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.

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of June 7, 2010

June 07, 2010 • Comments (0)

Ingredients

What’s in your food? What the heck is that? The assignment for this week, should you choose to accept it, is an easy one. When you eat something—especially if you eat junk food—read the label and locate an ingredient of which you’ve never heard. Then Google it and learn about what it is you’re putting in your body!

Try to discover one ingredient a day. If you’re up for it, add the food, the ingredient and the definition in the comments below. Good luck!

Posted in Sugar Challenge on 06/07/10 • Comment

Temptation Never Goes Away

June 04, 2010 • Comments (0)

Chocolate Pretzels There’s a bulk foods section at Winco’s food store. Every single time I go through there I notice all the sweets. They have an end cap devoted to sugar free candy, but it’s all sweetened with Maltitol and eating any more than one piece of that stuff will make your guts explode.

Last night we were shopping and I saw a barrel full of Andes Candies mints. They were next to the barrel full of chocolate covered pretzels. That’s when it hit me: Halloween is coming and it’s just a matter of months before I can eat that stuff for a weekend. I immediately started planning to buy bulk bags of Andes Candies, Kit Kat, Reeses, chocolate covered pretzels and whatever else strikes my fancy when the time comes.

The desire for sweets never goes away.

Check the Bulk Food Aisle

Posted in Tips, Tricks, Info & News on 06/04/10 • Comment

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of May 31, 2010

May 31, 2010 • Comments (0)

This week’s assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to not eat or purchase anything containing High Fructose Corn Syrup.

How do you know if it contains HFCS? You simply read the label and look for “High Fructose Corn Syrup”.

Ingredients

If you’re not sure if there’s HFCS in the food you want to eat, avoid that food.

Here’s a list of some foods that often contain HFCS:

- Ketchup
- Mayonaise
- Salad dressing
- Soft drinks
- Juice drinks
- Health/energy bars
- Breakfast cereals
- Sandwiches
- Foods for sale in a gas station or convenience store
- Yogurt
- Bread
- Cough Syrup
- Crackers
- Frozen Foods
- Peanut Butter
- Jams, Jellies and Syrup
- Pasta Sauce
- All kinds of snacks

From now until next Monday, avoid HFCS!

Posted in Sugar Challenge on 05/31/10 • Comment

How to Survive a Wedding Sugar Free

May 31, 2010 • Comments (2)

Yesterday, at a wedding, Gwenn mentioned that I don’t eat sugar and therefore she gets to have two pieces of cake. It was a cute joke, and it’s true! But it provoked questions. A girl at our table looked at me with a furrowed brow and said, “What, are you diabetic?”

“No,” I said, “If I eat sugar it’s all I want to eat.”

“You must be a lot of fun,” she quipped.

I guess she couldn’t imagine a party without sugar. She had also made several comments about the fact that there was no alcohol at the wedding reception. As a therapist (hopefully not for substance abuse) I would think she knows the saying “to each their own” but that wasn’t the case, she wanted an explanation.

Truth is, after having been off sugar for many years, it’s easy to make it through a wedding without eating cake. What’s not so easy is dealing with the comments that arise as a result of not eating sugar. How do you deal with it?

Your best bet is to simply not to eat dessert and make no fanfare about it. Chances are that nobody will notice you aren’t having any wedding cake when you’re sitting at a table full of strangers who are hungry for dessert. Even if they did notice they might assume you didn’t like the type of cake offered. Either way it’s fine. However, if they notice or if the subject comes up somehow, you might feel like you have some explaining to do. Don’t explain. Don’t tell people you’re off sugar. Don’t explain why you’re saying no. Just stop being sweet. And if they keep pressing you, just excuse yourself and take a walk to the restroom or go talk to another guest. By the time you get back the subject should have changed.

• I Made It Through Another Wedding
• How to Say No to Dessert at Someone’s House

Posted in My Personal Journal on 05/31/10 • Comment

Jason’s Deli TV Commercial

May 28, 2010 • Comments (0)

This is a television commercial titled “No High Fructose Corn Syrup Allowed”. It’s for Jason’s Deli, a national chain of health-oriented delis based out of Texas. Hopefully more and more commercial food ventures will reject processed and artificially sweetened foods.