drink water
If you’re drinking anything other than water on a regular basis, chances are you’re adding a lot of sugar to your diet. (Or artificial sweeteners, which may be just as bad or worse.) Instead of drinking soda, juice, or any other sweetened (or artificially sweetened) beverage, simply drink water or tea (lightly sweetened if needed). If you love your sodas, think of them in terms of a dessert or a special treat.
Why no fruit juice? When juice is removed from the fruit it’s not fruit anymore (even though the bottle will tell you it contains 1-2 servings of fruit!). What you have is a concentrated amount of fruit sugars without the fiber and other healthful benefits from eating the fruit whole. That fruit sugar goes straight to your blood stream instead of slowly being broken down by the body if you were to eat the entire fruit. If you have a juicer at home and enjoy making fruit/vegetable blends, this is considerably better than buying store-bought fruit juice. Watch out for juices “from concentrate”. Most of the time they’ll say “no sugar added”, but fruit juice concentrate itself has loads of sugar as it is.
We also don’t give our kids fruit juice. I used to give them a small, diluted amount when they were very small, but I found they were losing interest in water. (Surprise, surprise… give them a sweetened drink, and they don’t want anything else!) So I quit buying almost all types of juice. The only kind we buy is pomegranate juice to add to our morning smoothies because of its potent nutritional content.
make breakfast healthy
Alright, fess up. I know I’m not the only one who sometimes uses breakfast as an excuse to eat dessert at 8AM. When you think about it, the possibility consuming a lot of sugar in the morning is pretty high. Unless you’re eating eggs and a piece of buttered, whole-grain toast, just about every breakfast cereal, instant oatmeal, pancakes, muffins, waffles, etc. could contain as much sugar as a dessert.
I prefer to make my breakfast healthier so I could splurge on a real dessert later. If you make your breakfast foods from scratch (granola, steel-cut oats, pancakes, waffles, etc.) you can control the sugar content. Also, try to use fruit to sweeten up breakfast or at least displace some sweetener you would normally use. We’ve started putting chopped berries and apples over our pancakes and waffles with a drizzle of honey instead of drowning them in maple syrup. As a former “I have to have my pancakes floating in syrup” girl, I’m surprised that I’m satisfied with such a simple topping! It works, though. Save the over-the-top desserts masquerading as breakfast for special days. Like Christmas morning.
cook & bake from scratch
It’s easy to think of how much sugar we’ve consumed in terms of desserts and sweets, but sugar is in almost everything these days. Several years ago as I was starting to pay more attention to ingredient labels, I went to buy a canister of bread crumbs and found that they contained high-fructose corn syrup. Bread crumbs, for pete’s sake! I think that crossed the line for me, and I became more adamant about making things from scratch.
If you’re inclined to grab the bakery cakes and store-bought cookies while shopping, consider making those things from scratch. If you have to work for your dessert, chances are you’ll be eating fewer of them. Unless, however, you have a passion for baking…. then you might want to try baking less often.
try a cleanse
A couple of years ago I went on a pretty strict diet for several weeks that was similar to paleo (but more strict). Yes, my goal was to lose some weight, but I discovered another great benefit — getting all of that sugar (and starchy mess) out of my system. Once it was out, I was able to listen to my body better and feel the effects when I started eating it again. It helped me recognize when I ate too much (whereas before I had a much higher tolerance for it). I’ve tried to hold on to that sensitivity (not only to sugar, but to starchy, carb-heavy foods as well) because it keeps me in check.
boost protein and fat
If your diet has a good amount of protein and fat (particularly good saturated fats) you’ll be satisfied longer and less likely to be hungry between meals. (And less likely to reach for a quick, sugary something.)
quality, not quantity
Normally I wouldn’t encourage snobbery, but I think it’s OK to be a dessert snob. If you’re going to indulge in something with a lot of sugar (and possibly do damage to your body in the process), make sure it’s worth it! If you absolutely need a chocolate fix in the afternoon (ahem, I can totally relate), buy a bar of the highest quality chocolate you can find and eat just a piece a day. How likely are you to eat an entire bar of rich chocolate in one sitting?
Confession: before our clean eating conversion, I used to buy tubs of fat-free cool whip and stick them in the freezer. Then I’d scoop it out like ice cream and top it with fat-free chocolate syrup. Oh, was I proud of myself. I’d managed to find a “healthy” alternative to an ice cream sundae! Little did I know I was filling my body with hydrogenated oils (cool whip) and LOADS of sugar.
Conventional thinking has led us to believe that eating more dessert is OK if it’s low in fat. (Or even low in sugar which is loaded with artificial sweeteners.) *Forehead slap* Let’s raise our standards, shall we? When it comes to dessert, a small amount of the good stuff is usually better than a lot of the so-called “healthy” alternatives.
define “special occasions”
I’ve mentioned before that I only make desserts for special occasions, but lately the term “special occasion” has been applying to any strong craving that I get. Not good. It’s good to define specifically what a special occasion is.
For us, it’s birthdays (I have a birthday cake sitting in my fridge as we speak — my oldest is 5 today!), major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine’s Day), some social/family gatherings. Usually after a night of indulging, we’re ready to get back to our normal eating habits, but for those moments we enjoy those treats! If we’ve been eating well, there’s no reason to feel guilty about indulging a little.
keep it out of the house
Keeping treats and unhealthy snacks out of the house seems to work for us as well. I’ve quit trying to rely on my self control to pace myself when it comes to treats. (Especially lately…) When it comes to candy and store-bought sweets, it seems a little wasteful to toss the excess in the trash, but I’d rather risk being wasteful than putting that stuff in my body for the sake of frugality. Other than an occasional carton of ice cream in the fridge or a jar of Nutella in the cupboard, our home is relatively candy/sweets free.
I recently came across a fantastic blog post on 100 Days of Real Food talking about those “oh, it’s only once a year” occasions. There are a lot more than you think, and if you’ve got a list of 25 “once a year” occasions, you could be indulging more than you anticipated. Like Lisa, I believe that even if we never gave our kids candy or any other processed treat or snacks at home, they’d manage to get it from outside sources. It happens all the time.
If you’re drinking anything other than water on a regular basis, chances are you’re adding a lot of sugar to your diet. (Or artificial sweeteners, which may be just as bad or worse.) Instead of drinking soda, juice, or any other sweetened (or artificially sweetened) beverage, simply drink water or tea (lightly sweetened if needed). If you love your sodas, think of them in terms of a dessert or a special treat.
Why no fruit juice? When juice is removed from the fruit it’s not fruit anymore (even though the bottle will tell you it contains 1-2 servings of fruit!). What you have is a concentrated amount of fruit sugars without the fiber and other healthful benefits from eating the fruit whole. That fruit sugar goes straight to your blood stream instead of slowly being broken down by the body if you were to eat the entire fruit. If you have a juicer at home and enjoy making fruit/vegetable blends, this is considerably better than buying store-bought fruit juice. Watch out for juices “from concentrate”. Most of the time they’ll say “no sugar added”, but fruit juice concentrate itself has loads of sugar as it is.
We also don’t give our kids fruit juice. I used to give them a small, diluted amount when they were very small, but I found they were losing interest in water. (Surprise, surprise… give them a sweetened drink, and they don’t want anything else!) So I quit buying almost all types of juice. The only kind we buy is pomegranate juice to add to our morning smoothies because of its potent nutritional content.
make breakfast healthy
Alright, fess up. I know I’m not the only one who sometimes uses breakfast as an excuse to eat dessert at 8AM. When you think about it, the possibility consuming a lot of sugar in the morning is pretty high. Unless you’re eating eggs and a piece of buttered, whole-grain toast, just about every breakfast cereal, instant oatmeal, pancakes, muffins, waffles, etc. could contain as much sugar as a dessert.
I prefer to make my breakfast healthier so I could splurge on a real dessert later. If you make your breakfast foods from scratch (granola, steel-cut oats, pancakes, waffles, etc.) you can control the sugar content. Also, try to use fruit to sweeten up breakfast or at least displace some sweetener you would normally use. We’ve started putting chopped berries and apples over our pancakes and waffles with a drizzle of honey instead of drowning them in maple syrup. As a former “I have to have my pancakes floating in syrup” girl, I’m surprised that I’m satisfied with such a simple topping! It works, though. Save the over-the-top desserts masquerading as breakfast for special days. Like Christmas morning.
cook & bake from scratch
It’s easy to think of how much sugar we’ve consumed in terms of desserts and sweets, but sugar is in almost everything these days. Several years ago as I was starting to pay more attention to ingredient labels, I went to buy a canister of bread crumbs and found that they contained high-fructose corn syrup. Bread crumbs, for pete’s sake! I think that crossed the line for me, and I became more adamant about making things from scratch.
If you’re inclined to grab the bakery cakes and store-bought cookies while shopping, consider making those things from scratch. If you have to work for your dessert, chances are you’ll be eating fewer of them. Unless, however, you have a passion for baking…. then you might want to try baking less often.
try a cleanse
A couple of years ago I went on a pretty strict diet for several weeks that was similar to paleo (but more strict). Yes, my goal was to lose some weight, but I discovered another great benefit — getting all of that sugar (and starchy mess) out of my system. Once it was out, I was able to listen to my body better and feel the effects when I started eating it again. It helped me recognize when I ate too much (whereas before I had a much higher tolerance for it). I’ve tried to hold on to that sensitivity (not only to sugar, but to starchy, carb-heavy foods as well) because it keeps me in check.
boost protein and fat
If your diet has a good amount of protein and fat (particularly good saturated fats) you’ll be satisfied longer and less likely to be hungry between meals. (And less likely to reach for a quick, sugary something.)
quality, not quantity
Normally I wouldn’t encourage snobbery, but I think it’s OK to be a dessert snob. If you’re going to indulge in something with a lot of sugar (and possibly do damage to your body in the process), make sure it’s worth it! If you absolutely need a chocolate fix in the afternoon (ahem, I can totally relate), buy a bar of the highest quality chocolate you can find and eat just a piece a day. How likely are you to eat an entire bar of rich chocolate in one sitting?
Confession: before our clean eating conversion, I used to buy tubs of fat-free cool whip and stick them in the freezer. Then I’d scoop it out like ice cream and top it with fat-free chocolate syrup. Oh, was I proud of myself. I’d managed to find a “healthy” alternative to an ice cream sundae! Little did I know I was filling my body with hydrogenated oils (cool whip) and LOADS of sugar.
Conventional thinking has led us to believe that eating more dessert is OK if it’s low in fat. (Or even low in sugar which is loaded with artificial sweeteners.) *Forehead slap* Let’s raise our standards, shall we? When it comes to dessert, a small amount of the good stuff is usually better than a lot of the so-called “healthy” alternatives.
define “special occasions”
I’ve mentioned before that I only make desserts for special occasions, but lately the term “special occasion” has been applying to any strong craving that I get. Not good. It’s good to define specifically what a special occasion is.
For us, it’s birthdays (I have a birthday cake sitting in my fridge as we speak — my oldest is 5 today!), major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine’s Day), some social/family gatherings. Usually after a night of indulging, we’re ready to get back to our normal eating habits, but for those moments we enjoy those treats! If we’ve been eating well, there’s no reason to feel guilty about indulging a little.
keep it out of the house
Keeping treats and unhealthy snacks out of the house seems to work for us as well. I’ve quit trying to rely on my self control to pace myself when it comes to treats. (Especially lately…) When it comes to candy and store-bought sweets, it seems a little wasteful to toss the excess in the trash, but I’d rather risk being wasteful than putting that stuff in my body for the sake of frugality. Other than an occasional carton of ice cream in the fridge or a jar of Nutella in the cupboard, our home is relatively candy/sweets free.
I recently came across a fantastic blog post on 100 Days of Real Food talking about those “oh, it’s only once a year” occasions. There are a lot more than you think, and if you’ve got a list of 25 “once a year” occasions, you could be indulging more than you anticipated. Like Lisa, I believe that even if we never gave our kids candy or any other processed treat or snacks at home, they’d manage to get it from outside sources. It happens all the time.
