Ms Mollybloom asked me any advice on how to quit processed sugar--- here is what I wrote her:
So- my boyfriend at the time challenged me. We had our last beer and icecream together, and then that was it. We allowed each other 5g of sugar a day, because sometimes it's just unavoidable. (salad dressing, for example).
Here are examples of what I eat:
Breakfast:
NO CEREAL (all Kelloggs/brand cereal has HFCS--- this is worse than sugar---*NOTE: Did you know that granola has more HFCS than Lucky Charms? That's right... Lucky charms is healthier than Granola.....if this doesn't make you mad, I don't know what will.)
EGGS!
BACON!!!
FRUIT!!!
"Simply Orange" Orange Juice (anything that isn't done by concentrate).
I started making greek yogart parfets and smoothies. at first I HATED greek yoguart, but now I'm addicted and love it.
Lunch
I worked at a place that had a kitchen, so I had the privlege of having someone make a salad for me. I HATE making salads (somethign about me making them makes them taste gross, or something....) but here are the different kinds of lunches I had:
hamburgers/cheeseburgers
burritos/mexican
cobb salad (any salads)
turkey-bacon-ranch salad
wraps
Soups
sushi
I replaced anything "with fries" to "with salad".
etc. (soooo many lunch options!)
Snack= nuts and dried fruit. I went to the bulk isle of the grocery store and got a shit-ton of nuts and dried fruit, mixed them together and nom on them all day.
Dinner = normal.
chicken, potatoes, rice, whatever. Very few people eat sugar during dinner, I think.
Things I noticed when I went grocery shopping:
I used to get stuff in bulk-- or a lot of products. Now I basically only shop in the produce section and shop 2x a week. (as opposed to once every other week). I'm eating a lot more fresh ingredients as opposed to canned.
I buy whatever meat is on sale and make 1-2 meals around this and have left overs for the rest of the week. (sunday is usually my "cookin' day").
I was a terrible cook before (It wasn't uncommon for me to buy microwaved dinners or something)... Now I cook all the time, but it's all very simple "cave man" prep.
"stir-fry veggies"
"grill meat"
"put this and this together, cook at 350, nom."
I never thought of myself as a cook, but I'm getting pretty creative/interesting with it.
Also, I should note that I'm Paleo now, so I don't eat Rice/Beans/Peanuts/bread. This is the next step, in my opinion, but not for everyone.
I should also note that I was STRICT no sugar for about 5 months. Most people do 2 cheat meals a week. (this is actually encouraged by my nutritionalist). It kicks your metabolism into "hey! remember! we used to eat shitty food! get rid of the shitty fat cells that you created!".
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Here are the things I noticed:
icecream. I can't eat icecream anymore. If I do, I start to shake and then get SO HYPER I end up running 5-10 blocks---then I get a massive headache.
I stopped drinking pop back in 2000--- so I don't miss this at all. But if you are a pop drinker, this will be the hardest thing to quit, and this is what you should do first. If I drink pop now, I get really bad headaches and shakes. It ain't pretty.
with this said, I miss rootbeer floats something fierce.
I miss mixing my liquor with things (no cranberry juice, no jack and coke, no mixers....) with this said, I just switched to beer or shooting straight.*
Coffee (I thought I would miss this, but I didn't even need it. I also really hated the taste after this whole purging of sugar thing.
cake/pasteries/etc - I still have a homemade-cookie now and then----but overall, I can eat one (or part of one) and be happy. Before, if I got depressed, I would eat a whole bag in 1 sitting.
chocolate.-----so--- I remember PMSing really bad and telling the boy "I'm going to fail today. I need chocolate like a inmate needs a knife" I ended up going to whole-foods and finding a 86% chocolate bar. 1 square = 1g of sugar. (which was below our 5g of sugar intake!!!!) I was so effin' thrilled!
When I baked I started subbing honey instead of sugar. To be honest, this sucks. But I can't have splenda. If you can have splenda/stevia/whatever, play around with those. Honey makes a weird consistency/taste.
I'm going to post this on my diary, too
This was probably a lot more than you expected
-LN
*I hate "dieting" because there is a key word in there-- "DIE"... Whenever you tell your body "sorry, you're not going to have _____" that is IMMEDIATELY what you want MORE OF!
I prefer the "LIVE-IT"--- giving my body AWESOME foods that I don't get often. Instead of buying a pint of icecream, I bought a qt of blackberries or a mango. Maybe I spent a little more, but how much would you spend on weight-loss surgery? How much do you spend on cavity fillings? I think the trade-off is worth it |