30 Day Logging/Limiting Added Sugar Challenge
Replies
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I don't think I've ever had whole pomegranate, just the seeds. I should try it.
I've been enjoying apples lately (as reported in the Produce thread), and have some pears (different types) waiting to be consumed too.1 -
I don't think I've ever had whole pomegranate, just the seeds. I should try it.
I've been enjoying apples lately (as reported in the Produce thread), and have some pears (different types) waiting to be consumed too.
Ooooh love pears! Of all varieties!
The only thing about whole poms - I have yet to perfect deseeding them lol. It’s an half hour extravaganza ha
🍐 🍎 💗
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Hi Guys,
Food packed and ready for the day!
Total sugars - 7.1/ 0 Added.
I have a bell pepper fetish going on. I could eat them all day long like candy.
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kshama2001 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I joined this challenge to see what I can learn from it. And what I learned was that the added sugar in foods like Sriracha, my lightly sweetened tea, and protein powder, was not a problem for me. My issue, especially this time of year, is baked goods, and that is because of the high calories, which are also coming from flour and fat, not just sugar.
My mom sees a pear and sees a pear.
I see a pear and see pear pecan muffins. I've just increased those pear calories from 157 cal in a 258 g D'Anjou pear to 256 calories per muffin x 12 = 3,072 calories. That is way more relevant to me than sugar in Sriracha.
Heh -- I do think that one thing that has helped me avoid temptation is my natural laziness when it comes to baking. I used to bake a decent amount (and I think I may get back into baking bread), but it was more about the fact my mom didn't really bake when I was growing up and that I thought being able to make an excellent pie crust was an impressive life skill than that I really enjoyed baking. My mind is such that I like cooking (being able to just wing it with ingredients and not use a recipe or memorize proportions or mess around with whether my stupid butter was sufficiently cold), and only on rare occasion like baking. I do know lots of people who love it and are really creative with it, though, and I am always impressed by them.
Don't know if you've ever watched Top Chef, but I always find it funny when many of them get all flummoxed by any baking challenges (increasingly there are exceptions, however).
I LOVE baking bread - something about the yeast and the rising really does it for me. I left my Bosch bread mixer behind in a move in 2004 because, while I wasn't counting calories then, I realized I wasn't doing myself any favors by eating almost a loaf of bread (with butter) at a time.
I'm thinking about getting back to it, and am working on strategies to moderate, like making rolls, and freezing most of a batch. This has worked well recently. I still have some in the freezer from a few weeks ago. With pita bread, instead of making 10, I divided the dough into 16 (100 calories each), only cooked 4, and froze the remaining 12. I brought 6 to Mom's and cooked them there, had one, and shared the rest. Sharing is an important strategy for me for moderating baking
The pita bread has 2 t sugar, so 8 g total, so a half a gram and 2 calories per serving. This illustrates again for me that for many foods it's not the added sugar that is a problem for me, but in this case the calories from flour, and to a lesser extent, the butter I would add.
While I do find starches like potatoes and rice filling, bread doesn't especially fill me up, so I will consider making adorable little 50 calorie pitas.
I'd really rather be making big crusty loaves of bread though
My Gramma made the best pies...my mom used to make the worse pie crusts, back when butter was the devil. She'd use whole wheat flour and oil, yuck. I'm sure Gramma used white flour and lard.
I also think being able to make an excellent pie crust is an impressive skill, but never got the hang of rolling dough until I bought a different roller (and still haven't gotten into making pies - I've been using it for savory foods. I'll leave the pies to my mother and sister. Pies once or twice a year is enough for me.)
My mom hated making pie and would -- the horror! -- use the store-bought crust. Mostly my grandmother (dad's stepmom) would make them for family gatherings. My mom liked making cookies, but that was about it. It was a fun thing to help with when we were kids.
I find breadmaking relaxing, or used to, and I'm not that bad about overindulging in it (I think), so I think I may try making some whole grain bread soon, maybe this weekend. It's been at least 5 years since I've made anything but pizza crust.
If it's too tempting I will bring it to work and put it in the breakroom. ;-)1 -
Safari_Gal_ wrote: »I don't think I've ever had whole pomegranate, just the seeds. I should try it.
I've been enjoying apples lately (as reported in the Produce thread), and have some pears (different types) waiting to be consumed too.
Ooooh love pears! Of all varieties!
The only thing about whole poms - I have yet to perfect deseeding them lol. It’s an half hour extravaganza ha
🍐 🍎 💗
Yeah, pears are one of my favorites.1 -
Safari_Gal_ wrote: »Hi Guys,
Food packed and ready for the day!
Total sugars - 7.1/ 0 Added.
I have a bell pepper fetish going on. I could eat them all day long like candy.
My mom grew so many bell peppers this year...I should have taken a picture when she harvested them ahead of the frost. I gave away bags to my neighbors.
She did better with cucumbers this year - only grew one kind. The year before she grew three kinds and there was a crazy amount of cukes!0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Safari_Gal_ wrote: »Hi Guys,
Food packed and ready for the day!
Total sugars - 7.1/ 0 Added.
I have a bell pepper fetish going on. I could eat them all day long like candy.
My mom grew so many bell peppers this year...I should have taken a picture when she harvested them ahead of the frost. I gave away bags to my neighbors.
She did better with cucumbers this year - only grew one kind. The year before she grew three kinds and there was a crazy amount of cukes!
@kshama2001 - I bet that garden was lovely! So fragrant too! I’ve been in the garden Thred — already have spring fever and can wait to get planting! Going to try to grow some veggies and fruits!
Then we’ll have to do stats for sugars and home grown items — lol 😉1 -
I'm going to try to grow some extra tomatoes and cucumbers this year. The tomatoes to can them (I had extra this year and sadly they went to waste) and the cucumbers (and maybe some other veg) for pickling.
Also I'm going to try and use the winter for planning. Last year it's like all of a sudden it was late April and I was completely unprepared.2 -
Been holding the course for 2 weeks. No added sugar. Someone had referred to a 2 week sugar-free challenge & I decided to do it. AND I've done it & am carrying on. I'm an emotional eater & today I had a stressful situation that would have had me eating out of the sugar bowl to soothe my stress. I find without added sugar, I don't crave, so it's easier to control the temptation to soothe my feelings. Pouring a warm bath instead of feeding the feelings 👍2
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lorrainequiche59 wrote: »Been holding the course for 2 weeks. No added sugar. Someone had referred to a 2 week sugar-free challenge & I decided to do it. AND I've done it & am carrying on. I'm an emotional eater & today I had a stressful situation that would have had me eating out of the sugar bowl to soothe my stress. I find without added sugar, I don't crave, so it's easier to control the temptation to soothe my feelings. Pouring a warm bath instead of feeding the feelings 👍
Yay! My first experiment with cutting out added sugar was part of dealing with emotional and stress eating, too. I combined it with not snacking, which was the part I stuck with, but since a lot of the stuff I used to impulse emotional eat at my office tended to have sugar in it, it was helpful in that I had checked them off as not available while I was doing the challenge.2 -
Yesterday: no added sugar, 61 g total sugar, 41 g fiber. Not too bad given I had no beans or lentils.1
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lorrainequiche59 wrote: »Been holding the course for 2 weeks. No added sugar. Someone had referred to a 2 week sugar-free challenge & I decided to do it. AND I've done it & am carrying on. I'm an emotional eater & today I had a stressful situation that would have had me eating out of the sugar bowl to soothe my stress. I find without added sugar, I don't crave, so it's easier to control the temptation to soothe my feelings. Pouring a warm bath instead of feeding the feelings 👍
I missed my lunch time exercise due to a doctor's appt and had a mild craving for a chocolate snack bar when I got home, but I realized I was just hungry, had my chocolate PP smoothie (the good PP), and the craving went away.
This is true for me a lot - I feel like I want snacky foods, when I am actually just hungry / need protein. So I try to never get too hungry and exercise regularly, as that helps me with the emotional eating.2 -
Yeah, I'm pretty similar. I do normally have a long break between lunch and dinner (around 12 or 1 to around 9), but when I'm being overall mindful, and doing things like exercising regularly, I can normally just remind myself that I'm probably just a little hungry (or sometimes tired, sad, stressed, whatever) and once I eat I no longer want whatever it was that I thought I wanted.
I also can often channel the "I want to eat" feeling into whatever I'm looking forward to for dinner, if I focus on cooking foods I really enjoy (I was planning a big salad with some steak on it yesterday, which is something I love, so I'd focus on that). I ran by the grocery store on the way home, so that helped with the "hmm, this looks good" thing that sometimes happens there.
Yesterday was a good day overall: no added sugar, 38 g of total sugar (less fruit, still lots of veg), and 55 g of fiber. It's been fun using Cron to see if I can meet all my goals (I mostly don't meet D, but I supplement).
Today might not be that great, depending--I intended to bring lunch and forgot, but if life allows there are plenty of good salad bar options around.1 -
Hey amici !
Some stats:
Tuesday - 7 grams total sugar, 0 added.
Yesterday- 8 grams total sugar, 0 added.
Today - 3 grams total sugar, 0 added.
I’ve been working so much — I need to add in more veggies and fruit..
I usually try to get 5 servings in.
Today I had Broccoli, Spinach & brussel sprouts. Surprised only 3 grams total or intrinsic sugar.
I realized my biggest added sugar foe is condiments. I’m still on the hunt for a “healthier” ketchup. Been using hot pepper sauce in its place.
The challenge definitely makes me think more about what I eat. That’s all from my part of the world! 😉🤗🌞☺️2 -
I've actually found that fewer condiments/rubs I use have sugar than I'd assumed (I'm a fanatic for spicy sauces and like trying new ones). I'm okay with using them, as noted above, but mostly it's just as easy to pick something that doesn't have it, unless there's a specific recipe of mine that I have in mind. I purchased around Christmas a bunch of spice mixes from a local spice place (I like making my own, but also like trying others), and none of the ones I bought have sugar in them (BBQ ones I expect would, but they aren't).1
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Total sugar 66, added sugar 2. Lots of fruit mostly.2
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Yesterday turned out okay despite a slightly disorganized start: 48 g total sugar (none added) and 47 g fiber. Sugar mostly from an apple, half a banana, and two salads (with a mix of cooked and not veg).0
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@Safari_Gal_ There is a sugar-free ketchup made by French's with a natural sweetner (I think stevia, but not certain but it is a healthy sweetner not aspertame or the like) I ordered it online and I though it was a great sub for the sugary stuff.
Today was 47 g of sugar from whole foods...no sugar added, other than I had a 1/4 c. of vanilla yogurt mixed in with plain yogurt so that's a deviation from my normal, but I'm ok with that...plain yogurt has 6 g of sugar for a serving so I only had 1/4 c. of plain mixed in with the vanilla. I think my max sugar intake is supposed to be 56 and I never go over when I am not adding sugar. I also get over my quota of fiber on a regular basis...no pun intended lol2 -
Oh and I have a really nice sugar-free Keto cheescake recipe made with an almond crust instead of graham crumbs...the sugar sub is monk fruit or some other healthy sugar sub...I used stevia this time and I'll see if I notice any difference...the other stuff like erithryitol etc is more like sugar and there is one that may affect your bowels on the loose side but I can't remember the name...Anyhoo, if anyone wants the cheesecake recipe let me know and I'll post it...plus it is easy-peasy to make with just a few ingredients and really quite delish. I make it in muffin cups and it's only just over 200 calories for one...then whatever fruit topping and if you want whip cream...I do plain Greek yogurt & a bit of fruit on top...it's YUM!!1
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I'm actually perfectly happy to go over my sugar goal if it's from intrinsic sugar in fruit and veg, especially if it's more due to veg than fruit. Right now I'm aiming at about 1600-1800 cals most days, so that's 60-68 g, so I usually don't go over, however.
Yesterday was a pretty mediocre day -- work was super stressful, I had a big deadline (that relied in large part on waiting around for other people to do things), and then we had an annoying bunch of snow during the period I was going home, so in my mind that led to overeating (we had a work lunch brought in and leftovers), blow off working out and get less walking on the way home (I normally walk a portion of my way home for extra movement that I could take public transportation for, and do errands on the way). I also didn't even try to log the meals after breakfast and justified a peanut butter cookie that was part of the dessert tray with the lunch, but that's really the least important part of it. I'm not beating myself up, more just focusing on why I tend to use stress to mean "oh, eat too much," when it doesn't actually leave me feeling better.
Anyway, definitely had added sugar, don't know the exact amount. Whatever was in the cookie plus incidental amounts that may have been in the pita bread.2 -
Weekend wasn't bad, 5 homecooked meals (no added sugar), planned night out at an Indian restaurant, and one snack of homemade popcorn (made the traditional way since I couldn't remember where I put my popping in the microwave container which I haven't used in ages), so not low cal.
I made some baba ganoush which turned out okay, but the recipe I followed used more lemon than I normally would have and I'll correct that when I made it again.
Yesterday: 58 g of sugar (none added), and 57 g of fiber.0 -
I kind of figured out what was going on with me. Mid afternoon yesterday I was both down and really tempted by one of the cookies left over from Friday work lunch, and ended up having a protein bar I'd kept at my desk instead (2 g added sugar). I then decided to take a few minutes to think through and write about my emotions and realized that I hadn't slept well for the past few days (reaction to stress) and also was ramping up my activity level too fast (it's what I tend to do, but I have to realize it's not as easy when I'm older). I was just overdoing it. Had some simple leftovers for dinner and took it relatively easy the rest of the day (I'd worked out in the morning, so just did a nice slow walk on the way home for work), and then went to bed early and slept pretty well, and am feeling better today.
Yesterday turned out to have 43 g of sugar, 2 added, and 52 g of fiber. I normally would have added a piece of fruit with lunch or dinner, but didn't feel like it.0 -
36 g of daily sugar...none added. Yes @lemurcat2 I hear ya with the tired/stess eating. It's a difficult habit to break but I think the key is what you did, which was not beating yourself up. Just accept that one day happened & go onto the next & do better. Sounds like you are doing great. Whoever started this thread, thank you. I usually check in each day & it spurs me on!! 👍1
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Hi All! Been working like crazy over here...
20 grams sugar today - none added. That dragonfruit was really good though!! 😋2 -
Catching up --
Wed and Thursday had no added sugar, 55/56 and 57/46 g of sugar/fiber respectively, so they were good days.
Yesterday I didn't fully log since I had dinner out, and there was certainly some added sugar (vegan Asian fusion place and I had a sweet dipping sauce with an appetizer and a dish inspired by Korean BBQ for main. (I'm fine with this occasionally, as noted above, and am pleased with myself since I had a plan and stuck to it and didn't end up feeling like I'd overeaten.)
Today I'm going out to dinner too, local Latin-style place, my likely order is less likely to involve any added sugar, but again I won't be able to log accurately for a complete day. May skip lunch or just have a basic salad and piece of fruit to save cals, depending on how much I end up working out. (Going to the gym later. I would love to run outside but it's still too icy and snowing again...sigh, January.)2 -
@lemurcat2 I get it and I'm happy to be here and I am not eliminating sugar! And often, limiting sugar for me is skipping the cake or not adding sugar to foods which is what I am doing - limiting. With that being said, I also eat sauces in moderation. I run and sometimes I eat sugar before a run...but, I limit myself from consumption of sugar now compared to what it was before when I did not pay attention. I log sometimes and sometimes I don't. A challenge is usually personal to each person and not a competition with someone else. You stood your ground. I'm focused on the big picture.2
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Thanks!
I decided to work in a little dark chocolate (well within my 5% of cals from sugar, and it has some protein and fiber too) into my diet recently. Not every day (more like once a week), but it's a nice way to finish off dinner on occasion.2 -
Hi All!
I’ve fallen a little off the sugar logging on this chatwagon a bit - just wanted to say your continued dedication is inspiring!
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18 g sugar...no added..I'm under my calorie intake also and only had 1/4 c blueberries for fruit today...may squeeze in 1/2 banana before the day is done, but I'm full now so maybe not.2
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38 g sugar ... higher today cause I had a banana & 1/2 c. blueberries & one c of shreddies which has some added sugar...this week has been a bit tougher to keep within my calorie range, but even when I did go over it wasn't too bad other than one day it was supreme LOL And I've had shreddies & milk in my house because my grandson was here on the weekend, SO I indulged a couple of times. I've also been off wheat most of the month & I normally do not have milk in my house either so other than the past couple of days...ugh...I've been wheat free also!! I weigh myself tomorrow...first time in 2 weeks so we shall see!!1
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