The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

Honey_Bear

Very sensible Cookie, recongnising that this week is a real toughie and designing a strategy to cope with it.  Offering hospitality to guests over the whole Christmas period means that there's a lot of sugary stuff around, including but not limited to - chocolate (I feel you pain Polly Bear!).

We're all tempted by all of it and I'm pretty sure all of us have our own personal nemesis, be it chocolate, potatoes or crisps - as soon as they're in front of us if we're under any stress at all, become irresistable.  However we get through the next seven days, never mind the additional 12 Days of Christmas afterwards, the important thing to remember is that Christmas is a Feast Day and is supposed to be a time of indulgence in the bleakness of midwinter - there's a reason those carols have those words. 

I have visions of people, living in flimsy huts with an open fire in mediaval times making these dried fruit treats that would have all been wickedly expensive 700 years ago, having saved suet and all the other fattening things to have a proper feast in the way that we don't live any more, in plenty despite the current problems.  In a way - we don't know we're born and the traditional treats are a way of reminding us how incredibly lucky we are to live in the modern world.

I don't intend to go mad, I don't intend to make my life a misery of having to say no to lovely things, I fully intend to enjoy the whole thing and I'm not going to feel guilty about indulging.  I'm also not going to go back to eating a 200g bar of chocolate every single day in secret like a thief in the night, and then gorging on pudding just because it's there - I don't like Christmas pudding but I've made my own this year so it isn't so full of sugar, glucose syrup and added fructose so I can have a spoonful or three and enjoy them as a tradition and not have any more.  I will be eating chocolate and I will thorougly enjoy it but it will be the amounts that normal people have most of the time, not my usual past self which was kind of like Christmas every day 365 days a year.

After Belovéd's birthday I will be starting from scratch again and that's fine, but in exactly the same way as you, Cookie.  I don't want to go mad over Christmas for what is now 19 days for me, so that it becomes virtually impossible and a reall struggle to reset my taste buds again.

Polly Bear, chocolate will feature in pretty much all of those 19 days but less than I used to eat.  That's the best I can promise.  It would be lovely if you could allow yourself some, and enjoy it, without feeling guilty.  Can you work out a strategy to get you through, as Cookie has done?

Morning_walker

I'm back having fallen off the band-wagon again! Christmas fare got the better of me I'm going to try starting again tomorrow! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. 

Honey_Bear

None of us are doing brilliantly at the moment Morning Walker.  You are very much not on your own! 

cookie02

Welcome back, Morning_walker.  As Honey_Bear says, I think we're all in the same boat right now thanks to the weather and Christmas.  I was hoping to have a low-sugar day but I ended up eating cake and cookies.  It's Christmas and we're on holiday so it's to be expected (and is still less than the amount I'd have eaten pre-challenge, so I count that as a win).  I'm still going to try to have a low-sugar day tomorrow.  Even if it doesn't happen, I think tracking my sugar intake makes me choose things I'll really like, instead of just eating all the chocolates and cakes put in front of me!  Good luck meeting your goals and hope the week has started well for everyone .  

cookie02

I'm going ahead and declaring today a rare success (based on my current pattern!).  I managed to stick to my low-sugar goal and had a small piece of cake and a square of chocolate at lunchtime but resisted the mince pies this evening!  I'm hoping to stick to a low-sugar day tomorrow as well but we will be out for most of the day so I know I'm going to be tempted by all sorts of things.  

@hazeldreams , did you sign up for the IF ZOE project in the end?  I've bookmarked the site to go back and read the findings later but I'm really curious.  I'm not doing IF right now as I've been feeling hungry in the mornings (which is rare for me but it has been consistent for some time now).  I think I'll try to go back to IF once it warms up as I suspect the temperature has a lot to do with it!  I definitely eat more when it's cold.  

How is everyone doing this week?  

Honey_Bear

Well done on sticking with the low sugar day as planned Cookie.  So much better to achieve a smaller goal rather than set an unattainable one and feel a failure.

I had two homemade mince pies today and I know exactly how much sugar was in them because I made the mincemeat and the pastry.  Obviously I had to do a bit of quality control before I inflicted them on anyone else.  I don't like the shop bought ones because they're so sickly but these are really lovely, which is all thanks to Delia.  They're a bit wonky but fabulous warm with coffee.  Other than that, nothing, so I'm rather pleased with myself for once.

cookie02

Thank you, Honey_Bear!  The homemade mince pies sound good - even better since you know exactly what's in them!  How have the last couple of days been for you?  I managed to stick with just having one sugary meal/treat yesterday so I'm happy with that.  We had a last-minute change of plans for today and I've already had a small slice of cake but it's Christmas and it's Friday and I'm ok with how this week went  .  I compared this week with last December (from my spreadsheet) and I can see how much progress I've made thanks to this challenge.  

I hope everyone is doing well and that you have the opportunity to enjoy a fun and relaxing Christmas weekend!

Honey_Bear

Well done Cookie.  I know I'm eating a lot less sugary stuff now, and although I wish I could stick to the No Sugar thing, like you, right now I'm pleased as punch that I seem to have found a Stop or Enough Button this December, which I don't think I did this time last year.  We went out to lunch today and I had dessert - which was totally worth it - and I couldn't eat another thing now, six hours later.  So the next thing I eat will be half a tub of cottage cheese which suprisingly seems to be the perfect breakfast, with a tangerine, for me at the moment. 

Pollybear

Merry Christmas everyone.  Hope you all have a lovely day.

Honey_Bear

Morning Polly Bear, and a very merry Christmas to you and everyone else who contributes or just reads along.  Today is a day to enjoy whatever you eat, especially as it's not just a High Day, and a Holiday - but it's Sunday too!