The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

cookie02

It's very interesting to learn that the taste of processed food is so different.  I'm sure that your homemade shortbread will be much better than anything out of a packet (and you'll know exactly what went into it too!).  You're right about the spreadsheet.  I think that tracking as I go is more effective because I can see problems early on and try to distract myself so I veer away from sugar and towards something healthier.  When I was completing the spreadsheet this weekend, I was so tired and it was already the end of the day so it was too late to change that day.  

Yesterday, I achieved my first sugar-free day of the week!  Today, I've been sugar-free so far and plan to stay that way.  It is such a lovely day and I have the day off so I'm going out to meet a friend in the park and then have a coffee.  I think I'll suggest taking the coffees with us around the park so I avoid getting a cake to go with it.  

Honey_Bear said:

Back to it today, sugar-free for the full five days.

Good luck, Honey_Bear and well done for doing the full five days for the challenge.  I'm not ready to give up my Friday evenings (yet) and really admire that you've done this!

I hope everyone is having a great week so far☀️.  

Honey_Bear

Have a lovely day with your friend Cookie, and good luck with avoiding the cake!

It's Lent that's done it for me on Friday evenings which I've neve managed before because I've narrowed down the problem to chocolate.  I can't have it, and there's no other sugar I want enough because everything tastes of sugary chemical flavours, and are now so sweet to me that I just don't want them enough.  I'm very, very pleased with that because willpower alone wouldn't be enough to get me through this as much as I'm managing at the moment.

I have to say that posting about it always helps as well - it clarifies my thoughts while I'm recounting what's been good (or not so good) and it's always, always, always helpful to have your comments.  Thank you for sticking with this - it makes all the difference not just talking to myself!

cookie02

Thank you, Honey_Bear!  I managed to avoid the cake yesterday (just!) and I'm going to go ahead and declare today as sugar-free too.  I had a client lunch earlier but the weather was so lovely and we opted to walk afterwards, instead of having dessert.  

Honey_Bear said:

I have to say that posting about it always helps as well - it clarifies my thoughts while I'm recounting what's been good (or not so good) and it's always, always, always helpful to have your comments.  Thank you for sticking with this - it makes all the difference not just talking to myself!

This is exactly the same for me - thank you!  

I'll be working from home for the rest of this week and I have a new source of temptation as I arrived home to find hot cross buns in the cupboard.  That's not a complaint and I'm more grateful than ever for just having the luxury of choice.  If there are any left by Friday evening, I might have one for my weekend treat .  I have a load of blueberries that need using up so I'm thinking about waking up early to make some blueberry muffins before I start work.  I'm not a huge fan of blueberries so those won't tempt me but my family loves them and my parents are always happy to have some.  If I don't bake the muffins, I'm going to have to find some other ideas.  There are 3 packs and I want to make sure we use them up!

cookie02

I am dreaming of KitK@ts this morning.  I have no idea why 🤔.  I like them but that's just in the way that I like most sweets - I've never been obsessed with them (although some of the flavours you get abroad are amazing!).  Clearly, today is going to be difficult as I'm not normally thinking of sugar this early in the day.  I'm really determined to get my fourth sugar-free day this week, especially after staying sugar-free even during yesterday's lunch and my catch-up with a friend earlier in the week.  Fingers crossed!

I hope all of you are managing to hit your goals this week and that you have a lovely day ☀️.  

Honey_Bear

How did the kitkat dreaming turn out for you Cookie?  Between that and the hot cross buns I'd find it very tough on a sugarfree day.  Good on you if you made it through to this point this week and I hope you thoroughly enjoy your Friday evening. 

It might be worthwhile buying a kitkat to indulge yourself if you've got specific cravings for them though.  About eleventy billion years ago I had a real craving for a c0ka c0l@, the proper full strength loaded-with-sugar type while I was driving home from an evening out so I stopped at a petrol station, bought one and had a large swig on the forecourt.  It was truly disgusting and I used to love it as a child but I hadn't had one for a looooong time so I thought it would be a real treat, and the cravings were very real.  Not only have I not had any cravings since, the very idea of it now revolts me - a huge win for me as all of that sugar is now no longer on the temptation list.  Big win there, for the price of one can of c0ke. 

We went out to dinner on Wednesday to a proper restaurant, the type that cooks food that we could never cook at home - a very rare occurence.  It was just like a proper date, as well, with a trip to the theatre afterwards.  I allowed myself dessert which I shared with Belovéd because he'd shared his scallops with me.  It was completely worth it!  It was a ginger thing, with vanilla ice cream and caramalized banana and it was gorgeous.  If I'm going to break the sugar thing it had better be worthwhile, and after a few disappointments I was a bit concerned it wouldn't be worth it but if I could have licked the ramekin out I would have - the place was far too posh but ooooh it was lovely.

Which made Thursday evening really, really tough.  I'd forgotten how much allowing myself to eat sugar midweek would affect me but it did, badly.  I resisted but I did mind doing so.  At least there wasn't anything made with chocolate on the Specials menu because I'm not sure I'd have been able to resist following up Wednesday chocolate with a sneaky Thursday chocolate.  I love ginger but it doesn't have the same hold on me, fortunately.

So, onwards and upwards.  If I can think of anything that isn't chocolate I'd like tomorrow I'll indulge, if not I probably won't, although I'm a bit too busy at the moment to bake any shortbread so I'm not having any of that this weekend.

How are you doing Morning Walker?  How this week been treating you?

Morning_walker

Thanks for asking, Honey_Bear. Good to catch up on everyone's posts. 

cookie02 said:

"... That's not a complaint and I'm more grateful than ever for just having the luxury of choice. ..."

Yes, I'm very much resonating with this, cookie02. 

My week has gone well, thanks; I have stopped eating chocolate and haven't had the usual cravings for when I try to cut back either... I wonder if it is related to the change in the weather. The small amounts of sugar I had were in crisps, for example, Sunbites. 

Wishing you a great weekend!

Honey_Bear

A sugar-allowed day, and I found five of Belovéd's liquorice allsorts on my desk.  I wish I could say I enjoyed them but they just tasted of sugar.  Nothing else.  I won't be bothering with them again.  It's interesting, to me, how much my tastes have changed since I went chocolate-free six days a week.  Nothing else came close to having that kind of effect on my tastebuds but I rather like this new found state of affairs, because it lessens temptation.

cookie02

I didn't eat the KitK@t, Honey_Bear.  I'm still not sure what that was about as I like them but they're not normally chocolates that I would be dreaming of!  I know exactly what you mean about the c0ca c0l@.  That used to be my main sugary weakness and I would have it for breakfast (!) and throughout the day.  When I last tasted it, I couldn't believe how syrupy it tasted - believe it or not, I used to find them refreshing!  It sounds like something similar has happened for you with the liquorice.  It is the best feeling when you're not trying to resist temptation as you're just not tempted anymore!  Well done for enjoying Wednesday (rightly as it sounds like a very lovely High Day-type of activity!) and getting back on track on Thursday .

Well done on meeting your goals for this week, Morning_walker! 🏅  I think the weather makes a difference as I also find myself eating less sugar (and less overall) in the summer.  I'm not sure if there's any scientific evidence for this though.  If you have swapped to snacks that you enjoy, that might also be helping to make you miss the sugar less.  I am really enjoying dates, lentils, rice and lentil cakes etc and I've been staying in control of portion sizes.  

This week, I met my goal of being sugar-free Monday-Thursday and most of Friday .  Yesterday, I enjoyed some lovely ice cream from a little family-run shop that had opened unexpectedly due to the sunny weather.  It was delicious and the perfect Friday evening treat.  So far today, I've had a tiny amount of Fairtrade chocolate (less than the size of a square of D@iry Mi1k).  In the past, I'd have eaten a whole strip without thinking and I'd probably have had a 2nd strip afterwards, if not more.  It might be due to the sun but I don't think I'm going to want more sugar today.  We're not going to the ice cream shop so I won't be tempted there.  I have frozen fruit in the freezer and I might try and whizz that into some kind of dessert later.  

Morning_walker

Thanks cookie02. I would like to start cooking with lentils again. I hadn't thought of having them as a snack... I'd like to try it. 

Congrats on your achievements this week Honey_Bear and cookie02! 

Honey_Bear

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and the mothers amongst us had a lovely Mothering Sunday.

I was quite surprised at how untempted I was by being allowed sugar on Saturday and pleased to say that other than those five or six liquorice allsorts I didn't bother with anything else, although Belovéd indulged in a m@gnum which sorely tempted me, along with the thought that no-one would ever know if I did and didn't 'fess up.  Sorry for that thought.

Sunday I allowed myself the leftover 60g of dark chocolate from last week, three of the handmade chocolates and a m@gnum.  More than the ideal, a lot less than it used to be every day of the week, and it was enough.  I'm very pleased with how this is going at the moment and incredibly relieved that it is going well after really struggling with it in December and January. 

Have a good week everyone and I hope it goes smoothly.