We all know that sugar in excess is rubbish for our health, you don’t need me to sit here and witter on about why sugar is bad. It’s the primary cause of diabetes, it’s linked to obesity and cancer, it causes inflammation did you know it can even cause wrinkles! So let’s face it there are a thousand reasons to cut back on sugar even if you aren’t daft enough to give it up for fundraising.
Here’s what I’ve learned over the last 25 days:-
1. Read labels and generally assume most packet food isn’t going to happen. This isn’t actually a problem most of it is dreadful for us anyway.
2. If it sounds like sugar if probably is, and no there isn’t really any version of it that’s healthy. The sugar in fruit is healthy because it comes in the fruit, extract it from the fruit and it’s as lousy as the stuff in a mars bar.
3. Carry nuts, seriously carry nuts and nakd bars otherwise there will be occasions there is nothing to eat and you’ll verbally savage family members.
4. Cooking is not difficult, all the cooking shows and beautiful cookery books have made it seem like cooking is some kind of mystical art only achievable by alchemists. I mean who actually has saffron in their kitchen? A lot of the time cooking really comes down to simplistic meals, throw things in a slow cooker pretty much anything you throw into a slow cooker other than shoes will turn into food. Make salads with nuts, oils and fruits they are honestly really nice plus super quick. Pasta sauce is a simple as passatta with fresh basil, garlic and a little thickening.
5. Don’t be afraid of fat, right now mfp (my fitness Pal) regularly tells me daily my fat intake is too high. Because I’ve taken sugar out of my diet I’m eating more olives, olive oil and nuts/seeds. Plus if I feel like it adding creme Fraiche to fruit. I needed extra calories and they had to come from somewhere, olive oil, nuts and seeds all contain fats that are nothing but awesome for me. Recent science generally seems to exonorate fat generally in many of the health issues it had been implicated in. But that’s for someone else to explore and explain. I’m not about to start wolfing down lard with my salad anyway.
6. Your taste buds will change, within 2 to 3 weeks fruit will become ridiculously mouth wateringingly sweet, dates etc ridiculously so. I dare say by the end of this year actual sugar will be unpleasantly over sweet
7. People will look at you like you’ve 3 heads. That’s fine your health is your concern not their.
8. You’ll still sometimes want a slice a cake and if you aren’t doing a fundraiser year where you’ve commited to stopping altogether just have the cake. It’s not the one slice of cake that’s ruining people’s health it’s the 6 that come after it. If you can’t stop at one probably best to not have it in the first place, but if you do and you wake up in a sugar coma don’t worry about it just move on.
9. Cinnamon is amazing, blend it in milk, have it on oats in coffee, pretty much stick it anywhere.
10. Montezuma dark chocolate is also amazing, who’d have thought 100% dark could be a treat. But it is.
Today’s food in pictures and words
Breakfast
Banana, oats, cinnamon, milk
Lunch
Corn crackers, hummus, eggs, salad, olives, pomegranate seeds, sprouted pulses
Dinner
Falafels, salad leaves, olive oil, coleslaw
Snacks
2 date balls (more on those tomorrow)
Dark chocolate
Total sugars
If you found any part of this blog interesting or useful please consider sponsoring me and help find a cure for Cowden Syndrome
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sugarfreeyear
Sugar and Booze free year 