WIAW and 7 Weeks Sugar Free

It is What I Ate Wednesday again- squeeeeee! I love this amazing community of gals who are passionate about food, health, and blogging. I've had so much fun these last few weeks participating in WIAW. If you're new here, click the link above to go to Peas & Crayons, Jenn's blog and the host site. It's fab. Promise.

Jenn's recent post where she speaks up about sweets and sugar is so well written and such a moderate take on the subject- I want to thank her with a big basket of produce.

If you pop on over here on Wednesday you'll read about my Sugar-Free Journey. To be clear, I don't think sugar is any kind of devil, in general, but just as many people have gluten, dairy, soy, etc. intolerance, so do I with sugar. In the spirit of transparency, my kids still eat foods with sugar and I give it to them...on occasions of celebration or for a treat, but just as Jenn wrote, whole foods are meant to be the basis of our diet. The amazingly creative sweets people make (see pinterest for example) are often an art form and are made by such talented and creative people, way to go, but for me, I have to stay away from it, so here you will find posts about food without sugar, so pretty much everything else! But no judgement ladies...if you eat sugar, bake and create with it and like it- totally cool with me, but for those of you who can't or don't, this is a sugar free zone.

Blogging about a life with out sugar has helped me process this experience and as I expect it will be ongoing- sugar is like, seriously, everywhere, I will continue to do so and would love to hear what you think!

There you have my semi-soapbox thoughts and now onto What I Ate Wednesday--

Brekkie--

I will admit, you'll start to see some repeats...I rotate my smoothies and have to say this is my fave...this morning I added a handful of walnuts for some extra protein and omega-3's.

 

Snack--

Or elevenses.

 

 

 

Lunch--

Leftovers.

Simple curry with chickpeas, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, and cilantro.

 

 

Dinner--

 

Samosa. Enough said.

Never mind, I'll actually say more. These were so darn good. I would eat Indian food for every meal, every day (okay- maybe not breakfast because I need me my smoothie) and I very nearly did it today. These were delicious. The recipe is here.  

 

 

 

Baked goodness.

 

 

 Served along with some lentil soup and a delicious dipping sauce - I omitted honey, because I'm sweet enough.

 

 

jelly belly - I used to eat these by the handful. no more.

 

So seven weeks. No sugar. Nearly there.

Well, I am there, I am sugar free, something I never thought I'd be. Ever. I was someone who said, "Yeah, I really should cut back on how much sugar I eat" and "I should stop eating sugar," and "@#*$ I had better stop eating so much @#$%^&* sugar." But never before was I able to do it.

Part of it had to do with my resolve, I just wasn't ready, until my body started to rebel as in I was physically and mentally rejecting it with a whole slew of icky feelings. The other part has to do with an amazing community I have found with Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar ebook and blog community. Yes, at times I still feel like a bit of a wackadoo in social settings when I eschew anything sweet, or ask the question, "Does that contain sugar?" when I've learned that so many premade foods contain hidden sugars rendering the question futile, but I digress...

Sarah Wilson has helped change my life and I am so thankful. Unless you have the willpower of Edward Cullen, just quitting sugar is a sticky business. (I tried giving it up several times unsuccessfully, until I knew it was either stop eating sugar or continue to be sick- and likely get worse!) along with support and information.

I had something with panko breadcrumbs and found myself on the downward sugar spiral until I poked around in my pantry and found the culprit. Who'd have thought panko breadcrumbs?! There aren't a tremendous amount of resources out there for those who want to ditch the white stuff, but there are a few and I Quit Sugar has been the most helpful for me. There are several other resources I will list in the coming weeks, so if you have one, please leave it in the comments below. If you are interested in your own copy of I Quit Sugar, I am an affiliate and encourage you to click the link on the right and get ahold of your own copy.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on being sugar free or just on yummy food in general. Until next week...