Sugar-free Challenge

Hello again, I just realized I haven't posted anything in almost a year! It's January 2012 and like many people, I resolved to make my new year healthier than the last. In 2011, I went from having a semi-healthy diet with minimal fitness activity to a much healthier diet mixed with a lot of exercise and I saw great results. For 2012, I'm ready to take it to the next level. To kick-start my efforts, I've decided to take the sugar-free challenge and starting tomorrow, will avoid sugar and sugar-like foods through the end of the month.

If you google "going sugar free," you will find a ton of great online resources. I took everything I read, combined what I liked, ignored what I didn't (yes I'm talking about you, sprouts!) and created my own little plan. Raw veggies are totally not my thing, but if you're doing this challenge and you like raw carrots or grape tomatoes, I definitely encourage you choosing more of those and less of the fruit servings on my plan. Dan is a total sugar-addict, even worse than me, so creating a plan that worked for the both of us proved quite challenging and we will be eating slightly different foods to suit our different tastes AND so that I don't accidentally starve him like I did last year, he will get a tiny little bit of carbs each day.

The biggest thing I learned from reading all the different websites was simply this: watch out for hidden sugars; if you can, make as much as possible from scratch. Thankfully, I really enjoy making things from scratch so this won't be too hard for me; however, I know a lot of people don't have the time or patience to do this so just remember to pay attention to the ingredients lists.

In addition to the below, I will have extra fruit, nuts and low-fat dairy on hand for in-between snacks to hopefully stave off those sugar cravings:
Tuesday 1/3

• Breakfast - 1/2c scrambled egg beaters, 3 slices turkey bacon (shredded cheddar for Dan)
• Morning snack - yogurt
• My lunch - roasted tomato soup
• Dan's lunch - romaine and tomatoes with homemade mustard dressing; tomato soup; slices of deli turkey rolled in sliced cheese
• Afternoon snack - 1/4c peanuts, 1/4c almonds, 1 apple
• Dinner - grilled chicken with roasted broccoli and carrots (and some red potatoes for Dan)

Wednesday 1/4

• Breakfast - 1/2c scrambled egg beaters, 3 slices turkey bacon (spinach and salsa in the eggs for Dan)
• Morning snack - yogurt
• My lunch - lima bean soup
• Dan's lunch - romaine, carrots and tomatoes with homemade balsamic vinaigrette; lima bean soup; slices of deli roast beef rolled in sliced cheese
• Afternoon snack - 1 pear, 2tbsp natural almond butter
• Dinner - ground turkey with chili powder, cumin, garlic and onion mixed with black beans and corn, topped with shredded cheddar; black bean soup (giving Dan two corn tortillas so he can make tacos)

Thursday 1/5

• Breakfast - 1/2c scrambled egg beaters, 3 slices turkey bacon (spinach and mushrooms in Dan's eggs)
• Morning snack - yogurt
• My lunch - black bean soup
• Dan's lunch - romaine, carrots and tomatoes with salsa/sour cream dressing; black bean soup; leftover turkey taco mix
• Afternoon snack - 1 banana, 2tbsp natural peanut butter
• Dinner -  chicken stir-fry (1/4c brown rice for Dan)

Friday 1/6

• Breakfast - 1/2c scrambled egg beaters, 3 slices turkey bacon (cheddar in Dan's eggs)
• Morning snack - yogurt
• My lunch - lima bean soup
• Dan's lunch - romaine and tomatoes with homemade mustard dressing; lima bean soup; leftover chicken stir-fry OR slices of deli turkey rolled in deli cheese
• Afternoon snack - 1/2c pistachios, 1 apple
• Dinner - pork medalions in mushroom sauce, sauteed veggies (smashed red potatoes for Dan)

I'm running a 15k Saturday morning so I will almost double my normal breakfast serving of eggs/bacon and maybe add some turkey sausage; for lunch that day, I'll heat whatever soup is left and Saturday night's dinner is supposed to be chicken breasts stuffed with pesto and feta which I'll serve with roasted asparagus and a tiny bit of risotto for Dan. After the normal breakfast on Sunday morning, I'll plan the upcoming week's menu and post it here!