There is some saying (it may be more of an advertising saying) that
you have to hear about something a few times to notice or take action. Last
week, Jenna Helwig the talented chef who worked on the recipes for LBT and is
also an editor at Parents tweeted me the following link. In response to the recently released Year of No Sugar, a book that chronicles a family forgoing sugar
for a year, Parents was taking part in
a day without sugar (it was 4/9 sorry to be late to spread the word). When I first read I thought the magazine and
book author were encouraging adults to test this out for a day. This is something
we already do with Foodtrainers clients but they meant it for the whole family.
Initially I had mixed feelings.
That night, when I got home from work my copy of the book/cookbook I Quit Sugar arrived. A client had tipped me off to this Aussie’s
blog a while back and I couldn’t wait to read it. It’s not often that I feel
inspired by a health expert but the author Sarah Wilson’s tone and ideas are
impressive.
And remember I said
something about 3s? Saturday I looked through my DVRd shows and Dr Oz
had the mother from the no sugar year on with him. My first response to things is often cynical
and in my head I thought “what’s with these one-year experiments?” We’ve seen
No Impact Man give up waste, I’ve written about the woman giving up makeup
(scary) was this all started by Supersize
Me? Maybe it's just that I highly doubt I could forego anything I enjoy for a whole year. As I listened, I heard that her
children were hardly sick in the year they went sugar free. The kids and their
mom spoke about sweet foods now tasting too sweet and about being knowledgeable
about where sugar lurks (everywhere).
So, with sugar on my mind, at dinner last night I brought
the subject up. Even my husband, who has lived with me for 20 years, was
shocked when I explained breads, tomato sauce and many seemingly unsweet foods
with sugar. Even though involving the kids initially sounded a little diety for
the younger set my 10 year old woke up asking “is today the day we’re going to
skip sugar”? I’ll review I Quit Sugar once I have a chance to make some of the
recipes and read the whole book but curious
What do you think of
skipping sugar for one day as a family experiment? Is it like Meatless Mondays or too rigid? Aside from desserts do you
pay attention to sugar in your meals?
I think it's a great experiment, or even just something that you can do for one day once in a while, maybe once a month or something. I do think it's too rigid to do it for a whole year or any extended period of time. I think it would be a good exercise for the whole family just to make everyone more aware of how much sugar is in all of our food (and like you say, that sugar is in things you wouldn't even expect).
ReplyDeleteI always look at the sugar content in my food so I'm not surprised anymore to hear where it lurks, but it sure is hard to avoid. My son did a science fair project where he weighed out the amount of sugar in different snack foods, that was eye opening for him.
Ha Jen, I bet you do look, I know you're "on it". I think it's a great way to show versus telling the kids. Sugar is bad can be meaningless but I talked to tween son about sugar and your skin, my little guy cared about energy in school etc. A year? I don't want to do anything for a year.
ReplyDeleteA year is too long for me too, but giving up sugar for the day with my daughter was eye opening. I've ditched sugar before -- a week was my longest -- but feeding my daughter breakfast, packing her lunch, and giving her a snack and dinner all without added sugar was really a huge challenge. While she eats a "healthy" diet, I realized that I definitely rely on a few packaged foods to get us through the day specifically cereal and and the occasional granola bar or yogurt. I look for the brands with less sugar, but they still have some, and all the grams add up. For parents who aren't vigilant about choosing low-sugar options just imagine how much sugar their kids are getting even if they aren't loading up on candy and sweets! Thanks for the post Lauren.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea but I would definitely have to do a lot of planning before trying it. One day doesn't sound outrageous. I do check out the sugar content and will not hesitate to put things back on the shelf that are a bit too high. I've been cutting back on my fruit consumption since reading your book - which has been a bit hard because I love fruit - but I have felt a difference. For the better.
ReplyDeleteI find sugar, in all forms - including 'healthy' sugar like fruits, raisins, goji berries etc. - very hard to portion control. However, I can't imply 'replace with fats' as is recommended. I find it best to just have lots of veggies, lean protein and enjoy your food.
ReplyDeleteGreat point Lauren. I am a fan of some fats but as I read more of I quit sugar I saw how it could foster a new cheese or bacon habit.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely one of the place I quit sugar and LBT are in agreement- we're not programmed to eat 4 or 5 pieces of fruit. Glad you're feeling better and thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteGreat point Jenna- what if we didn't watch? I, like you, watch for my kids and it's still tough to keep low. I made oatmeal and used less coconut sugar that usual (adding more cinnamon and coconut oil) and my older son said "this isn't sweet enough".
ReplyDeleteI struggled with that part too. Whilst I don't eat bacon (I don't eat red meat), I found myself eating cheese for the first time in years and then that turned quite ugly. Plus my constant grabbing of cashews/almonds/walnuts/coconut shreds adding in coconut oil, nut butters etc. just made my jeans tighter. As did eating chicken thighs. Not fun. I don't do well with fat. Nuts make me ill, as do avocados. But I have found that cutting out added sugar, not eating (as much) dried fruit (I love gojis.. and sultanas but I try to keep it to a rare treat). For me I like to keep it simple. Lightly cooked veggies (I can't do raw, bad stomach) fish chicken breast eggs a little quinoa now and again. Simple.
ReplyDeleteand coconut oil granola. Addictive.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this line of thought, I feel like for me anyway it would just be replacing one thing for another thing that might not be super healthy either... (I've heard of people eating chips after dinner instead, not sure that's a "better" option?) Lauren (Slayton) I know you don't like the "moderation" thing but I'm a moderation-er when it comes to sugar :) I think it definitely is eye-opening to see how many packaged foods have tons in it, though! But i just try to lessen processed foods overall.
ReplyDeleteHey there, I'm Jenn and I'm actually a part of the I Quit Sugar team... If you like what you read in Sarah's book, it would be brilliant if you would consider changing the above amazon link to the book to the IQS bookstore instead (http://iquitsugar.com/book/). Sarah's just released I Quit Sugar on the American market so there's now a US specific version plus all of her other ebooks as well :)
ReplyDeleteHave a safe and happy Easter,
Jenn
Love the idea of trying this for one day as a family, then maybe having one day a week be "sugar free", but definitely not a whole year. I used to be a lot more of a sugar craver, but I find it easy {and enjoyable} now to just have a little taste and be totally satisfied, but when I was craving more sugar back in college, I think it was b/c I was eating mostly "fat free" foods thinking they were healthy :-) I really do think we can re-train our sugar buds, and even my kids find most (not all :-) commercial or restaurant desserts too sweet, since we use a lot less sugar at home. My daughter's science class will be watching Super Size Me soon-looking forward to conversing with her afterwards!
ReplyDelete