The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

cookie02

Well done for not succumbing to the chocolate, Morning_walker .  It's better to do what you and Honey_Bear did and just eat the shortbread or m@gnum that you really want and move on.  Depriving yourself rarely works out well in the long-run.  If you're anything like me, you'll end up dreaming about the cake or cookies and then you'll break and eat an entire packet, when you could have been satisfied with just eating the one earlier!  The budget idea is a great one for limiting your sugar and also from an MSE perspective.  Honey_Bear said:

Your seed idea sounds like a winner, Cookie.  If your family are scoffing them instead of sugar - wow!  That's a huge change but it will probably only work as long as you don't tell them!  

That is definitely the trick, Honey_Bear!  They have no idea that the seeds only have a bit of maple melted in (and not much, at that!).  As for the m@gnum, you have been m@gnum-free for a while after the freezer problem so you have just made up for the one you missed .  

Yesterday, I was sugar-free but my family has decided to start 'testing' Easter eggs...  This reminds me of all the mince pie 'tests' before Christmas.  I managed to avoid the eggs yesterday but they have some of my favourites here and, right now, it's a toss up between how much I really want to have another sugar-free day (and I really do want this) and how much I want one of those caramel eggs (which I really want too!).  

Honey_Bear said:

I was surprised at how straight forward going back to this Challenge was after the Christmas festivities, but I'm struggling with it this week all the time.  Hey ho.  

Limiting oneself to a weekly spend is an excellent way forward.  Good luck with it.

Good luck with today, Honey_Bear!  Have you got anything exciting planned that might keep your mind off things, or keep your hands distracted?  That might sound weird but I crochet and it is very addictive and I've found it to be a useful distraction when I'm thinking of reaching for cookies or sweets.  

Hope everyone is having a good day.  

Honey_Bear

Thanks Cookie, you're right about things as usual.  I'm not sure I'm going to make it through today either at the moment but I'm doing the best I can so if I slip up I'll just have to remember why this is so tough and forgive myself.  I don't envy you sharing a house with a bunch of Easter eggs while you're on this Challenge, either.  That's more than I could bear! 

I will admit that while I was doing the shopping I noticed that M@gnums were once again on special offer so the freezer has been restocked.  This is probably not a good thing, especially feeling as I do today.

I crochet too!  I need to do something with my hands when I'm watching TV, having given up both smoking (16 years ago) and drinking (7+ years ago) so I've always got squares on the go and knock out a few every evening except when watching things with subtitles.  What do you make?

Honey_Bear

I caved again last night.  It wasn't a m@gnum but it was a LOT more Morribun's The Best custard than was required by the raspberries.  And I helped Belovéd finish the leftover tiramsu from last Sunday.  And three shortbread biscuits during the afternoon - nearly forgot them.  At least I stopped at three but that was probably only because that was the end of the packet and nothing to do with willpower.

I'm wondering if the fact that until very recently I was finishing off the cholesterol-busting yoghurts that all had sugar in them, and I was having one in the morning and another in the evening.  I knew it was keeping my sugar consumption up at a level that wasn't ideal so maybe I'm paying for that with cravings. 

Anyway, today I'm here to say, 'My name is Honey Bear and I'm addicted to sugar.'

cookie02

Honey_Bear said:

I caved again last night.  It wasn't a m@gnum but it was a LOT more Morribun's The Best custard than was required by the raspberries.  And I helped Belovéd finish the leftover tiramsu from last Sunday.  And three shortbread biscuits during the afternoon - nearly forgot them.  At least I stopped at three but that was probably only because that was the end of the packet and nothing to do with willpower.

I'm wondering if the fact that until very recently I was finishing off the cholesterol-busting yoghurts that all had sugar in them, and I was having one in the morning and another in the evening.  I knew it was keeping my sugar consumption up at a level that wasn't ideal so maybe I'm paying for that with cravings. 

Anyway, today I'm here to say, 'My name is Honey Bear and I'm addicted to sugar.'

🤣 

I came here to make a similar confession and you beat me to it, Honey_Bear .  I just about managed to stay sugar-free yesterday but I've already had one caramel egg today.  The temptation was a bit too much!  Following the egg, I had some salted caramel chocolate.  Then I had two chocolate cookies and, at that point, I politely removed myself from the table before I ate the packet!  Remember: stopping at three shortbread biscuits is a win, regardless of what prompted it .  

Re: the yoghurts, if you have stopped having those yoghurts, did you replace them with something else?  If not, it could just be that you're a bit hungrier than normal.  I'm sure you've thought of that already.  

Honey_Bear said:

I crochet too!  I need to do something with my hands when I'm watching TV, having given up both smoking (16 years ago) and drinking (7+ years ago) so I've always got squares on the go and knock out a few every evening except when watching things with subtitles.  What do you make?

Snap!  Right now, I'm in the middle of two blankets in different colours.  Both are using Even Moss Stitch which I find really relaxing.  One is for a friend, the other is because I wanted to try it with different colours.  Do you like to keep the squares as squares, or do you make them up into things?  I've seen pictures of some lovely granny square bags and blankets but, while I enjoy making the squares, I never get around to joining them up.  

Morning_walker said:

The alternative snacks I've now got in for mid-morning and late afternoon are: cottage cheese, avocado, peanut butter... all to have on toast. 

How have you been getting on Morning_walker?  I tried the peanut butter and it worked for me yesterday, thank you for the idea.  I didn't have the willpower today and didn't really try to resist the Easter egg earlier.  I have no regrets about eating it .  

I started typing this at lunchtime and just realised that I never hit send...  Thank goodness it's Friday!  I hope everyone has a great start to the weekend . 

Honey_Bear

Ah Cookie, we're in the same place with feeding our addiction. I think I'm just going to let go of it this week and come back next week fresh and anew, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Plus which we've got a day out on Wednesday so that counts as a High Day because we never, ever go anywhere and I intend to enjoy it to the max so I've only got to do two days to begin with, which I know I can still do.  How you manage even one day with caramel eggs in the house is a complete mystery to me.

I've still got a pile of squares I keep forgetting to join up which were the first squares I ever made; they're coloured cotton and needed to be joined with black to look their best but the tension is all over the place so some are tight and others are very baggy.  Black is an absolute nightmare for a beginner so they've been waiting for me to get up to speed and the memory clearly isn't what it was!  Since those squares I've been faithfully joining the new ones since into blankets. I keep the ones I like and donate the rest.  I finished a variagated green chunky (never, ever again) wool one joined and edged with black last week that the cats seem to like, so I'm now on the Chelsea blue squares - Belvoéd is a fan so he'll be a blanket up at some stage in the future.  Even moss stitch looks lovely - I'm still stuck on treble crochet but I can do it without thinking and that feels very relaxing at the moment.

Morning_walker

The crocheting sounds very cool. I have bought a bar of dark chocolate for this week, and I'm going to have one square per day of it - aiming to keep things straight forward. 

Honey_Bear

The KISS Rule, Morning Walker.  Keep it Simple / Straightforward.

I had sugar today, but didn't go completely mad.  Yesterday I was desparate for sugar at teatime and settled for a small slice of toast with peanut butter on it having been reminded by you MW that it existed.  It did the trick, so thank you!

cookie02

Hello!  My goal for this week was to have four sugar-free days.  That definitely won't happen now as I've had sugar today and I know I will have something on Friday evening.  One was a gift (chocolates that I couldn't resist) and the rest of the sugar was thanks to a massive slice of cake that was leftover from the weekend.  I read somewhere that lack of sleep can lead to more sugar consumption.  I think that might have been the trigger for me on Friday as I was working until really late on Thursday and then started work early on Friday.  Unfortunately, I ate more sugar than normal (by my current standards) during the weekend.   I'm really struggling to get back to my sugar-free mindset but will try harder tomorrow.  

Honey_Bear said:

I had sugar today, but didn't go completely mad.  Yesterday I was desparate for sugar at teatime and settled for a small slice of toast with peanut butter on it having been reminded by you MW that it existed.  It did the trick, so thank you!

Well done, Honey_Bear!  You are right about the peanut butter.  I had forgotten how much I liked it until Morning_walker mentioned it.  

Good idea re: having a piece of chocolate per day, Morning_walker.  I am going to aim for a sugar-free day tomorrow.  If that doesn't work, I might go back to giving myself one sugary treat on Weds and Thursday, to see if I can ease myself back into the sugar-free days.    

How is everyone?  

Honey_Bear

I decided this evening at about 9.00pm that today was a High Day and had a M@gnum, it being St Valentine's Day and all.  It wasn't what I intended for today but like you, Cookie, I'm struggling at the moment.  All I can say is that my sugar consumption is nowhere near as much as it used to be. 

cookie02

Honey_Bear said:

All I can say is that my sugar consumption is nowhere near as much as it used to be. 

This is true for me as well, Honey_Bear.  We all have glitches sometimes, we just have to keep going.  I've managed to be sugar-free so far today.  Unfortunately, it is this afternoon that will be the struggle.  I can already here the cookies and chocolates calling me!  I'm going to try and stay sugar-free today as I'd really like to get back on track.  

If today doesn't work, I'm going to adopt Morning_walker's 'one square a day' but adapt this to make it one small treat a day until Friday and then revert to real sugar-free days next week.  Just typing that has reminded me of the peanut butter.  I think I'll have some at lunchtime and see if that does the trick!  

Hope everyone is having a good day☀️.