“No Added Sugar” Week 1
Spoiler alert: I FAILED!
We were traveling to Atlanta this weekend and I’d already used my “cheat” earlier in the week, so I knew it was going to be hard. At first, it was just a few small cheats – things I justified as not wanting to be wasteful (i.e. using turkey bacon that I was pretty certain had added sugar in it) or things that were *just not that big of a deal* (i.e. drinking Starbuck’s soy lattes at the airport, even though I was “pretty sure” their soy milk must have sugar). By Saturday I was drinking cocktails that were most definitely off limits. And Sunday night? I fell straight off the horse. Courtney ordered a marshmallow stuffed fried sweet potato pie with bourbon glaze. Think McDonald’s apple pies – but homemade. Filled with marshmallow and drenched in the icing you’d find on a cinnamon bun – BUT WITH BOURBON! I just couldn’t say no to that.
I will say, I still said “no” a lot more than I generally do to sugar. The candy bowl and I broke up. I only had dessert two nights (compared to every night). I passed up all sorts of free offerings at our reunion events. I didn’t open a single package of sugar to pour into my coffee. AND I WENT 7 DAYS WITHOUT WHIPPED CREAM! So all in all, there were also some wins.
Here’s a look at some of the delicious no-sugar added things I ate this week:
Healthy Taco Casserole
I was craving a taco casserole after lusting after a coworkers lunch a couple week’s back. This is a slow cooker recipe, and it’s on the more nutritious side – yes, it’s got a generous amount of cheese, but it’s also packed with veggies and lean protein. We LOVED this recipe and will definitely make it again!
Italian Style Egg Skillet
This one we discovered on Whole30 and is one of Courtney’s very favorite recipes. He describes it as “the only light in the long, dark month that was January” (apparently Whole30 was that traumatizing for my snack-fiend).
Chilled Silken Tofu with Garlic Ginger Green Beans
I already told you all about this one!
Paleo Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki is my go to when I have extra cabbage on hand. This was probably a bit of a cheat because I imagine the turkey bacon has sugar (we don’t have the package anymore), but I don’t care enough to waste food. This time I decided to give this paleo version a try, but I wouldn’t make it again. No matter how much I adjusted the ratios I couldn’t get it to hold together, and the texture was just off. If you want to make okonomiyaki, I recommend my traditional recipe.
Challenges:
Salad dressing – It can be hard to find salad dressing with no added sugars! Obviously you can (and probably should!) make it at home, but we don’t always have time for that. Here are a couple dressings I used this week that have no added sugars.
Snacks – Most of my go-to snacks have added sugar: Quest bars, my homemade protein balls, even my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I did have almond butter and banana on a low-carb wrap a couple times, but mostly these savory options were my go-to snacks! One of my goals here was to snack less, which I’m not sure I’ve actually accomplished.
Coffee – Man, I wanted Courtney’s delicious whipped-cream topped mocha so bad. Not adding sugar of any kind to my coffee is actually one of the hardest parts of this. I did cheat while traveling and have a Starbuck’s soy latte – I’m pretty sure their soy milk has sugar. But at home, this was my go-to.
AND you probably want to know what I had for my sugar treat cheat meal! We had a long-awaited double date at Fancy Radish, a new(ish) vegan restaurant on H St. Can you believe these are all vegan!?
