When I was 12 years old, my beloved Grannie passed away prematurely from Diabetes complications after months of watching helplessly as my once vibrant and happy Grannie deteriorated to the point of hardly being able to feed herself, and my Mother has been insulin dependant and in poor health for many years, so because of my strong refusal to go down that path, I am determined to start a new legacy for me and my children. This is the biggest reason I am so careful and mindful about how much refined sugar I am consuming. I have such a passion and inner drive to be healthy, and intend to be around in healthy, vital body and mind, and be fit and able to be an active grandmother someday. Because I feel so strongly about taking control of my health, one of the things I stick to, is that I NEVER use refined white sugar, and consider this to be pure poison! As a person who has struggled with sugar addiction since my teens, and struggled with binge eating around sugar, I am acutely aware of when I am going into that craving mode, when I feel like I NEED something sweet before I lose my mind. I now have more self- awareness, and tools, and life experience to pull myself out of this place, and know how to get back on track when I find myself experiencing intense cravings for sweets.
So, my husband and I made an agreement to both go 30 days without sugar, as an experiment to see how we feel. His motivation is more about working to reach a fitness goal, my intention is to see if I can make myself feel even better than I already do, and try to cut the last little thread of sugar addiction I still struggle with.
Our simple, yet not easy to do, guidelines:
1. )Nothing processed that contains added sugar or any kind (agave included)- Stevia is ok.
2. )Fresh fruit is ok. Some say this is a no-no when you are detoxing from sugar, but there are so many health benefits to fruit, I am not cutting it out.
3. ) No alcohol (turns straight to sugar in the bloodstream!)
4. ) No white/refined flours (which is not a stretch for us as we only eat sprouted grain bread, but this limits things if we are grabbing something on the go, no coffee shop muffins, deli sandwiches or white of whole wheat products)
The truth is -Sugar is addictive. Once you have a little, your body craves more, and more over time. I have found this to be true for me, and countless others I have worked with. There are many great books and blogs all about the many harmful, and addictive qualities of sugar. A good place to start is here. Most people find, when they go a stretch of time detoxing from sugar, that they start to lose cravings for it, and when they do have it, are affected negatively from even small amounts. We build a tolerance to it over time, and become 'immune' to its noticeable effects on the mind and body.I encourage you to do your own research on this topic, and get informed.
This also goes for our kids! Most children consume WAY too much sugar between fruit juice, sweetened drinks, fake 'fruit snacks', granola bars and other pre-packaged, highly processed snack foods, sugar loaded cereals, flavoured yogurts, and the list goes on! As I said, do your own research, and you will be shocked at what you find.
While I do my best to avoid sugar, I am still getting in in sneaky little ways throughout the day, and it all adds up very quickly. I use Stevia in most things that need a little sweetening, like my smoothies or chia pudding :) and have switched to using coconut palm sugar exclusively in all other things I make (this sugar is lowest on the glycemic index) but here are some ways I sugar has crept into my daily habits.
~ Morning coffee! I LOVE, love, love, my morning coffee. It is something I look forward to every morning as part of my ritual. After I drop the kids off at school, I come home, have my coffee, do my morning reading, writing, and meditating, and look forward to this every day. But, I added about 1 tsp of coconut sugar, and use soy creamer (I am sensitive to dairy) which has added sugar in it too (1 gram of sugar per tablespoon) and I probably used 3-4 Tbs so add another 4 grams of sugar to the sugar I added. This is not a lot of sugar in itself, but this was the first thing that had to go while doing this challenge. I can not tolerate black coffee, or stevia in hot drinks (it's just not palatable) so this morning, not only am I going sugar-free, I am kicking the java too :(
~Protein bars. A few times a week, I would reach for a Vega Sport bar or some other 'nutrition bar' when I was on the go. While these are not the worst thing in the world to grab on the fly, they do contain around 14 plus grams of sugar. That is almost as much sugar as a candy bar! So, no more of those! I will be planning ahead and making trail mix to take with me instead to have with fresh fruit.
~Dark chocolate, and chocolate chips. I love dark, organic chocolate. I don't touch those other grocery store lineup display crappy fake chocolate ones with a 10 foot pole-ever. But dark chocolate is one of my trigger foods! :) While dark chocolate has very little sugar (when it's 70% or higher cocoa content) it does contain some. I have been known to eat most of a large bar in a day, again, it IS addictive!
~Baking. I bake so that I can control what I put into my recipes, and know that I am putting healthy recess snacks into my kids lunches. I exclusively use spelt or kamut flour, and small amounts of coconut palm sugar, but if I make a batch of cookies (another "trigger food" for me) I can easily eat 4 or 5 in a day. It is one of those foods that once I start, I have a hard time stopping at just one. While they are healthy with nuts and seeds, coconut oil and low in sugar, it is still sugar. So, Stevia baking it is for the month! We will see how this goes!
So, these are the areas I need to work on. Honestly I feel I am going to have the hardest time with skipping my morning coffee. I am quitting 2 of my addictions cold turkey! But, I am also excited to see where this leads me. I am going to blog about my experiences as I go along, and encourage you to consider 30 days going without sugar, and see how you feel. If I can be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me.
Here are some great tips to get you started: 20-ways-to-get-sugar-out-of-your-life
Yours in vibrant health, and happiness,
Leanne
www.soulworkcounselling.com
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