Seasons of Joy: Surprising things about Living Sugar Free

This is just a quick post today.  Somehow the day has got away from me, probably because Gary is home and I am enjoying my time with him far too much to spend any at the computer <3

First thing first….I am still sugar-free and it has now been a month!  But over this month I have noticed some things which have surprised me, so I thought I would jot them down for posterity!

  1. I have not found this hard at all.  There has not even been one time when I have thought about giving up.  Whilst there are a few things I miss about sugar, the actual sugar isn’t one of them.  I am surprised by the lack of symptoms I have had from giving up sugar.
  2. I have not lost as much weight as I thought I would have.  In the past month I have lost four pounds.  In my head I had kidded myself it would be more.  I am not disappointed as such, just surprised.  For some reason this is becoming less and less about my weight.
  3. I am surprised by how upset the little ones get about not being able to share their sweets and chocolate with me.  It makes me sad that I can’t enjoy their gift like a ‘normal’ mummy.
  4. I do not feel any healthier for giving up sugar.  I think I expected to feel worse for a while and them much better and healthier.  I expected clearer skin, less bloating, better digestion, maybe even sleeping better.  None of this has happened yet.
  5. I miss the social aspect of sugar.  For example sitting down to a movie with some toffee pop corn or chocolate; sharing tea and biscuits with friends; making cakes with the little ones and arguing who is going to lick out the bowl; settling down for the night with a tea and a bar of chocolate.  I don’t miss the actual sugar too badly, but I do miss the habitually happy memories we as a family have made over the years.  Food is such a social activity.  The rest of the family still enjoy them, but I am there, fruit in hand, missing the togetherness feeling.
  6. Even though there seem to be a few things that are negative and so far very few positives to giving up sugar, I am surprised that there is no part of me which wishes I could go back to eating sweet things.  I am thinking this could be forever.
  7. I am surprised by how giving up sugar has reduced my choice of drink to tea, coffee and water.  I missed diet coke waaaay more than chocolate (which was a surprise in and of itself), but I have found that sparkling water is becoming more and more enjoyable.  I am surprised that I often choose water over a cup of tea, and that I am drinking tea less and less at night-time.
  8. I am surprised by how my hunger has seemed to decrease.  I literally do not want anything to eat between meals.  I think this is because I used to want sweetness rather than nutrition, and once sweet stuff was taken off the table, so to speak, eating in between meals became a thing of the past

So what’s next?  Well, I have been using fruit such as grapes and blueberries with Greek yogurt as a substitute for sugar.  We can’t afford to keep this up, so I will be decreasing the fruit I eat, and I do wonder if I will feel the pain of a sugar-free life a bit deeper than I do right now.  I also want to investigate sugar-free desserts.  The problem is that I do not want to start eating any sweeteners either and most of the sugar-free recipes contain some sort of sweetener.  So if any of you know of sugar and sweetener free desserts, please do share 🙂

3 comments

  1. I like to slice bananas and freeze them. I then put them into the food processor with some cocoa powder. Process until smooth. The riper the banana the sweeter the taste. Also, I will use frozen sliced peaches and put them in the processor. And process until smooth. Another treat is to mix coconut oil with cocoa and a small amount of honey. You then roll it into small balls , put in the fridge. This make a wonderful treat.

    As far as the fruit goes, buy frozen fruit. It is usually sweeter because it is picked and frozen when the fruit is perfectly ripe. It is much less expensive, at least in the states it is.

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