30 Day Challenge – The Conclusion

We are now- shockingly- in October! This means that my 30 Day Sugar Free challenge for the month of September has come to an end. You can read my “Intro Post” HERE, the Half Way Check In HERE, and I am now going to wrap things up in this post.

First off, I just want to say that I am impressed with myself. I knew that I had a decent bit of will power and if I set my mind to it, I could go the whole month without “cheating”, but I didn’t think that I would actually do it. That may not make sense, but I figured that I may have slipped up once or twice with a little piece of wafer, or something somewhere along the way, but NOPE. I went the whole month without cracking! (The thought did cross my mind though a couple of times). The only “sugar” I ate during the month was natural and in my muffins: honey (replacing cane sugar) and limited chocolate chips.

I’m not a big junk sugar eater as it is, so it shouldn’t surprise me that I made it the whole month. I have always preferred salty to sweet, but I saw myself starting to eat a little too much candy and instead of sticking to a piece of fruit, or some nuts for a snack, I was reaching for those sour patch kids or an Oreo. I just wanted to get back to the way I was snacking (if I chose to snack). I think that I have successfully done this.

I didn’t notice like a huge shift in my body, especially not as much as someone would who eats a lot more sugar than I do, but I did notice a little change here and there. I will say- the biggest change I would see would be Sunday Mornings when I woke up, I didn’t feel as “slow going” as I normally did.

Saturday nights used to be my like “sugar nights” where I would have a soda, it’s our “easy meal” night, so something maybe not the healthiest, and then we would do a movie so a snack to go with that. It was the one night that I would just not care as much. Sunday morning then was how could I do that to my body? For the past month I didn’t really have that question.

That isn’t to say that having a night every once in a while where you don’t care, or don’t worry about it, is a bad thing. I am a full believer in needing those times, BUT it was nice to not wake up at any point in time in this past month wondering why I ate so much junk.

So, after the 30 days, what do I plan on doing moving forward? Ah, not too many changes to make, realistically. I think the biggest thing will be cutting out my once a week soda and only have a soft drink once or twice a month. Like I said earlier, sugar isn’t typically a huge part of my day to day as it is, so soda was like my thing  on a weekend. Otherwise, I think I am in pretty good shape moving forward! Cutting junk sugar for good isn’t a total goal, I will definitely be indulging in some chocolate wafers every once in a while, but I think cutting way back is definitely the way to go! I feel like I am back in my good, healthy, clean way of eating.

 

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30 Day Challenge – Half Point Check In!

It’s been about 2 weeks when I took a *mostly* Sugar Free 30 Day Challenge. You can read that post HERE. I’m about halfway through the month and I figured I would give a little update as to how it is going!

So my end goal was to do a complete re set of my body when it comes to sugar. I found myself eating a lot of candy and junk and I wanted to quite with that. Now, sugar is in a lot of items, and our body sugars are controlled by a lot of different food groups (carbs is a big one), so I decided to narrow down the idea of Sugar Free.

I’ve only cut out what I would call “junk” sugar, so candy, soda, cookies, etc. The only “treat” that falls into that category I’ve allowed myself is Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. This was a great alternative as the sugar in the muffiins is from the chocolate chips (only ½ cup for the whole batch), honey (instead of straight sugar), and the banana itself. This is a great alternative and I’ve found that it satisfies the whole sugar craving.

I don’t normally have much of a sweet tooth, so for the most part cutting out candy and soda hasn’t been too bad. I’ve also preferred salty over sweet, but I’ve noticed that once I start eating candy, I don’t stop. Hence the 30 day challenge (again, check that blog post out, it goes into more detail).

I’ve only had one issue and that is a self made one. There are a brand of wafers out there that I absolutely love (and eat way too many of), but as of now I’ve only found them at World Market and on Amazon. I figured that would be my treat for getting through the month Sugar Free. I would head over to World Market, pick up a bag and enjoy them over the first few weeks in October (being diligent about portion control). Well…my mom was in town and we went to World Market her last morning. Those wafers are now sitting in my fridge taunting me…I can do it though! I am stronger than the wafers 😉

Otherwise, I have noticed a shift in myself. I’m not as groggy and sluggish and not as low energy as I was before. I’m not saying this is only because of the Sugar Free, but I do think that what we eat plays a large role in how we feel, mentally and physically, and when we cut out those junk items it makes a big difference. If you think about it, when you cut junk foods out of your diet and you start to physically and mentally feel better, you start to exercise, get out of the house, be active more because you have the energy to do that.

Basically, challenge is going really well! I’m sticking to what I wanted to accomplish and I’m super proud of that!

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A Little 30 Day Challenge for September

If you’ve been around for a little while you’ll know two things about when it comes to food: 1. I have been in recovery for Anorexia for   years and 2. I believe that how we fuel and treat our body directly relates to how we feel, act, and do. I’m a big believer in what we put in our body translates to what comes out of our body (and not just in an input = output in the bathroom). Making choices to eat healthier, eat a more balanced diet, and being mindful of how we “treat ourselves” when it comes to food is such a big part of life. I’ve personal noticed a change in my attitude, my productivity, my day to day when I eat better versus when I eat junk foods. Which is why I’ve decided to challenge myself for the whole of September. 

A little backstory for August to get us started…

Vacation and travel has always been one of those “throw aways” when it comes to eating. We all are guilty of indulging when we are on vacation and when you are traveling to and from vacation, it is hard to find those perfect snacks that meat all the travel criteria. It often just becomes a time for us to just throw caution to the wind and eat all the bad things we wouldn’t normally eat. There is NOTHING wrong with this. 

Where it becomes wrong is when we get back from vacation. When the time comes to get back to healthy eating, making good food choices, and getting back into routines. It is so easy to just let those bad habits continue on as “treat” moments and then next thing you’ve gone down the full rabbit hole into eating bad all the time. 

I’m totally guilty of this and have no shame in admitting that I’ve been eating a little too much junk food since we came back from vacation. So, to get out of the junk food hole I’m going to do a little September challenge. I’ve found Sugar to be my main problem, so…drumroll please…I’m going to go mostly sugar free for all of September. 

When I say sugar free I mean no candy, no soda, no artificial sugars of any kind. I am going to try and stick to the following “sugar” sources: fruit, honey (for baking), and a chocolate chip here and there for when I bake. 

I don’t think this will be too bad as I’ve been taking a couple small steps over the past week or so to cut back on the sugary treats that I’ve been consuming. The only bits that are left to cut out are Soda and Sour Patch Kids. I really think that kicking this out for a month will give me a chance to re set myself, so that I won’t chug it all down when/if I do decide to eat candy or drink a Soda again. 

At this point, I don’t plan on making this a permanent change, but rather one to get myself back to a good place with my “junk” food consumption. I want to be back to a soda once a week (if that) as well as having some sort of candy in a small small portion once a week (rather than a whole bunch everyday). If at the end of September I feel like I don’t want any of it anymore, then that’s fine too. 

I’ll be posting my progress on Social Media, as well as doing a mid month check in post and an end of month wrap up.

I would love for you to join me in this challenge! Are you up for it? 

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