Hi I'm Jenny and I'm addicted to sugar... 30 day challenge

j_courter

:ohwell: okay, now that the cookie dough is out of my fridge, i'm ready to get serious about my eating. just because i've consistantly stayed under my calories each day doesn't mean i'm making healthy eating choices... i KNOW some of you know what i'm talking about!

october is probably one of the most difficult months fo me to eat healthy because i have four little kiddos who love nothing more than to share their halloween candy with their dear old mom. this is the challenge, avoiding processed sugars. i know even sugar from fruit can cause issues for some people, but i've got to start somewhere so for this challenge, sugar from fruit and other natural sources is fine but processed sugar is evil. is there anyone out there who would like to do this with me? i know i'm going to need all the support i can get! i repeat, this will NOT be easy for me and i need your help! :sad:

if you've already kicked the sugar habit and would like to support the rest of us, PLEASE do! is there anyone brave enough to do this with me?

Monica_has_a_goal

I'm also a sugar addict.. I always go over on sugar and protein..
Idk if i'd be much of a support but its good to know im not the only one struggling..

Keep your chin up and keep striving towards your goals

SallieBeige

Hello Jenny, I'm Sallie and I'm pretending I dislike that sickly stuff that melts in your mouth and thrills your tastebuds and ... moving quickly on ....

I find I am less tempted by sugar when I am not hungry so I have tried to fall in love with lots of veggies (or salad) instead.
Its not lot, but its all I've got! Good luck

christmre

Hi Jenny, I too have a serious sugar addiction. I am def. up for giving up sugar for October. I think that is a brilliant idea. I will send you a friend request and we can hopefully keep each other sane this month

wadesha

You can try turbinado sugar its 100% natural and less grams of sugar per serving than regular granulated sugar.

bds23

Hi Jenny! Im kind of new here also and have the same problem!!! Sweets are very hard for me to kick! I could definitely use a friend to help me out. Friend me if you would like :flowerforyou:

ohitefin

I severely limited my sugar intake for the last 6 months, no candy, no juices, no sodas (Of any kind), no rice, no corn (basically refined carbohydrates, which are pretty much just sugar). Trust me it's weird, since once you start cutting out sugar, you realize how much stuff actually has crazy amounts of sugar. A Can of Coke for example has 37 grams of Sugar (HFCS, which is worse, but still sugar). Go through the shopping aisle sometime soon and just look at the labels, everything, and I mean everything has HFCS.

To keep you motivated though, I've lost a little over 40 pounds since I gave up the sugar and started eating healthy food. If you want something sweet to satiate yourself try liquid Stevia, it's great and tastes awesome.

steffiejoe

Jenny you can do this I know you can. I have not touched any sugar (besides from veg/fruit) since I started my LC diet. Honestly the first 3 days were tough, I had a serious heachache but I pushed through. Good luck!!

linbee83

I am stalking you! No, I'm kidding. But, I joined another challenge to give up fast food for October, and added that I wanted to give up candy for October. (Seems like Lent in fall!). So, I'll stick by you on this challenge too if you stick by me! (As I know you are awesome at!)

j_courter

I am stalking you! No, I'm kidding. But, I joined another challenge to give up fast food for October, and added that I wanted to give up candy for October. (Seems like Lent in fall!). So, I'll stick by you on this challenge too if you stick by me! (As I know you are awesome at!)

i heart you linbee! you're the best! :-) i'll do what i can and i'll encourage you to do your best too!

so, who's officially in??? i've got christmre, and linbee... any other takers?

j_courter

okay, no one else has to start until october... that ought to give you a chance to finish up some last minute yummies! :blushing: we'll hit it starting october 1st. i started tonight, opting for dill pickles when i really wanted ice cream or oreos, or even better... oreo ice cream! :embarassed: yeah, i know... like i said, this isn't going to be easy for me. i might die. if i do, just know that i loved all of my mfp peeps till the very end!

j_courter

day one- no (or drastically reduced) processed sugar challenge: well, it's only 1:15 here, but i'm checking in. i gave up my usual packed teaspoon of brown sugar on my oatmeal this morning. instead, i mixed my protien powder in with it, some pumpkin, cinnamon, and about 1/4 c of vanilla soy milk. breakfast sugar successfully avoided! for lunch i wanted a salad, but what on earth do you use as dressing if you can't use dressing with added sugar??? i didn't have any here without sugar in the ingredient list, so i opted for rice vinegar... not the tastiest stuff in the world, but it helped with the dryness of the salad. so far, so good...

brendalyne

Jenny - I actually really like a mixture of balsamic vinegar & a little olive oil on my salad.....no salt & no sugar! Stevia is also a good sugar alternative. I bought some liquid stevia on-line (chocolate raspberry flavored!) that I put in my smoothies...oatmeal.....yogurt. Pretty much anything!

It sounds like a great challenge....but that would mean giving up my dark chocolate! :frown: Hmmm.....thinking about it........

j_courter

brendalyne... i know what you mean- i looked at your diary and decided i HAD to buy some of that dove chocolate... it's awesome! oh rats, there i go again! i am determined to do this... even if it's only for a month! after that i guess it will depend on how different i feel. i've read a lot of studies that say sugar weakens our immunity, so that is going to be my driving force this month! we'll see how it goes. i may have to try your salad dressing, thanks!

Adrenaline_Queen

No one knows how hard it is, unless they to have a sugar habit... After I have eaten, I always want a sweet for afters... Must be from my childhood (always works blame the parents , )

I found the only way to get over the carbs is to stop all cakes and such... It is hard, very hard, but after about 3 days, you are over it!!

You can so this xxx

Adrenaline_Queen

brendalyne... i know what you mean- i looked at your diary and decided i HAD to buy some of that dove chocolate... it's awesome! oh rats, there i go again! i am determined to do this... even if it's only for a month! after that i guess it will depend on how different i feel. i've read a lot of studies that say sugar weakens our immunity, so that is going to be my driving force this month! we'll see how it goes. i may have to try your salad dressing, thanks!

Dont do it for a month.. Just try for one day!! Only one day... xx Then on the next day look back and try it again... xx Take it one day at a time.. Or just try a morning... xx

j_courter

adrenaline queen- thank you so much for the support. it's so nice to see there are people who have done this and lived!!!!

so what does everyone think about the more natural things that are still sugar??? i have sorghum in the cupboard, pure maple syrup, i've heard of stevia but never tried it... i'm at a loss here really, just trying to figure things out myself! i am certainly going to avoid adding EXTRA sugar to my food... no brown sugar, white sugar, baked goodies (except sandwich bread), def. no high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, oh my goodness sugar has a lot of names and i've barely scratched the surface here!

i know for sure i DON'T want to end up using artificial sweetners instead... i'd probably be better off with the sugar! however, i don't want to be BETTER off, i want the best! :happy:

day one down and i don't feel too depressed about it yet. i had a nice glass of grapefruit juice, some raisins, and some veggies with a bit of sugar but this is probably the first day in i don't know how long that i didn't go OVER on my sugar! (if you look back and see days where i didn't it was probably because the chocolate chip cookie entry i used must not have included sugar... didn't even think about it until the cookie week was over!)

best of luck over the weekend! i am determined, but i can see myself getting side-railed at a family gathering, birthday party, or something of the sort when i'm singled out for not eating sweeties... my family has a bad tendency to try to force things on me. i need to grow a pair of kahoonas and stand up to them! here's to me growing a spine!!!!:drinker:

j_courter

another day down! boy this is rough... i actually had a headache and felt a bit dizzy today. i'm telling you, i am addicted! i bought steel cut groats at the local farmer's market, so it was no trouble to eat them without brown sugar or maple syrup. i love their taste, texture, and nuttiness!

lunch was a bit of a challenge as well. i fixed hamburger, beans, and rice for the family... the #2 and 3 ingredients in bush's baked beans are brown sugar and sugar! argh! fortunately i had some leftover veggies in the fridge, so i was able to eat that instead.

i also bought some cheese at the market, so that has been a satisfying snack food... probably not so good for the waistline, but i'm still staying under my calories, so i guess i'll be okay. it seems like my brain is saying, "fine, if i can't have the sugar at least give me some salt!" lol. anyone else notice this?

hubby is evil- he got the zucchini muffins out of the freezer... how mean is that? so far i've avoided them....

oh yeah, grapefruit juice is great for the sugar cravings too... i've limited myself to 8 oz. a day so hopefully i won't go over on my sugar intake, even with the natural sugar.

i'm not dead yet!

j_courter

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/siabevis

this post has inspired me! :-) give it a look... and a read! :glasses:

Pebble321

Hi Jenny, I read your post a few days ago but dismissed it, thinking " I can't do that in October, it's my birthday, and I like cider on the weekend.... and I need a sugar hit when I run.... and I'll be going out to dinner and...."
I bet you are familiar with this train of thought.

So, I've decided that I AM going to cut out processed sugar... with a few exceptions.
I will have a cider or two on the weekend, I will have something sweet when I do a long run and I will throw all the rules out the window when I go out for my birthday.

This might seem like a half assed approach but I think if I cut out processed sugar for even half the days in October, I will be a whole lot better off. And definitely better than making excuses for why I'm not going to do anything at all.

So, thanks for inspiring me, I'd love to share ideas of snacks and options with no added sugar

j_courter

Hi Jenny, I read your post a few days ago but dismissed it, thinking " I can't do that in October, it's my birthday, and I like cider on the weekend.... and I need a sugar hit when I run.... and I'll be going out to dinner and...."
I bet you are familiar with this train of thought.

So, I've decided that I AM going to cut out processed sugar... with a few exceptions.
I will have a cider or two on the weekend, I will have something sweet when I do a long run and I will throw all the rules out the window when I go out for my birthday.

This might seem like a half assed approach but I think if I cut out processed sugar for even half the days in October, I will be a whole lot better off. And definitely better than making excuses for why I'm not going to do anything at all.

So, thanks for inspiring me, I'd love to share ideas of snacks and options with no added sugar

YEAH! welcome! oh my, yes! those sounds like words that could have come right out of my mouth!!! i think reducing the sugars is awesome! whether you have a cheat day or not, you're still doing your body a big favor! i made excuses far too long and i'm finally ready to DO something about it! :-)

i did have some sugar (in multigrain french bread) yesterday for lunch. then, when i had dinner i had some black bean and corn salsa. halfway through i noticed that even my salsa had sugar in it! argh! i can't believe the things sugar is added to... it's in nearly every processed food we eat! still, i have avoided the ice cream, cookies, zucchini bread, baby ruths, snickers, and other just plain bad for you, loaded with sugar foods i used to eat way too much of! this is progress for sure! i'm going to keep on trucking this month. maybe others will join us as well? the rules are pretty lax... do your best, reduce some sugar.... :bigsmile:

so far my favorite breakfast food without sugar is steel cut oats. normally i just add boiling water to my oats and the 1/2 C (dry) that i eat doesn't fill me up... today i actually simmered them on the stove and i'm not kidding you, there was 3x as much food from the same 1/2 C of oats! crazy! i had to eat half for breakfast and the other half for lunch!

besided the obvious apples, bananas, and other fruits for snacks, i've come to enjoy carrots, sliced red, orange, yellow, and green bell peppers, sugar snap peas (YUM!), and still my personal favorite for the times i'm craving snacks: dill pickles! i am wondering if there is a nut butter without added sugar? even the natural almond butter i bought has organic unrefined cane sugar added...

i also put back 3 cartons of milk at my last trip to the store... vanilla soy, plain soy, and vanilla coconut before i found unsweetened coconut milk! one sugar bullet dodged! whew!