Day 2 - What a long one...

It's interesting what I notice about my eating habits as this Challenge progresses.  For instance, eating completely healthy and well for one or two days?  No sweat!  Totally easy!  As I neared the end of my second day in this challenge I was still well under my allotted 24 grams, but after lunch I wanted to bury my face in a big piece of chocolate cake.  

That feeling didn't let up for about 6 hours.  After my healthy dinner my sister and I were discussing ways to deal with this craving.  Both of us tend to be emotional/stress eaters and we had just finished an outing with the boys that was very taxing, to say the least.  

I finally bought a dark chocolate bar that is 70% dark chocolate.  Theo's brand with salt and almonds in it.  One piece had 3 grams of sugar in it and it was well worth it - craving handled.  That brought my total sugar count to 12 grams for the day.

I'm hoping that in a few days as my body adjusts to less and less sugar that these cravings will also subside.  

In the meantime, I'll try to link to some other blogs and websites that I find interesting and informative.  Here is one for today, the author's name is Andrew Wilder and I like what I've been reading so far.  His latest post involves eating in moderation and balance in the modern world.  To check it out click the link below...

www.eatingrules.com

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.

30 Day Sugar Sweet Challenge now begins!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

As we kick off 2013 it's the perfect time to bring our attention back towards taking care of ourselves, primarily our health.  Those 3 wonderful holidays right in a row starting in October are my lowest point of self-discipline when it comes to my diet. . . The 30 day Sugar Sweet Challenge was born of a desire to bring awareness back to my diet, but knowing I will have more chance of really applying myself if I have a community of support.  We are each others biggest fans.

So here are the details.

For the next 30 days, until January 31st, we will try to keep our sugar intake of table sugar ( this includes other sugars such as high fructose corn syrup) below the maximum recommended level.
For women that number is 5tsp, which is equal to 20 grams.
For men, 9 tsp or 36 grams.

I encourage each of you to keep a food journal so that you have a daily account of what you have eaten.  I am personally using an android app called MyFitnessPal to track my food intake.  This is one of the apps that will show the sugar content of food.

This is not a contest.  Please don't get down on yourself if you go over the threshold!  I will be reporting my intake on a daily basis and yes, I may blow it now and again.  The purpose of this challenge is ultimately to bring awareness to how much sugar we are eating.  Today's average consumption in America is 44 grams per day!  What we eat does impact our health.  Just like chiropractic is a vital part of optimal health and functioning, so are the nutrients we supply our bodies with.

Just today I did a test run.  However, I was in the middle of consuming a belgian waffle, complete with syrup, blueberries and whip cream before I remembered the challenge.  After a night of little sleep due to a vomiting child my mental facilities were not that sharp and I forgot.  However, my dog, Sadie, was looking out for me.  When I left my plate to get child 1 a drink, she ate the remaining half.  So, know that I will be right there along side of you, trying to eat better and feel better.

 So, during January I hope that you all read/reply to my blog and also check in with via facebook on a daily basis.  We can do this!!!!

Good Luck everyone :-)