8 Sugar Free Snack Ideas

1. Apples and Natural Peanut Butter
This is one of my favorite snacks. I like Pink Lady or Granny Smith apples especially. There are many varieties of apple and they’re all worth trying. Slice them up and dip them into natural, unsweetened peanut butter (the kind you have to mix). My favorite brand is Adams but Smuckers and others are good as well. 

2. Fruit
A banana does wonders. A peach. Two peaches. A peach and a banana. Yes, fruit is sugar but unless you are avoiding sweets because your doctor forbade you to do so then fruit is a great alternative to candy and cakes. Try making a fruit salad!

3. Egg Salad
Get a dozen eggs and boil them at the beginning of the week. You can eat them as a filling snack or mix in some (unsweetened) mayonnaise and make an egg salad sandwich. 

4. Bread!
I still eat bread. However, I only eat artisan breads and stuff baked without corn syrup. You’d be amazed that even the most natural branded breads contain corn syrup. Read the label.

5. Pasta
Yeah, it’s a complex carbohydrate. I don’t eat it every single day like I did eight years ago, but I still love me some pasta. When it’s hot out, try some macaroni salad.

6. Nuts
Peanuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds. Mix in some raisins and create your own trail mix.

7. Burritos
Buy some flat tortillas. Fry up some vegetables with some rice. Then melt some cheese in your tortilla and add the rice and vegetable mix. Filling and delicious!

8. Stir Fry
Cook up some rice. Add your favorite vegetables and perhaps some chicken or tofu. Beware of stir fry sauce as it’s often full of corn syrup. 

Eating sugar-free is just a matter of being creative. Remember, when quitting sugar you still need to eat! Find other things that satisfy.

What sugar free snacks do you already make and eat on a regular basis?

Sugar Challenge:  June 2008

For those of you who have quit sugar altogether, continue for another month. For those of you who are new to the challenge, try the following:

Only eat sweets when you are out and there are more than three people gathered (including yourself).

In other words, if you go for dinner with several friends, you can eat dessert.

If you’re at a ball game and you’re with the whole family and they get ice cream, you can have some.

If it’s just you and one other person, say no.

Consider this “social sweetening” and only eat in the presence of others, and only as much as they eat.

The rest of the time eat something other than sugar when you crave it.

See if you find yourself being more social this month!

10 Reasons Why Quitting Sugar Will Make You Happy

1. You find out who your friends are.
When you announce that you are quitting sugar it’s like you are declaring war on food. People who know you will immediately take sides or try to stay neutral. Of those who take sides, some will side against you. These people will act as devil’s advocate by tempting you with your favorite sweets. They’ll make fun of you. They’ll tell you you’re crazy or that you cannot sustain your unsweet ways. Forget about them! You aren’t here to make them happy.

2. You find new, healthy, things to eat.
When I quit sugar for the first time in 2001 I ended up eating nothing but complex carbohydrates—orange juice, bagels, and pasta. I was getting my sugar from sources other than my usual chocolate, ice cream, and baked snacks. After being off sugar for a long time, I’ve discovered all kinds of amazing vegetable dishes, sugar-free snacks, and great fruit juices. What’s more is that I very much enjoy and appreciate these naturally sweet snacks because my sense of taste isn’t spoiled by corn-syrup.

3. You find that you have more (or at least more even) energy.
Prior to quitting sugar I just couldn’t wake up in the morning. I wouldn’t feel awake until about 10 pm every night. In fact, I’d be so awake that I’d stay up late (sometimes really late) and then it would be harder to wake up in the morning. The cycle would continue but I’d start to eat sweet things to get my system going. For some it’s coffee that wakes them up. For me it was sugary breakfast cereal or cookies.

Now that I’m “off sugar” I can wake up easily in the morning. I eat good food and am able to sustain a great deal of physical activity all day long without the need for a crashing 2-hour nap at 3pm in the afternoon.

4. You become a smart consumer.
You’ll be amazed at how many foods have added sugars--soups, pasta sauce, bread, drinks, steak sauce, meats, apple sauce, chips, peanut butter, and more. Just about every product with a logo or a character on to it contains sugar.  Not only will you learn to spot those products and avoid them, you’ll also learn how to measure portions and know how much sugar you’re taking in should you decide to eat something with any level of sugar in it.

5. You learn how to cook new things.
What do you cook when you aren’t eating sweets? All kinds of stuff! Try walking down a different aisle at your store. Pick out something that you’ve never seen from the produce section. Mix together some of your favorite unsweetened dishes and make up something new. It’s hard to see and taste good food when everything around you is a candy-style product. Not only will you find new things to eat, you’ll also CREATE new things! 

6. Your sweet moments get sweeter.
It’s a rare breed, but some people can eat sugar only once a week. For those who can manage such a feat, they appreciate those moments for what they are. For those of us who avoid sugar altogether, we learn to create a sweet moment in some other way. For instance, instead of running out to buy a pint of chocolate chip mint ice cream to celebrate a moment, you’ll find yourself eating something else (if you must eat something) or doing something else altogether. Imagine celebrating your raise at work by spending $15 on a book rather than buying a cheeseburger, fries, coke and dessert.

7. You learn how to stand up for yourself.
People are going to wonder what-the-heck is wrong with you. You’re at a birthday party and you’re not having cake? You won’t have a mint at the cocktail party? You’re not going to at least have one of your friend’s mother’s homemade cookies? After all, she made them by scratch just for you (and everyone who came to visit). Who has more power over our decisions than friends, family, and coworkers? Peer pressure stinks. Forget about it! Do what makes you happy.

8. You replace sugar binges with other behaviors.
I used to buy lunch. Some days I’d spend $12 on lunch. It adds up. $12 three times a month equals $36. Add a tip and you’re easily at $45 or $50. What did I get for my $50 per month?

Fat.

Sugar.

Nothing.

Had I spent $50 a month on books, a training course, a savings account—anything but whatever it was I ate—I’d still have that thing (or possibly that 50 dollars) today.

9. You smile more.
When you quit sugar your teeth don’t feel coated with scum like they used to (Milk Chocolate with Nugat does that, you know). Your smile is brighter and you don’t need an artificial chemical in your body to lift your mood. You are spending less time eating and more time doing. No wonder you are smiling more! No wonder people are asking themselves, “How can I do that? Can I do that?”

10. You learn that you can do anything.
It’s been eight months, maybe a year, and you haven’t eaten sweets. Your friends stopped offering you dessert when you go to their house and your real friends make sugar free desserts when you come over—just for you. You wake up early in the mornings and make it through the day without a nap. Your behavior patterns have shifted, you no longer binge, and you’ve given up emotional eating. Instead you’ve taken up knitting and find it relaxing to sit on the front porch after dinner. You’ve taken up fencing and are on your way to the championships. You saved up $400 dollars from lunch money and are going to take the kids to the zoo. Why go back to sugar? There are so many other things to do.

Maybe You Will Power Your Car With Sugar!

My friend Jason said he hopes gasoline prices climb to the $5 dollar per gallon mark so that people will actually do something about fossil fuels. His wish is coming true!

A New York City entrepreneur has collaboratively developed a device that can power your car with sin. That’s right! For $10,000 the E Fuel 100 turns sugar (feedstock, yeast, and discarded alcohol) into fuel that could power any car. That could be a lucrative alternative for farmers—or anyone—looking to open an alternative fuel station.

Maybe it will define a whole new set of moral principles in the way that the great depression had parents and grandparents hovering over children saying, “Finish all the food on your plate.”

Perhaps, in the future, children will be told to skip dessert so mommy and daddy can get to work on Monday. Parents will say how sugar and alcohol are bad for you and there was once a time when they were consumed by people.

The kids would laugh, “Don’t lie to us! NOBODY would eat sugar or alcohol, it’s automobile fuel!”

Source: For $9,995, your car could run on sugar and tequila.

Would You Power Your Car With Sugar?

When I lived in New York my Tai Chi teacher, Roberto, would ask me to come for lessons at 7 am. He was a morning person. I was not and still am not. 9 am wake up is the best I can do. However, some days I’d go early.

One morning I remember he was training me, as I had requested, but I just couldn’t keep up. In fact at one point I could barely breathe. Let me clarify that the Tai Chi we were practicing is a martial art and part of the training included a more rigorous workout. The thing I have come to understand that I didn’t know then was that sugar was ruining my life. I was fit, in decent shape, and exercising regularly. But I had zero stamina and very low energy levels because I was still eating copious amounts sugar on a daily basis.

Now that I’m off sugar I can do so much more. I currently exercise about 20-22 hours a week, not counting my bike rides to and from different locations. I know a big part of the ability to keep that up is avoiding sugar. The hardest part of being a fitness instructor and a sugar-addict in remission is seeing people come to my classes eating sugar. It surprises me but people show up to class sipping a coffee and sometimes drinking soft drinks. Starbucks is one of the worst things a person can drink and yet people use it as fuel to get through class.

What’s more is certain Yoga people. I knew a woman who had been practicing Yoga for close to twenty years with some well known teachers/practitioners. Yet she had all kinds of muscle pain and joint problems. The more I got to know her the more I heard her tell stories about her college days and partying all weekend. Then she’d “stretch and detoxify” her body on Monday in Yoga class. What’s worse was that it turned out she was still behaving like this even though she was in her forties. A weekend of partying meant she needed to spend more time doing more vigorous Yoga the following week to make up for the damage she did to her body over the weekend. Yikes.

You can’t fuel your body with sugar and expect it to run well. Remember, you are what you eat. If you eat sugar and then exercise, guess what’s going right into your muscles as you stretch. Sugar. Nutrition (something I’m learning more and more about) is more than just avoiding sugar and is a whole science in itself. By simply quitting sugar it forces you to eat things that aren’t products with long shelf lives. Avoid sugar.

Swap the coffee or energy drink for plain water and you’ll be amazed (after you get through the initial physical reaction) at how good H₂0 makes you feel. Fuel your workout with plenty of sleep and foods that are naturally colorful and delicious. If it’s so simple and easy, why is it so hard for people to do?

Ben and Jerry’s Sugar Free Ice Cream

I’ve done this once before and tonight I did it again. I ate Ben and Jerry’s sugar-free ice cream.

Gwenn and I were out walking. She still eats sugar and it was a nice night so ice cream seemed like a good idea. The Ben and Jerry’s store has one sugar-free flavor: vanilla chocolate-chip.

Last time I ate it was with my friend Jason. We used to eat out together when we were teens so eating out now makes us feel young. I got two scoops that time and boy did it hit me. Tonight I only got one scoop.

So, is it good? Well, not really. It’s cold. It’s even sweeter than the regular stuff because it’s chemically sweetened (Gwenn tried it and said it’s sweeter). The ice cream part was kind of gummy. In fact, when I requested it they pulled a container from a freezer hidden behind the counter. The girl had to try several times to scoop it out because it was giving her a hard time. And now it’s giving me a hard time!

I ate the stuff a few hours ago—one scoop remember—and I’m still feeling weird. The first thing I felt was that chemical feeling. I don’t know how else to describe it. It feels like a slight tension throughout my muscles. It’s a gross feeling, maybe what it’s like when you have too much caffeine. That feeling has mostly passed. Now I just feel a little gassy and like I want to eat a salad, or an apple, or anything that grew from, or is, a plant. 

To eat or not to eat: Sorry folks, do not eat.

Sugar Challenge: May 2008

Simply avoid sweets for the month. From May 1st (or right now as you read this) until the end of the month, simply stop being sweet.

Do not eat anything with refined sugars. Make no exceptions. Make no excuses. Simply eat well.

If you have a question such as, “Does that include my morning coffee?” Or, “What about organically sweetened candy?” The answer is yes. Yes meaning do not eat them! 

Eat only foods without added refined sugars. Avoid high fructose corn syrup, organic cane juice, corn syrup, Maltitol, Splenda, and other chemical sweeteners.

Naturally occurring sugars such as those found in fruit are okay.

You can do it. Good luck!

Check The Bulk Food Aisle

If you’re lucky enough to have a bulk food aisle at your local supermarket, check it out. I quite enjoy me some pay-by-the-pound cashews, peanuts, and even a few of the trail mixes. 

But be careful! Lots of that stuff is sweetened with organic cane juice which is simply sugar. It will kick your butt!

The first time I saw a product sweetened with organic cane juice was in a health food store. It was Gorilla Munch cereal. I was so happy thinking I had found a natural alternative to sweets. I went home and ate the whole box. An hour later I crashed!

So, my advice for the bulk aisle is to stay unsweet. Try unsweetened carob chips instead of chocolate chips. Beware of grain sweetened stuff, it still packs a punch for anyone with sugar sensitivities.

Let us know if you find something good.