Reese and Abby Grace eating the German Chocolate “Lara-balls”
It is the end of our second week of the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge, and I hope all of you who are participating are right where you want to be!
What a week
For me, this week didn’t go exactly as planned.
I knew we had VBS from 9 to 12, and swim lessons 4:30-5:30 (plus an almost hour-long round-trip) on the schedule, but I wasn’t prepared for what else was in store for us.
My mother had surgery on Monday, and while I did not take snacks or a meal, I did really well by eating a salad and fruit for lunch. I did eat some crackers that I just knew didn’t have sugar in them because I read the label THREE times before purchasing them. I happened to look at the ingredients again, after I was back in my mom’s room (where the light is a lot better, apparently) and there it was: sugar. I thought, “Whoops!” and simply tossed the rest. They certainly didn’t taste very good!
Unfortunately, that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Without divulging too much personal information, my extremely healthy father-in-law was taken to the hospital on Monday night. We were not sure what was going on, but by Tuesday, things were not heading in a positive direction. My niece, who was spending the week with my in-laws, came to stay with us.
Everything went well food-wise until Wednesday, when my brain just literally stopped working. After a few issues at VBS, and major time constraints (I was almost as emotionally exhausted as when my Dad had emergency quadruple bypass last year), I made the decision to stop at a local fast food joint to feed the girls.
At first, I felt that I failed miserably this week. But, the more I thought about it, I realized something. My girls are making better choices. They are becoming more aware of what is in their food and what they are eating. They are questioning everything, and their VBS teachers have told me some funny stories regarding their sugar-related questions this week. We had some sugar-filled things, and while it was not how I wanted this week to go, sugar was the least of my worries.
Thankfully, both my mother and father-in-law are home and doing well. My poor food choice for lunch on Wednesday wasn’t totally a lack of planning on my part. BUT. If I had been better prepared earlier in the week, I don’t feel I would have resorted to eating out. That being said, it is not the end of the world, and I have stopped berating myself over it. I have stressed entirely too much about handling this challenge (it’s that perfectionist in me coming out) exactly right. I am a stickler for rules, and once I set a goal, I focus on completing it, sometimes without regard to anything else. I realize there are times that life is completely out of my control, and I have to let it go. I am not going to spend next week playing catchup for my mistakes this week. I am starting fresh today and moving on.
Sugar and others
It’s funny, but I am just now reading Mandi’s post from Monday and her comments on food and morals are resonating with me. What she said about not wanting to be someone who “preaches at people and looks down at them when they continue to make choices I disagree with,” is exactly what has been on my mind the last few weeks.
I don’t want to be that person, either, mainly because I don’t like when someone preaches to me. I said from the very beginning that this challenge was not a competition, and I have repeatedly “preached” (haha) that you have to do what works for your family. I know that I don’t make the best choice on everything every single time, so I cannot expect it from others when I can’t do it myself. I have had numerous conversations this week, simply because we have been out and about more than last week. It has led to me find out some interesting things about my local friends! For example, I spoke to a friend who has been limiting sugar for over a year. I had no idea, and we ended up having a fascinating conversation. She ended up inspiring and encouraging me… with just a simple little chat. I love hearing how other families do things!
Feelin’ good
Some of the issues I was dealing with at the end of last week have since leveled out. I’m not eating everything in sight (well… my appetite has increased some, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the pregnancy talking), but instead I am grazing like a pregnant momma should. If you don’t count the emotional exhaustion from Wednesday, I am feeling really, really good.
The girls are still eating lots of fruit. Strawberries, grapes, bananas, and apples are favorites all around, while Shane enjoys blueberries. Personally, my favorite fruit is watermelon (and I’m quite spoiled, as my father-in-law usually delivers it already cut-up), but I’ve really been enjoyed raspberries and peaches lately, along with the fruit the girls prefer. We have always been a fruit-crazy family, so this isn’t really any different than every other summer. I guess it just feels different because we are not indulging in many other snacks.
The take-away
On Sunday, we had lunch with our Sunday school class. I fed the girls before we went, but there was tons of food there. Abby Grace chose to drink water and eat the sugar-free German Chocolate Lara-balls (from Katie’s ebook) that I brought. When I talked to her about it, she said that she did not feel like she was missing out on anything by choosing water and a sugar-free snack. In fact, she acted like it wasn’t a big deal to her at all.
This challenge really is teaching the girls to be proactive about their food and know what they are eating. If that’s what comes out of this I will be very pleased. The point of this challenge isn’t to deny them, but for them to see there is more to everything than meets the eye.
To see how Mandi’s family did, and to link up YOUR posts, check out her Week 2 Challenge Update.
How did you do on your No Sugar Challenge this week?
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.
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