After 2 Weeks of No Added Sugar

Yesterday I ended my two weeks of no added sugar.  I ended it yesterday so that I would have one day were I could have a few of my cravings before starting my next diet.  Here is what I learned from 2 weeks of no sugar added.

• I learned that I am stronger than I thought.  I picked two weeks because it is what I felt is doable and I would be able to see what I thought of each diet.  During these past two weeks I had lots of cravings but I didn't give in.  I even survived my son's first birthday party without partaking in any of the yummy sweets.  Whenever I had a craving I would just grab a glass of water, some fruit, or some protein.  It really seemed to help me and get my mind off the craving.

• My eating habits do effect my emotions.  The first week after I cut out added sugar my emotions were crazy.  I became very depressed and anxious.  The second week was a lot better and I was starting to feel normal.  When I added the sugar back in for yesterday I noticed that I was more anxious.  

• Physically I felt a lot better. I noticed that I was not bloated like I had been.  I felt like my close were fitting better and my stomach wasn't bothering me anymore.  It was not long after I had my first sweet treat yesterday that I started to feel sick.  It really made me realize that it didn't matter how good the fritter was, it wasn't worth the pain in my stomach.  

• I found that this way of eating did not add any expense to my grocery budget.  I just made the decision not to eat any desserts and to eat the fruit we already had any way.  I also felt that it was easy to do because there was not much I needed to change in my diet other than taking out the added sugar.  I drank water instead of juice.  I ate plain yogurt instead of vanilla.  I DIDN'T eat dessert.

I do think that if I would continue with this way of thinking I would need to work on ways of making tasty treats without the guilt.  (I did find delicious treats that I will be reviewing this week.) 

These two weeks were about making the right decision and fighting the cravings.  I believe that this is a very doable lifestyle as long as you are able to find healthy alternatives for the foods you crave.  I didn't really have a food plan for this diet I just didn't eat certain foods.

This week:
Eating Clean.

Eliminating Sugar Cravings

I love dessert.  I love ice cream.  I love cake.  I love cookies.  Okay I just love anything with sugar.  I didn't always love these things.  Sure I liked them but when I was pregnant with my 3rd son I developed a sweet craving.  I went from not being able to eat sweets in the 1st trimester to eating several everyday.  I feel like I was always drinking fruit juice or eating dessert.  I thought that maybe once he was born I could go back to eating maybe one dessert a day.  Man was I wrong.  Instead of decreasing my dessert consumption I increased it.  I could eat 4 cookies in one sitting.  What!  I used to be satisfied with just 3 M&Ms.  Yes you read that right, years ago when I wanted something sweet I would eat 3 M&Ms or 1 Hersey Kiss and that was all. 

I knew I had to do something.  I tried a sugar free diet before but because of the sugar withdrawal I had headaches, depression, and increased anxiety.  It wasn't worth it at the time so I fell off the wagon.  I knew I needed to make a change for good at my cousin's wedding.  I had 2 pieces of cake, 3 cookies, and strawberries and cream.  That is when I decided that the first diet change I would make was to cut out added sugar. 

There are programs you can follow to cut out sugar but a lot of them have you cutting out ALL sugar.  I am taking a different approach.  I have eliminated ADDED sugar.  Natural sugar is important to your body.  Not only does it help give you energy but it also has nutrients and fiber that your body needs.  Processed or refined sugar does not have these things.  When they process the sugar all the nutrients are stripped out and nothing but a pure carbohydrate is left. 

Your body does not digest pure carbohydrates like this very well so it is deposited throughout your body pulling nutrients that are needed elsewhere.  Have you ever had a sugar crash? 

Not eating sugar when I have been eating so much for so long is a big change.  I have been craving chocolate during the day.  When this happens I try to eat fruit.  I have been eating a lot of grapefruit!  I know that I have had this diet change for a short time but already I am feeling better.  I don't feel bloated and for me that is a big deal.  I am not expecting a change over night but I am happy to see a difference already.

I know that there are a lot of people out there that instead of completely cutting out added sugar they will just use artificial sugar.  That is great for some people but for me it wasn't something I wanted to do.  First of all I would rather eat something that came from nature not a laboratory.  Second is all the different articles and information you can find on artificial sweeteners.  There is information that says it causes cancer, depression, anxiety, headaches, and dizziness just to name a few. 

There are also studies that have been done that do not find a correlation between the sweeteners and these ailments.  For me I am not willing to take the chance.  The big change in my thought process about artificial sweeteners came a few years ago when I was taking a chemistry class.  My teacher was talking about aspartame, which is one of the most well known artificial sweeteners.  He talked about how when the soda or what ever has the aspartame in it expires the aspartame goes through a chemical change and it is no longer sweet. 

That freaked me out!  I like knowing what I am putting into my body and I don't like how it changes to something that I don't even know what it is.  So after that I decided if I was going to consume anything sweet it would have real sugar in it.  Lets think about how consuming artificial sweeteners also makes you crave more so sure your calorie count is down with the treat you have.  BUT you crave more so you are more likely to consume more.  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of "diet" food?

No Sugar Added

Well today is the day.  I have chosen to start with a no sugar added diet.  Basically I will not be adding sugar to anything or eating anything with added sugar.  So good bye sweets and desserts. 

I have been addicted to sweets since becoming pregnant with my 3rd son.  I feel like I have been fighting a losing batter.  I did give them up for a short time but slowly the addiction crept back up.  Sugar is addictive and the more you eat the more you crave. 

My goal over the next 2 weeks is to break this addiction and to keep sweets out of my diet after these 2 weeks are over.  That means getting creative with recipes and new ways of eating dessert.  Temptation will be all around me and I will be honest, I'm a little nervous.  My son's birthday party is before these two weeks are up.  I already know all the sweets I will have at the party that I will not eat.

I don't want to go into this looking at things I can not eat.  I want them to be things I do not want to eat.  I also know I can not do this alone.  I will be praying and asking God for help to overcome the temptations and cravings. 

I have learned that along with cutting out sugar comes withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, depression, and anxiety.  I am aware of these things but it will not make the process any easier.

I have stepped on the scale and surprisingly I have not gained anymore weigh since I first began this journey months ago.  I will continue to check my weight once a day to see if here are any differences. 

Over the weekend I tried to work on a menu plan but didn't do to well creating one.  I purchased mainly fresh produce and made sure not to get any sweets.  Instead of my normal sweets to snack on I will have fresh fruit and veggies. 

I will be doing a daily food journal via Instagram and will also be posting my recipes at the end of the day.

Along with my diet changes I have a goal to walk at least 30 minutes a day.  Throughout this process I want to be doing the same type of workout every week. Hopefully I will have more motivation and energy to complete these goals.

In my next blog I will talk about the effects of sugar on the body and why I decided to make this change.  Until then follow me on Facebook: get moving mom, Instagram: amanda91504, YouTube: get moving mom ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkRo-KrjQ5Mc_gleFGeqpsg?spfreload=10)  I will be posting recipes, reviews, and updates on my YouTube.com channel make sure you check them out!

In the beginning.....

I have always hated the word "diet."  The only thing it ever made me think about was starving myself to lose weight and then gaining it back when I started eating normally again. I felt like I was living my life restricting myself on what I could and could not eat because I was always dieting to lose weight. 

Then I went to school for nutrition.  I learned that a diet isn't about restricting yourself and feeling hungry, a diet is your eating lifestyle.  Our eating habits are considered our diet not what we restrict ourselves from eating.  There are so many different ways of eating though.  I call these lifestyle diets.  These are the eating habits you pick up and use for life. 

Currently I am on a "see food" diet.  Basically whatever food I see I eat.  It is not a pretty thing and my waist would tend to agree!  So I decided I need to do something about it.  First step change the way I eat.  I want to get away from the "western diet", lots of processed foods, lots of sweets, and red meat.  I want to have a much healthier diet and cut out a lot of the foods I am eating now. 

My dilemma is how to get to that point.  There are so many different types of eating lifestyles that I don't even know where to begin, and if you ask someone they will instantly tell you what they like and what worked for them.  That is great, I am so happy it worked for you but that doesn't mean it will work for me.

So I came up with a plan.  I am going to choose 8-10 lifestyle diets and try them out for a few weeks.  I know I will not get the full result of the diet but I want to just see what it is like so I can compare them.  I am looking at several things when I try these diets. 

1. Is it easy to do? How much prep work is involved for each diet?  I have 3 children and a very busy household.  I don't always have the ability to spend a day grocery shopping and meal prepping.  Half the time I am lucky if I get a shower before 8 pm!  So I am looking for something that is easy on my time and doesn't really take me away from my family.

2. Is it expensive? I kind of feel that when ever you start something new there is going to be extra cost in the beginning.  Changing your diet is no different.  I know there will be specialty items and lots of fresh foods but I don't want to be breaking the bank with my grocery list.

3. Is it family friendly?  Are my kids going to eat this food?  I don't know about your kids but mine are picky and I don't cater to their wants.  I know these diets won't consist of peanut butter and jelly, and pizza but are the foods still ones that my children will eat?

4. Do I feel healthier?  I understand that I am only trying these diets for a short time but I believe you can feel results pretty quickly.  So I want to see if I will feel better, if I will lose weight, and if I feel less bloated.  

5. Do I like the diet?  This is a big one because if I don't like what I am doing or what I am eating I probably won't continue to do it.  This is a lifestyle change so I want to make sure I am in it for the long haul. 


Here is a list of the lifestyle diets I will be trying.  They may not go in this order but these are the ones that interest me.  I am not set on these 10 diets and am willing to try others if suggested but these were a few of the top diets.

• Mediterranean diet
• Clean Eating
• Paleo
• DASH
• Vegetarian
• Vegan
• Mayo Clinic
• Weight Watchers-using information that was given to me.
• Flexitarian
• Volumetrics

At the beginning of each diet I will talk about what the diet is, create a weekly meal plan, create a grocery list, and come up with an overall game plan.  Throughout the two weeks that I am eating from each diet I will daily instagram my meals, this will be my food journal.  I will also be blogging and vlogging about my experiences.  I can't wait to get started and see the difference in my life. 

Join the diet debate.  Let me know the different diets you have tried and what you have liked.