The Final Countdown

Week 8 - eeeek!  I may have mentioned before on a few occasions that I'm not looking forward to this program finishing, and as I sit here writing my second last blog entry I really and truly am not looking forward to it!  This week, to prepare myself and eliminate all temptation from the house before the end of the program, I spent some time emptying my cupboard and fridge of everything that contained more than 5g of sugar per 100g.  There was a lot!!!!  I filled half a bin with bottles of stuff that was over half empty (mayonnaise, salad dressing, tomato ketchup...the list goes on).  Then I filled a big bag with everything else and brought it into work because hey I'm sure my work colleagues will love me for sharing my sugar with them - it was like a thank you gift really for putting up with my sugar hangover and annoying conversation over the past few weeks.

One of the hardest things I had to decide to bring in was this AMAZING caramel sauce, which was meant to be used sparingly but pre giving up sugar Morag used to eat it with a spoon straight from the jar (have I mentioned it was amazing), I just had to get it out of the fridge so the temptation wasn't there.  I even (this is a big move) gave Adam (my partner) permission to eat the remainder of the Irish chocolate in the fridge which I generally as a rule do not let him touch because he doesn't have a good enough appreciation for how yummy and creamy Irish chocolate is compared to Australian stuff, and it just annoys me!

After emptying the fridge it meant I had to then rebuy some stuff, like mayonnaise, so I went for a half day trip to Coles to read the labels on everything I needed and figure out what products contained the lowest sugar quantities and what had no added sugar.  It was hard, and it was long, and I thought they were gonna actually kick me out of the shop for hanging around the mayonnaise section for 2 hours reading every label, but I got there and now pretty much most of everything in my house contains less than 5g of sugar per 100g.  I have never been so organised about food labels and food stuff in my life - hopefully it helps:)

Yesterday, I went to a baby shower for my beautiful friend, where we went to a lovely high tea.  The reason I'm mentioning this is because there was both myself and another friend of mine who are doing the I Quit Sugar program, and so I wanted to see if they would be able to cater for us with a sugar/fructose free menu.  On Wednesday I rang up and tried to organise this, which resulted in a very interesting conversation where the lady ended up telling me that she was sure all the cakes were made with fructose free sugar, and then when we actually got there, the waitress told me that they were fructose free - trust me on this, without knowing the ingredients I knew from looking at these cakes they were NOT fructose free, so I just ate some sandwiches and ignored the scones and cakes - I survived:)  It did make me think though that about 5 years ago, if you asked for gluten or dairy free at a restaurant you probably had only one choice, or maybe even none, whereas now there are so many choices for people who are gluten or lactose free.  So maybe in 5 years time having "sugar free" options on a menu will be the norm as it becomes more and more apparent that sugar isn't really that good for you!

Last Sunday, we had the most amazing dinner I have had on the program.  I am not the biggest lamb fan (I know very un-Australian isn't it - a true sign I will always be Irish to the core and never be able to give that up), but this meal semi-converted me into a lamb lover.  It was so yummy.  Unfortunately we are not meant to share the recipes with people and I tried to google it to see if anyone else had ever shared it and then technically it's not my fault, but unfortunately they haven't.  I did fid someone who had shared a photo of it though so I will share their photo instead (mine wouldn't have won any award for presentation so this one actually looks as yummy as it tasted).  It was a Persian slow-cooked lamb with herb and pistachio pilaf, made with "fake rice" (aka quinoa), and it was one of the nicest meals I have ever made (I must add I'm not a very good cook so it may not actually be a proper reflection of how nice the meal was).

I now plan on spending the week organising all my recipes that I have been given in the 8 week program into yes I like it and no that was awful I will never eat that again.  I also bought the book Simplicious, which has a photo of Sarah Wilson looking super amazing on the front and made me think that I too could look super amazing if I buy the book, it is full of some absolutely yummy looking recipes though so hopefully I will be able to maintain a sugar free lifestyle equipped with all these recipes and knowledge, and one day I too will look as glamorous and healthy as Sarah Wilson, I'm sure that's how it works:)

Again, thanks for reading, the next time will be the last blog:)

Goodbye to the dessert stomach (for now at least)

With that I find myself at the beginning of week 7 of an 8 week program that I was dreading starting and now I'm dreading it finishing.  You may find this post a little short and boring compared to any of my other posts (not that I think the rest were amazingly interesting or anything but they probably were compared to this one - apologies), and really that's just because the whole "no sugar" thing has been really easy for me this week, kinda like it's part of my life now, which is what I hoped all along. The reason I am dreading it coming to an end is that I really fear how I will manage when I'm not been told what to eat and when, but I think I should be able to manage.

A few things have happened this week which I will mention.  The first was I ate a banana.  Now this is something that may seem ridiculously boring to you, but it was not completely boring to me.  It was, no word of a lie, the most amazing banana I have ever eaten in my life.  If you have been following the blogs then you will know that I have a "mild" obsession with bananas, and it has been probably the biggest struggle of the whole no sugar thing my 4 weeks without an amazing banana.  So, all week once we were allowed to eat fruit, I was waiting for the perfect banana eating moment, and this came after I finished work on Sunday and went and bought myself a reward for surviving a day at work (sometimes at 730am I wonder if the whole survival of work thing is possible and when I make it I feel the need for a reward!).  It was probably the best reward for surviving a day at work ever (well maybe not ever but at least in the last few months anyways), it truly was as good as I had remembered, if not better:)

The second thing that happened was that I went out to dinner, and had the yummiest dinner which would usually be followed by a lovely dessert in true Morag "I have a second stomach for dessert" fashion.  After we were finished dinner (no sauces or added sugars I promise), the waitress came and asked did we want dessert and I didn't even have to think about it, or look at the menu and lust after what I couldn't have or moan about how my life is so hard because I can't have something, I genuinely didn't want dessert.  This may not seem a big deal to everybody, but anybody who has ever eaten out (or in) with me will know that dessert plays a massive part in my life, I generally look at the dessert menu before the main course so I can make a truly informed decision, so to not actually want dessert well that is massive I tell you!!!

This week I also received an e-mail from my dad with a link to an article he had read in the paper about what happens when you remove sugar from your diet.  This excited me for two reasons, one being that it helped me see that what I was doing wasn't for nothing.  This article discussed the research that was done on 43 obese children found that after just 9 days the children's insulin levels dropped and their cholesterol improved.  For anyone who is interested in reading the newspaper article here is the link: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/removing-sugar-from-diet-for-just-nine-days-can-have-dramatic-results-new-study-claims-a6710521.html?cmpid=facebook-post.

The second reason this excited me was because it made me really happy to know that my dad was following my journey (at least I assume he is), and that he was also reading a little around the subject.  It made me realise a little that my blog may be making people think a little more about their sugar intake, and what impact it may be having on them.  I have had a few people say that my blog "inspired" them, which kind of makes me giggle as I don't think I'm a person to inspire anybody, but from everything I have read about sugar, it makes me think that if even half a dozen people who have been reading my blog reduce their sugar intake by a few teaspoons a day then that's just great and it makes me happy!  I do know that quitting sugar isn't for everyone though, so don't feel you need to feel guilty about eating sugar, or justify why you want to keep eating sugar to me.

Anyways, I did say it wasn't going to be a very interesting blog, like I say this week has been easy and there's not much to say about it.  I intend to enjoy the next two weeks on the program, and hopefully I will be as positive about the whole thing in my last blog in two weeks.  Thanks for reading, until next time!

The Amazingness of an Apple

With that I find myself at the beginning of week 6.  I have had a lot of people ask if I am looking forward to the program coming to an end, but to be honest I'm not I'm actually very nervous about the whole thing.  I have found it so easy over the last few weeks to not eat sugar and to make sure I am just having real food because I am told what to eat for every meal of the day, and I have been pretty strict with eating exactly to the meal plan, except when out for dinner or something.  Now the end is drawing near, with it is the knowledge that I will have to take responsibility for deciding what I eat, and making sure I continue with the good habits I have developed, and given my past history with eating I am a bit nervous about it all.  I guess only time will tell, but hopefully I will be able to keep it up given I know how good I feel while eating what I am eating at present.

So you may be wondering how I am going.  Well, up to this weekend it was going great, and I hadn't had any major sugar cravings for a while, and then came Saturday evening.  For a reason completely unknown to be (maybe because I am a woman and it's my prerogative to decide how I feel and when and I don't need any particular reason the reason can simply be "just because"), on Saturday evening I was really sad, and with that sadness came this massive craving for something sweet (because lets be honest, sadness is always cured with sugary goodness isn't it???), and so came a 24 hours long quest to fulfil my sugar cravings and end my sadness.

Firstly, I ate every single piece of cheese in the house, because I'm sure there's some dietary rule about how eating a tonne of cheese can also cure sadness, however this didn't work.  So then I turned to my good friend google who suggested a few things such as: Go for a walk - seriously I want sugar, how on earth does walking curb that?; Eat some almonds - ya definitely not the same thing; Try meditation - seriously who writes this stuff?  Mediating means all I'm doing is sitting in silence imaging chocolate and how amazing it is.  The worst one, and the one that made me just give up on google altogether was to suggest I drink a glass of water, now I don't know what type of water came out of this persons tap, but mine certainly does not curb sugar cravings or cure sadness.

After about 24 hours, I decided to make some "Sweet Potato Protein Balls" which was a recipe that was provided by the program.  I don't know why I held out so much hope for these protein balls given I knew exactly what went into them (which was basically some sweet potato and pumpkin puree, coconut flour and oil, and some crushed almonds), but I really did think they would help my cravings.  So I made them, and put them in the fridge to set, and then came the moment of truth, finally my cravings would be gone with these amazing protein balls.  THEY WERE AWFUL!!!!  Why oh why did I think something that had sweet potato and pumpkin would taste the same as chocolate.  It was like having dinner for dessert, and it was not pleasant.  I know there are people out there that have replaced chocolate with food like this, and I was really hoping I would become one of these, but I failed, it was awful.  I do not understand how anyone can enjoy food like this (if there is anyone who has found something extremely tasty and "healthy" please feel free to share your recipe as I still hold out some hope).  In the end I drank two glasses of wine and went to bed, my good friend wine didn't let me down, not like my sweet potato protein balls!!!

After all that, Monday rolled around, and with it the reintroduction of fruit for the first time in 4 weeks, and boy was I excited!  All day at work I was deciding what fruit to have for my first piece, it was a tough choice, I am a bit boring in my fruit eating, so it was a choice of a banana, an apple or some strawberries, but it was still tough.  In the end I decided on the apple.  I was a bit nervous (who knew eating fruit could be so stressful), in case it was one of those ones that looked good on the outside, and then when you cut into it was all powdery and yuck, but the apple did not let me down (not like the protein balls - think I'm scared for life from those).  It was every bit as good as I imagined it, if not better.  I actually think I was so vocal about it the neighbours probably wondered what was going on, if only they knew all that noise was over an apple they would have officially tipped me over into the mental health category, but I don't care I loved it.  It tasted so sweet and crispy, and definitely satisfied the sugar cravings (in hindsight I should have broken the fruit rule a day earlier and eaten some on Sunday).  I still haven't allowed myself to eat my favourite banana as I am a bit fearful it may not taste as good as I remember, maybe that can be tomorrows treat.

On a serious note, did you know today was World Obesity Day.  As a result of this I have had a whole heap of stuff pop up on my FB feed about the link between obesity and sugar intake.  Some of the interesting facts that have popped up on my feed today include:

• In Australia, we are consuming 22kg of added sugar each year
• There is a direct link between sugary drink consumption and obesity, dental cavities and Type 2 diabetes
• 1 in 3 Aussie children will be overweight or obese by 2025
• Adult-onset diabetes (Type 2 diabetes) is on the rise in children and young people
• Today, 280 Australians will be diagnosed with all types of diabetes

Now I don't know about you, but these stats scare me.  It is something that we can do something quite easily to avoid, and yet people don't seem to want to do anything about it (I myself am guilty of this).  One interesting thing that did pop up on my feed was about a campaign called "Sugar by Half", which is been established to try and encourage people to cut their added sugar by half in order to improve their health outcomes.  Their webpage has a lot of info and support for anyone who may be interested in seeing how this can be done easily i your everyday life, have a look if you are interested, you may learn something:

http://www.sugarbyhalf.com.

I will sign off here, I may even go eat some banana who knows.  Until next time, thanks for reading:)

"Sure calories don't count on holiday, do they???"

Without even realising it I have found myself over half way through the 8 week program.  Having traditionally counted down the days til I finish every single healthy eating/diet plan/mission to look like a super model by ticking them off on the calendar it actually came as a bit of a surprise when I realised that this was the mid way point.  To celebrate my mid way through the 8 week program, I just spent the weekend in Adelaide, visiting wineries with two amazing ladies in my life.  To be honest, I have been looking forward to this weekend for so long, for obvious reasons, given some of my favourite things include consuming copious amounts of wine and talking complete waffle with these particular ladies, however, I was also secretly dreading it, as usually weekend away coupled with a lot of wine equals eating a whole heap of crap.  I had done 4 weeks of just eating real food, and I was a bit nervous this weekend would throw the whole thing out the window.

My plan for the weekend was to try to eat as healthy as I could for most of the time to make up for all the wine I was consuming.  I know that I have previously said that you can have wine on the IQS program as it does not contain fructose, however, this rule probably doesn't run true for the amount of wine I consumed this weekend - it was a one off, I'm usually so responsible as anyone who has ever drunk with me with vouch for, but I was in the home of wine...and when in Rome and all that!!  However, it was a real mind game for me to eat healthy all weekend.

One of my favourite sayings while on holidays is "sure calories don't count on holidays", and I generally use this saying to justify my over consumption of ice-cream (usually consumed at least daily), pancakes for breakfast (may have ice cream as a side), and chocolate (which may sometimes be melted over ice-cream) because well I'm on holidays aren't I!  So this weekend, I found it really hard to ignore the chocolate shops (which Adelaide has a bout a million of), and say no to the ice-cream (which was made easier by the fact the weather was awful so I didn't actually feel like it was ice-cream weather).    I did have one moment though when we were in one of the wineries, and I decided to try some dessert wine, I took on tiny sip and thought it tasted like the sweetest syrup I had ever tasted and couldn't drink anymore, so I think my taste buds must be changing.  Apart from this one moment, to the best of my knowledge, I survived the weekend away without consuming any added sugar.

On a different note, I wanted to mention an article I read this morning in the paper about a new type of eating disorder called "orthorexia nervosa", I feel like this is some sort of makey upy term to be honest, but the article did make me think.  Basically, this disorder is based on people, particularly young people, who become obsessed with "righteous eating", and refusing to eat foods such as gluten and dairy, and loosing sleep if they eat a small biscuit, etc. which causes psychological distress to the people.

While reading the article, it made me think about my goals of doing this program.  I know at the moment I am pretty strict on what I will and won't eat, but that is because I am doing an 8 week program.  I think I have mentioned before that I don't want to be that awful friend who comes to dinner and demands my food preferences be met, you know "that" friend (everyone has at least one), the one who never gets asked back because it's too hard to make a whole "fructose free meal".  I think overall, after all the reading around the subject I have been doing, my aim is to maintain a kind of 80/20 type relationship with food, whereby for 80% of the time I will eat "real food", so that when needs arise, I can let my hair down and enjoy myself without the risk of "orthorexia nervosa" and loosing sleep because I ate a slice of cake when I went out to commiserate that I am getting older without even trying too hard or something silly like that.

I will sign off now, with a small note about how excited I am that I will be allowed eat fruit next week, that is something that I am truly looking forward to.  I hope bananas still taste as good as I remember them!  Thanks for reading:)