Day 9: Things to eat instead of sugar

The past couple of days have been really, really good since my milkshake incident.  I was even able to keep my sugar count below 10 grams yesterday, which allowed me to eat some peanut butter M&M's.  Though I'm trying to get out of the habit of "treating" myself with sweets.  Not the healthiest chocolate snack, but it was movie date night with my husband and he picked those up forgetting about my sugar challenge.  He earned some brownie points.  Here's a picture of my 1/8 cup of M&Ms, which equaled 10 g of sugar.  I added a tsp of peanut butter on top to increase the yumm factor while only adding .5 g of sugar.

I've been thinking about ways to cut sugar from my daily menu and thought I would share with you some of my solutions for when I am craving sugar or ways I'm choosing healthier options. . .

1.  Drinking a huge glass of ice, cold water.  So many times we may think we are hungry, but we are actually dehydrated.

2.  Have a piece of fruit.  My favorite lately has been grapefruit.

3.  Exercise.  Do 10 push-ups or sit-ups.

4.  Playing with the kids.

5.  Reading a book.

6.  Singing along with the radio

7.  Eat carrot sticks or any other kind of veggie.

8.  Clean something.   You know you've been procrastinating on that one.

9.  Make popcorn.

10.  Instead of syrup for you waffles, pancakes or french toast, make a fruit syrup.  We use organic frozen blueberries.  Place in saucepan on stove.  Add 1 tbsp of water.  Simmer, until fruit is hot.  Smash and simmer some more.  Then cool and place on top of breakfast.

The kids love it, it's fresh fruit and doesn't contain any refined sugar or corn syrup.  Here's a pic.

What we do with a cough

Sometimes I forget that my ideas, lifestyle and parenting choices can be viewed as somewhat radical. You see, my husband and I always try to exhaust natural remedies before turning to a prescription. Why? Because the human body has an amazing capacity to heal - it just needs the right environment in which to do so effectively. If that environment can be created via chiropractic care, diet, herbal remedies, homeopathic remedies, or supplements then awesome!

My two and a half year-old recently had a cold. At the first sign of the sniffles I checked him for any subluxations (misalignments of the skeletal structure that might impede proper neural communication), started him on the homeopathic remedy Aconite as recommended by my homeopathic practitioner, made sure that he had eucalyptus essential oil in the bedroom humidifier, and Vick's vapor rub on his feet. Also, his diet was restricted to absolutely no sugar (unless fresh fruit), no dairy and low gluten. His fever ran for about 4 hours and it only took 48 hours for the entire thing to run its course.

Which one was "the one" that worked? Do I really care? No. Maybe it was a combination, maybe he would have gotten better in 48 hours regardless. I do believe that what I did assisted the body in some way, shape or form. Any or all of it is a better alternative to giving my child cough syrup or another medication that has side effects - some that can be fatal.

I'm not writing this as a prescription for you or your kid(s). This is simply introducing you to another angle to parenting and healthcare. Good Luck in your own parenting and health-seeking journey.

In Health and Happiness,

Dr. Erin