Day 4

It was a fun day and I stayed busy while my body tried to adjust to the lack of sugar. It’s unreal how dependent on that stuff I am (was?). During the past 3 days, I’ve had shaking hands, headache, itchy skin, a mental “foggy” feeling, burning joints in wrists and knees, trouble urinating, and terrible irritability. I did not realize how much sugar I was actually eating and drinking. It wasn’t just the coke and occasional chocolate. It was a “little” sugar in my coffee. Sugar in my granola (not anymore). Sugar in my tea. I really thought that because I didn’t EAT sweet food like bakery items daily, that I was doing just fine. As long as I ate some protein with my sugar drinks, I thought it was all balancing out. I stopped eating white flour/pasta/bread products two years ago and I’ve stuck to wheat or other alternatives. But the sugar drinks and that ever haunting Coke had taken over. That stuff is highly addictive and highly inflammatory.

The headache got a little better and the craving is easing some. I’m going to cut down on the fruit this week, too because I want to just get it all out of my system. I can add back in my fruit towards the end of the week.

 

Pepper Place Farmer’s Market

I made a quick trip to Birmingham and ended up staying a few hours. I knew the Pepper Place Farmer’s Market would not have as much produce on sale, but I wasn’t prepared for all the activity. It was such a gorgeous morning, the place was crawling with dogs, kids, strollers, and smiling parents. Since it was game day, most of us were wearing our favorite team colors. I saw one guy with an Auburn shirt and hat. His little dog was wearing an Alabama sweater. I took the dog’s picture since he was on the right track ;-).  I sampled some stone ground cheese grits that were beyond outstanding. I even enjoyed an UNsweet tea and thought it was good! I missed the sweet, but the strong tea flavor was very good.

pp1  pp10

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I really wanted lemonade, but that is a big jar of

simple syrup……sugar water. Sigh.

 

 

Trips to Whole Foods are usually eventful in some way. Today, it was all about pumpkins!

Pumpkin Granola

pumpkin2

Pumpkin butter

pumpkin3

Pumpkin Salsa (with chipotle and tomatillos)!! I’ll be honest. When I first saw this, I almost kept going. Pumpkin salsa???? But I’m so glad I got a jar. I’ve used almost half the jar already. It’s perfect with crackers and veggies. I can’t describe the taste. It’s spicy, but not really sweet like I thought it would be. It did not have any added sugar which was a huge plus. I want more jars of this!!!

pumpkin

 

And after that trip, I had to find Penzey’s. Penzey’s Spices have been around for years. I’ve heard about how good they are and different from regular store brands, but I didn’t know they had a store in Birmingham. I always wanted to order online, but I needed to sniff first!  I finally found the place and after an hour of sniffing, came home with a jar or 2….

The pure vanilla…is 35% alcohol! Now I know what my grandmother meant by sneaking a sip of vanilla when she was younger. I never knew what was so risqué about vanilla. This stuff is strong and smells like butter cream frosting.

spices

 

Sunday…Day 5. I’m ready for the breezing part.

Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun

Monday 18th of October 2010

I know my body could use a detox from sugar and learn to go without it. I want to, but just don't have the motivation right now. I bet the side effects will be crazy whenever I do have the motivation for it though. I know I'm addicted.

Love all the market pics. And I really, really want to try pumpkin butter!

Katrina

Monday 18th of October 2010

It's been 6 days and so far, I think I'm doing ok. I still want sugar, but I'm not craving it. The pumpkin butter is gooooood!!

KV

Monday 18th of October 2010

Glad you got to check out Penzy's - my mom loves that store and always has to stop by when she visits since they don't have a store near them.

Katrina

Monday 18th of October 2010

I was like a kid in the candy store. Even the cinnamon smelled different than regular stuff. And about the white pumpkins...WAL MART!! They had a big ol box of pumpkins orange and white. Here they were only $3.59 each.