In all these greener living hurdles I'm conquered there's one that I'm truly struggling with. It's something small, white, delicious, makes everything taste good, makes my grey skies blue again, makes me smile when I'm sad, or comforts me when I need it....it's SUGAR. I'm completely in love with this white sparkly goodness. The love affair happened when I was little. When I was 6 or 7 I spent a week at my grandma's house. Of course my parents told her; "no sugar". Grandma had a candy jar on every table, cake after every meal and made salad that was jello with fruit in it! I'm sure Grandma didn't listen to my parents advisement, because she loves the sweets as much as I do. A couple months later at my dentist appointment I found out I had SEVEN cavities....I know adults who have zero cavities...and here at this dentist appointment I had SEVEN! I honestly don't know how many more I received over the years...I do know I'd probably be embarrassed to share the total if I knew the total.
I have never gone without sugar in my life. The Closest I came to abstaining from it was last year when I did the Daniel Fast. The Daniel Fast is where you eat fruits, veggies, and whole grains. No yeast, dairy, meat, sweets of any kind etc for 21 days. I did add a coffee to that menu plan once in the morning with a bit of cream and 2 sugars. However, I did refrain from any fun Starbucks, or flavored fun coffees. So even in the Daniel Fast, I still had sugar. And that fast, is one of the hardest things I have ever done. Especially if I was sad, or stressed, or needed a little cozy muffin to comfort me. I had no idea I used food to pacify my emotions until this fast.
So what stirred up all this thought on sugar today???? Well one of the best bloggers that I follow is:
http://www.facebook.com/i.quit.sugar.ebook/info
She posted a video about sugar this week....It's so simple, yet so eye opening! It explains why sugar is so appealing, yet extremely harmful to our bodies.
So ways I'm going to cut back on sugar:
- Read food labels more carefully (just because it's organic, doesn't mean it doesn't have less sugar)
- Making my own products at home
- Tomato sauce (without the added sugar)
- Peanut butter (without the added sugar)
- Apple Sauce
- Use honey, or agave nectar as a sweetener
- Just be more conscious of my sugar consumption in general.
I switched to stevia for a while. Just didn't stick with it. I also have a problem with sugars table cousin Salt. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI've tried stevia, just not my favorite. I've found that salt is delicious, but there are so many other seasonings I can use that give me such a good flavor I'll be okay. Thanks for the well wishes:)
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