I don't drink much soda. I stopped putting sugar in my coffee several months ago, but have recently been treating myself to some white chocolate raspberry creamer (ohmygosh, it is SOOOOO good!) My guilty beverage of choice is "sweet" tea, but if I have the opportunity I always get it mixed half sweet, half unsweet. My real struggle is candy and baked goods. I have no qualms treating myself to a handful of peanut m&m's when I walk by an open bag. If I make a dessert and my family isn't eating it fast enough, I'll eat more than my share to make sure food isn't wasted. I'm just helpful like that. Of course, the holidays bring more candy and more baked goods, so trying to live without them for a few weeks would definitely do me good (and might even help me shed that elusive 10 pounds that accumulated since my metabolism crashed at age 35...) Still, I had no intention in taking part in the challenge.
Until I woke up on Monday morning, January 9.
I didn't have a job that day, so after taking my kids to school I decided to cook an egg for breakfast, and eat it on some toast with leftover bacon. I was so proud of myself! Yes, the bacon had a little bit of sugar in it and so did the bread, but otherwise it was a sugar-free breakfast, supplemented by coffee with half & half. As the day wore on, I continued to seek out foods without sugar from my pantry and refrigerator but found my supply very much lacking, I had no intention of doing the challenge for 21 days, but I figured I could probably hang with it for a few days so I bought some Triscuits, rice cakes, tortilla chips & salsa.
I started researching food options, searching for lists of prepared items that don't have sugar added. It was hard, but not as hard as I expected, nor as expensive. I discovered Larabars- who knew dates were magically sweet and can morph into any flavor??? I read a lot of labels. I invested in fresh fruits and vegetables. The Greek salad dressing in my fridge didn't contain sugar, and neither do flour tortillas, potato chips, or Tyson's chicken tenders. Garlic salt, instant mashed potatoes, and flavored yogurt do. And plain Greek yogurt is disgusting, even if you mix frozen berries into it.
It's actually been a very liberating experience; the ONLY thing required is giving up sugar, and you get to decide how strict you want to be about that (some people are using honey or Stevia). No exercising, no food tracking, no specialty shakes. Just avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners.
The first Friday rolled around and despite a few moments of temptation, I was going strong... when I left for a weekend of camping with my Boy Scout troop. This was my first time camping with them, and I didn't want the other leader guys to make fun of me for being on a "diet." But I did it, unobtrusively not eating any of the few things containing sugar!
A real crisis occurred this Wednesday morning when my half & half curdled in my coffee and I had to pour a new cup... and use the yummy creamer. I ate Domino's pizza, which I'm sure has some sugar in the crust and sauce. But I'm still eating a lot more fruits & vegetables and being deliberate about having them available and ready to eat. I even had a dream the other night that I drank part of a Coke, and I felt very guilty in my dream because I slipped up in my challenge!
I'm not sure if I will make it the entire 21 days; my cousin is getting married next weekend and there is going to be lots of good food. Still, I'm going to try my best. I'm not sure what will happen on day 22, if I'll allow myself some sugar or if I'll join in on the next "get healthy" challenge (I imagine there will be more). For now, I am grateful that I stumbled across this challenge, and I'm proud of myself for the discipline I've shown over the past 2 weeks.
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