November 30 Day 138   I spent some time geeking out on the Sugar Associations’ website yesterday. Formed in 1942, they represent the interests of the sugar industry and are very proud of sugars’ functional role in food science, health, cosmetics, and more.  As far as its contribution to food, sugar helps balance acidity and flavor, adds moisture to recipes, helps bread rise, provides density, extends shelf life and shelf stability, helps texture and mouth feel, is a flavor enhancer, and adds to aroma and color.  This may all be true, but at what cost to our health?  Read More

November 28, 2021 Day 136   Soup Buddha Bowls now seem to be a thing in restaurants. I’ve noticed them three times over the past month or two.  It used to be just the dry ingredients, either warm or cold usually with quinoa, beans like chickpeas or edamame, some delicious sauce and maybe something pickled.  Now warm soup is added to the bowl first, then all of the other ingredients are gently placed on top. Last night I had one of these bowls with a warm fall spiced squash soup with roasted Delicata squash, roasted carrots, and chickpeas.   Read More

November 26, 2021 Day 134   Why do I own two rolling pins?  When I went to make my once-a- year apple pie for Thanksgiving I found two rolling pins.  One year I couldn’t find my rolling pin so a friend gave me an extra he had because he said he never uses it.  Then of course later I found mine – and then there were two.  Is there anything you can make with a rolling pin that doesn’t contain sugar?  Not that I can think of! Read More

November 18, 2021 Day 126   Yesterday I made the coconut cranberry balls and I’d say they are a winner.  They were easy to come together, once you have all of the ingredients, and would make a nice holiday gift, or hostess gift when visiting friends and family.  Of course, you can always save them for yourself! When buying the ingredients be sure to buy no sugar added coconut as well as no sugar added dried cranberries.  I found an organic no sugar added shredded coconut in my regular supermarket.     Read More

How does too much work, or stress effect your self-care, health and happiness?  Think about it: you spend eight to 10 hours a day, five days a week at work. Chances are you spend more time with your coworkers than anyone else in your life. Some of us are still working from home, but are glued to our computers for that time. Many of us wear stress as a badge of honor, convinced that productivity requires endless turmoil. How does stress inform your food choices?  We know that sugar turns on our brains' reward system and that dopamine makes us feel better (for the moment). Do you ever turn to sweets when feeling stressed?  Keeping stress in check with selfcare is one of the ways to reduce sugar cravings.  Here are some things I rely on for selfcare that help keep my stress in check based on how much time I have: Read More

November 16, 2021 Day 123   I’ve started hunting for new healthy sugar free holiday recipes to serve for Thanksgiving and to bring to holiday parties and found three so far that I’d like to test out. One is a spinach and artichoke dip (not the one with mayo), another is coconut cranberry snowballs (can’t wait to try those) and yesterday I cooked up the third new dish, a warmly spiced quinoa chickpea stew.  It had lots of ingredients, but came together pretty easily and will be a good vegan, sugar-free option for our neighborhood holiday party.  It’s not typical holiday party fare, but there are quite a few of us who enjoy eating this way, so hopefully it will go over well.  In the meantime, I’ll enjoy some of the batch I made for lunch this week and freeze the other half for another time. Read More

November 13, 2021 Day 121 Yesterday for lunch I ordered the grilled chicken salad over arugula that I love. Of course, I now know to ask for no dressing (sugar) and no dried cranberries (sugar added). I opened up the bag and the dressing was there, on the side. I ate the salad with no dressing, savoring the taste of the tomatoes, arugula, and chicken unadulterated. Then I lifted the top to the dressing, dipped my fork in and tasted! Ugh it tasted like pure sugar! Sorry, but into the trash it went. I was proud of my palate for tasting the tastes. Read More

November 12, 2021 Day 120   Cranberries just scream Thanksgiving to me - well besides gratitude, family gatherings, the fancy dishes, and turkey.  Cranberries are indigenous to North America, with 1,200 cranberry growers in five states including New Jersey, where I live. Just yesterday my organic Coop box gifted me with cranberries from Canada. How ironic!   Of course, whole fresh cranberries with no sugar added are a great ingredient, rich in purple-red anthocyanin pigments to support heart and brain health, vitamins B, C, E, K, and fiber too. But most cranberry sauce we love on Thanksgiving is made with sugar. Cranberries are naturally tart, so for most uses, cranberry recipes involve added sugar.  I have a few recipes with no sugar added for a raw cranberry and orange relish and cooked cranberry onion chutney. I’ll dig them out and share them with you.   Read More

November 10, 2021 Day 117   It’s getting close to Thanksgiving and this is the time of year that food drives are in full swing.  We always give to the Boy Scout food drive, and this year we’re adding the NourishNJ food drive.  I checked the list of needed items knowing I’d like to stick to healthy foods, and decided to buy canned fruit in their own juices with no sugar added.  I also picked up oatmeal packets with no sugar added. But when I got home and unpacked the groceries, I realized I’d bought canned pineapple WITH 13 g added sugar giving the pineapple 25 g of sugar per serving.  There is no way I can in good conscience give this as a donation!  So, back to the store I go for a return and this time I paid a lot closer attention! Read More

November 5, 2021 Day 113   Ahh, it was good to give myself a break from blogging for a few days.  I’ve been putting my January 7-Day Sugar Cleanse.  What is it all about you ask? It will be one week of no sugar recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, all real food, plus live cooking with me in my kitchen on Zoom on Sunday, January 23. For those who want to join, they’ll get all of the recipes, meal plan, shopping list, and a prep guide for Sunday. I’ve run programs like these in the past such as the Reset Diet, Mediterranean Diet, and Lighten up for Summer, which are all here on my website.     Read More