A while back, I mentioned that I wanted to go sugar-free. Adam has gone about a year with only a few sugary treats (I know he ate one of our cupcakes from our commitment ceremony, and enjoyed a treat or two at my brother's vegan wedding reception). For me, it hasn't been so simple, and it kind of surprises me because I've never really considered myself to have a sweet tooth, but I never could resist a free treat in my college years, and now I have a hard time resisting a vegan treat!
A few things are easy for me:
1. I only eat vegan foods, so the number of tempting (and realistic) snacks are more limited.
2. I never had a practice of putting sugar in things, like coffee or tea, except for the occasional espresso.
3. I really love savory foods and generally prefer cold pizza for breakfast than muffins or other sweet breakfast foods.
But there are definite challenges. Habits are hard to break and I have a bad habit of buying a huge cookie out of a vending machine on afternoons when I'm bored at work and want to go home. I also happen to enjoy eating spoonfuls of vegan nutella straight from the jar.
But I'm here to say it can be done, and one of the best ways I have found to avoid eating sugar is to eat whole foods. I still eat plenty of fresh fruit, and sometimes it's a good alternative to eating sweets. Yesterday, for example, my co-worker mentioned she was craving something frozen, and we went over to the cafeteria to look for a snack. Instead of the strawberry Popsicle, which had 25g of sugar(!), I got grapes. Not quite as cold or satisfying, but they did the trick. The nice thing about that is I increased my servings of fruits and veggies for the day and I didn't get a stomach ache from too much sugar. Here's what I ate yesterday, for an idea of a sugar-free lifestyle:
Breakfast: half English muffin with margarine, Americano with unsweetened soy creamer
Snack: banana, unsweetened ice tea
Lunch: beet and potato hash, whole wheat penne pasta with unsweetened pasta sauce and tofu sausage, zevia soda
Snack: grapes
Dinner: tofu sandwich on sourdough with watercress, potato salad with green beans
Snack: fresh blueberries
Some days are better than others (I had a sweetened iced chai today) but but when I focus on how something will make me feel, rather than how badly I'm craving it, I usually make the right decision.
Now if I could only break my NCIS habit...
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
bastille day
Today is the French independence day and I am wondering how they celebrate...do they use fireworks like we do? Or are they more demure and refined, and just picnic on the Eiffel Tower lawn...?
We share a somewhat similar history with France and yet we are so, so, so different. I read yesterday that France is #1 in healthcare worldwide, though they are #4 in spending. Guess who is #1 in spending? The U.S. of A. But what number are we in healthcare? 37.
Screw Obamacare. And Canada. Vive la France!
This weekend is unique in that Adam is away with his family at their camp and I am home with the cats. It's funny the way that life changes when a person is away for a weekend. For example, our cats, who normally think EVERY NIGHT IS A SLEEPOVER, meaning, they get to walk all over us all night long finding the perfect new spot to sleep, they, well, they ignored me. All. Night. I think Wallcat snuck in sometime in the middle of the night to catch a few zzz's at the foot of the bed. Jilly, it appears, slept on the windowsill and on the bathmat in the bathroom. So, it's good to know they are really only here for Adam.
I made a smoothie this morning that was quite delicious, so I thought I'd share the recipe:
1-2 frozen bananas
1 C almond milk
2 generous Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 C water or ice (if you like it thicker)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground flaxseed (optional)
This made about 1 1/2 to 2 glasses that I drank by myself in about 2 minutes. The nice thing about this is that it is so yummy but it's not all that bad for you. Each of the items is a serving of the food, and the only sugar is from the bananas (unless your peanut butter has sugar, which is sneaky and they shouldn't do that to perfectly good peanut butter).
I am headed to yoga in a bit so I've got to run, but I wanted to stop in and say hello.
Bonjour.
We share a somewhat similar history with France and yet we are so, so, so different. I read yesterday that France is #1 in healthcare worldwide, though they are #4 in spending. Guess who is #1 in spending? The U.S. of A. But what number are we in healthcare? 37.
Screw Obamacare. And Canada. Vive la France!
This weekend is unique in that Adam is away with his family at their camp and I am home with the cats. It's funny the way that life changes when a person is away for a weekend. For example, our cats, who normally think EVERY NIGHT IS A SLEEPOVER, meaning, they get to walk all over us all night long finding the perfect new spot to sleep, they, well, they ignored me. All. Night. I think Wallcat snuck in sometime in the middle of the night to catch a few zzz's at the foot of the bed. Jilly, it appears, slept on the windowsill and on the bathmat in the bathroom. So, it's good to know they are really only here for Adam.
I made a smoothie this morning that was quite delicious, so I thought I'd share the recipe:
1-2 frozen bananas
1 C almond milk
2 generous Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 C water or ice (if you like it thicker)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground flaxseed (optional)
This made about 1 1/2 to 2 glasses that I drank by myself in about 2 minutes. The nice thing about this is that it is so yummy but it's not all that bad for you. Each of the items is a serving of the food, and the only sugar is from the bananas (unless your peanut butter has sugar, which is sneaky and they shouldn't do that to perfectly good peanut butter).
I am headed to yoga in a bit so I've got to run, but I wanted to stop in and say hello.
Bonjour.
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