Break the Sugar Habit Challenge {Final Check In}

by Mandi on June 29, 2012

break-the-sugar-challengeToday’s the last day of the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge…are you excited?

To be honest…I haven’t been 100% sugar free this week.

I was telling a friend last night — during my first restaurant meal in a month! — that I’ve never been very good at following the rules just because they’re there, and I tend to avoid “legalistic” things that follow the letter of the law and not the spirit of it. I felt like I’d learned what I set out to learn — how to be more intentional about the food we’re eating, how sugar affects my body, how to resist cravings, etc — and I was tired of avoiding every little thing because of added sugar.

I didn’t completely blow it, as I still avoided desserts and foods with obvious sugar, but we did have takeout pizza one night when I just did not feel like cooking, and we had quesadillas even though I haven’t been able to find a sugar-free tortilla locally. I’ve had a few sandwiches on bread as well. So in that way, I failed this week, but I still feel like the challenge was a success overall.

I was surprised to realize yesterday when I was grocery shopping that the candy treats really didn’t tempt me, and — sure enough — Amy mentioned the same thing in her check-in post today! I highly recommend doing this challenge with a friend…it’s been fun to compare notes each week and realize we’re experiencing a lot of the same things. (Be sure to read all of Amy’s Week 4 Check-In…she’s sharing a yummy alternative to sweet tea.)

One of the effects of the challenge that I’m most excited about is that we’ve eliminated all chocolate, which will make it easier to slowly begin adding in fair-trade, responsibly sourced chocolate, something I’ve wanted to do since I first heard about the child slave labor used for the cocoa harvest in the Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest producer of cocoa.

In the coming weeks, I’m looking forward to trying a recipe or two from Dessert in Jars, which was released this week, and  we’ll continue switching out many of our store-bought pantry staples for homemade versions. But we’re sticking with sugar-free snacks, homemade granola instead of cereal and unsweetened versions of many of our favorite foods.

In the end, I don’t think I lost weight, and whether my moods have stabilized is debatable, but I feel like I’m taking a much healthier approach to food and making better choices…and that was my main goal!

The Backstory

If you’re just learning about the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge, be sure to visit these posts for more details:

Share Your Story

Are you participating in the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge? Submit your post in the linky below or leave me a comment!

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.
  • http://www.townsend-house.com/ Heather

    What a wonderful challenge to have! I have been trying to keep the sugar amounts as low as possible in my house. Which is incredibly difficult with a hubby who *needs* a sweet snack after dinner…and fruit apparently doesn’t count :-) I try to mainly give the kids fruit if they want something sweet, we go through a lot of bananas. But, I put brown sugar or honey in their oatmeal every morning, not a lot, just a taste. I am not sure they would be happy if I took that away, and the fact that they will eat the oatmeal every morning for breakfast outweighs the fact that I put sugar in it :-) I try to stay away from white sugar though, and use local honey and maple syrup instead. It is all about moderation, though, right? Maybe this summer when the fresh fruit is plentiful, we will give it a try!

    • http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      Good luck if you decide to move forward with the challenge, Heather!! I’d love to hear about your experience if you do.

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