We hope everyone's 1st Day of the Challenge was great, and that your sugar/caffeine withdrawal headaches weren't too excruciating :)
IT WILL GET EASIER!
We are so thrilled with the response to this challenge, when we came up with this idea we thought maybe we would get 20 contestants, and we are at
{drumroll please}
110 contestants
and they are still trickling in
How exciting is that?
110 people have decided to take on this challenge to better themselves! That is motivating to us, thank your for that!
To help those of you that are having sugar cravings here is a list of foods/treats that help us ward off those temptations to grab a cookie or a coke:crystal light
grabbable fruits & veggies {baby carrots, apple slices}
string cheese
nuts
Trail Mix-NO M&Ms
Sugar Free jello or pudding with Sugar Free Cool Whip-YUM!
Sugar Free fudgsicles or popsicles
Sugar Free Gum
Air popped popcorn-NO BUTTER
Celery or Apples with peanut butter (my favorite)
Protein Shakes or Fruit Smoothies
Honey is a great natural sugar
LOTS AND LOTS OF FRUITS & VEGETABLES
There's just a few!
What gets you through?
I go for whole food sources of sugar -- never sugar-free chemically made stuff. So fruit, dried fruit, green smoothies, and tasty raw food treats made only with dates, nuts/coconut insides/or peanut butter, and raw cacao (fudge and pudding even).
ReplyDeleteI think the tricky part for me at first will be not eating after 8:00! I actually set my buzzer on the stove at 7:45 for 10 minutes so I'd know that was my last chance to eat something if I wanted. I used to be good at not eating late at night, but not this past year! Happy trails everyone!
I like the "set a buzzer for 7:45" idea -- cuz I missed my time and now I am about to bite my hubby's head off I am so hungry. I guess I'll just go to bed.
ReplyDeleteI am soooo glad that there is so much great fruit in season right now. I had fresh grapes, pears & nectarines today. YUMMY!! Popcorn is another great snack that will save me in this challenge.
Thanks for all the great ideas Trish!
All I have to say is thank heavens for Bountiful Baskets... It helps me keep my fruit and veggie stock Up...
ReplyDeleteI'm BIG on the nuts idea and have made Tons of dried fruit, so those help me lots! :)
Day one, and I'm 10 for 10... Yay!! I hope it stays this easy ;)
ps... thank goodness for Zumba... my class is 3 nights a week so I get in my workout and am too worn out to eat when I get home!! :D
Thanks - I needed that! Definitely hitting up Costco tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteTrish,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned Peanut Butter on celery. Can we eat regular pnut butter or do we need to buy a no sugar kind? In your opinion?
Heather,
ReplyDeleteMost things have a little sugar in them, so if you choose things with low amounts of sugar thats best. If you would like to buy a natural peanut butter have at it, THATS GREAT! :) Your normal peanut butter probably has around 3g of sugar per serving, which really is not a lot. As long as you dont OVERDO it with a HUGE heaping scoop you are just fine!
Try peanut butter with apples, it is my FAVORITE snack!
Not eating after 8 is tough. We didn't eat dinner until 6:30 so I wasn't hungry by 8, but I forced myself to eat anyway.
ReplyDeleteHeather -- The natural peanut butter at Costco is really good and it doesn't have any sugar. You have to mix it when you first open it, but it doesn't separate after you refrigerate it like most other natural PBs.
ReplyDeleteI am actually loving this. I did get a little hungry before I went to bed, but it wasn't too bad. I knew eating after 8 would be my biggest challenge. I did have some sugar free pudding with a banana in it and that helped me keep my sugar cravings at bay.
ReplyDeleteWe do a lot of green smoothies in my family. You get a serving of veggies along with your serving or 2 of fruits. Here's a great recipe that I use.
ReplyDeleteIn my Vita Mix Blender I do the following:
4 C of Spinach, packed in there really good :)
Then I add fresh orange juice to just cover the spinach. We just do water now, since we are used to the green smoothies and don't need it quite as sweet.
Next, I add 1-2 frozen or fresh bananas.
After that I fill the blender up with frozen strawberries or any other fruit of your choice.
I also add about 1/4c. of raw honey or raw agave syrup. You may want to omit this once you get used to this type of smoothie. This feeds most of my family of 7- sometimes I have to make more :) You really can't taste the spinach, it just gives it a beautiful green color. Once you are used to the spinach try other greens like collard or kale.
Then I blend and blend and blend...So delicious!
Miss honeybee
ReplyDeleteYum! Thanks for the recipe, I love green smoothies and am always looking for new recipes for my vitamix! Can't wait to try it out. Would you mind emailing that to us? We are going to start posting recipes soon and that one would be great. THANKS!!
This is just what I've needed and I am so excited to have so many sisters to help me get through it!
ReplyDeleteTrisha -- I've got a few of my favorite green smoothies on my blog if you want those recipes too:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bradybunchmom.com/search/label/Green%20Smoothies
(That link also has a few posts in general about green smoothies -- but I thought that was easier than posting 3 links for the recipes)
And here's one on raw lemonade (just apples and lemons juiced)
http://www.bradybunchmom.com/2008/07/oh-what-do-you-do-in-summer-time-raw.html
About the peanutt butter I have found a natural peanutt buter that doesn't require being refrigerated. The company is Archer Farms no stir peanutt butter found in Target. I love it!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about the peanut butter thing because I have two different kinds of natural peanut butter that still have sugar in them. Good to see we aren't being that strict with the sugar thing. I think it is impossible to get away from it completely. It's in everything! I'm still trying to avoid it where I can though. I used honey instead of sugar in my sweet and sour meatballs last night.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite treat is apple sauce(natural)with cottage cheese. I LOVE IT and it curbs my sweet craving.
ReplyDeleteThe two things keeping me sane are Crystal light and the sugar free puddings and jellos with sugar free coolwhip!!! (Thanks for tip Kar!) And the way I curb the "feeling" hungry after 8pm is drinking a big glass of water....down side: you'll have to wake up at night to pee, LOL! However, the hardest thing for me is not eating a bite of my kid's cereal in the mornings, or eating a cheeto when my 2 year old offers it to me (because he's sOOOOO cute)...but I am happy to report on day 4 I have yet to faulter!!! Yay! Go me!
ReplyDeleteWahoo!! Great job Jenn! I'm so happy you are doing this with us. And great job on staying strong when Kash-man offers you treats. He would be hard to turn down. :-)
ReplyDelete