The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

cookie02

Good morning!  How is everyone?  I made it through yesterday sugar-free but only just!  I had forgotten that the target changes to four days a week this month.  This week will be tricky for me as we have friends staying with us.  They arrived last night and I was so tempted to join in with dessert.  I made another batch of sweet and spicy seeds at the weekend and I had some of those instead.  I think I need to get over this false feeling of 'deprivation' that I get in these situations.  Yesterday's dessert is one that our friends love but which I'm not a huge fan of.  I wasn't depriving myself of anything by skipping it!

This week, I'm aiming to be sugar-free Monday through Thursday.  I was considering breaking up the four days but I find it harder to get back into being sugar-free after I've had a gap.  I planned for Monday to be busy to keep my mind off the sugary stuff.  This worked for me and I wasn't tempted at all until our friends arrived.  I will try the same approach for the next few weeks and see how it goes.  

Jazee, I hope this week will be a bit calmer for you .  Honey_Bear said:

So, like you Cookie, I'm not going to go back to previous habits and think I can scoff a whole bar of chocolate each day because I'm technically allowed to, I'm going to allow myself some indulgence and see if limiting it a bit helps with the Challenge next week.  I'm dipping my toe in this water very cautiously because I'm not sure I can be that self-disciplined, but it's an idea to play with.  

Based on yesterday, I think the strategy works for me.  What did you think, Honey_Bear? 

I hope everyone is having a good week. Good luck with your goals!

Honey_Bear

I'd regard having friends around for a meal as a High Day Cookie, so I'd have allowed myself the dessert if I liked it.  If not, I'm not sure I'd eat it any day now, never mind the High Day business but having said that you did better than me. 

I did eat one of my 'sharing-you-must-be-kidding' bars of minty chocolate on Saturday (or was it Sunday) in one hit, really, really enjoyed it and don't regret it because I love it so much.  Besides which, it was just the one, whereas before I started this little lark it was one a day.  Any improvement is real, so I'm okay with that.

A friend came round for dinner on Sunday night and Belovéd made a dessert which I ate, but it's not one I particularly love and I ate it out of habit, tiredness and politeness.  I need to work on that.  Wanting to break the sugar habit is now a big part of my thinking and I'm utterly convinced that the less I eat the less I want it, so limiting it to only those things I really love is the only way forward for me, despite eating that dessert.  I'm not sure I cope well with feeling deprived either, so all of this is a strategy to minimise that feeling.

This week's now been decided.  I need to be sugar-free Monday to Thursday because I'm away from home on Friday and sitting on a train for over three hours is only fun if the journey is punctuated with lovely food.  I have every intention of fully indulging myself.

So far so good this week.  I had two dried figs and an apple for dessert last night and Belovéd had some of his leftovers.  That'll keep him happy for a few days and I'm not tempted by it so a win:win really, despite me having some on Sunday.

Keep up the good work!

Jazee

I'm actually eating sweets right now to satisfy my energy dip ahead of going to a meeting. I'll eat something proper later.  However instead of snaffling the whole bag I've just put a few in a dish. That's a win for me!

Honey_Bear

Aaaahhh, Grab'n'Go blood sugar replacement therapy, Jazee.  I know it well!  I hope the day calmed down significantly for you after that, and well done on limiting the number of sweeties. 

I've just found this on the Tube of You, which is so simple I think I'll try it.  I'm a big fan of Richard Wiseman having read 59 Seconds from cover to cover a few years ago, tried the first technique he recommended and found it worked.  (He also debunks a huge number of popular so called self-help techniques like visualisation etc and various other quackeries.  Worth a read if anyone has tried things like positive thinking and found they simply don't work - because they don't.) 

I'm on Day 3 this week of being sugar-free and it's okay.  It's always okay at this time of any day, but the last two haven't left me feeling deprived in any way, and I satisfied my need for something sweet by having a couple of figs and a tangerine for dessert last night as two of my five F&V a day. 

Crucially, also, I was entering some competition codes on a website yesterday from my minty bars of chocolate around mid-afternoon (danger time) and much as I knew I'd enjoy the flavour I wasn't even remotely tempted to rip off the wrapper and scoff any.  (I dropped it in the knapsack I'll be using to travel this Friday so I can have it then if I want it instead.)  This is a HUGE change and I'm delighted by it.

in_need_of_direction

Honey bear, you’re doing so well. Today is my day 2 sugar free day. I have a wee orange in my handbag and some savoury snacks in my desk.  However to minimise temptation today, I quite deliberately finished a large chocolate bar yesterday.  Cos I clearly could not have kept it until Friday! 

As it’s November I should be moving to three days but am not in the right frame of mind. It might still happen just not this week.
I recently saw an ad that basically asked when did a treat stop being a treat and become an everyday occurrence. It resonated.  I’m so good at making junk food an everyday thing.  This needs to stop. I also watched part of a tv programme last night where someone’s overeating cost them their house as they diverted funds to eating that were meant to pay the mortgage.  While I’m lucky to not be there, it made me think about the financial impact of sugar consumption. 

Anyhow, hope the rest of the week goes well for you all. Take care

Honey_Bear

Good call on the orange and savory snacks at the desk, In Need.  I totally 'get' the finishing of a chocolate bar ahead of a sugar-free day.  Of course it would have kept until Friday, but would you have been able to resist it?  Know thyself, and all that.  If you're not ready to move on to more days per week I wouldn't give it a second thought until you are because being over-ambitious to fit in with someone else's timetable isn't what this is about.  It's all about each of us racking up our own successes.

Last night I was at a work type of 'thing' to do with Belovéd's work.  Watching a film and going to the pub afterwards isn't especially hard for me!  Unfortunately as someone was leaving he handed round a box of Thornton's chox and I took and ate one without thinking.  I could have remembered, I probably could have gone all Faintly Saintly and said No, but I'm glad I didn't.  It was a genuine mistake on my part and he was being imaginative, thoughtful and generous to everyone, so to say no would have been ungracious.  I'm not even going to say I have to have an extra sugar-free day to make up for it, either.

I also made the mistake of going shopping today even though I knew I was hungry and what that leads to, so we now have treats in the house.  Hey ho, more resistance required.  I've just had a quick lunch and finished it off with a date and cashew bar and BOY as it sweet!  It was also very, very filling.  I may save those for days when I crave something sweet at 3.30 pm, nearly indulge and fall back on one of them.  Technically it's healthy but dates are pretty much pure sugar in reality.  I'm letting myself have it because I was really hungry while I was at my volunteering desk this morning and knew I had some leftover Trick or Treat treats in my bag that the Foodbank couldn't accept because there was no ingredient list on the fun sized unbranded A$da bars.  I was sooooo tempted, but I resisted, which is why I'm not beating myself up over the date and cashew bar that just happened to be flavoured with cocoa.  It may not have listed sugar on the box but those dates certainly did the job of sweetening it enough for me have a chocolate hit and to love it. 

So three and a half days done, I'm at danger time of day and in absolutely no need of anything sweet right now thanks to those date bars.  I can do this.

cookie02

Good morning!  I hope everyone has been having a good week.  

Honey_Bear, 4 days 👏.  I love dates and I knew they were sugary but didn't realise how much they had until I looked this up yesterday.  Still, they are better for me than my usual cookies/cakes etc so I won't worry too much as I don't usually have more than one or two since they are so sweet.  That is definitely less than the amount of cookies or chocolate that I'd eat.  My friend has given me a recipe for chocolate muffins made with courgette.  I used to make chocolate courgette cakes which we all enjoyed so I've decided to give them a go this weekend.  Still cake and chocolate but a slightly healthier version.  

 in_need_of_direction said:

I recently saw an ad that basically asked when did a treat stop being a treat and become an everyday occurrence. It resonated.  I’m so good at making junk food an everyday thing.  This needs to stop. I also watched part of a tv programme last night where someone’s overeating cost them their house as they diverted funds to eating that were meant to pay the mortgage.  While I’m lucky to not be there, it made me think about the financial impact of sugar consumption. 

Well done on your two days, In Need .  I've also ended up with treats being a way of life vs a treat.  I was trying to track the money saving but I let that slip.  I'm really interested in how much money I'm saving from this. It must be a fair amount as cakes, cookies and chocolate used to be a much bigger part of my grocery shopping.  I also think of the saving from a longer-term health perspective.  

Jazee said:

I'm actually eating sweets right now to satisfy my energy dip ahead of going to a meeting. I'll eat something proper later.  However instead of snaffling the whole bag I've just put a few in a dish. That's a win for me!

🎉 This is great, Jazee.  

Honey_Bear said:

I'd regard having friends around for a meal as a High Day Cookie, so I'd have allowed myself the dessert if I liked it. 

I would normally do the same but they were here all week and only just left now.  It has been lovely having them here, especially as we hadn't seen them in a long time.  I didn't want to consider the whole week as a series of 'High Days' though as I know how easily I veer off track.  Just getting back to the no-sugar on Mondays is tough for me so I didn't want to risk giving myself a free pass this week.   

Sorry for being quiet this week but work and friends meant things were extra busy.  I didn't hit my target this week.  I was aiming for Monday-Thursday as my sugar-free days.  In the end, I broke on Tuesday and ate a cookie.  Like Jazee, I'm counting it as a win as I had just ONE cookie and normally I'd have eaten several in one sitting.  I managed to stay sugar-free on Wednesday and Thursday.  Today I'm going to be sugar-free until this evening.  

Thank you for the tip re: the mirror, Honey_Bear.  I have a small one that I'm going to put on the kitchen cupboard door.  It will be interesting to see how the others react as well .  

Looking to next week, my plan is to stick to Monday-Thursday being sugar-free.  I have a busy Monday planned and hope that will get me on the right track.  This weekend, I will be having sugar but I'm going to try and limit it and I'm planning some treats like the courgette cake which are sugary but not nearly as sugary as my usual choices.  I hope this will help me to get back to sugar-free more easily on Monday.  

Thinking ahead, I'm wondering how to approach Christmas.  Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day will be High Days.  I'm wondering whether to just allow myself to relax the rules between Christmas Eve and New Year.  Part of me thinks that will be sensible as I know that, as long as there are no COVID issues, we will definitely have a lot of family, friends and food.  Another part of me is wondering whether to be more restrained so I'm not in shock in January.  I might end up with a 'halfway' option and give myself one sugary option per day on the 'in between' days or give myself a fixed number of sugary treats that I can use as and when I'd like during that week.  (This will be in addition to 'High Days' like pre-Christmas meals with friends etc.)

Have any of you made plans yet?  I would appreciate any ideas/advice on this please.  Have a lovely Friday! 

Honey_Bear

I've just lost a post.  *sigh*

Well done for being so careful while you had friends staying, Cookie, and not treating the whole week as High Days.  I'd be inclined to want to and then be cross and disappointed with myself for self-sabotaging so - You Rock!   I hope the courgette and date recipe works out well for you - anything that cuts down on the amount of sugar is an excellent idea, and as you say cutting down is in itself a huge victory.

I think In Need got it absolutely right with the point about 'When did treats become an everyday thing?'  For me, definitely in 2006 when I stopped smoking and there's no danger of me going back to smoking now, or drinking, so I don't need the reward / distraction that the sugar over-consumption was definitely there to serve, but has now become an embedded habit in it's own right. 

I'm sure I am saving money but that's not the main driver for me.  I so want to lose this floppy bit of tummy and I don't expect miracles, I'm not a believer in diets, but there's definitely a link between the sugar-free days and what the scales are showing - and then I put a bit back on after the sugar-allowed days.  That tells me all I need to know about the harm it's doing me.

Christmas.  It's become 'A Thing' of humongous proportions and to be quite honest, I find all the excess a bit sickening.  That doesn't mean I'm a Bah Humbug type, but honestly stretching it out over the whole of December and then dealing with the leftovers for at least half of January no longer appeals.  It's Belovéd's birthday on 12th Night, so Christmas runs on here, but it does mean that there's a definite end to it because he's so much more self-disciplined than I am.

When I started this Challenge I knew that Christmas Day and Boxing Day fell on a weekend this year, so my intention is to keep the five days a week going right up to Christmas Day.  It's easy for me because neither of us has family around us, both of us work at home so we're not corralled into attending events and most friends are a similar age to us and being cautious about Covid-19.  Up until last year we always spent a couple of days with friends, but we didn't last year and both households discovered we really enjoyed the new way of doing it, so we're sticking with it. 

I think I'll let myself off the hook a bit between 27th December - 6th January, and then go back to five days a week for 2022.   I'm not planning on gorging but I won't beat myself up if I over-indulge a bit.  Today I had two figs after my porridge, and like the date and cashew bar yesterday I found them really sickly sweet.  I've upped my veggie consumption and try to eat at least one piece of fresh fruit a day but dried fruit is tasting so sweet it's in the treat category for when I crave sugar from now on.  I've been eating a couple of figs at breakfast time for years and never found them as sweet as I did today so that's real progress.  If it means I won't be able to eat so much sugar in one hit by the time Christmas rolls around I'll be a very, very happy lady!

cookie02

Hello!  Food-wise, I enjoyed some mince pies and cake over the weekend but I think I was fairly restrained (by my standards ).  The courgette muffins turned into a cake as I didn't have muffin cases.  I was surprised by how much sugar was in the recipe and reduced the whole thing to 100g which was just over a quarter of the original amount... 

Honey_Bear, Thank you for the encouragement.  Knowing that I'd be frustrated with myself was a big part of why I decided to try and stick with it last week.  Re: Christmas, I know it's not for everyone.  For me, the time between Christmas Eve and Jan 3rd is the key part and I think I'll be giving myself some flexibility during that period.  I know I'll need to set myself some guidelines so I avoid turning that week into a sugary buffet.  

Your message reminded me that the challenge goes to 5 days a week next month.  I'm going to find that even harder but I guess that is the point!  I've been sticking to low-sugar for a few Fridays now but I tend to have sugar on a Friday evening.  

This week, I was aiming to be sugar free Monday - Thursday and I'm also planning not to have sugar until Friday evening.  I managed to be sugar-free on Monday but I broke yesterday and had one chocolate (but at least it was just one!).  I’m going to try really hard to stick to no-sugar today and tomorrow so I get at least 3 clear days this week.  Realistically, I don’t see myself being sugar free on Friday evening and that is something I’m going to have to work on, if I want to be sugar-free five days a week in December.  

Honey_Bear said:

Today I had two figs after my porridge, and like the date and cashew bar yesterday I found them really sickly sweet.  I've upped my veggie consumption and try to eat at least one piece of fresh fruit a day but dried fruit is tasting so sweet it's in the treat category for when I crave sugar from now on.  I've been eating a couple of figs at breakfast time for years and never found them as sweet as I did today so that's real progress.  If it means I won't be able to eat so much sugar in one hit by the time Christmas rolls around I'll be a very, very happy lady!

This is great!  I haven't reached that point yet and still enjoy dried fruit.  It sounds like your tastebuds have really changed now.

How is everyone?  Good luck with your goals for this week .  

Honey_Bear

Thanks for posting Cookie; it's just the spur I needed to get me back to the Challenge thread.  Nothing major, but events on Saturday were a bit disappointing socially and the result was I comforted myself with a load of sugary rubbish over the weekend.  It didn't help, but at the time I felt the need for a bit of comfort eating. 

I was sugar-free right through the four days last week (apart from that one chocolate on Wednesday evening that I still think doesn't count) so I'm not going to worry too much about the bingey excesses of Saturday and Sunday.  It should have been better, but it could have been a lot worse.  It was enough to make me not weigh myself on Monday morning because I knew that woud be bad news and there is only so much adversity a person can take, but I was slightly pleasantly surprised by the scales yesterday and today so maybe what I think of as a binge isn't as bad as it used to be. 

Regarding Friday evenings in December, that's going to be problematic for me too.  I can't even say I'll carry it forward and go sugar-free on Sunday evening instead because I know I never will - Sunday evenings are when we have a big meal, usually a roast and sometimes with a dessert that Belovéd cooks, so an after dinner chocolate always features.  So I'm not quite sure how to deal with Friday evenings at all.  'The weekend starts here, etc etc' is a real problem but I'll deal with it when I find a solution.  *idea*  I may give up my Saturday or Sunday afternoon sugar indulgence instead, if I let myself have something on Friday evening because those afternoon indulgences are still really bad.  It would also be a good way of seeing if I can resist temptation on Friday evenings and if I can't then I know I have to stay sugar-free until after our main meal in the evenings on Saturday or Sunday, which, let's be honest, shouldn't be that hard, should it.

It's been a testing few days because of Saturday's events and I've found myself resorting to those date and cashew bars when I get cravings this week.  This is exactly what I don't want for myself, but they do satisfy a need and I'm not having them as well as the figs, so as I feel a bit jangley at the moment I'm going to carry on until I feel happier again.  It's not very often I feel this grim but one of the ways I've found to make is easier and pass more quickly is not to expect very much of myself when in the throes of it.  In the grand scheme of things one date and cashew bar a day isn't going to be the making or breaking of me, and if it helps me stick to my own idea of No Added Sugar that's a win as far as I'm concerned.  Having just finished lunch with one because I was in need of comfort food I'm certainly not tempted by the idea of a minty bar of chocolate, so it's done its job.

Regarding your courgette muffins / cake sugar shock I was hoping I'd produce a glut of courgettes last summer, which didn't happen but never mind, and spent a little while researching how to deal with said glut.  Quite a lot of people mentioned courgette muffins / loaf which can be made with grated frozen courgette and I thought that would be the answer, until I looked at the recipe.  It's a bit like carrot cake - sounds marvellously good for you until you read the recipe - in the case of the courgette one it's about the sugar, and carrot cake - the frosting and therefore rather inevitably - the sugar.

Hang on in there everyone.  We are getting there, even if it feels a bit tortuous sometimes.  It's November, the days are shorter, the skies are grey during the daylight hours, it's cold, windy and often raining, and it feels like this will never end.  It does end, the skies will clear and we will beat this sugar addiction thing.