Day 8 & 9 eats

Woke with a headache (perhaps due to the two vodkas the night before) on day 8 (Saturday) which really put me in a bad mood. All I could think about was cake and other bad things. Like if I just had something sugary my mood would improve.

Did I cave? No. Am I dreaming of marshmallow chocolate fish? Yes.

I am also craving baked goods and while I want to experiment with dextrose (see previous post), I'm now thinking it may not be a good idea. I'm pretty sure I would eat an entire tray of whatever I baked. So right now it's pretty clear I need to avoid baking with dextrose for the time being too.

Breakfast

Day 8 - Eggs and ham on grainy bread, long black
Day 9 - Porridge with small banana, long black

Morning tea
Coffee

Lunch
Day 8 - Tomato marina with rice noodles
Day 9 - 2 x pieces of bacon and egg pie, 1 pancake with lemon juice

Dinner
Day 8 - BBQ chicken thigh with cows cous, red onion, grilled corgette, grilled capsicum
Day 9 - Pork belly with roasted camera and carrot

Snacks
Day 8 - 2 x sesameal garlic and rosemary crackers, 50g cheese (tasty), 4 x mandarins, chunk of pineapple
Day 9 - 6 x sesameal garlic and rosemary crackers, 6 x mandarins, 1 carrot, fresh fruit salad (pineapple, apple, kiwi, mandarin and banana)

Water
2L+ each day

Shopping

Grocery shopping has been ruined for me. I read labels on everything. Not only am I looking for no added sugar in the ingredient list I am also making sure there is no more than 4g per 100g of sugar in the nutritional panel.

How I wish I could go back to the days when I knew nothing. When I would blindly fill the trolley up with coke and chocolate and muesli bars and crackers and biscuits and wine.

ACTUALLY day 8

I'm owning it. This is actually my 8th day without sugar. The 25 May start date really was arbitrary and it lets face it, it got me started.

So what have I learnt in the last week? There is a lot of information out there about quitting sugar and I think it really does confuse a lot of people. Like using honey is better than using sugar. Honey is still a sugar and contains about 40% fructose. And fructose which makes you fat and sick.

And of course there is fructose in fruit (which is a whole other post in itself).

The handy cheat sheet below is taken from Eve O. Schaub's memoir 'Year of no sugar'.

Super scary stuff right. So the question is for me (since I love to bake) - what should I use??

From what I have read I know that brown malt syrup is probably one of the best sweeteners, however it also isn't that sweet. Another goodie is dextrose (David Gillespie, author of Sweet Poison, calls it 'safe'). This is because neither of these sweeteners have fructose.

So this weekend I am going to attempt to bake with dextrose. Here's hoping my creations are edible!

Days 4 & 5

The last two days have been a whirlwind of busyness (thank god it's the end of the week!) and I haven't recorded exactly what I have eaten BUT I do know there has been no sugar (except for minimal amounts added in food I haven't been able to avoid).

I've really noticed that my portion sizes are getting smaller and I'm not that hungry between meals. If I do get hungry, its nothing a carrot won't fix.


Breakfast
Day 4 - Porridge with berries, long black
Day 5 - Porridge with a small banana, long black

Morning snacks
Day 4 - 3 small/medium carrots, 2 mandarins, long black, meat pack
Day 5 - 3 small/medium carrots, meat pack, long black, small amount of quinoa salad

Lunch
Day 4 - Beetroot salad (beetroot, mescaline, feta) from classic cafe - may have had traces of sugar
Day 5 - BLT on sour dough from The Dowse

Afternoon snacks
Day 4 - Apple
Day 5 - Carrot sticks

Dinner
Day 4 - Thai red beef curry on rice
Day 5 - Fish stirfry (lots of veggies, there was oyster sauce added - which does contain sugar, though it would've been minimal in this meal).

Both days I drank over 2L of water
Day 4 - one vodka, mint, lime and soda water
Day 5 - Two vodka, mint, lime and soda water (imbibed why watching the sad farewell to John Campbell and Campbell Live)

Sour dough does have any added sugar.

Day 3

You know sometimes where you just need a block of whittakers chocolate and a bottle of wine?? That's how I've felt for the last 24 hours. However I've stuck to my guns and eaten pretty bloody well again today.

I found a yummy ‘snack pack’ at the supermarket this arvo. While I know it will be cheaper to make up my own, I couldn’t resist. Salami, meat stick BOOM. It has added dextrose, but only 0.2g sugar per serve.

And I've just now realised (looking at what I've had to eat/drink today) I never had a second cup of coffee. The fact I made it through the day without that is astounding!

Breakfast
Rolled Oats with mixed berries
Long black

Morning tea
3 small carrots

Lunch
3 Mandarins
¼ honey & soy chicken (from supermarket, 2.8g sugar apparently)

Afternoon tea
Apple
2x meat snack pack

Dinner
Homemade focaccia bread with hummus, avocado and smoked salmon

Water – 2L+
Handful of cashews

Meat pack good.

Day 2

I have more pimples! My body is totally rebelling against me. I really feel like stamping my feet and yelling it’s not fair. I’m sure it'll pass (it better!)

I made a discovery this morning that smoked salmon has added sugar. Captain Romance talked me through how they would’ve smoked it – and I’m pretty happy that there’s not a lot of sugar in it (seriously it’s under 1g in the whole packet). I’m still a bit disappointed by this though.

Breakfast
Rolled Oats with mixed berries
Long black

Morning tea
2 x carrots (cut into sticks)
Long black

Lunch
Nicoise salad*

Afternoon tea
Apple
Red quinoa, black and brown rice salad mixed with chunky basil pesto, sheep feta, avocado, spring onion, cucumber and smoked salmon

Dinner
Broccoli Salad on focaccia 

And...
Handful unsalted cashews
Vodka, lime and soda
Water – 2L+

*This was the healthiest looking thing on the menu. It would’ve contained some sugar I’m sure though it would’ve been a minimal amount.

Day 1 (official)

Feeling good about being sugar free. I'm a little jaded from severe headaches and tiredness but think things can only get better (right?)

Each day I thought I would detail what it is I have been eating mainly so I am keeping myself accountable and also in case anyone wants to play along at home!


Breakfast
Rolled Oats with mixed berries

Long black

Morning tea

2 x carrots (cut into sticks)

Long black

Lunch
Red quinoa, black and brown rice salad mixed with chunky basil pesto, sheep feta, avocado, spring onion, cucumber and smoked salmon

Dinner
Leftover roast chicken,  2 small pieces of kumara, 2 small pieces of potato, 2 small yams and 2 spoonfuls of the Quinoa salad.

Snacks
Handful of unsalted cashews
Apple
Water – 2L+

Hell

Hell is day 3 of quitting sugar. 

Last night (Sunday) I was in agony. A migraine-type headache began around 4pm and no amount of drugs could stop it. I knew this would be coming by I don't expect to be so wiped out. Cue a 6.30pm bedtime.

I am thankful to say that I have woken today a little worse for wear but headache free. Fingers are firmly crossed that I can get through the day without it returning.

So onwards and upwards to my first official day without sugar!

Lethagy

After Thursday's sugar coma I decided to crack into being sugar free. It's been two days and I am so very tired. I actually fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie with Mr3.

I'm hoping that having a low key weekend - and being three days into being sugar free by the time of my 'official' start , it's going to make the coming week a darn sight easier.

Broccoli salad FTW

Broccoli Salad, adapted from a recipe from Capitol (Courtenay Place). It is AMAZEBALLS. I'll post the recipe once I create a recipe page!

Sugar overload

Today my team (@ work) celebrated our one year anniversary (we all started in May last year). It involved a lot of baked goods. Banana cake, lolly cake, chocolate caramel brownie, cheese ball, camembert, rice crackers and tan slice.

I ate a piece of tan slice, it was pretty hard going. I ate a piece of lolly cake, seriously that stuff is so good. I ate a small sliver of the brownie, my teeth ached from the sweetness.

God knows how much sugar that added up to.

Now, 2 hours later, I am having the biggest sugar crash, I feel pretty fucking rough to be honest. I have eaten celery, I have eaten a kiwifruit and I’m going to have a cupasoup (which does have added sugar but is still only 1.5g per serving, approx. ¼ of a teaspoon). Dinner tonight might just have to be veges!

(Photo below is of the banana cake I made. I didn’t manage to get a pic of all of the ridiculous food before it was gone!)

Mindfulness

In preparation for the coming 30 days I have really started to be (even more) mindful about what I am eating, what the sugar content is AND making sure I am actually hungry (not thirsty).

So far so good although for the first time in a rather long time I have pimples. Plural. The odd one every so often is perfectly fine but currently I am sporting a red bump on my right cheek along with a crop of white heads and one threatening to erupt near my nose.

Is this because I am cutting down on the crap and my body is rebelling? I'm really hoping that drinking more water and eating more fresh food will clear my skin up pronto.

Today's sugar:

1 beer (lager)

half a small piece of banana bread (had splenda added)

Made cake and tasted batter and icing

Snack exodus (snaxodus?)

Today I reviewed the snacks in my 'snack draw' at work. The cuppasoup had 1.5g of sugar (it sadly had added sugar, bye bye cuppasoup) and the Jack Links had a surprising 5.9g sugar.

I really need to get on top of planning and organising snacks and meals over the coming days so I'm 100% prepared!

And so it begins (again)

I have tried to be sugar free. Last year I watched the documentary Fed Up and was spurred on by this to give up sugar. I lasted 10 days in September 2014. It was remarkably easy and I felt great the entire time. It ended when I went out for an amazing Italian dinner (where, of course, I had tiramisu) followed by a drunken night out.

From there I couldn't quite go two days without sugar - or even staying within the recommended daily consumption of 6 teaspoons (25 grams).

Now, 7 months later, spurred on by seeing That Sugar Film last weekend - I am preparing myself to live sugar free for one month. I plan to use this week to research, plan and organise.

Goals:

• Be sugar free for one month (25 May - 25 June)
• Create some healthy habits - walking twice a week
• Ideally I'd like to lose weight - however the real end goal for me is sticking to something for one mont (minimum) and fingers crossed I gain the clarity and energy that so many 'i quit sugar people' claim to get.

Rules/guidelines:

• No added sugar (white sugar, corn syrup, brown sugar, maple syrup, agave)
• No added artificial sweeteners (Equal, Splenda, Nutrasweet, etc.)
• Eat fruit with low fructose 
• Drink 2L if water a day
• Eat balanced and nutritious meals