Sugar Free

(picture from here)
I am not much of the new year's resolution type. I have never been successful in setting a resolution and then keeping it for an entire year. However, I do like the beginnings of a new year and starting out fresh. One of my friends, Carrie, challenged several of us on Facebook to do a month without sugar with her. She did it in November. I said there was no way I would give up sugar the month of my birthday (plus most of David's family's b-days) and Thanksgiving. I love b-day cake and Thanksgiving pies too much, plus the tradition of it all. Then, December was of course out. So, here we are in January and both David and I are charging through the month without sugar. I wish that I could say that we are TOTALLY sugar free but our bread does contain it. However, I believe that is the only thing that we are currently allowing in our diet with it. We are trying to only use natural sweeteners/sugars, such as fruit/fruit juice, honey, agave nectar.

Through this challenge, I have discovered several things. First, sugar is in EVERYTHING!! You may not even realize all the things you buy that contains it (pasta sauce, peanut butter, crackers, salad dressings, soups, and many other things but these were the first that came to mind). It took me forever to complete our grocery shopping the first week of this because I was reading every label. We have been amazed at how we have made it this far and have decided to does this the first week of every month (excluding February...we need a reward!). Second, sugar is addictive and the more you eat the more you crave. If you stop eating it, you loose the addiction to it and you don't crave it as much (realize I said "as much"). I still can't wait to eat a piece of cake or pie but mostly chocolate again!! However, I think now we will change many of the things that we were eating that has unneeded sugar in it.

I have made a banana bread this month that contained agave nectar instead of sugar. I would like to find other recipes to substitute sugar with a natural sweetner. Please let me know if you have any to share. I have also been using agave nectar to sweeten my green tea. I will continue to use this instead of sugar.

So this is what I have been up to for the past couple of weeks. It has been quite an adventure but a good one. I feel like I have more energy and my body just feels better. Let me know if you have ever tried this or if you would like support from me in taking this challenge!