The people who have read my posts in the past know that I am clearly not a fan of sugar and that I try to explain as simply as I can why it is so bad for our health.
When I came across the "Quit the Sugar Challenge" (you can check out the original post here ) I said this is right up my alley, except.... I have a unique problem: I have already "mostly" quit sugar for more than a year now. By "mostly" I mean the fact that I had certain moments when I ate sweets, for example when I bought a cake for the birthday of somebody who is very dear to me ;). Of course, I had to partake in eating said cake otherwise I would have been kind of a party pooper. I thought of buying a cake without added sugar, made with sweeteners for example, but that is very complicated and expensive, and it also takes a long time to get it delivered. So, there were situations where I slipped of the sugar-free wagon, but I tried my hardest to stay on it.
That being said, I still wanted to join this challenge even though I don't currently eat sugar. The solution? - to make things challenging even for myself with the "No sweets challenge". What do I mean by that?
No chocolate bars or other products that contain sweeteners.
I'm not doing this just to make things difficult, but because I have a tendency to binge on those as well, which is not helping me reach my fitness goals at all. Even though I could easily do this challenge while enjoying a ton of sweet stuff without actually eating any sugar; I would cheat when it comes to the spirit of this whole process, which is to get rid of addictions and to improve your wellbeing.
I admit that I like sweets (with or without sugar) a lot and it won't be easy sticking to my plan, but feeling good and looking good is far more enjoyable than the instant gratification of tasting something sweet.
For me this challenge is not a x number of days challenge, rather is a forever challenge, meaning that I'm trying to make these improvements long term and stick to them. That being said, I will allow myself to eat sweet things (with sweeteners) and even sugar when hiking or on long runs because intense physical activity sometimes requires eating something that will boost your energy levels. But those are about the only exceptions that I will allow myself.
As a part of this challenge I will try to document what I eat on certain days. This is what I ate on Tuesday:
1 In the morning I had a couple of bananas and some puffed rice cakes, which despite their name don't contain sugar and as a added bonus, are gluten free.
I usually don't eat in the morning but because I recently started working in the afternoon, it kind of messed up my normal eating schedule which is based on intermittent fasting.
2 I then went for a run and had a protein shake, in order to help my muscles recover because it was a 13 km run nonetheless.
source
I forgot to take a picture of my actual protein shake :P
3 On my way to work I had a prosciutto sandwich with some vegetables and cheese in it.
4 After coming back from work I had a tuna salad
source
It looked similar to this - my picture was out of focus because of poor lighting
5 And finally some sugar free chocolate bars which also have some added protein to them but not much and it's inferior to whey protein:
I won't be eating those anymore, except for instances which require physical activities.
That's how my usual meals look like during a normal day. I'm against counting calories because as long as those calories come from healthy sources, the number doesn't matter except for particular situations like for body builders.
I hope this sugar and healthy eating rant will help some of you to give it a try :)
Take care and stay healthy.
My name is Adrian a.k.a "The nearsighted traveler". I'm a running enthusiast who loves to spend time enjoying nature. I write mostly about running, the places I explore and the interesting stuff I learn here on steemit.
If you are new to this platform you might want to check out these posts:
5 Easy Rules for Navigating The Steem Ecosystem
The 6th Easy Rule for Navigating the Steem Ecosystem
And if you want a good laugh you can visit my other account @cmmemes where I fail at being funny but persevere anyway :)
Kudos on a fantastic challenge and sticking to it.
I hesistate in commenting because I don’t want to be one of those crazies who get into what they’re doing and think everyone else should as well... but you’re so close.
First, a misconception:
No! You only need to keep sucking in sugar and carbs because you are fueling off of glucose. If you switch to fueling off of fat, you won’t need anything for hikes and runs except water (and maybe Salt Stick). When I first started reading about fasted runs, I thought these guys were nuts. Then I started reading up on low carb high fat (LCHF) nutrition and... whoa! There is science behind this. There are a lot of carbs hiding in what pure eating and they are... sugar.
If you want to look into it, the best resource I’ve found is Phinney & Volek: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708
Keep up the great work!
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Thanks for the awesome comment. I've done some research on this before but I find it a bit hard to adapt to that when doing intense physical stuff. On a daily basis I try to eat as few carbs as possible and more healthy fats.
This kind of nutrition strategy only works if it is adopted long term and i order to do that I feel a gradual approach and a lot of personal experimentation is needed.
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Yes and no. I am with you on the gradual approach. I find in order to do something extreme (like quitting something), I am more successful if I give myself outs. Over time, I don't need the outs.
I started by reducing my carb consumption. After about a week I had gone full keto. They say it's best to kickstart it by being extreme.
You are 100% correct about the effects on intense physical activity. The fat adaption process takes time. First there is the Keto Flu but I'm finding the main cause of this is electrolyte imbalance. If you enter gradually and focus on making sure you get this balanced and drink a lot of water, you may/should be able to avoid this. Of course, it still takes time for your body to adapt. They also say that fasting helps speed up the fat adaption process. I haven't tried it yet.
The thing I have found to be the most helpful is having a sponsor. You know, someone to answer your questions, give you advice, and reassure you what you are doing isn't absolutely insane.
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I do intermittent fasting for almost a year now so that should definitely help. I don't like the idea of restring carbs and going full keto, restrictive diets are not fun long term, but I do want to get most of my carbs from vegetables and fruit. This way they come with a lot of nutrients and they're not just empty calories.
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Good for you!!! I am also on this challenge and it's pretty hard for me, but I will succeed .
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I made it extra hard to keep things interesting :)
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I'm not ready for that, man:))
But I support you from back stage🌞
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It's not marriage, you don't have to get ready for it :))))
More seriously though, I can understand why it seems intimidating.
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I admire You for your ambition to not eat sweets, for me is Impossible i m addicted of chocolate and sweets
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Everything and anything is possible if you really want it :). I would recommend trying chocolate with stevia. It's a natural sweetener and because we cannot digest it, it doesn't have any calories.
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Thanks i will try it
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I admire that you want to give up sweets, for it's very hard, I can't live without eating something sweet in a day. For example, in this evening I made donuts with chocolate ;)
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Are you trying to tempt me? :P ( I'm joking of course)
That's the problem, we are surrounded by sweet stuff and everything in our environment from ads to social acceptance encourages us to eat them frequently.
I would encourage you to give stevia a try. I'm gonna write a article about it in the near future.
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Great, I can't wait to read your article about it. Have a great weekend.
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You too :)
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