Day Six of the Sugar Challenge
Can you believe it’s almost over already?!
Yesterday I ate:
– Plain yogurt with frozen blueberries and 1/2 an apple
– Handful of grapes
– Salad with spinach, tomato, carrots, celery, green pepper, some of the quinoa dish, and hummus
– Quesadilla (2 homemade tortillas grilled on the George Foreman with roast chicken, black pepper, oregano, hummus, Laughing Cow Light Cheese, green pepper, tomato, and spinach)
– 1/2 glass of skim milk
– Frozen grapes (super tasty! That’s going to be a wonderful snack when summer hits)
– 1 1/2 bowls of creamy carrot soup (this recipe was from Leslie Beck’s 10 Steps to Healthy Eating, and it was fantastic. I’m going to make another batch tomorrow; I might try experimenting with the recipe a little more too so that I can share it)
– A few homemade crackers
– Big bowl of air popped popcorn
– 1 bowl of spaghetti squash with a sauce made of ground turkey, tomato, green pepper, spinach, oregano, minced garlic, a splash of vegetable broth, and onions; topped with Parmesan cheese and black pepper
– Banana with peanut butter (plus another spoonful or so)
Last night my group from one of my classes came over to my apartment so we could work on our project. One of the group members brought over homemade cookies with chocolate chips, cranberries and raisins in them.
At first I was hesitant to explain why I wasn’t eating the cookies- no one would have noticed, except that I offered everyone beer and then wasn’t drinking it myself, so I told them about the sugar challenge. It was really nice how supportive they all were about it! I have been having such fantastic eats that I honestly haven’t been craving sweets all that much. My group was nice enough to save me a cookie, so I’m looking forward to eating it on Sunday. But what I’m looking forward the most to is eating a poached egg on toast (I could top a salad or something with a poached egg, but I prefer the crunch of toast when I’m eating my eggs). Funny how it’s those kinds of things I’m missing!
Although the bread that I buy is from a local bakery and therefore I doubt it has that much sugar in it, lots of store bought breads have a considerable amount of sugar. Often if you look at the label, you’ll see anywhere between 1 and 3 grams of sugar per 2 slices of bread. One teaspoon of sugar, remember, is 4 grams. So, theoretically, you could have a sandwich and then another piece of toast later on in the day and have ingested a teaspoon of sugar right there without realizing it. Eat some canned corn (with sugar in it) without draining the can, have a bit of peanut butter (with added sugar) and some cottage cheese at various points throughout the day and that could be another 1/2-1 teaspoon right there. And if you like the fruity yogurt, you can bet that there’s going to be at least 2 teaspoons (and likely closer to about 4-6 teaspoons) of sugar in one of those little single-serving containers. We eat so much sugar without realizing it at all!
Blogging with a Purpose Award
This week both James Hubbard’s My Family Doctor and IĀ have been honoured with receiving this award from Cathy at A Life Less Sweet:
Thanks so much Cathy! Living Healthy in the Real World is all about raising awareness about health issues and getting good discussions going about our personal experiences and understandings of what it means to be healthy. We are learning by living!
I’d like to pass this award along to a few other blogs who I feel Blog with a Purpose:
Jungle of Life is all about navigating through life with inspirational and motivational thoughts and ideas;
You’d Be So Pretty If… is a blog focusing on being good role models for younger generations and learning to love ourselves;
101 Exercises demonstrates how to perform various exercises and looks at the importance of fitness.
Shout out in the comments if you have been finding any food products with added sugars that have surprised you!
Oooh that carrot soup that you ate sounds delish!!
Congratulations on the award!!
Good luck with the rest of the challenge!! You’re doing fabulously!!
P.S. – thought you’d like this quiz, since it pertains to the challenge:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/sugar-content-in-food
thanks for the links! they look like great blogs š
VeggieGirl- thanks for the quiz! Haven’t even heard of half of those foods… I LOVE quizzes like that š
Maggie- it was so difficult to only mention three. There’s so many blogs that I can think of that are deserving of that award!
Awesome! I just started reading your blog by the way–it’s great!
I loooove carrot soup. That recipe sounds delicious!
Your blog is a great example for balanced, healthy living. Haha, I’m a college student trying to stay healthy, so I need good examples!
That food sounds really good. I’ve been on a too much sugar kick lately and its no fun. I don’t think I could manage the sugar challenge, but you are doing awesome!
So now’s the point where I want to ask if you felt any physical issues, i.e. withdrawal from the sugar life? I commend you for giving this a go Sagan, but I noticed you’re counting it down. Is it something you feel you could do for a very logon time?
I have this image of you after this week is over with a white powder all over your face, and it will not be cocaine!
Only you can make the word impertinent sound nice
š
congrats on the 6 days and the award! I LOVE jungle of Life- you both deserve it!
mmmmm..the spaghetti squash sounds wonderful, my sister had a similar recipe she treats us to occasionally.
I really need to start checking my sugar intake…I think it’s Ok but I bet I would be surprised if I started checking labels….
Congrats on the award, Sagan. You so deserve it. You blog with purpose and impact.
I second what Mizfit said so well, Sagan! I’ve liked your work for a long time. Your maturity is very impressive.
Frozen grapes are amazing =D. I discovered them a couple summers ago, and was like omg! Frozen mangoes are really good too.
Well done getting through the challenge and congrats on the award!
Mimi- so glad you stopped by! The name of your blog makes me laugh š It’s so good to find more college health bloggers!
Mary- it’s good to at least be aware of how much sugar we’re eating.
Tom- I’ll answer that more completely on Monday- but I’m feeling pretty good, and I think I could do it for a pretty long time without feeling overly deprived. My energy levels haven’t changed any that I’ve noticed, either.
Dr. J- hehe I did mean it in a nice way! Not sure if I’ll be covered in sugar when the week’s over, but I might be covered in PB2 powder š
Kelly & MizFit- thanks so much!
Missicat- ooh do start checking the labels and ingredients lists! It’s lots of fun and super eye-opening.
Tony- Ooh frozen mangos does sound good. Have you had frozen bananas? Love them. (Though I must admit, while I was eating the frozen grapes, I was drinking tea to stay warm at the same time… summer can’t get here soon enough)
Spring Girl- thank you!
Love, love, love frozen grapes in the summertime! Sometimes I use them as ice cubes. š
Have a great weekend!
Ezekiel bread doesn’t have any added sugar. If you are looking for a good bread without sugar. I personally haven’t tried it yet and won’t until I finish the bread that I have laying around the house.
Cammy- Ooh using them as ice cubes would be a great idea in a fruity drink! Must keep that in the back of my mind for when(/if) summer hits.
Monique- I checked it out but it does have malted barley in it, which is another name for sugar. Bag Lady explained to me that ALL bread requires sugar if it has yeast in it- something about the chemical reaction. Too bad, isn’t it? At least tortillas (and breads without yeast) can potentially be sugar-free!
It sounds like you’re psyched for it to be over, just for practical reasons (egg on toast-yum!). Do you feel different? I met a woman once who gave up sugar for 6 months, and at one point she ate a chocolate kiss and couldn’t sleep all night from the caffeine/sugar. I wouldn’t want to be that sensitive to the food I’m bombarded with constantly.
I was about to mention to you my (2nd) favorite dressing-balsamic vinegar (3/4), 1/4 olive oil, a tiny bit of hemp seed oil, and a smear of mustard as emulsifier. Then I realized that mustard is usually made with sugar. So much for that!
Julie- in a way, yes. I’ve learned that it’s DOABLE to live in our society without eating added sugar, but it means a LOT of time spent on preparation and cooking! I’ll let you know how I feel and all on Monday š Thanks for the dressing idea; I’ve noticed that dijon mustard (at least, the brand that’s in my fridge) doesn’t contain sugar so in that case it could work!
Thanks for the shout-out, Sagan. And congratulations on being recognized for the good work you’re doing!