Sugar Free September: Days 18-30

Great orange tip butterfly: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Happy autumn and farewell to September! I chose the butterfly photo for this article as a salute to wild Wednesday and also because the whitish parts look kind of sugary in person. This reminds me that there are plenty of sweet things in life that are sugar free.

This month had a lot going on but the primary new habit I've been building is a low sugar lifestyle. With a few exceptions, I've stuck to my original plan. It wasn't always easy but the better I was about sticking to the plan, the fewer cravings I experienced and the easier it got. 

I had expected to lose some weight but that didn't turn out to be significant (I did lose a little but then went on a new medicine that caused me to gain some. Now I've lost most of that and am about back at where I started). However, there have been other benefits: a bit more energy, fewer cravings, the good feeling that comes from knowing I'm doing something good for my body and a little bit of money saved from not buying "treats". So I'm going to continue this lifestyle change indefinitely in hopes that I'll have even more energy increases (or at least maintain what I have now), better health and hopefully weight loss (once I get the rest of the suspect medicine out of my system).

Did you join me in this challenge? How did you do? What was hardest for you? How did you deal with that? What benefits did you see? I'd love to hear from you!

Related posts:
Sugar free post 1: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/sugar-free-september-day-1.html
Sugar free post 2: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/sugar-free-september-days-2-8.html
Sugar free post 3: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/sugar-free-september-days-9-17.html

Sugar Free September: Days 9-17

White zinnia flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

My Sugar Free September experiment is going very well. Very few cravings now, which is great. The weather has been cooler and I think being outside more helps reduce cravings; although it could just be that eating less sugar in general leads to fewer sugar cravings.

I started a new medicine and my weight has gone up (unfortunately) but I hope once my body adjusts that will be less of an issue (if not I'll ask to switch medicines). Until I started the new medicine I'd had three days in a row with greater than usual energy (a real plus!) and I suspect that was due to the reduced sugar consumption. I used some of that extra energy preparing for my county fair and, God willing, tomorrow's floral Friday post will feature some of my blue ribbon winning flowers. I think flowers are nicer than sugar.

Hearty thanks to all who are encouraging and helping me with this journey towards greater health and less sugar consumption! Kudos and strength to those of you joining me on the journey too! May God bless you and keep you all!

Related posts:
Sugar free post 1: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/sugar-free-september-day-1.html
Sugar free post 2: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/sugar-free-september-days-2-8.html 
2013 County Fair Flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/county-fair-photos-haikus-and-results.html

Sugar Free September! Days 2-8

Giant star-shaped cactus flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Heartfelt thanks to all of you who were kind enough to encourage me on my journey to curb my sugar intake and hopefully lose weight too! There have been many temptations but so far my sugar free eating plan is going well. Eight days in, I've stuck to my plan with only two exceptions and I'm one pound closer to a healthy weight.

The two exceptions were 1) a really bland dinner... I just couldn't stand the flavorlessness and had some watered down orange juice with it. About 1 oz juice to 8 oz water. Haven't worked out the sugar grams there but I'm guessing it was over 5. Lesson learned: I'm making sure we have lemon juice on hand now because sprinkling that on would have done the trick without the sugar. 2) I was super thirsty on the way home from a day trip and had already drank my 3 stainless steel bottles of water and I had 3 sips of my husband's fruity drink. That might have been less than 5 grams of sugar but it definitely wasn't part of my plan. The real issue with this is it led to intense sugar cravings for the rest of that day and all night. Lessons learned: I now know those kinds of drinks are not good for me at all and I'm better off waiting until I can get some water (or even better, bringing a fourth bottle on future trips).

Most of the time, though, advance planning made sticking to my sugar free eating plan much easier. Not having junk food easily accessible, having lots of fresh veggie snacks easy to reach in the refrigerator, bringing healthy snacks on road trips and so on. Basically, I'm trying to make it as easy as possible to eat healthfully and as hard as possible to eat junk.

Starting this second week of September I'm feeling good about this journey and thankful to those of you joining and encouraging me! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Sugar free September post 1: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/sugar-free-september-day-1.html
Amazing berry banana smoothie: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2011/11/amazing-berry-banana-smoothie-recipe.html
Banana cream health smoothie: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/banana-cream-health-smoothie-recipe.html

Sugar Free September! Day 1

Image by Pippalou of http://pippalunacy.com/

Almost five years ago I went sugar free (among other things) and lost 35 lbs. After a few years I started to be more "flexible" with my eating and bit by bit I allowed sugar back into my life and the pounds crept back on. Granted, I had some serious illnesses and injuries during this time too (and they definitely contributed to the weight gain) but I've decided go to back to my sugar free way of eating. Starting today.

I like the sound of "sugar free" but I am not truly going 100% sugar free. I'm allowing whole fruits, a small amount of juice in my morning kale smoothie (a tradition I've kept up since about 2011 although I didn't add juice at first... someone who occasionally makes my smoothies for me added juice and I started adding it too after a while), and on days when I feel I need it, a treat with 5g or less of added natural sugar/maple syrup etc. I'm aiming to reduce the amount of juice in my morning smoothie slowly so I don't miss it and eventually eliminate it, just using whole fruit instead. Really, this is a low sugar diet. But low sugar September isn't as nice sounding as sugar free September, which I already find motivating. "Sugar free September" is more of a mantra for me than an accurate description of my eating plan. My eating plan is a personalized cross between Dr. Fuhrman's "Eat to Live" diet and the Peer Trainer flexitarian plan.

Today I stuck to my plan and feel good about it. I only had one big bout of sugar cravings today and managed to pray my way through them without caving. God is good!

I am ready to return to a healthy weight and hope this experiment brings me closer. I'd love to hear any supportive comments you want to share and if you have successfully lost and kept off a meaningful amount of weight I'd love to hear your success story.

If you want to join me on your own version of a sugar free diet I'd love to hear about your journey.

Thank you in advance for your support and encouragement! May God bless you!