Day 30: Counting Down the Minutes

30 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in Dessert, Diet, Food, Health, Nutrition, raw, Recipes, Snacks, sugar-free

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Welcome to day thirty of the Sugar Free Challenge! Tomorrow is the last day for the challenge. Are you counting down the minutes or has it been easy for you?

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Mini Smacks!

Lunch: Socca with a spinach salad topped with fresh bruschetta. Served with a hard-boiled egg.

Snack: Apple with Homemade Pistachio Butter.

Dinner: ”Mac-n-Cheez”. Mix of brown rice, quinoa, green peas, and shredded chicken breast. Mix a couple Tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast in with a splash of water. Sprinkle with salt and lots of pepper!

Dessert: PBC Bars

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Are you counting down the minutes, or has the challenge been relatively easy for you?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 

 

Day 29: Eating and Craving Sugar

29 Sunday Jan 2012

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Welcome to day twenty-nine of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Today’s Reason to be Sugar-Free: 

Just eating a lot of sugar can cause you to want more of the same. In a presentation at the 2010 Weston A. Price Foundation conference, Nora Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT, explained that if you eat a lot of sugar and starch (which turns to sugar), your body and brain become metabolically adapted to burning glucose for fuel, instead of burning fat for fuel. She says, “You are going to crave carbohydrates if you are adapted to being dependent on glucose as your primary source of fuel. . . . Sugar is going to look good to you and you are going to crave it. Some people can’t even get to noon without a snack, without going half crazy.”

For example, if you eat sugary breakfast cereals you will often become hungry an hour later and want to eat more sugar. You may feel like you are going to crash without it. Processed carbohydrates get absorbed very quickly, producing an unnaturally rapid increase in blood glucose. A rapid increase in blood glucose puts your body in a state of shock, prompting it to pump out lots of insulin very quickly. As a result of overproduction of insulin, soon you have very low blood glucose again. (Insulin is what puts on weight too.) A fluctuating blood sugar level can trigger food cravings, migraines, mood swings, weak spells, drowsiness and much more.  –Weston Price

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Sunday Morning Pancakes! Why not have some Gluten-Free Green Pancakes? I promise they taste delicious, and you get the extra bonus of some Vitamin A and K.

Lunch: Spicy Tomato Cure. If you or a loved one is sick, fill ‘em up with this cure. It helps sooth the throat and stomach while killing bacteria and viruses.

Snack: Apple Crisps with Peanut Butter Hummus Dip

Dinner: Quiche with Flourless Crust

Dessert: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Do you crave sugar at certain times? If so, how do you overcome these cravings?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 


Day 26: Iced Coffee

26 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in Chocolate, Dessert, Diet, Food, Health, Nutrition, raw, Recipes, Snacks, sugar-free

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Welcome to day twenty-six of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: One Size Fits all Pancakes with fresh sliced strawberries and Peanut Butter Cream.

I also had some Iced Coffee. I had some fun taking these pictures and watching the almond milk mix with the chilled hazelnut coffee:

The almond milk slowly seeps down through the coffee…Kind of looks like a root beer float!

Mix! Mix! Mix! Look at that nice foamy layer on top!

Lunch: Baked Sweet Potato with almond butter and cinnamon.

Dinner: Steak, Corn on the Cob, Mashed Taters, and Fresh Watermelon!

Dessert: Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Do you like your coffee or tea hot or cold?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 

Day 25: Other Blogger Recipe Ideas

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Chocolate, Dessert, Diet, Food, Health, Nutrition, raw, Recipes, Snacks, sugar-free

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Welcome to day twenty-five of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Today’s sample menu is a compilation of other bloggers’ sugar-free recipes. I adore these recipes, and I hope you do, too!

Breakfast: Pure2Raw’s Pumpkin Pancakes with Coconut Chia Sauce

Lunch: Dana @ My Little Celebration’s Sweet Potato Veggie Chowder

Dinner: Katie Did’s Creamy Bacon Rosemary Polenta

Dessert: Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit’s Grain-Free Carrot Cupcakes with “Cream Cheese” Frosting

Thanks to you all (and more!) for inspiring me with your recipes.

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Have a favorite sugar-free recipe? Please share and provide a link or description below!

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 

Day 24: National Peanut Butter Day

24 Tuesday Jan 2012

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Welcome to day twenty-four of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Did you know today is National Peanut Butter Day? Yes! My favorite food has its own holiday. So I declare today to be a day full of finger-lickin (literally. try dipping your finger in peanut butter. Tastes way better than on a spoon) Peanut butter-goodness.

Here is today’s Peanut Butter-Filled sample menu:

Breakfast: Bitter Chocolate Waffles topped with Peanut Butter and Banana Slices. Also try High Protein Cookie Crisp Cereal and PBC Bars.

Lunch: How about a good ol’ PB&J?

Snack: Apple Crisps with Peanut Butter Hummus Dip

Dinner: Homemade Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Dessert: I have plenty of peanut-butter filled options for this course. Above, the Grain-Free Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Sauce is a for sure winner. Also try Peanut Butter Cups and Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Butter Crust.

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

Personal Note: Today I get the stitches out of my mouth, so hopefully I will be able to move my mouth more easily. I feel better and better each day, and was able to do a bit of light exercise yesterday. I’m still on a liquid diet, but hopefully having the stitched removed will help me be able to eat more.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Do you love peanut butter as much as me? What are your favorite ways to eat it, and what are your favorite recipes?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist. 

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