Learning How to Eat Sugar Free
This weekend was the start of a little “sugar detox” that Alex and I decided to do after watching Fed Up. (You can read all about the documentary Fed Up here.) So I thought I’d show you what we ate on Sunday, while we figured out the confusing world of sugar free food! The day wasn’t totally perfect, but we’re making progress!
Breakfast was whole grain toast with peanut butter. I bought Crazy Richard’s peanut butter which doesn’t have extra stuff in it. Just peanuts! The bread technically had a tiny bit of honey in it, (less than 1g of sugar per serving) so that was as close as we could find to sugar free bread! Plus, the bread is made locally and it’s hearty and delicious. We also had some fresh blueberries, which were a nice bit of sweetness.
For lunch, we had mashed chickpea sandwiches. It was chickpeas smashed with tzatziki and lemon juice, made into a quick sandwich with cucumbers! We ate quickly because we wanted to stain the deck before church.
Speaking of the deck, here’s how it turned out! It was a lot of work but we’re pretty happy with the result!
We quickly got cleaned up and headed to church. After church, we went over to my brother’s house and had dinner with them. We ordered Carytown Burger’s and Fries, which wasn’t exactly healthy, so I had half a black bean burger with some salad. Ok, and maybe a few french fries 😉
Truthfully, that’s an old picture of Carytown Burgers & Fries, because I was too preoccupied with my adorable nephews to take a photo of the actual burger I ate. The big difference? Not putting ketchup on my burger! I’m a ketchup fanatic so I’m learning to give that up! My salad was nothing fancy, but I had to get some greens in. It also kept me from eating all the french fries.
Overall, I think our day was a little carb heavy, but we’re still figuring out this whole sugar free thing! I ordered the I Quit Sugar cookbook so I’m looking forward to learning more about a sugar free diet and trying out some of those recipes!
Yes! I have given up sugar before (back on it now). It was amazing how much more I could appreciate natural sweetness once my taste buds weren’t used to all that sweetness. It is amazing how many products add sugar that you would never think too – salsas, boxed chicken stock (yes, really), pasta sauces, soups. It’s in everything!
It’s CRAZY! I couldn’t believe how many things sugar could hide in!
I tried going completely without added sugar for a week, and it resulted in me going way overboard with desserts the following weekend. I try to be mindful now, and it’s worked out much better 🙂
Haha I’m hoping if I wait long enough, I’ll “reset” my tastebuds… but we’ll see! 😉
I have really tried to cut back on sugar. It’s amazing how addicted we are to it. It’s hard but boy do you feel better.
i did whole 30 last year and it was a learning experience because sugar is in EVERYTHING, like EVERYTHING. I am looking forward to reading more..
I think I might have to check out some Whole 30 recipes for inspiration! (I couldn’t do Whole 30 as a vegetarian, but I like the idea of it!)
I’m starting a Whole 30 on Monday and I think one of the most difficult parts is going to be giving up added sugar. It is crazy how many condiments and seasonings sugar is in!
Good luck!! It really is crazy that there is sugar in almost EVERYTHING!
Fruit is your best friend at the beginning of a sugar detox! And it does get easier as you learn what to look for on labels and get the hang of things.
Yes!! I’m trying to stick to mostly low-fructose fruits like berries and grapefruit but it’s definitely nice to still have something “sweet” even if it’s fruit!
We have been on the no sugar train for a while now. Your taste buds adjust over time and some of the things I used to really like now taste too sweet!
I love the way your deck turned out!
That’s so awesome!! It’s encouraging to hear that! 🙂
Fed Up is one of my faves! I think everyone should be required to see it – it has the potential to change many lives! I also love Crazy Richard’s PB. I can find it at my local Wal-Mart, which is awesomeness. Have you ever had Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted bread? It’s my absolute favorite, and has zero grams of sugar 🙂
I’m not necessarily giving up sugar, per se, but I did stop putting sugar in my coffee about 6 weeks ago and I stopped eating so many carbs for breakfast (now I do omelets and sausage and avocado) and suddenly, I don’t eat as many carbs/sugar throughout the day! Although, I must admit – I’m a little over omelets every day so I’ll be sneaking the steel-cut oats back in some mornings but I’m going to try to leave the honey out and flavor with just nut butters and fruit. Getting rid of sugar is HARD!!
I would absolutely LOVE to give up sugar, but I know it would be super hard. Definitely a challenge I would like to pursue though! Kudos to you for successfully doing it! Hope you have a great weekend1!