July 27, 2021 Day 14   After my visit to the brewery and distillery on Sunday, I had a comment about beer not being made with sugar. This got me thinking why do I think of alcohol as sugar?  So, I did some reading about how beer, wine, and spirits are made to clarify this for myself.   Beer and wine do contain sugar, and are made by fermenting the natural sugars from the plant ingredients. In beer, the sugar comes from the starch in malted cereal grain, typically barley. In wine it comes from grape juice. With spirits, starches such as grains or potatoes, and fruit are fermented, and in some spirits, the fermentation starts with cane sugar. No mistake there - that is added sugar. Read More

July 26, 2021 Day 13   If you’ve been keeping up with my daily sugar free lifestyle posts, you know that I had some digestive issues on Saturday. After a bit of reading and investigation, I learned that jackfruit can have a laxative effect.  Aha!  That must have been it.  I was feeling much better on Sunday and visited a lavender farm in Central NJ, and later discovered a farm to table restaurant nearby.  We drove in to the Brick Farm Tavern parking lot and little did we know there was a brewery and distillery on the 45-acre farm, with another 400 acres for the animals, produce, and herbs nearby. About 60 or 70 people were standing on line at a “take-out” window of the brewery.  What was going on?  It turns out that this brewery has a real following and today was the launch of a new brew. Each adult on line walked away happy with two cans of the new lager. Read More

July 25, 2021 Day 12   Something went wrong with my gut yesterday and not to get too personal or graphic, I had to stay near “the facilities” in the afternoon, and still this morning.  I’ve been trying to figure out what went wrong with my food.  Could it have been the after-dinner cherries at the fire pit on Friday night?  Could it have been the unidentified salad dressing that unexpectedly appeared on my restaurant salad yesterday?  I also have a headache and feel tired this morning, but that might be because I was up early for the past week with only 6 ½ - 7 hours of sleep instead of my usual 8. Read More

July 24, 2021 Day 11   The women in my neighborhood have a tradition each summer to get together for an outing on a few Fridays during the summer.  Yesterday we visited the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. We walked a lot (0ver 11,000 steps) and had lunch. Again, my restaurant go-to is a salad, no dressing, or just oil and vinegar on the side, and broiled salmon.  When I order like this and am specific with the waiter, I can see what I’m getting, and nothing is hidden.   Read More

Friday, July 23, 2021 Day 10   I feel a shift in myself and yesterday paid close attention to my yin and yang balance which I’ve studied and practiced when I was doing my heath coach training.  I’ve been feeling really grounded, confident and clear. But I still had a slight craving today not for sugar, but for meat. We think cravings as a weakness but they can be important messages meant to help us keep the balance. The body is always looking for homeostasis. Read More

Thursday, July 22, 2021 Day 9   A few cravings cropped up yesterday that made me talk to myself.  “NO” was the first thing that came to mind, and then I thought, if I have sugar, I’ll have to start all over again at Day 1, and that wasn’t a palatable option.   Eliminating added sugars has made me think even more about food and how to nourish myself.  I find that all day long I am asking myself if I’m really hungry, or if it’s just an urge to eat.  It sounds like I am torturing myself, but I am still really curious and committed to this challenge.   Read More

Isn’t there a lot of sugar in fruit?  I hear this question all the time.  And people are really terrified of eating bananas.  Maybe it was those internet ads showing a cartoon of belly fat and bananas convincing those with a bit of belly fat to stop eating bananas.   But banana’s might be one of our most perfect foods. They come in a convenient wrapper and they grow from a tree. They were not processed in a factory, have a bar code label, or a list of ingredients you can’t pronounce. Bananas are a whole food. When you eat whole foods, your body processes that food the way nature intended. And this goes for all whole fruits. Read More

Wednesday, July 20, 2021 Day 8   One week ago, I started this adventure. In this first week my weight has dropped by 5 pounds, but that’s mostly the water weight and bloat.  One week down, 51 to go! Read More

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 Day 7   Remember when I mentioned (Day 3 post) that dried fruit was okay as long as it didn’t have added sugar?  We’ll I seldom eat dried fruit because even though it is fruit, the sugars when dried are concentrated.  When I do eat dried fruit, I’m conscious to have a very small portion and savor it.  Yesterday, after lunch, around 3:30, I had a craving for something sweet and broke out the dates.  Ooh, that hit the spot.  I had a few with a tiny bit of no-sugar added almond butter.  What a great snack!  Read More

Monday, July 19, 2021 Day 6   I had a great day yesterday with no headaches or cravings. It was my first test in a social situation since I started this adventure last Wednesday.  Neighbors invited us over and I brought two salads, one with home-made sugar free Caesar dressing and another with one of my husband’s favorite homemade dressings with sesame and poppy seeds for the strawberry and spinach salad, but it has sugar.  I cut the sugar in half and just brought it and I stuck to the Caesar with Romaine lettuce instead.  I should have just made it without the sugar.  I bet no one would have noticed and might have even liked it better! Next time I’ll make it without sugar, period. I’m super aware now of how much sugar my family eats. Read More