The Plan:
The Month of No Sugar is simply an experiment I am trying with some of my children. I really need to get a handle on my overall health. I read the book Year of No Sugar and while I didn’t love it, it made me think. We plan to have no processed sugar for a month and see how we feel at the end.
The Players:
The members of our family who plan to go without sugar are: me, Jubilee (12), Hezekiah (10) and Tucker (9). My mom has also decided to join the no-sugar bandwagon.
The Rules:
The “rules” are simple. No processed sugar (sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup of any kind*). There will be mistakes, I’m sure. We plan to allow honey and 100% juice which likely no purist would allow. The experiment is designed to be fun, not torture. There is no pressure on anyone to participate, no awards for completing it and no guilt for “failing”. I will keep the month free of sugar, but am not worried if my kids give in. This is my project, not theirs.
*Eating Rules has a great list of types of sugar. I am sure this month will not be “perfect” but obviously by following our own rules we will be cutting out the majority of sugar in our diet.
The Why:
I am concerned about the amount of sugar my kids eat. Too much is a bad thing and it seems to be lurking around every corner and at every event. The three kids participating are very excited to join me. For me, I need to get a better handle on my health, I need to be more active and I need to lose weight.
I will probably update about our Month of No Sugar about once a week for the month of January. If you would like to join us, leave a comment (or link if you blog). We will be starting this Thursday (January 1) and continuing on until January 31.
So tell me…who’s in?
Resources:
100 Days of Real Food has great information on “real” foods. I am sure I will be getting recipes and tips from here.
Jubilee bought the book Body and Soul: A Girl’s Guide to a Fit, Fun and Fabulous Life. It is a fun, upbeat book by Bethany Hamilton (she had her arm bit off by a shark at age 13) and is filled with  healthy (sugar free) recipes Jubilee hopes to try.
My Month of No Sugar Pinterest Board
A friend of mine with Lyme disease shared this website: Detoxinista. All recipes are gluten and refined sugar-free! Thanks, Carrie.
Elana’s Pantry is also full of gluten free and paleo recipes. While we don’t plan to drop gluten, many of that paleo recipes will be good options for us.
All of the recipes in Trim Healthy Mama are sugar free and there are many, many clean eating ideas. Trim Healthy Mama website and Trim Healthy Mama book on Amazon.
I will be continually adding to my Pinterest board as well as adding links here to keep this post updated.
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i am in. i have been on weight watchers for a million years but since March of 2014 i have lots 31 lbs. the holidays have been brutal so…this will put me back on track. thanks for the challenge!
How did you lose the weight, Vivian? I got down to my goal weight early 2012 by running, juicing and eating a healthy diet. Then Apollo was diagnosed and I found it impossible to eat healthy while in the hospital with him (and of course I couldn’t run while in the hospital). On top of that, he developed such extreme anxiety around sleep, I could no longer put him down for a nap (which is when I would go on my runs). But I have got to do something. Glad to know you’ll be joining us. Be sure and update us in the comment section once in a while.
for breakfast i have either yogurt, oatmeal, hard cooked eggs, or english muffin with peanut butter.
for lunch i usually eat salad, with some kind of protein
Supper is the bigger portion of protein and lots of vegetables.
i have 2-3 serving of fruit which is usually my snack at 10am and 2
i also have 2 servings of milk each day.
i only have beef once a week and try to make that a 6 oz steak with a baked potato sometimes it will be a sweet potato.
bread is limited to the english muffin or sometimes crackers with my salad if i have cheese as the the protein.
it is simply, nothing fancy, but all the food is easy to fix and the family can eat anything i have for myself…they just have more.
leaving out the sugar hasn’t been too much of an issue till the holidays arrived…and i love to bake. so i want to get back off them and return to a cleaner diet..i feel too full when i don’t eat right.
Isabelle is almost at a year of going no sugar… January is when she started. She has had some slip ups over the year, some known…some unintentional… but I’d say 95% of the year no sugar. It’s been quite hard at times but has done extremely well… very proud of her! We all eat very differently now since I’ve lost my 85+ pounds. Chad & Mitchell can still put away the food, I just present them with healthier options. I still make sweets for them, just much less. 🙂
You are certainly one of my inspirations, Chessa! I can’t wait to meet up with you 🙂
Me too!
I’m going to try this. Sugar is a problem for me and I know I need to cut it out.
Yay, Kim! Glad you know you’re in.
I just made the decision to reclaim my brain and give up sugar again and saw your post. I’m in.
I did the no sugar thing 6 days a week for months and quickly lost 20 lbs. (I also avoided whites; bread, rice, potatoes). So cool I lost 20 lbs., but the BIG difference was in my thinking. I was soooo clear headed. It was as though I had just gained a ton of IQ points and no more forgetting names or numbers. The other very cool by-product was my energy level. It took a day or two of sluggishness, then there was no longer the 2 pm slow down.
After writing this, I really wonder why I fell off the wagon.
I mean I know why; mom passed away and I truly used sugar as a drug. But why did I let it go on for so many weeks? Sugar is crazy.
Thanks so much for sharing. I was down to my ideal weight in early 2012, then I spent so much time in the hospital with Apollo when I could neither eat clean nor run, and two years later I am back to my starting point. I don’t feel any guilt, there was honestly nothing else I could do at the time, I am just determined to do it again.
I will be cutting way back on refined carbs, but not removing them entirely.
I am really hoping to reclaim my brain as well!
I’m in after my birthday on the 6th.
Welcome to the party, Traci! The only birthday we have in January is Enoch, and it isn’t until the 30th, which is part of the reason we chose this month to start.
I’m in! I am a long way from my health goals, but I have made big improvements this past year. Here is what has helped me:
Trim Healthy Mama; book and eating plan (no sugar and low glycemic index)
Fit2B on-line fitness studio. Subscription is $10 a month and totally worth it! It gives you access to ~100 fitness videos that range from super easy and only 10min. long to super challenging and 45 min. long. Modest clothing, uplifting speech!
Leslie Sansone walking dvds that you can do right in your living room!
Glad to hear you’re in! I think I’ll add a link to THM as well.
Me too!
Oops…sorry…. Put this in the wrong spot!
I am only 25 years old but have definitly put on about 50lbs in the last few years bringing me up to 195lbs( I’m gasping at that). My fiancee and I did the whole 30/paleo last janaury and he lost 30 lbs in 1.5 months and felt fantastic and while I didnt lose quite that much( of course we women don’t have it as easy as men to loose weight) I DID get my period back for the first time in 9 months within the first 4 days..tried paleo again 8 months later and period came back again and felt fantastic!( I have PCOS so this a big deal for me). We steered away from most sugar and you wouldn’t believe how much happier, less moody, we became! Honestly, this a great start for you! You can do it! I believe the documentary “FED UP” is all about the sugar industry, pretty scary!
Good luck!
I’ll be in! Hoping to shed some baby weight. Going to follow the 21 day fix eating plan and doing some PiYo (beach body workouts). I will allow myself my Sunday mocha though
I’m in. I agree, I’m sure I will make mistakes, but even if I hit the mark over half the time, that is a huge improvement!
I’m in, I am starting a exercise routine, along with portion control so this follows right in with it. I want to be one of the moms that are in the family Olympics at family camp this year. With 7 of our kiddos still at home I need to get healthy. Thanks for the challenge.
I have been on THM for 2 years and being without sugar has had so many benefits! Besides the weight, my teeth are better, I get sick less, I am less moody.. Just amazing!
I would be interested in reading this book. Sugar is bad, bad, bad. Wherever someone is diagnosed with cancer, it’s one of the things doctors recommend cutting from their diet because cancer cells feed and grow off of sugar. Is that enough for me to cut it out? Hmmm. I try to limit my sugar intake but I’ve tried (unsuccessfully) to cut it out 100% and always fail.
I’ll be interested in reading about this journey of yours.
Thanks for sharing.
xoxo
I’m excited to hear more about this.
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
xoxo
As my main New Year’s resolution for 2014, I gave up sugar for the year. One more day to go! What I’ve found is that the process was so much easier than expected. Having made the decision, I didn’t wallow around in longing for sweets. After just the first week, what I considered to be a sugar addiction was gone and it has been smooth sailing since then. People eat sweets in front of me without bothering me at all. I’ll admit that I’m excited about having some sugar on New Year’s day, but I’ve decided that I’m going to consume sugar only one day a month during 2015.
I’ll join you 😀
I must say it’s harder than I expected it to be and on the other hand it isn’t.
I’m now 5 days sugar free and the first two days? Oh my, I shook like crazy! I guess I really did eat too much sugar.
Now it’s okay. I eat fruit and vegetables every time I crave something. But it’s still hard to resist some cake or cookies.
I think it’s brave of you to start this project 🙂 I hope you guys are having fun and not shaking like me 😉
This is awesome! I also worry about the amount of sugar we eat in our home. This may be something we try in the very near future. I can only imagine the benefits. Looking forward to reading how you feel in February!