The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

Makingabobor2

Not been around for a while and just caught up with everybody's progress. Hugs to those who are not doing so well, and well done to those who are doing well.  
Personally I'm having good days and bad days. We were away for a few days last week and I had cake every day!  Then since we got back I have craved dark 85% chocolate and had about 3 squares a day and a couple of biscuits. Really bad and need to get back into the eating more protein and more fruit as it really was helping. I shall write my shopping list for this week and get sorted, at the moment we are eating up what's left in the freezer and cupboards until I go shopping this week, so really need to think long and hard about what I buy. 

Anyway, I'm going to try really hard from now on, to get back on the straight and narrow, 'cause I know its upsetting my digestive system and actually makes me feel worse.  
Good luck everybody with the days ahead.

SkyChild

Did really well all day at work yesterday, refusing cakes, not buying sweets. Went home and had a single small glass of fizzy juice (big cut down for me and it is working because some days it's far too sweet and I can't finish the small glass)
Feeling less bloated today already - hopefully can keep it up and get a good streak! 

Honey_Bear

Well done SkyChild.  You're in a much better position than the rest of us because you've done this in the past and know what substitutions work for you so that you don't feel so tempted. 

I have to say that if it's routine that workplaces always have cakes, biscuits and sweets lying around there's no wonder it's difficult to keep things under control.  Has anyone suggested a fruit basket or bowl instead?

I've got a cold at the moment so pretty much everything tastes like straw, which is sort of helpful but I do feel very weak and feeble.  Belovéd did most of the dog walks yesterday which meant I'm feeling a bit better today, and L3m$ip's helping a lot.  I've never used it before and I'm very impressed with it.

SkyChild

Well, you say that but today I had a cake. (Only a teeny tiny one)
I work in a garage, so it's difficult. The boys go to the bakery and buys bacon rolls, cakes etc every day for breakfast and lunch, so eating healthy doesn't  fit in well - not sure they know what fruit is! 
Aw that's rubbish when you've got a cold and everything is just bland mush, hope you feel better soon

Honey_Bear

We all slip up here and there SkyChild and me more than most, but thanks to everyone's support on this thread to keep me going things are a lot better than they used to be.  Well done for stopping at one!  I doubt you've had time to read from the beginning on how I'm doing this Challenge, but I knew I absolutely could not go cold turkey and cut out sugar or chocolate completely, so I started with one sugarfree day a week, then the following month two days a week, then three etc until I'd got to five days a week, ie Monday to Friday.  Having said that the weekend starts on Friday evening doesn't it, so that doesn't count.  I could never have just given up sugar or chocolate completely and I don't intend to, but the longer this Challenge goes on, the less I binge at weekends, and this Lent has been a real eye opener as to how long I can go without scoffing a bar of chocolate. 

I very nearly slipped up yesterday and it was touch and go for a few hours while I was out, tired and hungry.  I sometimes kind of promise myself I can have a 'treat' when I get home and almost succumbed, but in the end settled for a slice of toast with peanut butter on it instead.  Some days it's straightforward, some it's fairly easy, some are difficult and some are impossible.

Hmmm, on the chaps going and getting buns and cakes every day - I can see that would be really difficult, and that fruit would be a bit of novelty!  You could try it and see what happens, or would that be unwise with your colleagues? 

Honey_Bear

Just lost a post, having just realized I hadn't posted since the end of March.  Whoops. 

In the run up to Easter how is everyone doing now that the shops are full of Easter eggs and all things chocolate?  I'm amazed I've hung out as long as I have but I do find myself really looking forward to Easter Sunday and cracking that thing open.  Other than that, I did indulge in a baked nectarine dessert that's been in the freezer for years (literally) the day Belovéd returned from a long weekend away but other than that I've been pretty careful about not eating much in the way of sweet stuff.  My weight's fluctating a bit but generally in a downwards direction which is heartening but to be honest - I'm now back at the weight I was when I started this Challenge so in 19 months I've neither lost nor gained an ounce!  Not gaining is the postive I'm going to take away from that and forget the not losing bit. 

How is everyone else getting on?

Makingabobor2

The baked nectarine desert sounds lovely. Bet you enjoyed it, no matter how much you felt you shouldn't have had it.  Not gaining is a positive, I can see that you would have liked to have lost a bit of weight, but at least you didn't put anymore on, that is the main thing. 

I am doing pretty rubbish lately, TBH.  I really thought I had cracked it with realising that too much sugar was making me feel bad, and working out that protein helped etc etc. But obviously not, I am just too weak willed.  So I am trying really hard now and going to try posting more often on here as I think that helps. I have no excuses for why I have eaten so much chocolate & biscuits lately, but I know I MUST STOP it.  

Hoping everyone else is doing ok and we can get through Easter ok and start afresh next week. 

Honey_Bear

Making, start again but gently this time if you think you're a bit out of control with the sugary stuff.  I genuinely think that having one sugarfree day a week for a few weeks, then two days a week sugarfree for a few weeks, then three etc etc works.  I don't think trying to stop having sugar all together works at all, because it's so hard.  When we slip up we think it's the end of the world and we're a failure and that's not true, but we all think and feel it.  Small successes over a longer time period has worked for me and that's why I started this Challenge.  I'm a tortoise, not a hare, and if you'd asked me 19 months ago if I could have given up chocolate for 46 days the answer would have been 'Absolutely not!' but apart from those three or so slight slips ups, I have managed it, and it hasn't been that tough.  The toughest time has been the past couple of days, tbh, and I know that's because it's coming towards the end and my Easter egg is in sight - quite literally.  Please don't be so hard on yourself - sugar is highly addictive and we're trained to think we can eat as much of it as we want, and the real problem with that is that the more we eat of it, the more we want of it.  Think about how much sugary stuff is about at Christmas and Easter and it will be clear to you how much this stuff is pushed at us all the time.  Take it slowly and you'll get there.  I wouldn't bother over Easter but after that, see if you can go either one or two days a week sugarfree if you're really worried about it.

I went to L!dl yesterday to do the weekly shop, and found about 10 Too Good to Waste boxesat about 2.00pm - there haven't been any more months and months and months.  Quite apart from being great value I love the randomness of the contents and the fact that each one always makes me think quite carefully about how to incorporate the contents into our mealplan.  I picked up two of them that happened to have apples and potatoes in which were on my shopping list anyway, and amongst the contents were four unwaxed lemons so I've just spent a little while making some proper lemon curd which I haven't done for 40 years, and only made it once then while I was doing a cookery course.  Thank goodness today is a holiday so I'm allowed sugar (if not chocolate) and homemade lemon curd on a hot cross bun is the business.  Totally gorgeous, and well worth the making of it.

How's everyone else doing?

Makingabobor2

Thanks @Honey_Bear, for your words of wisdom as always. I just seem to have got addicted to it again.  Trouble is I know it makes my digestive system bad and also I think it makes my joints worse as sugar is known to induce inflammation.  I'll let you know how I get on. 

Lemon curd sounds delicious. Never made my own. Don't remember the last time I went to L!d! fpr shopping. They knocked ours down and rebuilt it further out of town, so tend to go to A/d! now instead, but the prices there are creeping up a lot. Might have a drive down to L one day and see what I think now, used to use it a lot. Although I have read a lot of people saying there seems to be a lot of empty shelves in a lot of them these days. 
We had hot cross buns with just butter....but they were choc chip hcbs....oops. 

Honey_Bear

It's Easter, Making.  Don't fret about sugar over Easter, or you'll spend the whole time eating things but not enjoying them and there's little point in any of that.  It's always been a feature of this Challenge that High Days and Holiday don't count at all and ood Friday is a Holiday day - as in a Holy day. 

If you never allow yourself to enjoy sugary foods no wonder you can't resist it and then feel upset about it afterwards.  That's a habit and you can bin that immediately and just enjoy Easter. 

We'll deal with next week when Easter is over, which is Tuesday, and posting every day helps so you can get yourself in a place mentally where all of that happens, but please, just enjoy Easter in the meantime.  A day, or two or three isn't going to make the slightest difference in the long run.