The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

~FlowerPot~

Just popping to say I'm on target today so far.

Was led astray by those blooming packets of mini eggs on thursday and friday

Next time i go to the range, i must walk past them!!

Well done @Honey_Bear 3 days together is very cool.

Honey_Bear

Flower I no longer allow myself to walk down the biscuits or chocolate aisles.  That way I can't be tempted, and if I don't have it in the house I can't eat it.   Well done for putting that hiccup behind you and carrying on with the Challenge.

I spent a couple of hours covering some preserved ginger and almonds with dark chocolate yesterday.  Tempering chocolate takes me ages and I haven't perfected it yet, so the finished result isn't shiny but I will get there.  In the meantime we have a supply of chocolates we want to eat and they're a lot lower in sugar content and cheaper than the commerically made ones.  I eat far, far less chocolate because the ginger's fire catches up with me after a couple, and there's absolutely no way I could eat 200g of chocolate on the almonds in one sitting.  The fairtrade Lid1 stuff on its own as a bar of chocolate is too dark for me but like this I absolutely love it.  I'd have covered some Brazils but we're out and I'm on Low Spend January, which involves using what we've got rather than buying what I think I want.  I have almonds, hence chocolate almonds.  Well worth the effort.  So that's yesterday and today's indulgence; yesterday was quality control and licking the spatula, today we had some of them as an after lunch treat with the neighbours who'd been round for lunch. 

How are you doing @Pollybear?

~FlowerPot~

@Honey_Bear , your absolutely right of course if its not in the house you cant be tempted, but there is DH and three children who would be outraged if the snack drawer disappeared. Although it would be of great benefit to them also, Im not ready for that fight just now! What I tend to do is but more boring stuff, and things im not keen on at least the temptation is less then.

But actually Im really pleased, I have slipped up with the mini eggs. But aside from that, I havent had sugary snacks till after lunch, then 1 and then 1 more after tea, this is working well. And if I hadnt just come across this thread I wouldnt be even trying, so thank you, it is something I really needed to do and with this page there is some accountability.

Thank you all x

flowers

Honey_Bear

You're welcome Flower.  The Challenge exists because I gave up alcohol about eight years ago using the Giving Up / Cutting Down thread - without it I doubt very much I could have managed that, and I learned about accountability being a useful part of the process.  I love the fact that this is our own little corner of the internet where like-minded people can work on a tiny aspect of life that's tricky.  What we discover we can share, and what works for one person might help another, but might not and that's okay.

I know this works because when I started it I struggled to go a full day without sugar and now, 15 months later, I can manage three and most of a fourth without struggling apparently.  I might not be able to this coming week but I did last week much to my own amazement.  I know it takes a while to retrain our appetite but that's fine - it took me quite a while to get to the point in my life where I was eating that much sugar so I didn't expect it to work instantly.  If I had I'd have gone totally sugarfree but that's not possible without withdrawal symptoms like headaches and becoming a sugar nazi.  I just don't what to be like that.  I need to be able to do this at my own pace, and I'm pretty sure that's how most people cope with dietry changes best.  Dieting doesn't work, we all know that, but changing what we eat long term does.  

It's great that you're finding it useful too.  Keep posting, because every contribution helps not just yourself, but also the rest of us.

Yesterday we had friends for lunch so having made an apple, blackberry (and blackcurrent by mistake) crumble which we had with homemade ginger icecream, so defo some sugar in both of those, and then finished the day with about 10 chocolate almonds.  That's not an excessive amount of sugar, all things considered, for me.

Pollybear

Well we've finished the Christmas cake so maybe that will help .  Perhaps I won't make one next year...

But I haven't really binged as such, just had something most days but not enough that I would be embarassed in front of someone else!   Just keep plodding.

Makingabobor2

Well the weekend was a disaster as I am full of lurgy & feeling very yuk, and really craved sweet stuff...in fact I was just hungry for anything all weekend......So over the weekend I have had....(and this is in addition to my normal meals) 2 toasted tea cakes, 3 Freddo bars, 4 squares of dark chocolate, numerous biscuits and a slice of chocolate fudge cake that was in the freezer from Christmas.   So I am owning up to my sins and hope today will be better.
I didn't get up till 10, DH brought me a coffee before he went to work at 7.30 and I just felt I had no energy and you know what its like first thing in the morning when you have a virus, and you just can't stop coughing etc.  So by the time I was up and dressed, I decided it was more like brunch time than breakfast, so I got a salmon fillet from the freezer and had it on toast witha poached egg. Hoping that will fill me for a good long while.  Dinner tonight is the left over chicken casserole from yesterday, so more protein in that and veggies.  However....there is still some chocolate fudge cake in the fridge, that will need finishing over the next couple of days. So I may end up having a very small slice later. But definitely NO biscuits for me today and no chocolate....TBH, there isn't much chocolate left in the house.  So today I am starting my savings pot where if I manage to not eat chocolate or biscuits, I will put in the amount I have saved. 
Hope everybody has a good week.  

Honey_Bear

Well done Polly for keeping it low sugar over Christmas.  Judging by what people were saying on The Food Programme this afternoon that's a heck of an achievement! 

Making, I totally sympathise with you feeling under the weather and just needed fuelling with anything and everything you could get your hands on regardless of how much sugar was in it.  I wouldn't worry about it - we all do it, it happens occasionally and we put it behind us and move on.  I hope you're feeling a lot better now.

Today so far I've been okay.  I meant to take a brie and cranberry roll I'd made yesterday when the lodger left a couple of bread rolls behind when she left, but I forgot this morning, so ended up hungry while I was trundling around Morribunds to get fruit and veg.  I may, therefore, have spent a bit more than I would have done had I eaten before I went in but the bill was considerably lighter than pre-Christmas so I don't feel too bad.  I avoided a lot of aisles!

Honey_Bear

In the end on Monday I was fine, yesterday not so much.  I realised at lunchtime I was very over-tired, which happens to me if I try to do too much.  It's my ankle, which is still healing, and I've been pushing one particular flex over Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and found on Monday that, for the first time out of the house - I wasn't limping.  Hurrah!  However, the healing does take its toll on my body and if I try to do too much I fall apart a bit.  The end result was that last night, after dinner, there may have been a few lumps of chocolate ginger eaten and possibly the rest of the chocolate almonds.  Ooops.  They're not as filling as the chocolate Brazils because they're so much smaller so I really need to get hold of some more Brazils.  That will have to wait because I forgot while I was buying vitamins while in the health food shop.  Never mind.  Either way, it wasn't entirely sugarfree because of that but at least it was only dark 70% chocolate with the almonds.

How's everyone else doing?

~FlowerPot~

I'm sorry to hear you have a poorly ankle. These things do take a long time to heal. 
Im Afraid I've not been good at all today, i wasn't gong to post. But actually I should accountable shouldn't i!  Ive still held up to not having any snacks till after lunch. But, that's not saying much considering what I've eaten today and actually yesterday in the afternoon and evening! 

Tomorrow I will try again, I need to get some savory snacks at the ready. I know from before that if i have non sugar snacks to hand then im more likely to hold off the sugar. Things like nuts, olives, chopped up veg, even some fruit would be ok. 
Ooh i might get some rice cakes, i used to have a couple of rice cakes with goats cheese and a chopped up date on top. That was delicious.
Funny how I had completely forgotten about that. Will add to my shopping list in the morning!!

All the best
Flowers x

SueP19

We "gave up" refined sugar just over a year ago. 

We do cheat on a weekend and have choccie bar between us 

As for natural sugars we do eat quite a bit of fruit but limit our root veggies to odd raw carrot 

Are peeps going for all sugars or just the bad ones?

Ps DH had lost 7st, I've lost 4st (I have an issue with wheat etc)