Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

Day 1: Sugar Free Challenge

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WAHOOOOO! Today is officially the first day of the Sugar Free Challenge.

I am so glad that many wonderful people signed up! Just check out this list:

Thank you all for signing up! Actually, your body will thank you for taking the challenge!

Here is a sample menu for today (a.k.a, what I ate yesterday):

Breakfast: Green Omelet (Spinach, green peppers, capers, oregano) with a side of watermelon and Iced Coffee (Hazelnut Decaf with Unsweetened Almond Milk). Vegan Option: Breakfast Oat Cakes.

Lunch: A BIG spinach salad with apples, almonds, avocado, strawberries, black olives, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, green onions. Drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Topped with dill.

Snack: Banana Monster! Banana, peanut butter, unsweetened carob chips, sunflower seeds.

Dinner: It looked just like this Heart-Stopping Chicken Salad, but I substituted potatoes and hard-boiled eggs for the chicken. Vegan Option: Substitute Chickpeas for the meat.

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

How was your first day of sugar-free? Do you have a menu planned? What did you eat?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I love this sample menu! The banana monster is a delicious reminder that sugar-free doesn’t mean it’s not sweet!

  4. I love your meal ideas – thanks for sharing! I actually started yesterday – just needed a break from sugar! Some meals were definitely easier than others, sugar really is used in so many things that just don’t need it! Here’s my recap: For breakfast I had oatmeal with strawberries, ground flaxseed, oat bran, egg whites, and almond milk. Lunch was a huge salad with romaine, tomato, peppers, and cucumber topped with 2 oz chicken breast and a homemade dressing with olive oil, red wine vinegar, spicy mustard, and italian seasoning. For snack I had plain greek yogurt mixed with homemade salsa and kale chips for dipping. Dinner was grilled chicken breast, garlic lemon green beans, and a brown rice salad (brown rice, lime juice, olive oil, avocado, cilantro, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, and pepper). I’ve already had today’s breakfast which didn’t taste sugar free at all – choco-banana soft serve (frozen banana, half-n-half, cocoa powder), Ezekiel sprouted toast with all natural peanut butter, and coffee (with skim milk since I used the half-n-half with the banana).

    • Wow!!! That sounds fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I especially love your salad dressing from yesterday-spicy mustard with oil, vinegar, and italian seasoning is my favorite. And I totally agree that banana soft serve tastes completely sugar-full 😉

  5. I am so excited to start this!

    Your meal plan sounds awesome. I just found myself thinking how great my green tea tastes without any honey in it. I don’t know why it took me to join the sugar-free challenge to realize this, but I am glad that it did! Already, I’m seeing the amazing results (on my attitude at least).

    And I just noticed that the link to my site is broken. It’s no big deal, but if you could fix that, it would be great!

    • What kind of green tea do you drink? I love Jasmine green-such a mild, flowery flavor-tastes fabulous without sweetener!

      And so sorry, but I think I fixed it! I had it copied and pasted wrong 🙁

      • Jasmine green tea is wonderful, although I don’t have stash currently. I had Ceylon green tea today, but usually I drink the fruity-green teas, which probably doesn’t help with the “sweet” cravings I get. Have you had matcha green tea?

        Thank you so much for fixing the link! 🙂

        • I go to a local tea place and buy organic jasmine dragon pearls. It is so cool because they start out as little pearls, but they grow into a sea-monster thing while steeping in hot water!

          And yes, I have tried matcha! I know it is so good for you, but I don’t buy it that much because it is relatively high in caffeine and can be kinda expensive…

      • Organic jasmine dragon pearls? Your description sounds amazing. I wonder if Whole Foods carry them. I haven’t been to in a while. I should go and check.

        Does Matcha have more caffeine than other green teas?

  6. i love it!! im not going entirely go sugah free BUT im gna watch my intake this week and semi join in!!!! only becuz i freakin need my soy sauce, pickles and chocolate chips…………. oh and jam… but it dusnt have added sugar! just fruit juice.. does that count as added sugar?

    • haha….ok….But you should try unsweetened chocolate-seriously! And you should try and find Bragg’s liquid aminos (soy sauce)-AMAZING! And try soaking cukes in vinegar and seasoning-just like pickles only better and crunchier! And yeah, just-fruit sweetened jam counts as sugar-free for me 🙂

      See! It is totally doable 🙂

  7. Last minute sign-up, no meals planned but that’s ok – as long as I am committed, and I am!

    As you guys are talking about tea – Hot Cinnamon Spice from Harney&Sons is actually naturally sweet! it contains orange peel and sweet cloves, and i’d say that is the best cinnamon tea.

    good luck everyone!

  8. So far, so good! I found some “hidden” sugar in my kidney beans today, though, which made me furious. Thankfully, I checked the label before eating and swapped them out for cannelini beans in my salad. Ugh. Now what to do with two cans of beans with sugar? Gross!

  9. Looks like you have a great list of people! Can’t wait to hear more about everybody’s experiences! And this sample menu looks awesome…I would totally eat all of that good stuff!

  10. Wait – how did I just stumble on this now? Can I still join even if the day hasn’t been sugar free so far? I promise not to eat any MORE sugar today. 🙂

    (And, hey, it was just a LARA bar.)

    • Of course! I would love for you to join! Just click on the Sugar-Free Challenge link above to sign up. (And most larabars don’t have added sugar, anyway 😉 Just dates!)

  13. It’s only 2pm and I have ate my usually foods – my challenge is dessert so the true test will be tonight. But I will say that I already want a cookie.

  15. I am not that big on fruit so for me, it is truly 100% Sugar Free challenge and I am super excited about it. As a matter of fact, I have decided to do 30 days, not 10 just to “toughen” myself up more. 😉

  16. Well, I just sign-ed up…but am already doing a self-inflicted sugar free 2 weeks so here is what I had:

    Coffee w coconut milk and cinnamon.

    b: Homemade musuli: raw…almonds, walntus, sunflower seeds, raisins, oats, ground golden flax, cinnamon; topped with homemade vanilla almond milk. WOW.

    L: Green salad, with beets lean chicken, goji berries topped with home made green monster dressing (and some nooch). with an apricot.

    D: homemade carmelized onion and pineapple pizza with a Mojito Sparkler

    snack: cashew butter stuffed dates with cinnamon.

    oh my gosh sugar free never tasted so good!

    Hope you are doing well!

    • Haha….I guess it is kinda new? I don’t know…I have bananas and pb with chocolate or carob all the time, but this time I made it into a monster! More fun!

      And I KNOW!!! I am amazed at all the participants. It is fabulous!

  19. I started the challenge yesterday too as that was the 1st of June here and first day of winter so my menu was slightly different 🙂 not so much salad some slightly warmer foods but all sugar free, dairy free & gluten free!

  20. Good luck to you all 😀 I seriously dont want to end my beautiful friendship with dark chocolate for so long 😛 But it is not like I get a lot of sugar anyway! Hope youll enjoy your challange 😀

  21. I am already sugar free (very new convert) but think this challenge is a fab idea – go for it everyone! One of the best decisions you will ever make for your body.

    I love love love the banana monster :0)

  23. Awww so great you listed all participants..we are so many!
    Yesterday I ate a vegetable burger and tortilla chips. Today I had a pancake similar to the German cherry pancake and a cup of cocoa. Later on vegies for lunch/dinner.

  24. I must admit despite my best efforts to have fell off the wagon! I’ve had splenda in my coffee and a coworker brought homemade brownies to work which I couldn’t resist! I have used stevia in my greek yogurt, and will continue to atleast keep my sugar intake to a minimum. I enjoy your blog and thanks for the support!

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