I did something I never thought I would be able to do. For the past month I have been sugar free! As a whole our family sticks to a whole foods diet but, I have a weakness. At home I mostly use evaporated cane juice (still a form of processed sugar, albeit healthier) but I would occasionally sneak in a candy bar or soda (I can hear the collective gasp of the whole foodies out there now!). I felt like the Lord was really prompting me to do a fast from all processed sugars. I know white sugar is bad for my health and immune system, my energy was depleted, I couldn't lose weight, I suffer from migraines, and I crave sugar at times. I wondered, could all this be from eating white sugar?? So at the beginning of September I embarked on, yet another, 30 day challenge- no processed sugar. (Natural sweeteners were okie dokie in my book)
Today is my last day. I was anticipating this past month to be hard. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I could do it. But to my surprise, it wasn't that bad at all! There were maybe 2 or 3 times where I really wanted something sweet. My biggest temptations though weren't chocolate or baked goods but drinks. Yes, drinks. I wanted a soda, or a pumpkin spiced latte, or that lovely southern staple, sweet tea. To combat this I drank lots of water (which I got kind of tired of!), orange juice, and smoothies.
One of my major cravings this month was pumpkin. It is finally turning to fall weather and I wanted to partake in the muffins, lattes, and cakes with everyone else! So I came up with this pumpkin pie smoothie. I know there are loads of these recipes on the internet but each of them had at least one ingredient I wasn't very happy with. So here is my simple and tasty recipe:
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (about 2 servings)
1 frozen banana
3/4 c. of milk
2 tbsp. honey
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4. t. cinnamon (or try pumpkin pie spice!)
a few ice cubes
Blend the banana and milk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Enjoy!
My 2 year old daughter absolutely loved this and it gave me the pumpkin boost I needed to make it these last couple days.
As far as the results of my sugar fast...I'm still pondering. I have lost 5 lbs. but over the past month I have also been biking every day and eating smaller portion sizes. One thing I will say is that my energy level has been WAY up. I no longer get my usual 3 pm slump. Yay! So, I am still pondering whether I want to make this a lifestyle change or maybe just cut back.
Have you tried a sugar free diet? Any thoughts?
1 comment:
Hi Amanda,
I have not tried a sugar free diet. It seems so difficult considering almost everything has sugar in it! I have cut way back though. I had recently put together a typical breakfast and lunch for my son, "healthy" things of course...I added up all the sugar in it and he was consuming between 1/2 and 3/4 cups of sugar in just those two meals! Yikes! So I am being more aware of what we are eating. However if you are looking to lose weight and have more energy, I would suggest Weight Watchers. I joined in May and have lost almost 20 pounds. And I have so much more energy now! I believe it's because of the weight loss and the fact that I am choosing my meals and snacks more wisely. I still get to have some food containing sugar AND I have more energy and less weight. It's the best of both worlds! :-) (Sorry this is so long:-)
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