The Skinny on No Sugar

Well, I wasn't quite prepared for the reactions that the "Sugarless 2011" challenge evoked! So, I'm going to write a whole post outlining just what exactly next year is going to look like.

On a side note, I'm going to be super annoyed if I die next year. I'll be the one kicking and screaming at the Pearly Gates, crying, "...but I wanted one last chocolate sundaaaaaaaaaae!"

Of course, I'm not planning on going anywhere, so let's get on to business. I probably would have done better to call this "Sweetless 2011", because there's no way to avoid sugar in food entirely. It's EVERYWHERE, from your loaf of whole-wheat bread to the ketchup on your hot dog. What I'm doing this year is consciously avoiding sweet things. This means I will eat none of the following:

• Chocolate, candy, cookies
• Anything served as a dessert (ice cream, cake, pie, etc.)
• Muffins, scones, and other sweet breads (besides what I'll make for the Bread Challenge)
• Pancakes, waffles, crepes
• Sweet drinks (pop, juice, hot chocolate, and yes, caramel frappuccinos. This is going to be a long, looong year)
• Non-plain yogurt (Yoplait may as well be a dessert, there's so much sugar in one of those!)
• Jello (not that I eat much, it just kind of popped in my head)

I feel like I'm forgetting something, so I'll probably have to come back and add things as I think of them. I usually don't put sugar in anything I'm cooking unless it's already a sweet food, so that shouldn't be an issue. Oh, and I hate the taste of fake sugar (Equate, Sweet n' Low), so I won't be using those, either. And I've never tried stevia, but I've always thought that was kind of a cheating thing anyways, so that's off the approved list, as well.

Of course, I have a couple sweet exceptions: fruit and honey. Fruit is kind of a duh exception, but why honey? Because I eat oatmeal for breakfast nearly every day, and I need something on top. I'm not out to make myself suffer this year or anything. Besides, I have a pantry stocked with local raw, organic honey that has some nice health benefits, and I'd hate to let it go to waste!

A big reason I'm doing this is because the doctors are 99% certain I had gestational diabetes with Baby D. After all was said and done, I found out that not only did my mom have GD problems with her pregnancies, but her mom did as well, so I'm dealing with some powerful hereditary factors at work here. In fact, when I later read the story of my birth, it was scary how exactly it matched Baby D's! So anyways, I think the Sugarless 2011 will help me get on track for the next pregnancy. Not to mention, help out with the dental side of things!

Are you making any dietary changes this new year? I've always thought going organic was pretty cool, but I'm pretty sure my heart wouldn't be able to handle the checkout counter. I have some friends that are going vegan, and then my husband is cutting out junk food. I'd love to hear about yours!

These aren't your Mom's resolutions!

I'm really excited about my New Year's resolutions. Usually, my resolutions have been all about improving existing behavior: exercise more, clean more, read my Bible every day. Usually, it's a giant list. And usually, this happens...

But this year, I'm doing things a little differently.

This year, they are challenges.


And best of all, there are only two things on the list.




1. The Bread Challenge

 I'm pretty horrible at making yeast bread. I can make the Five-Minute Artisan Bread all right, but even a monkey can do that one. Adam goes running the other way whenever I announce that I'm MAKING the sandwich bread for the week, because my loaves are always really crumbly and too flat. So, this year, I'm going to become skilled at making breads and bread-y products by making a variety of breads, one a week. I really, REALLY wanted to do this one last year, but morning sickness hit me right after Christmas and kept me out of the kitchen for the next couple months.

2. A Sugarless 2011

That's right, no sugar in the Year 2011. I already lead a fairly low-sugar life (I never drink pop and hardly ever buy candy), but now I'm going to up the ante. The only exception will be the occasional sweet bread from my Bread Challenge, because I wanted to do that first, and I think I need to do a few sweet breads in order to get the entire bread experience. When I told Adam about this one, he immediately jumped on the bandwagon. Since we got a ton of Christmas sweets, I suggested that we finish up what sweets we do have into the new year so that we don't die trying to eat everything in the next two days, but Adam thinks that's a bad idea. What would you do?

So those are my New Year's resolutions! Do you make resolutions, or do you think they're a waste of time? Have you ever had a resolution that actually lasted the entire year?

My New Year's Resolution

Ah, new Year's Resolutions. Something I love to hate to love, and something I also hate to love to hate. Or something like that. Once my eyes straighten out, I'll let you know. Anyways, I'm really optimistic about this year's resolutions! I'm trying a different approach that I thought of all by myself *pats back*. There are four things I really wanted to try this year for a better new me!-

1. Read the Bible/pray consistently

2. Exercise consistently

3. No computer/Wii

4. No sugar

Some are a little impractical to implement all year long. The one I'm thinking about in particular is No Sugar- I would ask someone to please just shoot me right right now- so I thought of a better plan. Every week, I will take a different goal and do it every day that week-- even Sunday! I think it'll work. maybe I'll even get into the routine of doing all of them at the same time all the time! And pigs will fly! Of course, this gives me liberty to slack off from certain things for three weeks (although I will certainly try not to do so), but at this point, anything will be an improvement.

I wrote it all down in the calendar for the year, in the order I listed them above. That way, it alternates something good for the body with something good for the soul. And wouldn't you know, by some miracle, all my sugar-free weeks do NOT fall on any major holiday or birthday! That makes my cake-loving self happy. 

I'm still trying to formulate a game plan for executing the Bible and exercise portion. I'm always so overwhelmed when I think about actually doing some sort of systematic Bible study because, honestly, there is SO MUCH to read!!! Where do you start?? Oftentimes, I am so intimidated by the sheer volume of choice that I just close my eyes and open the Bible to some random spot. Not the best way to study the Bible.

So... do you have any recommendations? Currently, I'm really interested in this puppy. Some day, when I have barrels of money to burn...