Whittakers Jelly Tip chocolate a.k.a. the chocolate that may be the death of me

"Amaging." Thats how one friend described the newest Whittakers flavour on the block. Apparently it was so good she had to make up a word.

The Jelly Tip Block is Whittaker's take on a kiwi classic, the jelly tip ice cream. It has a milk chocolate bottom, white chocolate top and sides and a jelly centre. Of course a classic jelly tip experience would have some of the chocolate crumbling to the ground.

Now, I am partial to chocolate, I love trying new things and Whittakers are (in my view) one of the best chocolate makers on the planet but (and of course there has to be a but) OH MY GOD THE SUGAR!!

There is 12.9 grams of sugar per serving (just over 3tsps), a serving is 25 grams (THAT'S HALF SUGAR!) And a serving size (get this) is literally one row - 4 measly squares.

I have tried it - two squares in fact (so a teaspoon and a half of sugar) and it definitely lives up to the hype. It took an inordinate amount of willpower now to eat more.

This is definitely a 'treat' and one I may have to avoid to stop from eating an entire block!

UPDATE: I've had another 3 squares. argghhhhh.

The sugar creeps

I stopped blogging there for a little while. I stopped writing down everything I was eating.

I didn't fall off the wagon though! This no sugar journey began on the 22 May. That was 5 weeks ago, 35 days ago. My goal was to be #sugarfree for one month.

My goals were:

• 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 month (minimum) and fingers crossed I gain the clarity and energy that so many 'i quit sugar people' claim to get.

Exercise didn’t really happen during this month. There were a couple of big walks, and I did try to walk whenever I could – but not a lot of purposeful exercising.

Have I lost weight? Yes, maybe. My scales weren’t that great to begin with but I would say 1-2kgs probably. The biggest change is that I don’t feel bloated. I have ‘leaned down’ a bit. My face looks thinner. I feel a little better but I definitely don’t have more energy – though that could have a lot to do with having later nights.



However sugar has now begun to creep back into my diet.

Throughout the month there have been minuscule amounts of sugar (bacon, the XXX cake, oyster sauce) but this week I have had 3 squares of Whittaker's 50% dark chocolate, 1 homemade afghan, 1/2 a glass of juice, apricot ‘frooze Balls’.

The afghan and juice was last night, and this morning I've had an upset tummy and I've felt really sluggish all day, almost like a hangover.

I feel really ‘aware’ of my body and its reaction to certain foods, which I think is amazing.

So, what's next?

1. get some exercise into my life 
2. continue on a low/no sugar diet 

"It's just a fad"

fad

fad/

noun

1. an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze.

   "some regard green politics as no more than the latest fad"

   synonyms: craze, vogue, trend, fashion, mode, enthusiasm, passion, infatuation, love, obsession, mania, rage, compulsion, fixation, fetish, weakness, fancy, taste, novelty, whim, fascination, preoccupation;

I had a friend say to me last week that giving up sugar 'is just a fad'. She then went on to relate to some educational campaign from the 80's (I think) about how eating eggs was bad for you (no more than one a week apparently) and now people are encouraged to eat two or more day.

I don't really remember the egg thing but her flippant remark gave me cause to stop and think about what I am doing and why. If the 'stop sugar craze' is just an obsession, on trend, a whim, the latest trend.

I really don't think it is a fad. I think that every single person that stops eating sugar, reads and watches everything they can on the subject will not go back to their crazed sugar ways. It would be too difficult.

I personally know that I will definitely eat a tasty mallowpuff again or have a dessert out at a restaurant. But I also know that will be a treat. I won't be devouring whole packets like I used to. I also know that after eating these treats, I am not going to feel that great. 

So 26 days in. I am back to blogging after feeling a little disheartened and unsure of my next steps. A little bit of sugar crept into my diet (not much but unable to quantify as I am not 100% sure), which I could feel in my body and mood.

Tomorrow I have lunch at Wagamama so I need to research which meals don't have sugar!

UPDATED: Super impressed the Wagamama have an allergies document. 

1. 
   

Day 19

Nothing amazing to report today. Feeling average - but I think thats due to lack of sleep. Tonight I plan on being asleep by 10pm!

I have made a Pastel De Garbanzos y Chocolate (Chocolate Chick Pea Cake) tonight. It is for a surprise birthday morning tea tomorrow at work. Instead of raw sugar I have used dextrose but due to the main ingredient being a block of 72% Whittakers chocolate - the sugar in the cake is 20.75 teaspoons. I am going to aim to cut it into 20 pieces!!

What I ate today:
Breakfast
Porridge with mixed berries, long black

Snacks

4x carrots, boiled egg, 2x mandarins, 7x water crackers with taramasalata

Lunch
TQ Cafe: Eggs benedict with salmon and no hollandaise. On English muffins. Long black
I have no doubt there was sugar added in this meal. The salmon would’ve add some, as would’ve the muffins. However it would’ve been less than a teaspoon total.

Dinner
Home made beef stroganoff (own spice mix, no added diary) with rice noodles.

I am obsessed with carrots. #yum

Day 18

One amazing side effect of not eating sugar is that I'm not hungry. Well not in the way I used to be, where I just ate and ate and ate.

I snack through the morning and afternoon (usually on carrots, a piece of fruit and/or some crackers), have a reasonable lunch and a pretty good dinner. And thats been me. No crazy late night snacks. No scavenging the cupboards to find something sweet, or worse baking something just to get a sugar hit.


Breakfast
Porridge with mixed berries (only ate half), long black

4 x carrots (I'm seriously obsessed with carrots)
7 x water crackers with taramasalata, 1x mandarins

Lunch
Classic café – roasted Portobello mushrooms of 5 grain toast. Had some weird garlicy aioli thing and halloumi grilled on top. Green salad on the side, two pieces of bacon and a long black. #nom

1x mandarins
1.5L water

Dinner
Stirfry veges* with deli roast beef

*the veggies had a light gravy on them which was made using an oxo cube. This has added sugar. the serving size was 0.3g - and I had about a 1/4 of that.

Added sugar vs natural sugar

If you haven't seen That Sugar Film yet, do it! Damon Gameau puts his body (and essentially his life) on the line to show the viewer what eating so called 'healthy foods' can do to someone in 60 days. It's entertaining, informative and frightening.

There is a great article on the That Sugar Film website explaining added sugar vs natural sugar. I really liked this simple rule from the article:

"SUGARS naturally occurring in fruits, vegetables and dairy are OKAY but SUGARS removed from their original source and ADDED to foods, we need to be wary of."

Read the article: http://www.thatsugarfilm.com/added-sugar-vs-natural-sugar/

This is what bugs me with sweeteners like Nativa, is mostly stevia but has erythritol added. Essentially this is a sweeter derived from fruit - so it has been taken from it's original source.

In the grand scheme of things it's probably ok, however, for now, I think I might stick to my non-fructose dextrose. 

Day 17

An early night last night was interrupted with three wake ups by the toddler. Usually when I'm over-tired and lacking in sleep I generally reach for the carby, starchy foods. Scones, burgers, cakes. But not today. I stuck to the snacks and lunch I took to work and didn't overeat. YAY.

Breakfast
Porridge with mixed berries, long black

4 x carrots, 7 x water crackers with taramasalata,apple, long black

Lunch
Broccoli salad on homemade gluten free bread

Dinner
Mexican chicken pizza with avocado salsa

Applesauce muffin (sweetened with dextrose), chuck of fresh pineapple.

1.5L water

Day 16 (+a hangover)

The bottle of red wine last night has made my head so very fuzzy. Luckily my man let me sleep in/stay in bed. Unluckily my toddler didn’t. Nothing says I love you like constant hammering on the door and your three year old screaming ‘wake up mummy, get out of bed’. I finally gave in and got up around 11am.

A super lazy day was had by all. I finished ready Year of no Sugar by Eve O. Schaub. It was a really entertaining read. Highly recommend it. Andrew got me out of the house for a walk around the block. 2.64km, 40mins. We may have actually done that quicker if we didn’t have a toddler in tow. And then for the first time all week I was in bed early and asleep by 8.30pm.

What I ate today:
Breakfast
Crepe with bacon and scrambled eggs, long black

Lunch
Bacon lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwich, long black

Snacks

Mandarin x 2, raisin, oatmeal, carrot cookie, ½ a apple

Dinner
Broccoli salad on homemade gluten free bread

Plus water, lots of water!

Day 15

I may have taken the ability to drink a little far tonight with a bottle of red wine. Too be fair I was celebrating my friend JBs birthday. And also (to be fair) the night hasn't ended with McDonald's (only a handful of crackers!)

Aside from the alcohol, today was a day of achievement. Bathroom cleaned, vacuuming done, washing hung and put away, tax return done (and paid). I even attempted some baking. First off was a raisin, oatmeal, carrot cookie. It won Parker over and they were pretty darn tasty. I think next time I'd cook them for longer and get them onto the cooling rack faster as they got pretty soggy pretty quickly.

Second bit of baking was an applesauce brownie. I used dextrose (which has no added fructose) and you know what. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I would even say maybe too sweet....

Breakfast
Scrambled eggs and a piece of toast

Lunch
Bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich, long black

Snacks
3x mandarins, 2x raisin, oatmeal and carrot cookie, 2 x carrots

Pre-dinner
Slice of homemade pizza (Mexican chicken), piece of brownie (had to make sure it was ok!)

Dinner
Pasta with spicy chorizo tomato sauce, green salad (spinach, rocket, cucumber, lemon)
Brownie (made with (home-made) applesauce and dextrose)

Bottle of red wine

Snacks
5x crackers

Raisin, oat and carrot cookies

Day 14 - TWO WEEKS!

So two weeks in and I'm feeling.... ok. I feel like a bit of a fog has lifted from my mind, which is great though it is being overshadowed by headaches. I still have a couple of pimples on my face (putting down to my time of the month) and I don't think I've lost any weight, well my scales are sketchy so I may have but if so it's not overly significant.

I think an early or two are called for - and some exercise. Then I'm sure I will feel awesome.

What I ate:
Breakfast
porridge with mixed berries, long black

3x carrots, 2x apples

Lunch
Quinoa, brown and black rice salad withsheep feta, green beans, beetroot

Snack - boiled egg

Dinner
Mexican chicken with rice noodles and a beer

Day 13 (and alcohol)

I've been wrestling with being sugar free and REALLY wanting to drink a beer. I've had the odd vodka and one glass of wine over the last 13 days but it really wasn't cutting it. I was craving hoppy, malty, bubbly beer!

Last night I found this article on the I quit Sugar website which says:

Beer: Doesn’t contain fructose. The sugar in beer and stout is maltose which we can metabolise fine.

Whoop! I'll drink to that. It also goes on to say that a beer is equivalent to a sausage roll. But hey, I'm eating pretty well anyways.

So I convinced the lovely Andrew to pick up up a couple of cans from local brewery, Garage Project. Verdict - just what the doctor ordered. Craving is sated. I really enjoyed the Pils 'n' thrills, and will definitely buy again. Also, super cute can designs.

What I've eaten today:
Breakfast
Porridge with mixed berries, Long black

Morning tea
6x water crackers with taramasalata
3 carrots

Lunch
Spinach, broccoli, sheep feta, cashews, quinoa, beetroot salad
Banana

Snacks
Banana
Apple

Dinner

Chicken stirfry

Just shy of 2L of water

1 x mandarin

(Urghhh I only had one coffee today! Explains the lack of energy and dim headache I've had this afternoon!)

Day 12

Good lord, I've made it through 12 days. WOOOOOHOOOOO. It almost seems silly to celebrate 12 days, but it really is an effort not to cave in and have that afternoon coke zero or the 3pm chocolate bar from the vending machine or even the free cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies provided in working meeting.

Food is so intrinsically woven into our culture. It comforts us, its a reward, a treat. I always make cake or some other baked good when going to visit someone or to cheer people up. I love baking and I love how food can make people feel. For me being able to get through this month and still be able to bake and provide delicious things for people using no sugar or dextrose is going to be an interesting task.

I have found a number of amazing recipes online, including a pretty yummy looking recipe for sugar free carrot, oat and raisin cookies. I plan on making these, along with some sugar free bliss balls tomorrow night, so I have an additional snack options.

This weekend coming will be the first foray into dextrose baking!

What I ate today:
Breakfast
Porridge with mixed berries, long black

Snacks
4 x smallish carrots, banana

Lunch
Spinach, quinoa, green bean, slivered almonds, baby beetroot and sheep feta salad

Afternoon tea
Banana, apple

Dinner
Chicken thigh, broccoli salad and 2 x small corn flour tortillas

Headache hell

I used to suffer regular, severe and debilitating headaches. I wouldn't be able to concentrate due to the pain and constant nausea, so would end up dosing myself up on codeine and retreating back to bed. These headaches would leave me drained and fatigued so I would be wiped out for at least two, sometimes three days.

Somewhere along the track they stopped being so regular. In face I couldn't even tell you when my last 'full on need to lie down for a while throbbing killer headache' was. 

That is until this last week.

Two weekends in a row I have had headaches so bad I have been of no use to anyone and fallen asleep on the couch. It's messed with motivation and left me exhausted the following day. I am REALLY hopeful that these have just been anomalies as my body is adjusting to not having sugar - mixed with a few hormones.

One of my goals when starting this journey was to squeeze in some regular exercise... this has yet to happen but I think some stretching (yoga) and walking would help with the brain pain.

Goal for week - yoga session and at least one 30minute walk (and to remain sugar free!)

Day 11

Today has flown by. Being super busy at work and having my snacks and lunch organised has really kept me sugar free. Also documenting what I eat has really been keeping me accountable.

Breakfast
Porridge with mixed berries, long black

Morning tea
6x Water crackers with taramasalata
Apple

Lunch
Salad – cup of spinach, baby beetroot, sheep feta, handful of green beans, three spoons of red quinoa, black and brown rice, Sprinkled with white balsamic

Afternoon tea
Fresh pineapple chunks
3x mandarins

Dinner
Leftover pork belly with carrot and Kumara
Vodka, lime and soda

Banana
2L water

mmmmmm pork

Day 10

Hormones, they're a killer. I am incredibly hungry and have this feeling that cake would soothe this and my PMS. Instead I'm eating savoury foods, and fresh fruit. Good on me. Where do I pick up my award?

I keep dreaming of food, so much so that I have been waking up thinking I have accidentally eaten sugar. Its frustrating but I hope this is just another thing to get through!


Breakfast
Porridge with 1/2 a banana, long black

Morning tea
Scrambled egg (made with unsweetened coconut and almond milk), piece of bacon and grainy toast (no added sugar)

Lunch
BBQ chicken thigh with spoonful of plain cous cous

Dinner
With the in-laws: Roast chicken, kumara, potato, carrot, parsnip, broccoli, spinach.
Glass of white wine

Snacks
Mandarin x3, banana, 6 x water crackers with taramasalata, 1/4 an apple
2L water