Going Sugar Free- Things I have learnt and Things I will carry on doing

So the month is up and I have successfully completed my month of going sugar-free for Cancer Research. I am so proud of myself as I honestly didn’t think I could do it. As well as resetting my taste buds which was my main aim I also lost 9 pounds which I am ecstatic about. I thought I would share a post with you and let you know which habits I am going to keep and what I have learnt. Grab yourself a cup of tea as this is going to be a long post.

Going Sugar Free for Cancer Research- Week Three

The end is in sight only five more days to go!

Now I have a confession to make, in my last bog post I said that I wasn’t having any honey or sweeteners. However that Friday my post went up I lost my voice and developed a cough. My day job involves me answering the phone all day so I did buy some throat lozengers which had sweetener in them and drank honey and lemon to soothe my throat and get my voice back. To the people who have sponsored me I am sure that you will understand that my health comes first and I had to get better to do my job. Now that I have got that out-of-the-way I will let you know how I got on in week three with my new cook book.

Going Sugar Free for Cancer Research- Week Two

Hi guys, I am back with another update on how I am getting on with my sugar-free challenge (12 days left, not that I am counting).

Going Sugar Free For Cancer Research- Week One

Hi guys, hope your all well. If you read my previous post (you can read it here) you will know that for the whole of February I have gone sugar-free for Cancer Research to raise money for this amazing charity and also to give me a kick-start in my healthy new lifestyle. I mentioned previously that this is a challenge for me as I have a sweet tooth and automatically want sweet food after my lunch or dinner ( this was never the case with Breakfast as I use to have something sweet). I have sucessfully completed my first week and thought I would let you know how I am getting on.

2018- New year, Better Me

Hi Guys hope you are well.

This year rather than say I am going to be a new me, I have decided to make a better me and improve myself in the areas that I am unhappy with. So here is my goals for 2018 to make me an even better person than I was in 2017.

Vegan night at Chai in Peterborough

Happy New Year Guys, I am back with another restaurant review, I was meant to put this up last year but completely forgot apologies for the delay. I will go through my goals for 2018 in my next post.

If you have been following my blog for a while you will know I am a big fan of Chai the desert restaurant in Peterborough ( you can read my original post here). I am a big fan of deserts full stop, I think I have finally visited all of the ones in Peterborough. Since writing my review I have been back plenty of times and I am always recommending it to my friends. However last year I went along for something a little different …

Cooking: My Love of Spices

If you have read my Meal Prepping post (read it here) you will know that I love cooking. I love to experiment with spices and try to create new flavours. In my kitchen I have a cupboard just to spices as well as a spinning spice rack on my work top.  My mum is originally from Jamaica and I have got my love from cooking from her. Where possible I always try and season my meat either the night before or at least a few hours before. I find this allows the flavours to really soak into the meat before cooking. Here is a list of some of the spices I use regular and what dishes/meat I use them for.

My Fitness Journey- Meal Prepping

As some of you will already know this year I am trying to get fitter and what you eat is an important part of this. If you follow me on Instagram ( if not please do) you will know that I spend most Sundays prepping my lunches and some dinners for myself and boyfriend so that we are not tempted to eat out. Normally I try to cook at least two different meals so that we can alternate our lunches everyday. Sometimes if I am in a rush I try to use similar ingredients for both dishes so that there is less prep.

Lent 2017- How did I get on cutting back sugar?

If you are a regular reader of my blog (If you are thank you for coming back, if not welcome) you will know that for Lent this year I cut back on sugar, this included chocolate, sweets, biscuits and added sugar. Normally I just give up chocolate for Lent but this year I decided to take it a bit further and challenge myself. On a whole I did pretty well, the worse sweet thing I had was sweet popcorn at the cinema and an ice junkie.

I would say that I have a pretty good diet, I cook most of my meals from fresh and only have about one takeaway a month however my weakness is sugar. I am a big fan of chocolate and cake and find it hard to say no if offered to me ( working in an office, it’s always someone’s birthday or a bake sale). Normally when I finish a meal I get an instant urge to have something sweet, which is a habit I have had for many years. So this Lent I decided to try to break that habit so that I could improve my health and hopefully lose a few pounds.

Weight

In my previous post I mentioned that I had lost about 9 pounds, however weighing myself again I have put a few back on. I also mentioned previously that I have hurt my back which is stopping me from exercising. I have been back to the doctors and been advised I can do some exercise and have been referred to the hospital. I have been going to Zumba once a week which seems to help although I do feel a slight bit of discomfort when doing it. I am going to try going back to swimming and see how that affects my back. Hopefully my hospital appointment will come through soon.

Food and Drink

Normally I would have sugar in my tea, but for the whole of Lent I used sweetener and honey instead which I didn’t mind. I think that I will continue to use sweetener as I don’t mind the taste and its fewer calories. To help with my sweet cravings I ate more fruit and yogurt which I enjoyed, this is something I will continue to have for breakfast or as a snack. Whenever I had a sweet craving at work I had a handful of raisins and nuts which seemed to work a treat. The hardest bit was when there was cakes at work, especially ones that were homemade but I resisted. One of my workmates actually sent me a message saying well done for not caving in to temptation which made me feel good.

Now Lent is over

Once it hit midnight on Easter Sunday I did have some chocolate, my work place had kindly given me a dairy free Easter egg (which was surprisingly tasty). I did enjoy it but not as much as I thought I would, they say that your taste buds alter once you have less sugar and I believe that is what has happened to me. Sweets that I used to happily eat before now taste really sweet and I don’t actually enjoy them. I did enjoy a couple of normal Easter eggs over the Easter weekend but since then I really haven’t had much chocolate at all. When I couldn’t have it for lent at the beginning I missed it but now I can have it again I am not actually that fussed which is a good thing. If you have read my blog before you will know that I love the new dessert restaurants that have opened in Peterborough and use to go at least once a month but now I see it being even less often as that as I feel like that will be a sugar overload for me. I think I can proudly say I have broken my sugar addiction and I won’t be going back to my old ways.

Lent 2017- How I am getting on?

Hi Guys I am back with an update on how I am getting on this Lent, if you read my previous post ( which you can read here) you will know that I decided to go one set further this year and not only give up chocolate but cut back on sugar.

Giving up Chocolate

In previous years I have given up chocolate without any issues however normally when I wanted a sugar fix I would turn to sweets. However that is not possible this year as I have also cut out sweets, cakes, biscuits and any other obvious sugar. My biggest test was the charity bake sale at work for Comic Relief, my work colleagues made some amazing looking and smelling cakes. I managed to stay strong and just brought one slice for my boyfriend as I know he is partial to a slice of lemon drizzle cake. My friend actually emailed me to say well done for not caving in on the cakes which made me smile and motivated to carry on.

Alternatives

So to help me with my sugar cravings I have been having more fruit and yogurt, mainly strawberries as they are my favourite. Sometimes I have had this as a snack but other times i have it for breakfast rather than my normally sugary cereal. If I had cut out fruit and yogurt as well I don’t think I would have coped, these have been my saving graces.

Fitness and Weight

As well as giving up sugar for lent i was also aiming to up my fitness to help me loose weight. However not long after lent started I went to Zumba and the next day my back started hurting and after a week of doing no exercise it was still really sore. Now previously my back has hurt in the same place after housework or exercise but normally it only lasted a day but this was a week so i went to the Doctors. The doctor advised that I had torn a ligament in my back and not to exercise and do any housework for two weeks. As I am writing this its now been two and half weeks and I am still feeling twinges in my back, so i am going back to my doctors. I am actually gutted about this as i really enjoy Zumba and had started to take longer walks at lunch time.

So I just weighed myself (30.03.2017) and I have lost 10 pounds, which I really chuffed about. The first few weeks I only lost a couple of pounds, which I was gutted about. It just goes to show how much weight sugar was causing me to put on.

Slipup’s

So I have been really good expect one day which is when I went to watch the new Beauty and the Beast film. No trip to the cinema is complete without some popcorn and a ice slushie. If you haven’t read any of my other posts you may not be aware that I am big Disney fan and have been looking forward to this film for a long time. Now I said from the start that I was cutting back on sugar rather than giving it up completely so technically this was not a fail however I am aware that ice drinks are full of sugar and I could of chosen salty popcorn but I choose sweet. In case you are interested i will be putting my film review up shortly.

I also went to Norwich for the weekend to visit an old school friend and I am not going to lie their was a bit of alcohol consumed. I drank mainly prosecco and wine which I am sure contains some sugar however I do not go out every weekend.

Dairy Free

Something I haven’t really discussed before is my health issues, I seem to have a reaction to certain foods with symptoms similar to IBS. This has been going on for over 3 years I have had many hospital tests that have come back normal. So in a last ditch a tempt I decided to go and visit my friend who is a nutritionist ( more on that in another post) who has suggested going dairy free for three weeks. So on top of cutting back on sugar I am not dairy free as well for 3 weeks, which coincides well with Lent. I will do a separate post to let you know how I got on and whether going Dairy free made any difference.

Am I missing sugar?

To be honest although it has been hard to resist cakes at work especially home made ones, I don’t actually miss sugar as much as I thought I would. I think because I have had fruit and yogurt as an alternative it has actually made it a lot easier. Once Lent is over I will do another post letting you know of any benefits or differences I have noticed by cutting back on sugar for Lent. Have you given anything up? I would love to know in the comments.