Cravings

Both Steven and I seem to be having some pretty fierce cravings the past two evenings. We usually allowed ourselves some sort of sweet treat after dinner, and this is proving to be the hardest habit to break. We are holding strong, but I think we're swapping out sweet treats for salty ones like potato chips. I need to curb that. I was trying to hold off a few more weeks before I attempted baking some cookies or brownies with dextrose, but I may give in this weekend and try something out.

I did finally find a breakfast that the boys both happily ate. I made homemade waffles, with dextrose instead of sugar. The recipe only called for one tablespoon, and I just swapped it out for one tablespoon of dextrose. The kids didn't seem to notice, and I had one and thought it was pretty good as well. Fresh strawberries on top definitely helped make it a yummy breakfast, albeit a bit labor intensive for a school morning. However, the recipe said I could keep the extra batter in the fridge and use it to make more, so I'm going to try that for the next few mornings. I think fresh will taste better than frozen and reheated. They always seem to get soggy that way.

Days 6 and 7 check in.

We made it a week! That feels like an achievement. The past two days Steven and I have been completely sugar free. The boys are only getting a minute amount in ketchup and ranch, Sam less than Luke. Luke has a love affair with condiments, and it's going to take more than a week to get him off of them. But honestly, if that's the only place he's getting added sugar, I'm not going to freak out too much about it.

I don't seem to be having any withdrawal issues so far. I did get a headache this evening, but I'm pretty sure it was more of a, my kids are being loud and I'm trying to cook dinner type of headache, than a withdrawal one. Tylenol and water made it go away either way. I also had some pretty strong sugar cravings this evening, but I'm positive those were hormonal cravings. I'm curious how/ if those will change as I detox off of sugar.

We made it through a tough play date with Luke's friends, the host offered juice boxes, yogurt covered raisins, mini cupcakes! And thankfully string cheese. Luke asked for a juice box, but I gave him his water and while he wasn't thrilled, he didn't throw a fit. It's going to be a long time until he stops asking for juice and ice cream and cupcakes. I need to remember that he doesn't understand what it means when I say no sugar, and even Sam doesn't quite grasp the full meaning of it. This is going to be a long, slow moving process, but I have confidence we'll get it figured out eventually.

Sugar Free Smoothie

I've been having a smoothie for breakfast most days for months now. It's an easy way to get lots of fruit and veggies in, plus some protein, and they're delicious. I've played around a bit with my current method, to make it completely sugar free, and so far it's working out fantastically.

I start with frozen fruit. I just buy the big bags at my grocery store. I use mixed berries, strawberries, mango, peaches, and pineapple. My favorite mix right now is peaches, pineapple, and a small bit of mango.  We have a Magic Bullet blender system that we're loving right now. So I put the frozen fruit in the tumbler cup, then microwave it for one minute. I've found this makes it easier for the blades to break up, but it's still cold, just not rock hard. Then I add a handful of spinach or kale, about 3/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt, and about half a cup of low fat milk. Then I just turn it on and wait. Sometimes if I've been heavy handed with the fruit I'll need to add a splash more of milk. Before we started the sugar free challenge, I was using flavored Greek yogurt, and I was really worried that I would notice a change in flavor. The first day it did seem a bit more tart, but I think I've already grown used to it, and I'm really enjoying them.

The First Weekend

We survived our first Saturday outing with no sugar! We took the boys to the movies. Actually, we split up and took the boys to different movies. The big boys went and saw Night at the Museum 3, and Luke and I saw Big Hero 6. We each got popcorn and a bottle of overpriced water. Normally, Wes would get Jr. Mints and Milk Duds to mix in with the popcorn, and sodas to go with it. When the movie was over, we walked right by the Sees candy store, the Baskin Robbins, and Cinnabon. It was hard, everything smelled so good, but we did it. We came home and I made dinner instead. Shepherds pie where I had to leave out the Worcestershire sauce since it has sugar in it, but I made more of a gravy then I normally do, and we didn't miss it. I also made another loaf of bread, and a big pot of chicken stock with the remains of the roast chicken from Thursday.  This morning I went to my Weight Watchers meeting, ( I'm technically up form my last weigh in 2 weeks ago, but I'm down from Wednesday. We went on a bit of a sugar rush before we started this so I was up.) We're going to just run errand and work in the garage today. Nothing big planned, but of course we'll be sugar free!

Stepping Down Gradually

I wanted to take a few minutes and share my stepping down strategy. I really think that if you choose to change too much at once, then you're just setting yourself up to fail. I think this is why most major diet plans backfire after the first few weeks. Too many changes at once.

Almost two years ago Steven was diagnosed with hypertension. It was a rough time, and really threw us for a loop. He was only 37 years old, we weren't expecting something like that. It obviously altered how he ate, and consequently how I cook. He had to go low salt. At first it seemed extreme. We went from using salt on everything, and then often shaking more on at the table, to cooking with none at all. Our tastebuds  revolted, and so did our bodies. Eventually, after talking more with his doctor, and doing some research online, we figured out a happy medium. Still low sodium, but not no sodium. I still cook with relatively low salt. I buy low or no salt added canned tomatoes and beans, low salt crackers and chips. When we go out to restaurants, it's almost impossible to find low salt food. Restaurants usually have obscene sodium levels. Steven usually ends up with a steak, and asks for no or low salt added to it.   After two years, it's become habit for us, and our taste buds have adjusted. Now when I order out, most of the food tastes extremely salty, sometimes to the point that I can't finish it.

I want to treat sugar the same way. I know we're going all gung ho right now, but I'm hoping that soon, it will become habit. We won't automatically reach for the sweets, for the processed or restaurant prepared foods loaded with sugars. So we're stepping it down. Focusing solely on sugar, in all its forms.  When I've told people about this over the past week or so, I consistently get asked about things like white bread, potatoes, white rice, all those starchy foods. My answer for them is, not right now. Maybe in a year or so, when no or very low sugar is completely second nature to us, then maybe we'll tackle those foods. Or maybe we'll wean completely off of prepared foods, because let's face it, I'm scrounging everywhere for no sugar prepared foods. Life is busy, sometimes they save us.

So for right now, we're stepping it down. No sugar. Still low salt. Other than that, we'll just eat as we please. Baby steps.

Days 2 & 3

Thursday went really well. Both Steven and I succeeded in being completely sugar free. The boys had more frozen waffles for breakfast, but no syrup, much to Luke's dismay. I managed to get my oven clean, and made roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, as well as another loaf of bread. Steven started experiencing some headaches, they sound similar to what I've gone through before during caffeine withdrawals. Luckily Tylenol seems to be helping them.

Friday was another crazy day. It started out well, Sam had more waffles, they're almost gone now. I made eggs and toast for the rest of us. Luke did have a small amount of ketchup on his eggs. I'm going to have to slowly wean him off that as well.  Then I went grocery shopping, and spent an arm and a leg on produce and dairy it seems like. I came home and had just enough time to put everything away, pack a bag of snacks, and have a quick lunch before I headed out the door again. I picked Sam up at school, ( he had a minimum day) and then we headed to our old town to have a park play date, about 40 minutes away.  The boys happily ate strawberries and cheese sticks, and some almond crackers I found. All was going well until Luke got sand thrown in his eyes. After 45 minutes of continuous crying, I was finally able to get his eyelid up and see there was still sand in it. So, off we went to the local walk in clinic, while Sam thankfully stayed with our friends. Two hours later Luke's eye was given the all clear, thankfully no scratches, and the doctor was able to get all the sand out. We headed back to get Sam, and my friend was sweet to make us all dinner. We had homemade tacos, and I'm pretty sure everything was sugar free except the salsa, which I didn't realize until I took a bite, that it was a sweet mango salsa. Oh well, not bad. Luke also got a lollipop for letting the doctor swab at his eye, but honestly, I wasn't even going to try to fight that. My poor baby was so miserable.

So tomorrow will be our first weekend day, with all four of us home. Weekends are when we tend to go out to eat as a family, or go to the movies, arcade, or miniature golf. Those all typically involve food, much of it sweet. It's going to take some getting used to, finding some new routines, new ways of relaxing, or celebrating.  I'm looking forward to it.

Day 1 Recap

Do you ever have those days that make you just want to curl up in a ball and cry? Well, that was my day today. I had planned on cleaning out my kitchen cupboards and pantry. Throwing out open containers, boxing up to donate unopened items. Making a fresh start for our kitchen. It was cool and foggy this morning, so first I decided to run the self cleaning cycle on my oven. Steven made pulled pork in it a few weeks ago and spilled a bunch of the juices in it. It's been smoking pretty bad, but  it had been too warm to run it. Today seemed like the perfect time to do it. So I turned it on, then went to take a quick shower. When I got out, I could smell the oven, and it smelled smokey, but I wasn't too worried. Then I went check on it. The whole front of the house was filled with acrid black smoke, and there were flames in the oven. I turned it off and opened every window,  turned on the fans, and retreated with Luke to my bedroom. The flames went out quickly, and the oven went into cool down mode, thankfully. However, it took hours for all the smoke to clear out. Luke and I spent the first half of the day holed up back in my bedroom. I gave him the last of last nights ice cream to bribe him to stay there, and of course I had a few bites myself. Then later I ate a granola bar without even thinking about it. They were part of the clean out I was meant to be doing today. By the time the front of the house was breathable again, (though still very smelly) it was almost time for Sam to get home from school. I sent both boys out back to play while I tackled the oven. It was scary looking. I used a lot of hot water, soap, and rags, and then a liberal coating of dish soap on the bottom which was the worst, and a stiff scrub brush. It looks a lot better, but still worse than it ever has before. I'm going to wait until morning and then cautiously run another cleaning cycle,  not leaving it alone this time.

On top of that, Sam managed to break the fence, thankfully just one board, but it allowed our neighbors dog to escape into our yard, and prompted a very awkward discussion with a man who is the neighbors friend and happened to be in their backyard at the time. I was a mess, covered in soot, and wearing my slippers. I may have yelled at my kids. It's been one of those days. But, the dog is back home, the board is back up, and Sam's homework is finally done. The kids are having spaghetti noodles with butter, and home made bread for dinner. Technically sugar free, but not the gourmet, homemade food I had pictured as our first no sugar meal. To add to it Steven was stuck in traffic, and won't be home for another hour or more.

So, I'm more than ready for this day to be over. I've had sugar, although probably not as much as I normally would. Tomorrow, I start fresh, hopefully with an oven that comes clean and works, because I've promised a friend with a new baby a homemade roast chicken dinner, and I don't think I can pull that off without an oven.

And So It Begins

Dun dun dunnnnn. 

Today is a perfectly average Wednesday morning in our home. Luke was up early, as always. Sam didn't crawl out of bed until he had to. Steven and I struggled to wake up with the amount of enthusiasm our three year old displays for living. We managed more of an ugh, morning, type of expression. But here we are, at the start of something new, exciting, and a little it scary. I'm drinking my tea with no sugar this morning. I've actually been doing this for a while, at least after my first cup of the day. So it's not a huge change. I've found that flavored teas taste better than plain black. This morning I'm having an herbal orange spice.  The boys had their regular Eggo waffles, no syrup. Yes, I know those have sugar I them. I jus can't bring myself to waste food, and the package was already open. So they'll finish those off this week. I think it will be a good way to ease them into this. They're both so young, I don't want to shock their little bodies into withdrawal symptoms. They'll also be finishing off the loaf of bread in the drawer, before moving over to my homemade kind.  

Steven and I both weighed in and measured this morning.  We'll be doing regular weigh ins on Sunday mornings, ( my normal weigh in days at Weight Watchers.) We'll redo measurements every few weeks.  

I'll try to check back in this evening to recap our first day. Wish us luck!

T minus one day

Tomorrow is the big day. Steven and I are really for it. We've admittedly gone a little over board in the past week, knowing this was coming up. I think I've eaten more sweets in one week than I had in the past three months. So we're both ready for a cleaner diet. Like my Weight Watcher leader always says, "if you eat crap, you feel like crap." Right now, we feel like crap. However, Steven just left for a last minute store run for ice cream. One last time right? At least for a very long time. 

Tomorrow morning we'll both be weighing in and taking body measurements. I won't be posting those here, but I will post updates as to how much we've lost along the way. I don't feel it's necessary to weigh my kids, since I'm hoping they'll keep gaining rather than lose.  They're both at perfectly healthy weights, and I don't want to even get them thinking about that side of this. 

Sam seems to be on board with the no sugar adventure. He went grocery shopping with Steven yesterday, ( a rarity for both of them!) and apparently really got into searching for sugar on the labels. Although just now I told him no more apple juice, and he was quite surprised to find that it had sugar in it. He thought it was just apples. I guess I need to give him a basic lesson in the breakdown of fructose vs. glucose. Lucky me. 

So, tomorrow morning it all goes live! Wish us luck!

Gearing Up

So I finally got the chance to sit down and watch all of Sugar: The Bitter Truth, the lecture by Dr. Robert Lustig. Finding 90 minutes to myself is next to impossible with two young children, but I knew it was important so I squeezed it in. This is a medical lecture, with lots of biology and chemistry going on. I was a history major eons ago, but somehow Dr. Lustig makes it very easy to follow. He uses a power point presentation with lots of graphics and arrows, and while it was definitely above my chemistry level, I was able to get the gist of it. If you don't want to watch all 90 minutes, I'd say the last 10-12 minutes sum it up pretty nicely.  Of course, you're skipping the part where he proves it all, but if you're willing to take him at his word, ( he's the head of pediatric endocrinology at UCSF) then just watch the end. Now here's my first attempt at trying to put a YouTube video on the blog. If I majorly fail, I'll just link it.

 

Well, how about that. Blogger makes that exceptionally easy for the technology challenged like me.  

I now have Dr. Lustig's book, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Foods, Obesity  and Disease on my to be read list. Lucky for me, it's available at my local library. Unfortunately, they don't have the other book I desperately want to read, Sweet Poison,by David Gillespie. So I'll have to break down and order that one.  I also read Year of No Sugar by Eve Schaub. This was a fantastic read, and based off of her own blog while she subjected her family to the same experience. She references both Dr. Lustig and Mr. Gillespie repeatedly, so it seemed appropriate to go strait to the source material.  I'm also going to be searching out other blogs and online resources during our attempt.  

My end goal is to go at least a month, though I'd prefer three months, completely sugar free. That is, no food with added sugar of any kind. That includes sugar, cane sugar, honey, molasses, corn sugar, corn syrup, maple sugar, all sugar substitutes, and fruit juice. This I think, is what's going to kill my kids.  I've been operating on the idea that as long as I served them 100% fruit  juice, that it was healthy for them. I was wrong. It's going to be harder I think, in the long run, to give up Apple juice, then it's going to be to give up the hard core sweets like cookies and donuts and fruit snacks. 

Hopefully after an extended period of no sugar whatsoever, we can start to add small amounts back in, in the form of super special occasions and treats. For clarification, a special event is a birthday, or major holiday, not successfully getting out of the grocery store without a major meltdown. 

So, that's where we stand. We're spending the next few days reveling in our sugar, while we still can. Valentine's candy, ice cream, and apple pie. That's where it's at. And on Wednesday, we begin. 

Who am I?

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sarah, I'm 35 years old, married, and I have two children. My husband Steven is 39, Sam is 7 and Luke just turned 3. Sadly wee don't have a dog to complete the perfect all American family, though we do have a grumpy cat, and various assorted fish and reptiles. We live in suburbia, in Northern California, where I'm a stay at home mom. Although that's a bit of a misnomer, as I'm rarely home all day, I feel like I spend most of my days rushing here, there, and everywhere. All in all we're about as average a family as you can imagine.

We meet the American average in more ways than one. Since Steven and I have been married, (12 years this May,) we have both steadily gained weight every year. There were definitely years where we gained more than others. Two pregnancies, and the subsequent two toddlerhoods took a toll on my body. Steven spends a lot of his work week on the road, so a diet of fast food has become common. And I'll fully admit that we frequently make poor choices regarding food, both for us and our children.  In a time where many of my fellow parents make sure nothing passes their children's lips that is not organic, all natural, whole grain, etc., my kids tend to enjoy a diet reminiscent of my own from the 1980's. Only with more Happy Meals thrown in.

I really only have myself to blame. I'm a pretty descent cook. I can follow most recipes and produce edible, if not pretty darn good food. I even enjoy cooking, and especially baking. But life happens. Some days we don't get home until dinner time. Other days my toddler has run me ragged, and I'm not up to anything more strenuous than Papa Murphy's Take n Bake pizza.  Sometimes we want to go out to dinner as a family just for the fun of it, and hey, Red Robin has pretty tasty burgers and fries. Not to mention onion rings with campfire sauce and milk shakes.  Then there are the holidays, which always revolve around food, much of it sweet. And the birthday parties. Good lord the birthday parties. My younger son Luke is part of a fantastic local playgroup, which is specifically for kids all born within six months of each other. Which means, they all have birthdays within six months of each  other! We're in the midst of birthday party season right now, in fact we got back from one at Chuck E Cheese about three hours ago, and we're at a different one yesterday! Sam, my 7 year old, gets invited to a fair few as well, though for the most part he's at the drop off age, so at least I'm not getting a cupcake as well.

Goodness I talk a lot. Or write a lot I guess.
Anyway, I knew I had a problem. Last spring, we had a particularly tough few months, with a lot of time spent on the road, which meant of course, a lot more fast food type meals. I went to a doctors appointment in early May for a sinus infection, and was forced to get on a scale. I weighed in at 196 pounds! The only time I had ever been higher was at nine months pregnant! It was time for a wake up call. I promptly joined Weight Watchers, which had worked well in the past, until I got pregnant with Luke.

Weight Watchers is of course a paid program, and it certainly works. At this moment I'm down 23 pounds. It could certainly be more, but I'm definitely one of those people who always has an excuse or a reason to have that cupcake or order of fries. The thing about WW is that you can eat what you want. You just need to watch portions, and offset the not healthy stuff with lots of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, low fat dairy, and whole grains.  If you've ever attended a meeting, ( and I'm part of a fantastic meeting, shout out to The Crazy Losers!)  you know that there is always a wide array of people, from the newbies, to the ones who are back for the third or fourth try, to the lifetime members, those elusive creatures who have attained their goal weight and are keeping it off. The difference I think you'll find between these people is that the ones who're making it work, really work for them, have figured out that actually ayou can't really eat what ever you want. Sure, you can have one slice of pizza. But the rest of your week needs to be healthy. And it needs to be real food, honest to goodness vegetables, meat, whole grains, etc. Not "diet food" that is full of chemicals, and not much else.

So, where are we now? I've learned my lessons about eating smaller portions, real food, and moderate exercise. I have good weeks and bad weeks. I'm on a journey, and that's ok. But this blog isn't about WeightWatchers. It's about quitting sugar. A few months ago, one of our members gave up all sugar and alcohol. Over Christmas. Just let that sink in for a minute. No sugar, or alcohol. At Christmas. She was very strong, and made it to her personal goal of New Years.  Then another member mentioned watching something on YouTube about sugar. And I remembered reading an article about a family who did a year of no sugar. And I decided I needed to do some research. I plugged going sugar free into google, and promptly got sucked in. I Was Horrified. I spent the next few days reading and reading and reading. (Links coming soon.) The whole time I was talking at my husband about this. I think he was afraid. But somehow I talked him into doing a sugar free trial. And lord help us, we start next week. Because starting the week of Valentines seemed like setting us up for failure. So, big deep breath, and away we go.

What's this all about anyway?

The sugar showdown. My attempt at blogging my attempt at cutting out all added sugar in my family's diet for at least a month. Hopefully longer. Like a year. At least.  And my family has an obsession with sugar. Wish me luck! We start next Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015.
More to come.