Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

Uncategorized

Day 31: Last Day of Challenge!

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Welcome to day thirty-one of the Sugar Free Challenge! Today is officially the last day of the challenge. I have had so much fun creating sample menus and helping you all with the challenge. A big thank you to everyone who joined! I hope you all had a great time learning about (and eating!) sugar-free food. Maybe you found that it wasn’t as hard as you thought? Or perhaps you found you ate too much sugar before?

Now onto today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Veggie Omelet. Vegan Option: PBC Bars

Lunch: Steak Salad. Sliced steak, spinach, cucumbers, red peppers, onions, olives, fresh strawberries all drizzled in balsamic vinegar and ground black pepper. Vegan Option: Omit meat and substitute chickpeas.

Dinner: Pesto Socca Pizza with Grilled Veggies and Chicken Sausages Vegan Option: omit meat.

Dessert: Crock Pot Cinnamon applesauce 

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Again, thank you all so much! I have had a wonderful time with this challenge. I hope you continue to eat at least low-sugar (if not sugar-free!). A word of warning: be careful going back to sugar this week and weekend. Don’t go over board because your body is not used to eating sugar this past month.

Also, I am sent all the challengers who signed up a email, and attached will be a questionnaire about the challenge. If you could please fill this out, I would be very thankful! The questionnaire helps me learn more about how sugar reacts with the body and how I can improve my sugar-free challenges. If you have not received an email and would like to fill out the questionnaire, please email me at spoonfulofsugarfree@gmail.com.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

How was the sugar-free challenge???!!! Please tell me all your experiences and how your body feels! I would love to know!

Day 29: Eating and Craving Sugar

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Welcome to day twenty-nine of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Today’s Reason to be Sugar-Free: 

Just eating a lot of sugar can cause you to want more of the same. In a presentation at the 2010 Weston A. Price Foundation conference, Nora Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT, explained that if you eat a lot of sugar and starch (which turns to sugar), your body and brain become metabolically adapted to burning glucose for fuel, instead of burning fat for fuel. She says, “You are going to crave carbohydrates if you are adapted to being dependent on glucose as your primary source of fuel. . . . Sugar is going to look good to you and you are going to crave it. Some people can’t even get to noon without a snack, without going half crazy.”

For example, if you eat sugary breakfast cereals you will often become hungry an hour later and want to eat more sugar. You may feel like you are going to crash without it. Processed carbohydrates get absorbed very quickly, producing an unnaturally rapid increase in blood glucose. A rapid increase in blood glucose puts your body in a state of shock, prompting it to pump out lots of insulin very quickly. As a result of overproduction of insulin, soon you have very low blood glucose again. (Insulin is what puts on weight too.) A fluctuating blood sugar level can trigger food cravings, migraines, mood swings, weak spells, drowsiness and much more.  —Weston Price

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Sunday Morning Pancakes! Why not have some Gluten-Free Green Pancakes? I promise they taste delicious, and you get the extra bonus of some Vitamin A and K.

Lunch: Spicy Tomato Cure. If you or a loved one is sick, fill ’em up with this cure. It helps sooth the throat and stomach while killing bacteria and viruses.

Snack: Apple Crisps with Peanut Butter Hummus Dip

Dinner: Quiche with Flourless Crust

Dessert: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Do you crave sugar at certain times? If so, how do you overcome these cravings?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 


Day 24: National Peanut Butter Day

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Welcome to day twenty-four of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Did you know today is National Peanut Butter Day? Yes! My favorite food has its own holiday. So I declare today to be a day full of finger-lickin (literally. try dipping your finger in peanut butter. Tastes way better than on a spoon) Peanut butter-goodness.

Here is today’s Peanut Butter-Filled sample menu:

Breakfast: Bitter Chocolate Waffles topped with Peanut Butter and Banana Slices. Also try High Protein Cookie Crisp Cereal and PBC Bars.

Lunch: How about a good ol’ PB&J?

Snack: Apple Crisps with Peanut Butter Hummus Dip

Dinner: Homemade Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Dessert: I have plenty of peanut-butter filled options for this course. Above, the Grain-Free Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Sauce is a for sure winner. Also try Peanut Butter Cups and Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Butter Crust.

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Personal Note: Today I get the stitches out of my mouth, so hopefully I will be able to move my mouth more easily. I feel better and better each day, and was able to do a bit of light exercise yesterday. I’m still on a liquid diet, but hopefully having the stitched removed will help me be able to eat more.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Do you love peanut butter as much as me? What are your favorite ways to eat it, and what are your favorite recipes?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 

Day 22: Week 4 and New Excercise

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Welcome to day twenty-two of the Sugar Free Challenge!

This is considered the fourth week of the challenge, so there are only 10 more days to go!

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Slice of Grain-Free Banana Bread. Vegan Option: PBC Bars

Lunch: Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Bacon

Snack: Ants on a Log with Pistachio Butter

Dinner: Salad with Dijon Dressing

Dessert: Pumpkin Pie Bars with Creamy Coconut Frosting

New Workout

The Exercise Challenge changes this week. For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 75 crunches, 15 squat jumps, 20 pushups, 40 1-legged calf raises (20 each leg)

Each round of exercises takes just a few minutes to complete. It would also be wise to add a bit of cardio to your day like walking, jogging, bike riding, or jump roping. Right when you get up in the morning, during lunch breaks, or before bed would be an excellent time to complete this routine.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Can you believe there are only ten days left? Has the challenge gone by quickly or slowly for you?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 


Day 20: Liquid Diet

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Welcome to day twenty of the Sugar Free Challenge!

I’m still on a liquid diet and my cheeks are still huge, but at least the chills went away. I’m completely craving a hot Grilled Cheese and Ham sandwich right now, which is crazy because I never crave bread or cheese…Maybe watching the food network channel’s “Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich” show wasn’t the smartest choice since I cannot eat anything but liquids.

Here is today’s Liquified sample menu:

Breakfast: Liquid Chia Pudding. Kind of like the Tropical Chia Pudding Parfait pictured above, sans fruit and coconut. Simply mix some chia seeds with Almond-Coconut Milk and let sit for 15 minutes.

Lunch: Fresh Squeezed juice. I used 1 apple, 1 bell pepper, 1 lemon, and a few stalks celery. In case your curious, the picture above is the Spicy Tomato Soup Cure (along with a fresh-squeezed juice). I’m staying away from spicy foods so that it doesn’t aggravate my wounds; however, if you have a sore throat or cold, I would definitely give the recipe a shot!

(Pic Source)

Snack: Baby Food. Yes, I just said baby food, but hear me out! It is full of fruits and veggies in a soft form, it has a lot of vitamins and minerals, it’s organic and made from just fruit and veggies (no added dairy/sugar), and it comes in an easy to use pouch that I can save in the refrigerator if I don’t finish it. I simply squirt a bit on my tongue and swallow! The spinach mango pear (pictures above) has been my favorite so far.

Dinner: Butternut Squash Soup. I love it thick and creamy, but I had to water it down a bit so I could swallow it.

Dessert: Magic Banana Ice Cream (sans the cacao nibs in picture).

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Do you have any other ideas for my liquid diet? Have you ever been on one?

Also, do you ever eat “strange” foods like baby food? Laugh all you want, but they are actually pretty tasty!

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 

Day 19: Chipmunk Cheeks

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Welcome to day nineteen of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Well, the extraction yesterday went fine-I was squeezing my stress ball most of the time and listening to classical music to try and relax. Not to be blunt, but I felt awful all day yesterday. My jaw ached and throbbed, my cheeks were swollen to the size of golfballs, my head hurt, my throat hurt (so I could only swallow water and fresh squeezed veggie juice), my whole body ached, and chills ran up and down my body. Pretty much the same symptoms as the flu.

When I first had braces put on my teeth (years ago), I had the same reactions. This feels a whole lot worse, though! I guess that’s the way my body reacts when it doesn’t like something. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I feel better today!

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Oat Cakes

Lunch: Steak Salad with Dijon Dressing

Snack: Spicy Tomato Cure (perfect for my healing mouth!)

Dinner: Quiche with Flourless Brown Rice Crust

Dessert: Grain-Free PBC Bars

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Does your body react in a certain way to things it doesn’t like?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist.