Fall 12-Week No-Sugar Challenge 2009 (Page 2)

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This is a hard core challenge, but you can do it!!  This will be my second time, and I definitely learned a lot the first time.  Here are some suggestions for options.


You will thank yourself if you join!!!

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In the second challenge we ruled against honey and we are sticking with no honey in this one. 

It is amazing what you find when you start reading labels!  Fortunately, as you start hunting, you can find things like peanut butter, tomato sauces, catsup, and marinades that have little or no sugar and that are okay with the "rules".  Its definitely worth the effort!

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Ok - nit picky question but I'm giving this challenge some serious thought.  I see a pitfall ahead of time and want clarification.  Halloween!  So when you slip up is it based on time or # of items.  For instance, would I get one ding for every mini candy bars eaten at Halloween or just one if they were eaten at the same time.  I ask b/c a bowl of ice cream or piece of cake is certainly a lot more sugar than a single mini bite snickers.

Ok, I'm in again!  All this dang birthday cake I've eaten should hold me over ~ for a little while at least!

It'll be a matter of tweaking the things I've let slip and if anyone has a store near them that sells the low sugar ketsup will you please send some my way~~I CANOT live without my ketsup and the stores around here have (for some reason) stopped selling it!!!  ERRRRRG!  I have cut way down on it since having to return to the regular stuff but I just don't know what I will do if I have to quit cold turkey.  Yea, yea, I can hear it now...."Hi My name is Michelle and I'm a ketsupaholic!"

Samantha ~ Karla is the leader of the pack and has the final say but the dings are one sitting.  If you eat an entire thing of cake and ice cream in one sitting then it is one ding.  Now if you eat the ice cream then return an hour later and eat the cake then it is two.  So yea, that was one thing we all had to be careful of 'cuz it's too easy to say "if i'm going to take a ding, it's going to be for a good cause" and end up eating both the pint of ice cream and 1/2 the cake whereas normally you would have just ate a piece of cake and a scoop of ice cream!

Jess ~ As for your greek yogurt having sugar in the top 3, like Kelly said, try the plain stuff (I use fage) and mix in some fruit and/or fruit juice.  It's hard to get used to at first but your taste buds will adjust and it's A LOT better than the plain yogurt!!

Edited by Happychick 2009-08-27 6:49 PM

Michelle, I'm glad you are in again!!  Are you serious about someone sending you low sugar ketchup?  Because if you need it that bad, I can get you some...(sounds a little shady, doesn't it? )

Hi, guys!

Michelle is right on the question of how to count dings.  If you have a couple of mini-candy bars earlier in the day, and a couple after dinner, that's two dings.  If you eat four all at once, that's one ding.  The idea is to give everyone a chance to get back on track without being "killed" for one slip up, even if it is a big one.  Once again, everyone has to decide what standard to hold themselves to here.  Obviously, it sets up a bit of a dilemma, as Michelle described, so we have to police ourselves and ding ourselves as fairly as we can.

Remember - you also get a Mulligan, so if you need it for Halloween (still one sitting) - go for it!

Also, the subject of home-baked goods comes up again.  I think the most simple and fair way to handle this is to stick strictly to the "no sugar in the top three ingredients" (by weight) rule.  Fruit is allowed, and can therefore be used as a sweetener for baked goods, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.  I think many granola bars are worse than some bran muffins, bread, and wholesome cookie recipes, so if we apply the rule strictly, it should accomplish the goal.  Also, obviously, portion control is a big deal when it comes to accomplishing our goals here.  For me, this is a big problem at times, so I just can't have the stuff in the house.  But I'm sure that some of you talented bakers can prepare some very nutritious recipes that comply with the rules AND THEN have the discipline not to devour it all right away!

If in doubt: 1. fall back on the top-three-ingredients rule, 2. remember the purpose of this challenge - to eliminate the surprising amount of added sugar that finds its way into our diet, and to cut down on our desire/taste for it and dependence on it and 3. be sure to post any questions that come up as we go along.

I am really looking forward to the start of this challenge, as I have been especially weak to the ice cream lately, and the challenge will make me strong again!

Thanks for all the great questions so far!

What is it with the ice cream?  It just calls my name ~ from the store even!!

FYI...I have found a trail mix that does not have sugar in the top 3 ingredients that is the most yummy trail mix I've ever found (and it even has a few choc covered soy nuts in it.)  It is Planters Trail Mix Energy Mix!

Kelly ~ as for the ketsup I just might take you up on that.  I will be scoping out one more store this weekend and if they don't have it I might have to send you some ketsup support checks to help me with my habit!  Is that horrible of me or what?  I used to "eat" it straight from the bottle and now I really limit the amount I actually use as I put it on EVERYTHING ~ does that tell you how far i've come (or how far I still have to go?!)

Sounds good - thank you ladies for answering all of my questions.  I am still teetering on the edge.  But I was surprised when I did an inventory at home that there were only 2 things on the banned list I eat reguarly (bread and cereal) and they were items I can live w/o or find substitutes. 

I did think that is was funny that Cheerios had plain sugar as the 2nd ingredient but only 1g of sugar per servings.  That like a quarter of a teaspoon, right?

I think I've made a lot of progress.  Now that is not to say I don't love my goodies. 
Karla can personally attest to that.  :-)  My downfall will be work, dark chocolate and sugar in my coffee.

BTW - We all know that store bought pasta sauces have a lot of sugar.  I have a delicious pasta sauce recipe if you need to use up tomatoes from the summer and you can control the amount of sugar in it.  It does need a little to cut the acidity.  Anyways it freezes really well.

Hi everyone, since making a commitment to this challenge, I have started to eliminate sugar from my diet and doing quite well, no more sugar in my coffee ! That's a big step for me! i feel that my craving are getting better, except last evening I would have killed (figure of speech) for some chocolate covered peanuts!! 

but I read (Trail Mix Energy Mix) being mentioned, how do we feel about dried fruits??? are they fine or banned as per even tough natural, they are (per volume) sugar heavy???

Karla,

I'd like to join though I anticipate me doing woefully bad. Hopefully this'll give me a push to do better. The good news is all be on vacation during the start and we all know there's nothing bad to eat around a good shore vacation house!

Bob

Bob, we are glad to have you!  I added you to the spreadsheet.  Be strong on your trip!  I think sticking with healthy eating habits is the very hardest when traveling, but if everyone around you knows what your up to, and supports your efforts, that makes it much easier!

As for dried fruit - no-sugar-added only.  Some are easier to find than others.  It is easy to find raisins, dates, and figs with no sugar.  It is possible to find blueberries, but I tried the freeze-dried version and they were flaky/messy and awful!  I have not found sugar-free cranberries or pineapple - probably won't taste so good.  I haven't looked into bananas.  Anyone else have anything to add on this?

Also, as for trail mix - since chocolate is on the strictly banned list (unless it happens to be in your regular workout fuel within an hour of training), I think we have to stay away from the chocolate in some of those trail mixes.  Sorry, Michelle!    : (  I've had a lot of luck finding legal ingredients from Trader Joe's to make my own trail mix.

I admire those of you who have tried to get started early!  I had some pancakes from IHOP this morning after my race, knowing that I would not have them for quite a while come Tuesday.  I did manage to skip the syrup, for what it was worth.  : )

"YES" I'm in.

Wow!  Here's a shocker - normally I buy organic store brand canned beans - just beans, water, and usually salt.  But, a few weeks ago, I used a coupon and bought Hanover kidney beans.  I just pulled them out to put on my salad and discovered that sugar and high fructose corn syrup are the third and fourth ingredients!  I can't believe it!  Anyway, good to know!

Is everybody ready?  Remember to make your final commitment and post your starting weights sometime tomorrow before midnight.

I'm in. I have trouble doing just a day without sugar or artificial sugar. here we go!

darn! No more kid cliff bars uh ooo savoring my last in a while right now

Are kashi bars ok? sugar isn't in the 1st 3 ingredients.

Went shopping to prepare for starting this challenge. One of my big challenges is that my hubby and I eat a lot of cereal, and even the Kashi brand we were buying has evaporated cane juice as a top ingredient. But I found three cereals that did not have any form of sugar in the top three: Fiber One, Grape Nuts, Special K protein plus.The Special K Protein Plus tastes surprisingly good. The others will take some getting used to.The other big challenge I have is that my mainstay snack was pretzels, and I saw that pretzels are banned as junk food. I wondered why since my brand of pretzels (San Francisco sourdough from Costco) doesn't have sugar in any form in the top three. Then I looked at some of the brands in the supermarket, and bingo - there was evaporated cane juice as a top ingredient in Rold Gold. But then Snyder's brand did not have any sugar. So my question is why pretzels would be any different than cereal? If we can find a brand that doesn't have any sugar in the top three ingredients, is it OK on this challenge, or are pretzels outlawed across the board as junk food?

Edited by Rotorkim 2009-08-31 5:52 AM

Kashi bars would be okay as long as they fit the "top three rule".  And remember - if you normal use your Cliff bars pre- or post- training, then they are still okay within an hour of work-outs.

Edited by carteroak 2009-08-31 7:18 AM

Pretzels were originally outlawed as junk food because they are basically nutritionally void.  All of the cereals that you found definitely have nutritional value, though.  I think whole wheat pretzels would be okay, though.

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What kind of Kashi bars don't have sugar in the top 3???  Be careful because brown rice syrup is sugar.

Also, another great cereal is Post Selects Great Grains, Raisin, Dates and Pecans flavor and Crunchy Pecans flavor.  Even my kids love this kind.

I totally binged out yesterday, and feel like crap today.  I had an ice cream sundae at 9 pm,  ughhh...I really need this challenge.  My weight today is 152.2.  Would like to be around 145 by the end, but not doing this so much for the weight loss, so I'm not going to obsess about it.