Sugar Free

I ate a piece of Savannah’s birthday cake last night.  Oh, it was so good!  Brownies with a cream cheesy mixture layered with chocolate pudding and cool whip on top.  Yum!  Eating birthday cake on a birthday may not seem like anything out of the ordinary, but the day before was the first time I’d eaten sugary treats in a month.   When the kids went back to school, I went off of sugar.  I love candy and cookies and dessert.  It’s hard for me to stop eating them once I start.  I’d tried going off sugar once before and made it less than 24 hours before I gave in.  I had a few reasons for my self-imposed sugar fast, the biggest being my desire to see if I had the willpower to follow through.  Turns out, I do. 

Here’s what I did:  I went off of obvious sugar - cookies, candy, cake, sugary cereal, hot chocolate, etc.  I didn’t go off of all sugar (I ate peanut butter), but I generally avoided things where sugar was listed as one of the first few ingredients.  To ease my cravings, I ate nuts, apples, and lots of watermelon. 

Here’s what I learned:

• I have more willpower than I thought.
• I can make a batch of cookies and not eat any of them or even sample the dough.
• I can open a bag of m&m’s and divide them up for the kids’ lunches and not even eat one.
• I can eat watermelon while the rest of the family is eating ice cream and be happy about it.
• Avoiding sugar did not give me more energy or make me lose weight.
• It was easier than I expected, though week three was the hardest.
• I learned that I can avoid sugar, but that I don’t really want to.   I got tired of being the party pooper, always turning down dessert and never being able to taste or enjoy the things I love.  The kids would try to share their chocolate or other goodies and I always had to refuse. 

My epiphany:

I planned on keeping this up until my birthday in about three weeks, but then one day I had a realization.  I have enough willpower to give something up and follow through so why not pick something that will make a bigger impact on me and my family?   The sugar fast felt more like a chore by this point and I’d already decided I wasn’t going to continue once I reached my goal.  So I switched goals.  I’m doing well so far on my new “fast.”  I’ll elaborate more at another time, but I can already see that it’s making a difference!

*Click on the photo above which links to the recipe for Brownie Delight.  I've made a few minor changes to the recipe over the years (i.e., we usually put sprinkles or grated chocolate on top and skip the nuts.  I also use less milk when I make the pudding so it's not so thin,) but this is our preferred birthday "cake."  Always a hit!