That’s All Folks…or is it?

Last Monday when I started the 10 Day Challenge, I figured come day 11 I would wake up and…

Where would I go to eat for lunch? For dinner? What sweet treats did I have in store for myself? I survived the past 10 days of having no “added sugar” in my life. Now, it was time for this curtain to close…

I woke up this morning at 5am in order to get myself together, make a smoothie and be on my way to the Barre. I had some Chocolate Almond Milk that I had bought pre-challenge and didn’t want it to go to waste so I mixed it with the Aloha Chocolate blend, a banana and some ice. I didn’t feel a whole lot different throughout the day. For lunch I had some chicken salad, hummus and pita chips – all which had no added sugar.

Dinner rolled around and I had gotten caught up doing some work on the computer so I decided to head to Savor. I’ve been there a handful of times and hadn’t been there in a while so figured I’d swing by and grab something to go. If you’ve never been to Savor I definitely suggest checking it out. Their “…mission is to work with our local farmers, growers and purveyors to source products with integrity, flavor and soul.The result is food that is simple and straightforward using ingredients at their peak allows us to capture the essence of the season and bring it straight to your table.”

As always, I couldn’t make a decision so I ordered the “Carolina Shrimp & Andouille Sausage Gravy over Yellow Stone-Ground Grits” and the “Cowboy Pork Chop over Country Ham & Succotash Risotto” and figured my boyfriend and I could split it. While I waited for our entrees I stared at the dessert menu. After going back and forth (devil on one shoulder and angel on the other) and the bartender raving about her favorite dessert, I figured why not? Heck, for all the sugar I cut out having some sweets every once in a while isn’t that bad, right? After all, that was one of the main reasons I did this – to learn to have sweets on occasion, but not necessarily every day.

I opted for the Butterscotch Bread Pudding. I’m Team Chocolate for sure (no pun intended), but the bartender strongly recommended the Butterscotch Bread Pudding, promising I wouldn’t be disappointed. Coincidentally, she had also done the Fed Up Challenge before so clearly we had a bond and my trust was instilled in her.

Dinner was awesome. Loved both entrees. I know there was some added sugar in both of them for sure, but I wasn’t focused on that. I was too busy SAVORing (pun intended) how delicious my food was. On to the dessert…

I knew I needed to proceed with caution.

It was absolutely delicious just as she had promised, but…. What had I done?!?

Ok, so maybe I was being slightly dramatic with my texts to Christina about how I felt after eating several (large) bites of the puddin’ but I swear, my body went into sugar shock. I can’t imagine what I would’ve felt like if I had more than a few bites!

And this is exactly what I wanted in order to prove to myself that I really would notice a difference.

So, what’s next?

Well, not exactly. I’m going to make a VERY strong effort to do the following:

1.  Continue to buy more REAL food.
2.  Continue to be conscious of how much sugar is in any products I’m purchasing at the grocery store.
3.  Think more about the foods I’m ordering when I’m out to eat or getting take out somewhere.
4.  Still be sure to enjoy some of my favorite not so healthy treats in MODERATION.
5.  “Am I hungry?” vs. “Am I bored?”
6.  “Am I craving sugar?” vs. “Am I just hungry?”

“The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of added sugars you consume to no more than half of your daily discretionary calorie allowance. For most American women, this is no more than 100 calories per day and no more than 150 calories per day for men (or about 6 teaspoons per day for women and 9 teaspoons per day for men).”

I think the most important thing is to realize that no particular lifestyle is for everyone. I say lifestyle because the food that we eat really is a huge part of our lives as a whole. After all, food is meant to fuel our bodies. In today’s society, I think sometimes that gets overlooked amidst all of the commercials, advertisements, restaurant openings and food trends. I’m not going to lie, it’s really hard NOT to get caught up in all of that.

Out of all my friends and family there are people that are vegetarians, pescatarians, vegans, paleo, gluten free, dairy free… The list seems to go on forever. Then there’s plenty that don’t follow any sort of dietary plan and just eat whatever they would like. At one time or another, I feel like I’ve tried out all of the above, but never really stuck to any of them (other than eating whatever I would like – whoopsies). After watching Fed Up, I think I had a little “ah ha” moment as I started to think about how much sugar I consumed on a daily basis. I also started to think about how much I must’ve consumed a few years back when I was far less “healthy” than I am now.

There truly is so many different components that factor into what YOUR body needs and it might not be what your significant other or your best friend needs. Finding a balance between making healthy choices and enjoying your favorite foods can be really difficult at times. It can take time, but finding what works best for you and you alone will hopefully get you on your way to living a balanced and healthy life.