Taking My Family Off Sugar.

I am a sugarholic, or was, I hope. The last month I was pregnant with my son I single handedly ate a batch of cupcakes every week! I have to have something sweet after every meal and I have no problem eating two cupcakes and a bowl of ice cream each night before bed.  My family is no different. My husband once ate an entire tub of Redvines in a single sitting because I was out of town and he was lonely. And my children, I guess like most children, consider Fruit Loops to be a well balanced breakfast. A typical day for them was frequently, sugar cereal for breakfast, a peanut butter (the regular kind with sugar) sandwich for lunch, Pizza or something akin to it for dinner and maybe some apple slices or baby carrots if I was lucky, then cinnamon sugar toast before bed. This diet so heavy on carbs and sugar and so light on nutrients and protein was very bothersome to me but with the care of my kids in the hands of relatives for most of each day there wasn't a whole lot to be done. But then, I quit my job...

I've always felt instinctively that sugar is bad for me but it just tastes SO good! Society, however, for my whole life has been freaking out about fat which I've honestly never been afraid of. But lately sugar is getting its day under the hot lamp in the interrogation room and its looking pretty guilty. I won't go into reasons, studies or science here because thats what Google is for but what I started hearing and reading was a lot more in line with how I've always felt, natural fats not as bad as we thought and processed foods especially high in sugar WAY worse than we thought. I got motivated.

In the months leading up to my last day of work I made plans in my head. My family was going to go off sugar. I informed them of the impending change and insisted on full cooperation. The children were offered rewards as incentive to do so and the husband was bombarded with logical arguments, science, and reasoning/ arguing skills to rival any high paid attorney. Ultimately I pulled the age card. (He is seven years older than me.) "Babe, you've got seven years on me and you're male. I don't want to lose you. (His dad had heart attacks pretty
young) Please be healthy...for me?" Enter the sweet pouty face that is his cryptonite. All were on board, maybe not enthusiastically but I had them committed.

Now heres the biggest thing I learned. If you want to get your family on a healthier diet, whatever it may be, here's the key: The Fast! You empty your house of ALL unacceptable foods to the extreme and you go on a week long, in our case sugar, fast. I got rid of almost all sugar for the first four days, I'm talking no fruit, no carrots, no corn, no cereal. I did have to keep a little bread in the form of, tortillas (limited) and rice, or my children would have starved. My children's food world was shut down and since they are pretty picky they got bored and hungry fast. After four days I brought in plain Cheerios and whole wheat bread, neither of which they would eat before, but now... you would have thought it was birthday cake and ice-cream. They were begging me for plain Cheerios and toast minus the cinnamon sugar! The wheat bread and plain Cheerios are a miracle in and of themselves but next I brought back fruit, but not the fruits they usually eat. We had a try new foods evening where my son learned he likes peaches and lunch meat (sugar and nitrate free) and my daughter learned she also likes peaches and cucumber.  Miracles I tell you! MIRACLES!

I know that had I just said, "We're not eating cereal with sugar any more." I would have had a revolt and all I would have heard about is how disgusting plain Cheerios and Wheat Chex are. Or had I said, "Vanilla yogurt is now replacing ice-cream in this family." There would have been tears. But by taking away pretty much everything, they were very excited to eat what I was willing to give back. I'm baking a lot now so that my family can still enjoy treats and after eating no sugar for awhile my cookies with almond meal, whole wheat flour and way less sugar taste great to us. I also make popsicles from plain yogurt and fruit and little baked "doughnuts" full of apple and spinach. I'm even baking my own crackers. There is just so much added sugar in everything out there! But by feeding my family this way, I know exactly what they are getting.

I gave my kids a rule of thumb that we want our foods that have sugar to have more fiber than sugar and now my son (age 10) reads boxes at the grocery store and if I'm honest I have to tell you that he gets pretty frustrated because very few processed foods fit this criteria. But my daughter (almost 5) says that she wants to eat this way forever and that she thinks the whole world should eat this way. I, of course, tend to agree. All in all my kids are happy, I feel GREAT, health wise and as a mom and my junk food cravings are virtually gone. I'm no longer a slave to Oreos and my unreasonable need to eat them an entire row at a time. This accomplishment alone makes me feel powerful. Home with my kids, eating healthy foods and enjoying summer, I couldn't be happier!

I told you if you actually want science to hit up Google but I do recommend a video called, Sugar: The Bitter Truth. Its a lecture by an endocrinologist and child obesity specialist.

A special thanks to my wonderful husband who accepted his wife's sudden and extreme lifestyle change. He's a keeper!