Well, it has been a week since Easter and I wish I could say that I stayed away from the sweets this year. I’m getting better, but Easter seems to get me every year. It may have something to do with my youngest two children having their birthdays in April and early May. I know it certainly doesn’t help. I do my best to keep the overall sugar consumption down for my family, but it is a struggle for all of us. Just a nibble of this and a little taste of that………..and suddenly I am feeling really sluggish.
It’s not that sugar is the worst thing in the world to eat, but I have found that my family’s consumption of sugar is still too much. We use honey and maple syrup as sweeteners at home because it is rare to find processed food that uses those ingredients exclusively as sweeteners. This forces me to cook and bake at home which helps me to control the sugar we eat on a regular basis.
It would be nice if we could just stay in our little house forever with me cooking every meal that we eat. We would be the picture of nutritious eating……… And then I woke up from that dream and came back to reality.
My reality this weekend was a trip to see my college son. He is a technical theater and design major at Bowling Green State University. He builds sets, runs lights, and sound…depending on his assignment for the show. This has been a passion of his since he was quite young. The school’s spring musical was this weekend so we decided to take the day and ride out to see the show. We had a blast! My son showed us around the theater after the show and we got to see all sorts of things that you wouldn’t know existed when you sit in the theater and watch the show. I was really impressed. I know. I know. I was impressed when he rolled over for the first time, too. Still, this was really impressive. Here are a couple of pictures. My son works in the dark and these photos were taken with my Iphone.
So, this is all well and good Christina, but what does this have to do with sugar?
I’ll tell you………….I was out of my little house and I had no control. We avoided the rest area turnpikes for a meal because all they had was fast food. I’m not doing that. I didn’t go that crazy! We got to the campus and planned to go to a campus restaurant we knew that at least had some vegetables. It was closed! We ended up at the fast food student union. I found some sushi and had to make do with that. Kids ate pizza. After the show, my son introduced us to a Mexican restaurant he liked. We found bean and cheese burritos with lettuce and guacamole. Who knows how many artificial ingredients we were actually eating. It seemed like it was made from scratch, but I doubt that used organic cheese or vegetables. It was delicious and we really enjoyed the short time we had with our son.
Now for the sugar………….None of us were quite ready to head home. The sun was still shining and we were having a great time. How to make the day last a little longer before making the long trip home? Off to Dairy Queen………….the nail in the coffin for me. I just can’t resist ice cream. Old habits die hard.
Sugar has a hold on me. No matter how many times I purge sugar out of my system……….it comes right back with just a bite or a nibble. I need to take this week to start fighting back. The few jelly beans and chocolate bunny’s bottom that we have around the house are heading out the door. I am going to fight my sugar cravings with fruit. It has worked for me before, so I’m going to start there again. Instead of ice cream for snacks, I will have fresh fruit and frozen smoothies. Some of my favorite recipes I discovered during the Juggling Real Food and Real Life Smoothie Competition. If you want to eat smoothies with me, here are the recipes from the competition. It’s time to dump this sluggish feeling. I’ve got a lot of things to do!
I’ve talked long enough. Now I would like to hear from you. Does sugar have a hold on you? What do you do to fight back those sugar cravings? Do you worry about your family’s overall sugar consumption?
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Great post, Christina! And I can so totally relate! I've always been conscious of how much sugar my kids eat, but have only just recently realized just how bad it is. We too had been doing really well before the Easter 'bounty' hit us…fruit and smoothies will be a huge part of our future, as well! 🙂
It's good to hear that I'm not alone Suzanne. It is amazing how much sugar we eat even when I am trying to cut it all back. I don't even want to think of how much sugar we consumed prior to us changing to real food. I think it's time for an orange since that candy is calling my name.
This is exactly what happened to me this weekend! I had friends over and they brought dessert! No problem, I had a slice of it which I allowed myself but then she left some behind and took some home ( I insisted)! That cake was calling me all night! Yes, I gave in! But this morning I'm back to it! Don't sweat it! You're already back on track. I used to beat myself up but now I allow myself to eat REAL FOOD 90/10 and the guilt is gone! We are doing great!!
Misery loves company Sandra. Thanks for letting me know it's not just me fighting the sugar monster. I try to eat real most of the time and do a pretty great job at it. I just worry about backtracking and sugar is the enemy that I have the toughest time with.
Hi Christina – I really have to stay away from it if I don't want to get sucked in. For me it's not the little bit of sugar in my coffee or iced tea, but baked goods and candy. There are certain things I just can't start eating, because I won't be able to stop.
Baked goods……….uggghhhh! I love cookies. You could call me the cookie monster. I don't keep them in the house because I am no good at moderation when it comes to cookies. I only make them every once in a great while and cut back the sweetener hoping that will help.
Hi Christina, nice to make your acquaintance. You got my attention when you added me to your G+ circles. Let me just say that I love your blog's POV and it's a pretty common issue.
To answer your question regarding sugar, I watch how much I consume but I do not let it consume me. I look forward to reading your future posts!
Thank you so much for stopping by to introduce yourself. "watch how much I consume but I do not let it consume me……….." Excellent advice indeed!
This sounds stressful. We don't celebrate Easter but I can still see what you are talking about with sugar creeping in ALWAYS. :-/ I had no idea you had a son in college. So awesome. Looks like fun times with the family!
My oldest is in his junior year at college. Only 1 more to go. Yikes! I'm counting down the days till he comes home. My daughter and I are super thrilled to see him again. I suppose the others are as well, but my daughter and I talk about it all of the time. I am really proud of him.
I think we eat too much sugar too. But this week I didn't buy or make cookies, so all the kids have are granola bars. I think I'm feeling it more than they are. I bought myself a chocolate bar yesterday. *Hangs head in shame* It was good though.
You crack me up Michelle! You are one of the healthiest people I know. Dark chocolate is a super food. That is one of my favorite treats. My kids are pretty lazy about eating so if it's not easy…….they won't eat it. I just need to make sure all of the chocolate bunnies are out of the house and they will choose whole fruit, dried fruit and DIY microwave popcorn.
I know exactly what you mean! If it's not sugar it's simple carbs, especially bread and beer or wine. Thank you for the reminder to be vigilant I'm glad we have our blogging community to encourage and sympathize with each other. 🙂
I hear you Lydia! The simple carbs are next. I try to stick to whole grains because white bread and rolls are like junk food to me and I can't stop once I start. It is wonderful to know that the blogging community has our back.
Great post Christina. Travel can really through things out of whack. I know it does for us too. We didn't do candy for Easter. The kids received other things like veggie and flower seeds, play do, bubbles, hats, flips flops, etc. They each received organic graham cracker bunnies, but no candy. I'm not much of a candy person, but my kids have wicked sweet tooths. So I'm always watching how much sugar they get. It looks like you had a great time to see your son. It's great to hear how much he is enjoying the program.
Hi Christine. I find it helpful to have some protein when I have sugar cravings, as it can stabilize your blood sugar levels. So if I'm craving sweets, I'll try to eat some nuts first, or sometimes something completely opposite (like a pickle). Having nuts along with fruit helps to stabilize blood sugar levels as well, so I usually have apples with almond or cashew butter, or something similar. Greens, like a green smoothie, definitely help too. Most of all though, I find that feeling limited in a diet spikes up cravings for me, but when it comes to cutting out sugar I rarely feel limited at all because there are so many refined sugar-free dessert and sweets recipes out there that I don't have time to be bored :). I always make sure I have healthy sweets around though so that I turn to those instead of other unhealthy options.