Tag: Sugar Free

Last night I dreamt I accidentally picked at sweets the kids had left lying around, that thing when they are in your mouth before you even really realise you’ve picked them up! I had similar dreams when I was pregnant with all 3 kids. I’d accidentally eat something I shouldn’t like mayo or I’d find myself out with friends drinking heavily and smoking. Of course it never happened there were simply anxiety dreams as my mind tried to wrap itself round new rules and the fear of breaking them.

Today’s food in pictures and words,I forgot to take some pictures! Sorry!

Breakfast

Home made museli- Oats, half raw half toasted, raspberries, blueberries, pecans, 3 dates, unsweetened almond milk.

Lunch

Baked potato with cottage cheese.

Bell pepper, carrot sticks and humous.

Dinner

Vegetable burger with new peas, carrot and parsnip roasted with rosemary.

Annoyingly I forgot to photograph this one!

Snacks

100 % dark chocolate, a nakd bar, 2 corn crackers with peanut butter and apple.

Oh my word the 100% with orange oil is actually amazing!!!

Sugars total and breakdown of specifics here

Exercise was a run walk run with Jasper the dog at the beach. This is Jasper

This was our run, not a fun one as it was incredibly windy at the beach seemingly in all directions but especially in one. I felt amazing afterwards though and that is the entire reason I exercise.

I had to pop into Lidl yesterday and for the first time ever I had that mouth watering thing friends talk about when they walk past the pastries. Now I generally eat healthily even before this so I would only occasionally buy a spontaneous treat. I’ve always had an unspoken rule that if I wanted something desperately I’d just have it. I’d factor it in to that weeks calories but I’d have it and damn well enjoy it. Cake with friends, ice cream on a Friday night etc. So the only difference is I know I can’t. It’s a mental thing, at the moment I can’t so my my brain is saying “I want”. Is that why highly restrictive diets are so prone to failure? The mind literally rebels against what it’s being told to do? Now mine knows it’s not allowed processed treats it certainly is!.

Other than that all is going fine, I’m certainly getting fibre in and a lot more fat but mainly through nuts and olive oil so I’m not especially worried about that. The only other slight sticking point came in the evening, I was having a movie evening with my son and he was having ice cream and haribo, normally I’d have a bit of ice cream or chocolate with a film and I don’t want to seem like I’m not taking part in family life so threw together a dessert of forms, a banana, peanut butter, frozen berries heated in the microwave and a splash of coconut milk.

Oh and a happy suprise today in that Aldi falafels are sugar free. Heck yeah!

Today’s food below in pictures and words:-

Breakfast

2 boiled eggs

2 corn thins with butter thinly spread

Bowl of fruit

Lunch

Salad made with leaves, sprouted lentils, blueberries, sugar snap peas, pecans, olive oil

3 oat cakes, 2 with pease pudding (American friends may have to look this up!) 1 with peanut butter.

Dinner

Salad leaves and grapes

Falafels

Mint dip made with goat yoghurt and fresh mint.

Snacks

Banana, peanut butter, frozen berries heated in the microwave and a splash of coconut milk.

Nakd bar.

I did miss having a yoghurt after lunch and came so close to picking a couple of harribo out of a packet my son had left on the sofa. Without even thinking about it! How often do we do that?

Total sugars 83g

Alcohol 0

Rest day from the gym and running so exercise was walking the dog and yoga

My plan is to take a photo of each meal and then look at any tricky bits in the day. Today my surprise finds were that stock cubes have sugar in them and so does tonic water, in my head I had thought “oh I’ll just drink tonic water at social things” um no and the diet versions have artificial sweeteners in them which are also off the table. I did find work rounds, regarding the stock I made my own stock with various veg and herbs, which is great and probably very good for me but if someone who is relying on food banks is diagnosed with cancer are they really going to have the stash of herbs available? Giving up sugar is the most recommended diet advice given by friends and family after a diagnosis but even for a second entertaining the idea it would help, is refined sugar that evil that a smidge in a stock cube would be harmful? I seriously doubt it. But this is part of the years challenge so I made stock while acknowledging I’m bloody lucky to have shelves of stuff at hand. The drink issue I felt quite clever on and chucked some fruit tea bags ( no sweeteners I checked) into plain fizzy water to take to the party I was going to this afternoon.

The party itself was surprisingly ok as my first drink free out, I am ashamed to admit it but I don’t think I have been to a group social thing outside of meeting for coffee without having a couple of drinks for years. I definitely rely on it to ease nerves and settle myself. Not having that emotional crutch was interesting but not altogether unpleasant, the people I was with will of course helped. What’s the quote “if you have to drink to spend time with friends you need more interesting friends”. The only slightly awkward thing was saying when people asked why I was acting like a weird picky person avoiding everything saying that I was fundraising without going into the whole ins and outs. Which although I was guilty of oversharing when Charlotte was at her sickest now when I’m socialising, I just want to talk about nonsense like everyone else. It will be interesting to see how I take to evening socialising without a crutch. Thankfully I know a bunch of amazing people so it shouldn’t be too tough.

What I ate today both in pictures and words:-

Breakfast

Oats, mixed berries, unsweetened almond milk.

Lunch

Crackers (contained a small amount of honey allowed under the rules), butter, cheese, a bell pepper and sugar snap peas.

Party

Spinach leaves, feta, cheese and mini potatoes.

Dinner

Stew made with chicken, various veg and homemade stock.

Snacks

100% dark chocolate, lychees

Total alcohol of course 0

Total sugars (from fruit and veg) 54g

Even without processed sugar plants, milk, cheese naturally contain sugars