Break the Sugar Habit Challenge: Sugar Check-in {Week One}

Abby Grace making pancakes

We’ve hit Day 5 of no sugar and very limited sweetener, and let me tell you, it has been an interesting few days.

Let them eat fruit

There is no telling how many pounds of fruit we have consumed in the last five days, grapes and bananas especially. All of us have been snacking on fruit more, and really enjoying it. One of my “secrets” is washing the grapes and storing them in a bowl (with a towel on bottom to soak up any leftover water). The girls can simply reach in the fridge and grab a handful. The bananas are also within reach, and have really helped satisfy many of my hunger issues.

Planning is essential

This week has been absolutely crazy, and not just because of the no sugar challenge. The girls have had soccer camp in a neighboring town from 5 until 8 pm. They have not been getting home until at least 8:30, which makes for a very late supper (we usually eat about 5 or 5:30).

Now normally, given these circumstances, we would have survived on cereal, frozen pizza, or fast food the entire week. Instead, because we are avoiding all of the aforementioned items, I have cooked a meal every night. We have had chicken fried steak and homemade biscuits, ham with new potatoes and green beans, roast and potatoes, and baked chicken with oven fried potatoes. Tonight, it will be beans with leftover ham and biscuits, since my cornbread recipe contains sugar.

Mandi also let me know how valuable the Healthy Snacks To Go eBook from Katie Kimball is (plus, you can get 30% off your purchase with coupon code NOWHITESUGAR). I got smart and purchased a copy, and have been making her tasty homemade granola bars and larabars. Many of the larabar recipes are sweetener-free! The granola bars have honey in them, but I’m okay with that at this point. I am working on gathering ingredients for the sweetener-free ones, so we can eventually eliminate all sweeteners.

I have realized how even more important menu planning is when you have dietary restrictions, and while I did plan my menu this week, it was way too loose. Next week, I will have to be much more intentional with planning exactly what we will have each and every day. I flew by the seat of my pants way too many times, and while I feel like I came out on top as far as health is considered, I also spent a ton of time I didn’t have in the kitchen.

The effects of no sugar

I’m trying to decide if how I have felt this week is all in my head. I’ve been starving all. the. time. I truly don’t think it is the pregnancy because I didn’t want to eat everything in sight last week. I’ve also been really irritable, but I think that is because I haven’t had any caffeine. It didn’t occur to me until Thursday afternoon that I haven’t had my latte all week, which was my main source of caffeine.

I have also been really tired. Again, that could be attributed to our late nights of soccer camp and watching the OKC Thunder play in the Western Conference Finals. It will be another late-night week next week because the Thunder won and will play in the NBA Finals.

{Sorry, that was off-topic.}

My tiredness could also be because I am pregnant and have been on my feet a lot more than normal this week. Also, not having caffeine could be playing a part.

I have been experiencing less (pregnancy-related) heartburn. I take digestive enzymes before most meals, but the drop in what was constant heartburn a few weeks ago, is very minor.

Confession time

Everyone has been surprisingly compliant. While excited about the challenge beforehand, I was unsure of how everyone would react once I had to begin saying, “No.” I have been very pleased, and the girls have been asking about everything we consume, and whether it contains sugar. They even received suckers while at a library program and were fine when I told them we had to save them until July. Yee-haw.

On Tuesday, the girls asked for pancakes. I reminded them that they didn’t get syrup because of the sugar, but they were fine with it. They opted to take a bite of pancakes with the maple syrup we have, but decided they didn’t like it and ate the pancakes plain. Score. I also survived a trip to the grocery store with Abby Grace and Reese on Wednesday to stock up on more fruit. With every, “Can we have ____?” if it had sugar, I reminded them, and it wasn’t an issue. Score again.

As I mentioned, the girls had a bite (and I mean a bite… they were not fond of it!) of maple syrup. Reese and Meleah also had Annie’s ketchup with the oven fried potatoes. I have tried in vain to make a homemade ketchup that the girls will eat, and have failed miserably. In fact, the only thing it turned out to be good for was using it in meatloaf. So, if you have a fabulous sugar-free ketchup, feel free to share it!

Shane has continued to have honey in his tea and mixed with peanut butter. It is a part of his health regimen that he is unwilling to give up, and I am fine with that. He has, however, moved from coffee with a ton of creamer to coffee, milk, and a smidge of creamer. I am so proud of him on this, because his coffee is very important to him, and he is not a fan of drinking it black.

Because I haven’t been drinking my lattes, sweetening my coffee has not been an issue. I ate one homemade granola bar (made with honey), but no sugar or sweetener of any kind other than that.

While I have happily resisted sweeteners for the most part, I have been tempted. When I pulled my Dutch oven off the top of my fridge, a mini Mr. Goodbar fell down. Ahem. I have no idea from where it came, since I rarely buy candy AND I was sorely tempted to pop that little thing in my mouth because it looked so good (sometimes Momma just needs a little chocolate, ya know?).

The good news? I did not eat that Mr. Goodbar mini. The bad news? I tossed it in the fridge to save for July.

How did you do on your No Sugar Challenge this week?

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Written by: Amy Norton
Amy is a youth pastor’s wife and homeschooling mom to three girls, ages 8, 6, and 3, and has a baby boy on the way. When she’s not writing at Kingdom First Mom, you can find her cooking, getting crunchier by the day, and trying to stay on top of the laundry. She enjoys writing about her homelife adventures at Amy Loves It.