For the past couple of months Mr. C and I have been avoiding
all added sugars and refined grains.
We both had done some research about going sugar free, were concerned
with the large amount of sugar in the typical American diet, and we were
excited to try living sugar free as an experiment.
The beginning wasn’t easy but it wasn’t a horrible as I
thought it would be. The hardest
part was learning where added sugar/sweeteners were lurking. We both went through sugar
withdrawal symptoms. The worst
were the headaches that hit us every single morning for over a week and the
fatigue that made me want to sleep as soon as I got home. This quickly subsided though and after
that we’d instead be hit each week with new benefits. Over the past couple years we’ve strayed away from eating
too many processed foods and we were choosing better grains such as sprouted
bread over regular wheat. That was
so helpful because we were just adding onto the changes we’d already made.
Over the past couple of months we’ve seen so many benefits
from our choices. We’re sleeping
better and less moody. I don’t
experience that mid-afternoon slump I’d experienced so often. We’ve seen a slight improvement in our
skin. We’ve both lost inches and
pounds although that was never our reason for doing this. We’ve tried new foods and unrefined
grains I’ve never heard of and our cravings for refined sweets have mostly
disappeared. We can both turn down
a doughnut or a slice of cake without thinking about it too much; the truth is
that it doesn’t even sound good anymore.
In this process we’ve discovered new recipes we love and
continued with some we’ve been making for quite awhile. Below are a few of my favorite snack things
to eat since we’ve made the changes.
- Sprouted whole grain bread with mashed avocado and a sprinkle of salt and pepper
- Roasted, unsalted nuts, especially cashews.
- The Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Bar from Trader Joe’s.
- Iced Blushberry Black Tazo Tea
- Air popped popcorn with a bit of butter and salt. You may think that popcorn is popcorn, but we recently bought organic white popcorn from Sprouts and it’s the best popcorn I’ve ever had. It’s super light and fluffy.
Going added sugar and refined grain free probably isn’t for
everyone but I’m so happy that we committed. We decided to join an online class we’d read rave reviews
about and I’m so glad we did; it provided us with a community of supporters,
access to hundreds of recipes (my favorite part!), and a daily lesson that was
invaluable. I struggled with the
idea of paying for the course in the beginning, but after I had signed up for
the course I got an email that compared the price of the course to other
typical things people spend money on and that really stuck with me. Looking back now, I have no regrets and
it was money well spent to not have to dedicate my own time to finding recipes
and researching everything that was shared during the course. Throughout the course there are
check-ins and Jacqueline herself responded to each and every single one. If you’re interested yourself, I’d love to talk to you – just
reach out to me – or you can find more info online here.
