Day 2.
I didn't weigh in because my old scale seems to be off. Tomorrow's mission is to get a new one while E is in art. Today I realized frozen grapes are excellent for sugar cravings. Though I only had a half of a cup to get only 6.2 grams of fructose. I was also told to research more on Whey Low and Birch Xylitol. I was really bummed about learning honey, agave, and brown rice syrup were made with the fructose molecule. :( That was my backup plan... serious sugar withdrawal is hitting.
Day 3.
Went to Target to pick up a scale. Opened it in the parking lot so I could get a reading before I ate lunch. Didn't work! Glad I took the chance of looking crazy to see my weight or I would have been mad when I got home. ;) Got a new one and weigh in is at 172. So not sure that I've dropped 3 pounds in 2 days or if the old scale was off.
Today I've had a hard time with cravings. I'm drinking my coffee in the morning, no sugar. Yuck. And only water with a splash of lemon during the day. I loved having chocolate after dinner, but tonight I had a homemade frozen yogurt strawberry ice pop. Didn't get rid of my craving. Had chicken for dinner and used hot sauce to flavor instead of ketchup or lemon juice. I will have to look up sugar free chocolate recipes. Anyone know of any?
If you are interested in the challenge, here are some starting tips:
Dr. Lustig recommends that everyone get rid of ALL liquid sugar and drink only water and milk. Milk does have sugar, but that is lactose. Lactose is a disaccharide containing glucose and galactose that occurs naturally in milk. Glucose is good.
He also says to make sure you eat your carbs with fiber. Especially sugar carbs! In the 70's when food manufacturers started cutting fat from foods, they also cut fiber. Fiber is essential to our diets and most Americans are not eating enough. In the early 1920's it was said they ate 100 grams of fiber a day!! We now usually get 12 grams according to Lustig. Here is a chart from the Mayo Clinic on high fiber foods- which may vary depending upon the brand:
Lustig also says to wait 20 minutes before your second helping. This gives your hormones the chance to register what your body has consumed and whether or not you are full or need more.
He also says to buy screen time. That means for every 30 minutes you watch TV, spend 30 minutes being active. Whether you take a walk, clean the house, run, jog, do yoga, whatever movement you can do other than sitting still.
Have you thought about taking the challenge? Or have you already? I'd love to hear sugar free ideas that satisfy sweets cravings.. This is harder than I thought!
I went sugar free for about 2 months. I've since fallen off the bandwagon although I am still eating much less than I used to. After the first 4-7 days, the cravings will get much better so hang in there! Check out simplysugarandglutenfree.com. There are some great recipes on there. Many do use honey, agave, etc. but there are some that use only fruit and stevia. I just ordered a bag of xylitol and plan to go sugar free again as soon as it arrives. Stevia works well for many things but I found it somewhat difficult to bake with since the substitution was not 1:1. If I wanted to adapt a recipe using sugar I had to experiment so it wouldn't be too sweet and add additional ingredients to make up for the bulk sugar provided. Not terrbily difficult but I'm a working mom that doesn't have time to experiment too much. Supposedly, xylitol is a 1:1 substitute so adapting recipes is much easier. I think that with both of those items available, I will be able to stay sugar free for the long haul. Looking forward to reading any tips you find!
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