Are you a sugar addict? I am.
In 2005 I vowed to quit and began
writing about life without sweets.
This site contains a forum,
product reviews, my journal,
educational Sugar Challenges,
and the Stop Being Sweet ebook.

Sugar Challenge: November 2009

October 28, 2009 • Comments (20)

It’s back! The Monthly Sugar Challenge is back!

November is now NOvember.

From Sunday, November 1st through Thanksgiving day (November 26th in the USA) eat no sweets. No refined sugar. No cookies. No dessert. No soda. No candy.

Just Say No.

If you’re gonna eat sugar, do it on Halloween and get it out of your system. Abstain until Thanksgiving and eat whatever you want on that day. The next challenge will take us through the holidays.

You can do it… if you want to.

Whenever you find yourself wanting sweets, eat something healthy. Remember that you will be able to eat dessert on Thanksgiving day, so just put it off until then. Procrastination can be a good thing. NOvember 26th is just a few weeks away. And now it’s even closer.

And now it’s even closer…

Posted in Sugar Challenge on 10/28/09 • Comment

Four More Days ‘til Halloween

October 27, 2009 • Comments (0)

Halloween Candy It’s that time of year. In just four days I’ll be eating something sweet. Gwenn just returned from France with some really special chocolates. My friend Gabe says he’d like to make me some chocolate mousse. I hear it’s amazing and so of course I am pleased. Mousse is one of the things on my list for eating every year. Rich chocolaty things are my favorite.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I only eat refined sugary sweets for four days once every year. From Halloween until my birthday on November 3rd I eat whatever I want. This ritual has kept me sugar free 361 days out of the year for four years (with a slip up here and there). This year I made it all the way through with no mishaps. It wasn’t easy at times, but I made it.

Gearing up for Halloween ‘09

October 24, 2009 • Comments (3)

My “annual sugar binge” is coming up. While at the store yesterday, I grabbed some sugary snacks that I haven’t purchased in a long time.

Sweets from the store It was a tough decision between the Fruit Loops and Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries but Fruit Loops were on sale and so the Tucan won. If I had more time (to eat sweets) I’d have purchased both boxes. Got a bunch of Reeses, some KitKat, chocolate covered pretzels (didn’t realize how many until I got home), chocolate covered almonds and some peanut clusters. Who knows why Pop-Tarts make the list each year, they never make me feel good.

The man in front of me at the checkout had a conveyer belt full of healthy food. There wasn’t a single sugar product in his cart. I began to get self conscious. Three people got in line behind me and purchased three boxes of chocolate chip cookies. Probably each person had their own box for the night’s activities. It made me feel better—not so crazy.

Also on my list for this year: Ice cream and chocolate mousse. Other than that, nothing comes to mind.

Many people ask me why I eat sugar at all. Why not just go straight through the year and make it two years in a row? The answer is that I don’t want to. I’m also not sure I could. A year is plenty of time to avoid sweets. Having them and then avoiding them is one of the best ways I know to exercise my willpower. What’s more, after a year I really want sweets. My mind starts to think that I can handle them and that I could eat them again in moderation. It starts to seem like a good idea to reintroduce some sugary snacks back into my diet. However, this would be bad news and so I simply eat for a few days and then stop being sweet again. It works for me.

Posted in My Personal Journal on 10/24/09 • Comment

Should Sweets Be Taxed?

October 14, 2009 • Comments (0)

There has been talk of a new “soda tax,” as it is being called, that will tax sugary drinks to help pay for health care.¹ Coke and Pepsi, Rockstar Energy Drink and Gatorade would all be eligible for the new tax. As you can imagine, beverage companies are not happy.

Mutar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, recently wrote an op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal arguing that it is a lack of exercise and not drinking soda that makes Americans fat.

Mr. Kent states, “Policy makers should stop spending their valuable time demonizing an industry that directly employs more than 220,000 people in the U.S., and through supporting industries, an additional three million. Instead, business and government should come together to help encourage greater physical activity and sensible eating and drinking, while allowing Americans to enjoy the simple pleasure of a Coca-Cola.” ²

Bottom line? Don’t stop drinking sugar drinks, just exercise more! What worries me about this is that the Coca-Cola Company is now partnering with the American Academy of Family Physicians to help teach consumers about nutrition. ³

This means that Coke (all-American sugar water fizzy drink manufacturer) is going to be the first corporate partner to work with AAFP on educational materials for your family.

“The AAFP recognizes the significant influence that consumer companies have on consumer health,” said Lori Heim, M.D., president-elect of the AAFP. “We look forward to working with The Coca-Cola Company, and other companies in the future, on the development of educational materials to teach consumers how to make the right choices and incorporate the products they love into a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.”

Sources:

1. Wall Street Journal

2. Wall Street Journal

3. American Academy of Family Physicians

Posted in Tips, Tricks, Info & News on 10/14/09 • Comment

Alternative Halloween Hand Outs

October 10, 2009 • Comments (1)

For those of you who celebrate Halloween, what will you be handing out this year? When you were a kid, did it annoy you when people gave out something other than candy on Halloween?

Do you go to the store and buy a few bags of your favorite candies, stick them in a huge salad bowl and then secretly hope you don’t get too many tick-or-treaters? If so, does that make you feel guilty?

Why is it that some of us feel guilty about having a huge bowl of candy in the house—knowing we’re going to eat all of it ourselves—and yet we’re fine with handing out tons of sugary crap to all the kids in our neighborhood?

I have vivid memories of trick-or-treating and when people broke from convention they always seemed to give out something “heavy handed” like a toothbrush. No fun!

There are many things that you can hand out on Halloween besides candy and sweets. Here are a few ideas, please add your own. Perhaps we can start a new paradigm.