Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Six SugarFree(ish) days

Tomorrow will be my sugar free 1 week anniversary. 1 week since I started this journey. And already I've learnt a lot, about foods, sugar and most importantly myself.

I've learned to look at another section of the Nutrition Information Panel on packaged foods. Previous "diets" and research has conditioned me to look at fat content and calories, and since having the kids I'm also always scanning for preservatives. But now I look at the sugar per 100g or 100mls. After giving the kids a prepackaged juice as a treat earlier in the week, I checked, then measured, the sugar content:

FRIGHTFUL!




Needless to say juices like this will become even more of an occasional treat after that little experiment!

I've learned that breakfast cereals in general are really nasty.  What I've been feeding myself and my family is high in sugar (even though I've never even allowed the "heavy hitters" like coco pops, nutra grain and rice bubbles in). They've probably overdosed on their sugar requirements by 8am! I'll be secretly weaning the kids off berry weetbix bites and gently encouraging them back to their much more healthier cousin: the plain old weetbix. But it's not the kids I'm worried about - how do I break DH clutches off his Just Right?

About myself I've learned that I have been literally running on sugar. Somehow this reduced sugar intake is slowing me down. Not in a physical, sluggish sense, but in a food seeking sense. I'm still thinking about food - (alot!), but I'm not anxious about it. It's as if in my sugar-addicted life, I was bouncing from one sugar hit to another. Having less sugar in my diet this past week has highlighted the times that I really do crave it. And I've been able to stop and find an alternative.

I'm enjoying food. It's making me feel good. Strangely, these higher fat, lower sugar foods feel much more human.  


I've realised tonight (after revisiting Sarah's e-book), that I've kind of skipped to the end of this journey before my time and have already started seeking out low fructose sweet treat options (that's not encouraged until week 6). So it's time to put the breaks on that, and as I move into week two: It's time to start exploring the world of good fats and proteins.

I've had ups and downs over the past 6 days (in fact, I think I've found today the hardest thus far) but in general I'm still highly enthused about this plan. Bring on week 2!






 

3 comments:

  1. Keep up the great work I've been sugar free for 3 1/2 month and I have never felt better and the weight is coming off and it's fantastic when people comment and ask what you have been doing and then seeing their faces when you say that you have given sugar the flik

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  2. I, too, am on day 6 of being sugar free! I've got a terrible cold, but I'm losing weight like crazy - already! Just need to figure things out a little more :-) My friend and I are doing it together, we started a blog about it as well - http://formytummy.blogspot.com/

    Good luck to you!

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  3. 3 1/2 months - great effort! I've already started to feel better and even though I have dropped any huge amount of weight, the scales are starting to tip in my favour (i.e. seeing my "lower" weight more than my "Im having a fat day" weight!). Losing weight aside, my first goal is to just get myself under control. As Sarah Wilson says in her book I eat until I can't stop and it's "uncool and undignified". I just want to stop feeling like that!

    MommyV bloggers congrats on your efforts! Great to be doing it as a team - keep each other honest won't you!

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