2015 No Refined Sugar: Week 13

Hello!

I realised I haven’t posted an update about this in a while, so I thought I should fill you in on what has been going on in the no refined sugar quest of 2015.

I thought that it would be easy by now. I was wrong. It is very hard to stay strong when it’s as simple as not being able to have a normal hot chocolate… I didn’t used to eat much refined sugar before, but never having a “treat” is the hardest feeling. Though I have found places that do raw vegan “treats” that are still an indulgence but they don’t have any refined sugar. That’s not to say I should go and eat a lot of them. Everything in moderation!

I recently went away for 3 weeks and it was really hard to stay 100% away from sugar. I was in Hawaii, Japan and Korea. In Hawaii the massive and constant advertisements about waffles, pancakes, junk food and “health” food make it really hard not to think about food all the time, especially sweet food. In Japan and Korea it was ok but sometimes I couldn’t read the labels on food. So as an example something like black coffee from a fridge would not normally have sugar in it, but when I tasted it I could tell it was sweet so I stopped drinking it and threw the rest away. So I stayed away from anything that obviously had sugar in it but if I found out the hard way that it had sugar I would just stop eating it.

Getting back to my normal food, in my house was a great relief. Also, in Australia it is pretty easy to eat healthily. In Sydney it is trendy to be healthy! Of course if you eat processed foods and don’t do a lot of cooking for yourself you can’t guarantee what is in the food you eat but it feels safer here than overseas.

Also in the last few weeks there have been a couple of new main stream documentaries that have come out about sugar and this is great for public awareness.  These movies will hopefully help educate the public around what they are actually eating!

I’m excited for the rest of this year… I’m interested to see what actually happens in my body as a result of not having refined sugar for a year.

…SBK

 

2015 No Refined Sugar: Week 5

Hello

Well this post is a little late but as my mum and I would say “it’s still good, it’s still good!”

Last week was a crazy week, I was doing all my training for the Spartan Race and moving house.

Food is going fine, sometimes if there is a refined sugar type sweet I melt a little inside but it is only very temporary and I’m committed… plus it is only a year.

I have had a couple of people say or suggest “it’s only this once” or “how can you do that for a whole year?” but it really doesn’t seem that big of a deal really.

There are plenty of “sweets” or “treats” that don’t have refined sugar and also I don’t usually crave really sweet foods anyway.

This week required a lot more energy from me so I was eating more fruit and drinking more coffee than usual but I have gone back to normal as soon as the energy requirements were less.

I find it funny that my body craves fruit/sweet potato now for energy rather than other things.

I know I’ve had a big day when I really want more sweet potato at lunch or dinner time.

Some food from last week…

Some tips from last week:

• When your body is asking for sugar it really can get the energy from healthier sources… just because it’s not white and doesn’t give you a rush doesn’t mean you don’t get energy from it!
• When you require more energy, you may need to eat more food. When you require less energy, you may need to eat less food – simple but we really don’t listen to our bodies sometimes.
• Sometimes when 100% awesome food isn’t available and your moving house you just have to make do and choose as best as you can

…SBK

2015 No Refined Sugar: Week 4

Hi

This week has been pretty straight forward… training, eating, sleeping, working and moving house.

I do feel like I’m getting into the swing of things, more mindful when looking at ingredients labels. I’ve found a few alternatives to satisfy my sweet tooth and I have been having a bit more fruit… mostly because it’s just so good at the moment!

Training this week:

Food this week:

A couple of lessons from this week:

• there is plenty of junk food that doesn’t have refined sugar
• I need to stop eating when I am satisfied, not when I’m stuffed
• there is plenty of filling, tasty food that doesn’t have refined sugar, wheat, diary or alcohol
• I love eating this way, it really helps me give everything in my training sessions
• real food is so tasty!

…SBK

2015 No Refined Sugar: Week 2

Hi hi!

Well this has been a much more interesting week! This post is a bit late because I’ve been busy eating and drinking!

It turns out that sugar is in pretty much everything you don’t make yourself… a couple of circumstances from this week:

Mum had a bite of her sisters desert without thinking… she doesn’t often get her own desert but it is almost part of her DNA to just have 1 or 2 bites of the desert ordered by whoever is with her. She realised afterwards what had happened. Of course this isn’t that horrible, the real issue was that she did it without thinking, it is second nature for her now because she just does it all the time.

Hot Tip! Do not face the display cabinet: I went to San Churro and just watch other people eat sweets and I had my tea and it didn’t matter much as soon as I got away from the display cabinet when I was ordering. So the secret to not thinking about all the sugar and chocolate you could be eating is to sit facing away from the display cabinet.

Tuesday night, we were leaving for Tassie the next day, I had two small mangoes in the fridge and I really wanted something sweet after dinner… so I ate them and I enjoyed every last bite! It is not normal for me to eat fruit after dinner but I do, do it occasionally in summer just because it’s awesome on a warm evening!

While we have been away we have really had to watch out for all the extras that come on cheese boards. On a cheese board you usually also get some sort of a paste or a chutney and these usually have sugar added into them during the cooking process. So there have been a couple of times where we had a couple of bites then remembered. We only really made that mistake a couple of times. In general you have to be really careful with any type of sauce… they usually have sugar added in, and most people do not use an unrefined sugar in their cooking.

Another thing to think about is the food you eat after having a couple of drinks. It is so much easier to not care about what you are eating after you have had a couple of drinks. There have been a couple of times this week where I have wanted to not care because I’d had a couple of drinks, or it was my birthday, or who cares about one slip up! All those thoughts that mean more to you after you have had a couple of drinks. But I just needed to stick to it, which means the people around me needed to keep me accountable to my plans… My dad and husband are really good at this!

So this week was a lot harder because we were on holidays and it was my birthday… I did have a couple of accidents because I forgot about chutneys, pastes and sauces but as soon as I realised I stopped and I won’t make that mistake again. I just never realised how much sugar is in EVERYTHING!

We also got creative to satisfy our cravings! We had some honey… not a massive amount but some really good quality honey was amazing. We enjoyed some local apricots and cherries… sold to us by the local farmers which was great fun and the fruit was amazing as we are right in the season.

…SBK

 

2015 No Refined Sugar: Week 1

Hello hello!

Well it’s almost the end of week 1 without refined sugar… yes I know it’s not technically a full week because the year only started 4 days ago but I figure I’d just start posting on Sundays about my Refined Sugar Free Weeks.

Cobs Popcorn is my all time favourite popcorn… they have other flavours but I have tried – slightly sweet, salt and vinegar, cheese and lightly salted. For the most part they are just a slightly healthier alternative to other bought popcorn. They aren’t full of nutrition but they aren’t terrible. Salt and vinegar is my favourite… I mostly crave salty foods – I have been told this is because of my adrenals.

I went to get some to take into my movie… and what do they have? Yeah you are right! Sugar plain old ordinary sugar. My heart was a little bit crushed. So I didn’t get it but seriously! Why does this need sugar? Why!!

Anyway other than a couple of disappointing moments like this one these few days have been fine. Like I have said refined sugar is not a regular part of my diet. So this experiment may have no effect on my “weight” but that isn’t why I am doing it.

For me this isn’t about the sugar… it is about my longer term goal of becoming a disciplined person. I’m not naturally disciplined, though, consistently getting up and training 5-6 mornings a week is defiantly helping. I do still lack discipline in my nutrition, my regular eating and portion sizes are good but I would say my occasional indulgences are more regular than they should be and they do get bigger than they should. I don’t like saying no to myself when it comes to “treats” because I feel like the fat kid who’s dad said “should you be eating that?.”

Anyway I think it’s about time I got over that… because I think my body deserves the best, and that includes the ability to say no when I need to. Of course there are sweets that don’t have refined sugar but they are harder to get and I either have to make them or make a real effort to find them in a shop. I figure if I say no to the highly processed sugars for a year I’ll have the saying “no” bit it down pat. I’m excited to become the me that is a well oiled, more mindful, disciplined machine.

Of course looking at the negative isn’t a great way to get things done so I am going to explore alternatives and explore labels. This is going to be an interesting year!

Less refined sugar and more #sweatyselfies!

Just on a side note… I don’t really know why I still do the sweaty selfies, but they seem to make people laugh, some people actually say to me that it motivates them but it is fun and fitness should be fun! Follow me on instagram for all my sweaty selfies http://instagram.com/shantikorporaal/… it’s all fun and games until your legs feel like mine after the Coogee stairs this morning!

…SBK