7 Days No Sugar Challenge - Day 5

     Sugar Craving!  

     Do you believe in the saying that the body knows what it needs?  If that it true, then I can justify why my body seemed to be asking for sugar the whole day.  Even after finishing a big cup of Mango Black tea, I wasn't satisfied.  

      To answer my dessert craving, I made a Chia porridge with unsweetened applesauce, flax milk, chopped dates and lots of cinnamon.  My goal is to create something creamy, hearty, sweet and comforting.  To my delight, the end product came out good.  Okay, I confess, a hint of brown sugar could have made perfect.  But you know what?  I'm on Day 5 already so it's worth the sacrifice.  

       Lunch time, I had a nice bowl of Green Mung Bean Stew.  Lately, I have been making this recipe vegan/vegetarian by eliminating the meat and changing the chicken broth to either vegetable broth or plain water.  Even though the family is a big meat fan, we all love the new vegan version.

      At around 2 pm, my body seems to be asking for more sugar.  Since I decided earlier that I will go all out with this challenge, I forced myself not to touch any smoothie mix or protein bar I have on hand that I know has added sugar on it.  The only natural sweet thing I found in my pantry is the opened package of dried dates.  There's about 5 pieces left and I didn't hesitate to finish everything.  It was a big indulgence but it made me really happy.  We only live once right?

    Dinner time, I was not in the mood for a regular meal again.  My body was asking for something sweet again.   Guess what I found in the fridge?

      I had about 4 cups of ice cold watermelon for supper.  Even discovered how refreshing and addictive watermelon juice (yup that's the juice at the bottom of the container) can be.

       Who knew life without sugar can be sweet too?

- Roz

7 Days No Sugar Challenge - Day 4

      As you know Day 3 was a crappy and miserable one for me.  After a nice 7 hours of sleep courtesy of Loratadine (generic for Claritin), I woke up early and refreshed.  To keep the mood up, I started off with a huge cup of the aromatic and flavorful Papaya and Passion Fruit Tea .  No added sweetener of course.

     While preparing our breakfast, I was surprised to find out that the Luncheon meat we had yesterday contained sugar in it.  Since it was not our usual brand and I'm only particular with my family's allergens, I forgot to check.  Was this the reason why yesterday turned out really crazy?  

      Anyway, for the past 3 days, I never had anything sweet.  As you may have noticed, all the food I ate were mostly on the savory side. Since I don't want to feel deprived and deceived (after I ate a salty lunch meat that contained sugar), I decided to be creative and make something sweet for breakfast.  

        As I gazed through the pantry, I found some gluten free original quick cooking oats and an opened pack of dried dates.  I have used dried dates in recipes such as Sticky Toffee Pudding and know how sweet it is.  After I checked the ingredient list for possible sugars, (Thank God it doesn't contain any.) I chopped 3 pieces and added it to the oatmeal and flax milk before cooking it in the microwave.  A dash of cinnamon made it extra sweet and yummy.  Yay!

       
       For lunch, my children requested their favorite homemade Burger Steak and Herbed Corn.  Since we didn't have fresh corn on hand, I opened 2 cans of corn kernels to make the easy side dish.  To my horror, even the canned corn contains sugar! Good thing there's always frozen broccoli and cauliflower in the freezer.  Oh, the kids aren't on the Sugar Challenge so they enjoyed their corn.

 

       The day seemed to be warmer than the past few days.  This made me drink twice as much strawberry and mint infused water. By dinner time, I don't feel the need for a regular meal.  That's when I gobbled about 3 cups of ice cold watermelon. Why haven't I stocked up on this fruit earlier this week?  

         Day 5 here I come.

- Roz 

7 Days No Sugar Challenge - Day 3

     Have you ever had a day when every thing seems not to turn out right?  Well, this was exactly what happened yesterday.  No matter how hard I planned and scheduled, nature seems to have a mind of its own. 

      For starters, I woke up at around 6:30 am to have some quiet time. Though this was a bit late than our usual, the summer routine started to kick in and kids supposed to be up an hour later.  I was just about to prepare my morning cup of Mango Ceylon tea when my two boys began running around the house playing tag.  Next thing I know, daughter #2 complained that she's already hungry.  What more can I say?  So long quiet time! 

     Breakfast was a quick meal of quinoa, baked luncheon meat and leftover Sauteed Corned Beef. Sounds like a feast?  Well, let's say mom was able to get about 1 slice of meat and about a tablespoon of corned beef to go with a quarter cup of quinoa.  Yup that's how hungry my gang was! Of course, I wasn't able to take any pictures.  

      It's the just the middle of the week and I realized that my stock of pre-cooked meals has already depleted.  Since the kids were okay for a late lunch, I made a huge batch of this easy yet super delicious White Bean & Pasta Soup. It came out good as usual. The downside, it only lasted until dinner.  This meant I have to cook again the following day.  

       Baked goods are a staple in our home.  When I started this No Sugar Challenge, I told myself, I will not bake anything to avoid any temptations.  Of course, this was not possible as I have  an always hungry crowd at home.  The swimming lessons didn't help either.

       Accepting defeat, I baked the kids a batch of brownies. I was scheduled to test a product so I opened the package of a new brownie mix and just followed the instructions on the box to the tee. This helped me to have the courage not to taste the batter or the end product.

       Most of the time, I will go cuckoo when the result didn't come out exactly as what the picture on the box looks like.  The kids are more forgiving than me.  As long as it tastes good, they are happy.  As for me, the imperfections were enough for me to cringe and stay away.  Saving me in the process.

       Okay, I know the picture looked good and I'd say the brownies must have tasted good because the kids and my husband all liked it.  I confess, I was a bit (super, extra) cranky the whole day. Not sure if it's allergies or a sugar withdrawal symptom but I had been sneezing the whole time.  By dinner time, I was forced to take an anti-histamine medicine which never failed to make me drowsy.

     On a day like this, my source of comfort would have been a nice big piece of tiramisu or a super creamy NY style cheesecake.  But nothing is available at home.  To fix my sugar craving, I had about 2 cups of ice cold watermelon.  The sweet treat was a piece of heaven!  I could have had more but the medicine took effect.

        I was knocked out at 10 pm.

       Do you experience sugar withdrawal symptoms?


- Roz

    

7 Days No Sugar Challenge - Day 2

      Temptation Day!

      Yesterday started really good.  Thanks to my growing tea collection, I was able to treat myself with a nice big cup of The Republic of Tea's Mango Ceylon . The strong aroma of mango made the tea somewhat sweeter naturally.  It matched perfectly with our family's breakfast of Sauteed Corned Beef with Onions and boiled quinoa. Since I forgot to take a picture of my meal, I used a photo of the dish which I took a while ago. As you can see, I didn't discovered quinoa then so the background was steamed white rice.  Still gluten free though. 

      We arrived home around 11:20 am from the kids' swim class.  They are a little tired for a big meal so I allowed them to have a snack while I do some writing.  Then, the first temptation came. While the kids were enjoying their food allergy friendly SUGAR cookies, they decided to offer me one because according to them "It tastes really good." I almost grabbed a piece when I saw the packaging.  I told I am thankful for the sweet offer but right now Nanay (mom) is not having any sugar. Since food restrictions are common in our household, it is no longer a big deal when one food has to be avoided.  Ah! That was close one though! 

      For lunch, I had the same as Day 1's which is Pork Menudo with quinoa.  I cook big batches remember?  

    The second temptation came after lunch.  The kids asked me if they could have dessert.  Both of my sons are actually underweight so I grab every opportunity to give them extra calories. What's for dessert? Melted semi sweet chocolate and marshmallows! Thank God Child #3 had a strong urge to try this new Vegetable Medley chips.  Not only is it food allergy safe, it has no sugar as well.  The sweet potatoes in it helped satisfy that sweet craving on the go.

       

      When we got back home from Karate class, it was time to prepare for dinner.  I've made this easy and well loved Indian Spiced Roasted Chicken.  Since I don't have hours to cook a whole chicken, I cut it in serving pieces before roasting. This reduced the cooking time to about 1 hour in the oven.  

      Since it was a busy day for all of us and I didn't have my afternoon java fix, I felt so tired after dinner.  Too tired to even think of dessert!  I easily fell asleep.  However, I was up a few times during the night. Is it due to sugar withdrawal?  What do you think? 

- Roz

      

7 Days No Sugar Challenge - Day 1

    Yesterday was the start of the 7 Days No Added Sugar Challenge. For a self confessed dessert fanatic, this is a real big deal.  As a little trivia, it was my sweet tooth that motivated me to teach myself how to bake again after my children were diagnosed with food allergies. I remembered the day when I told my kids this "Just because you can't have wheat, dairy, egg, soy, nut and peanuts, does not mean that you also can't have a cupcake, doughnut or ice cream.  We will make our own!"  That was almost 4 years ago and up to now I haven't stopped.  

     Anyway, when I was asked about the challenge.  I didn't hesitate a bit.  For months now, I have been curious about the growing Sugar Free diet trend. While researching about food allergies and the importance of gut health, big importance was emphasized regarding the bad effects of both natural and artificial sweeteners.  

     Day 1 turned out fine.   Even though the challenge allowed the use of a little stevia, I opted to be a purist and have only the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables.  What did I ate?  

For breakfast, I had a protein packed one which consisted of:

       1/4 cup cooked quinoa

       3 Tbs. Oven baked breakfast potatoes

       1 pc. organic hotdog 

      Since I can't have my favorite light and sweet coffee, I had a big mug of Double Green Matcha Tea.  

     The kids have their swimming lessons the whole week. So for lunch, we all had the stew which I cooked yesterday.  They usually eat theirs with steamed white rice.  For me, it was  

      1/4 cup cooked quinoa

     1/2 cup Pork Menudo (Pork chunks, potatoes and bell peppers slowly simmered in a seasoned tomato sauce)

     Since I started to crave for something sweet around 4pm, (the kids were having marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate for snack), I decided to make a smoothie with the fruits I have on hand. This one had strawberries, blueberries, banana, flax milk and some ice.   I had about 2 cups worth of smoothie so I'm still full.  Oh before, I forget, I also had a handful of low sodium potato chips. With four kids enjoying their food right in front of me, it is so hard to resist.

        For dinner, I had a bowl of Pork Spareribs Sinigang (pork and vegetables boiled in a tamarind based broth).   We had a late dinner because we went grocery shopping.  This probably helped because I never even thought of dessert afterwards.  Maybe the 2 liters of strawberry infused water which I kept drinking the whole day might have helped too.  What do you think?

         So far, so good.  Will it last?  Let's see...


- Roz