I’ll keep my updates on the sugar free stuff here in one post, in case you’re curious how it’s going and see if you might want to join me. I’d love to hear about your attempts too.

Week 1

Day 1:

Day 1 was a success, and it seemed pretty easy. Though as I’m staying up to begin  (transitioning to my upside-down schedule, i’m starting to dream about chocolate. <<Willpower mantra: Sugar, I don’t need you and I really don’t want you!>>

• Breakfast was eggs (i didn’t make them but I doubt there was a need for sugary ingredients)
• Lunch was a slice of whole foods pizza. I suppose there could be sugar lurking in the sauce, but let’s hope not much
• Dinner was the soup I made and a few leftover falafel patties

Day 2: 

Today I give myself a B-. On the good side I avoided what is always hardest for me–ever present office junk food. Today I breezed by the 6 bowls of candy and chocolate, cupcakes, and even the personal invite to partake of breakfast pastries! But I was reminded about the virtues of advance planning, particularly when trying to cut out elements of your diet. In my sleep deprived state I grabbed cereal. Now it’s not a travesty, it’s not like I ate Honeysmacks or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I had a palmful of Kashi cinnamon oat hearts and a handful of bran flakes with unsweetened coconut-almond milk. Whole grain yes, but the Kashi has a fair amount of sugar (8g). Oatmeal, Greek yogurt, chia pudding, or eggs all would have been better choices. Next time.

For lunch, I went out with colleagues. I had drunken noodles with an extra helping of tofu, and I mostly ate the tofu and veggies. But again, maybe fewer carbs would have been a better call.

Dinner was a large kale salad with massaged kale, broccoli slaw, snap peas, spring mix, Trader Joes steamed lentils and baked tofu. Dressing was Greek yogurt and cilantro and augmented with a balsamic dressing (hidden sugar in the 1 T of BBQ sauce I added (3 g) and in the balsamic (2g).

My midnight snack was a few nuts and a cup of yogurt. (note this didn’t go into the count for the day when the photos were taken

Tomorrow will be better…

The key lesson:  advance planning would help. So this weekend I’ll plan out my week’s menus. More protein, less carbs.

Week 2

Continued to largely be easy–easier than I’d anticipated. Perhaps a sign that I’d really had too much in the months leading up to this? Or just that I really don’t need sweets. I can’t say that I’ve had cravings–i haven’t even really wanted to have much fruit. I’ve been snacking on things like celery with almond butter (which according to the jar has no sugar), Edamame hummus, and Greek yogurt with Pepitas. I avoided cake in the office–an awesome looking carrot cake–and one or two other invites to slide down the sugar path.

minor trip ups: remembering afterward that things like barbeque sauce and mustard might have sugar in them

surprises:

•  I haven’t had cravings and its been pretty easy to walk away.
• The random things that has sugar added: So just why does Stacy’s pita chips need sugar? (all varieties). Most condiments also have hidden sugar.

Week 3

Still smooth sailing. I’m pondering extending into Feb, or at least sugar free weekdays? It’s a great excuse (mentally) to not only avoid junk food, but consciously avoid the junky-junk purveyed around the office (“My wife/husband baked cookies,”  or “Come have xx’s farewell cake!” or “omg these chocolate whaeves are to DIE for”).

minor slip ups: I did have two minor slips that I’ll chalk up to sleep deprivation (both happened soon after I woke up from my vampire sleep schedule): while having pizza with friends the other day, I had a sip of coke before realizing, duh, that’s not allowed. It honestly was just a sip. a mini sip. 😉 And then last night, when I woke up, a friend invited me to the local tea bar (yes, we have one–it’s really cool!). In front of me was a plate of digestive-type biscuits (Marie Biscuits for my desi friends). Without thinking about it, I had one. At least it was a low sugar cookie, right? Yeah…that’s part I just woke up, and part mindless eating. I stopped at one.