SBS News and Goals for 2010

Happy New Year! There is so much to tell you. Here it is…

The Forum Is Back!

There was a forum on the site back in 2007/2008. It’s now back and working once again! Registration is free. When you login you will be logged in site-wide. That means you won’t have to enter in your name and email address when you comment on a post! You can add topics in the forum as well as write to other members to discuss anything you want. You can also make a profile. Your email is not visible to anyone. My hope is that we can all communicate to share knowledge, ideas, links and resources.

Dietary Goals for 2010

Meat

I have never been a big meat eater. I’ve always considered myself “almost a vegetarian” except that, you know, I ate chicken and sometimes had a hot dog or hamburger. Mostly I didn’t commit to not eating meat because I wanted to be free to eat whatever I want. And I am free to choose. However, after having done lots of research this year into where my food is coming from, I decided to try a no-meat diet for one year and see how it feels. This is my choice based on the things I’ve learned.

Gwenn and I rarely go out to eat. For some reason though, we found ourselves out more this year than in years past. One thing we noticed was that restaurant food is super-salty, especially at places that specialize in drinks. Another thing we noticed was how lousy we’d feel after eating meat (while out). This happened to us so many times, in fact, that we figured it was something to do with how the restaurants were cooking it. So we stopped ordering meat. Then we noticed the same thing at home and so we started to remove the meat from our food there as well. We always felt better after a meatless meal.

Bread

I still eat bread. However, in 2010, I am only going to eat Dave’s Killer Bread: Powerseed (sweetened with fruit juice) or Vita Bee bread (sweetened with honey and available at Fred Meyer). I will avoid all other breads. Until now, I’ve eaten bagels from time-to-time and white bread such as French or Italian dinner breads. At home it will be nothing but Powerseed and/or Vita Bee and out I’ll avoid bread when possible.

Without meat and white bread, I will not be going out for hamburgers in 2010. It wasn’t something I did all the time, but I definitely ate a few in 2009. Thing is, I’d always get fries to go with it and of course that included some Ketchup. Ketchup contains High Fructose Corn Syrup and I justified eating it by saying it was just a little bit. Hmmm…

Since 2005 I have managed to cut out all of my trigger foods and reduce sweets to only natural or specialty foods. Still, I’d go out for a burger here or there. (How can that be? Because I stopped being sweet instead of attempting to quit sugar forever. To stop being sweet is not an all or nothing kind of thing. It has taken me several years to be in a place where I can give up even more “comfort foods” and attempt a more challenging diet.) I can finally admit to myself that I was after the sugar in the meat, bun, fries, and Ketchup.

Goodbye Sweet Meat

On New Year’s Eve, Gwenn and I went out to eat. She got a chicken burger and I ordered a cheeseburger. (She’s going vegetarian as well. Doing it together certainly makes it easier!) We both felt really full afterwards. Thirsty too. This is going to be a challenging year!

I Hope This Site Helps You

StopBeingSweet.com was created to help keep me honest while I attempted to quit sugar for a year. People offered such positive feedback that I wrote a book. Book sales help to offset some of the time I put into this site. My goal is more to help people who are addicted to sugar and have no idea how to stop eat junk food than it is to take on the role of “Sugar Police” or “Mr. Anti-Sugar.” I don’t go around smacking cookies from people’s mouths.

If you are going to stop being sweet this year, remember that eating healthy is a skill, a full-time pursuit, and something that you get better at by practicing. You’ll make mistakes and you might even mess up really badly, but you can always start again and get right back on track. Since it’s the first week of a new year, now is a great time to make a resolution. Best of luck to you in 2010, whatever your endeavors!

Sugar Challenge: January 2010

This month’s sugar challenge is to define a simple sugar abstinence plan and then stick to it for 30 days.

Let us know what you’re gonna do.

For instance, I am going to exercise everyday and cut back on eating when I’m not hungry. Notice I said, “Cut back on eating when I’m not hungry.” Cutting back is easier than changing cold turkey.

Keep your goal simple, doable, and clear. “Lose weight” is too vague. “Walk a mile every day” is clear and doable.

Think of your goal like a game of basketball. You are not going to make every shot, but the more you shoot the easier it gets.

Discuss this in the Sugar Challenge Support Forum.

Good luck!

Sweet Suicide: or How Sugar Ruins Your Health

The following are clips from the DVD Sweet Suicide available through Nancy Appleton, who’s list of 146 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health is most certainly worth the read.

20 Ways to Stop Being Sweet

The following are samples of sustainable sugar abstinence plans. Try one or make up your own and discover what works for you.

1. Eat sweets only on Sunday
2. Eat sweets once every two weeks
3. Eat sweets only when having dessert at someone else’s house
4. Eat just a particular type of sweets (i.e. Chocolate Chip Mint ice cream) and only one serving per week.
5. Eat sweets once a week but only if you have worked out three times (for at least an hour each) that week
6. Have a tiny a square of chocolate after lunch each day, Monday through Friday only (easier said than done!)
7. Have sweets every three months for a whole day
8. Only eat sweets at someone’s birthday celebration
9. Eat only sweets that are home baked by you or someone you know
10. Eat sweets only on bank holidays
11. Eat sweets only on the 1st of the month
12. Eat sweets only whenever you put $25 into a charity fund of your choice
13. Eat sweets only when you’ve been offered and the date is an odd number
14. Only eat sweets sweetened with natural sugar
15. Only eat sweets on Fridays during leap years
16. Eat sweets only on your birthday
17. Eat sweets for the shorter distance between New Year’s Eve and your birthday, avoid sweets completely the rest of the year
18. Eat sweets only on the 31st of the month
19. Eat sweets only on one holiday each year (Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.)
20. Eat sweets only four days out of each year (use like sick days)

If you’ve never avoided sugar before, start with an easy plan and graduate to a harder one.

Happy Holidays!

Best wishes to you and your family this holiday season.

If you can’t make it through the holidays sugar-free, check back on Monday because I’ll be posting about ways to Stop Being Sweet in 2010!

Also, remember that the Stop Being Sweet forum will re-open on January 1st. It will be free to join and use so get some people together and get ready for a sugar-free new year.