Ok yall I've finally prepared myself and our kitchen for a full no added sugar diet change! There are two things I’ve changed since originally wanting to do this. The first is that I can’t technically call this a “detox”. Because I’m still using sugar at home. I have organic raw sugar that I will be using for baking bread and such, and of course honey and maple syrup. So because I’m not abstaining from sugar completely I wouldn’t call this a detox. I am avoiding all added sugars in products we buy from the store. This may sound silly since I am still using sugar at home, but the difference is that I am in control in how much is added, and can control how much of it we are all consuming each day. If I continue to buy the products with added sugars AND add sugars in stuff I make at home, it’s too much! Second is that I don’t want this to be for a short time period and classified as a “diet”. I would rather this be a “diet CHANGE”. There’s really no need to buy a bunch of products that have unnecessary ingredients! Sugar is a major addiction for me so I really wanted to move away from having so much of it.
So with that being said, here we go again! I’ve figured out the majority of what to do in finding and preparing meals without the added sugars and surprisingly its not as difficult as it seemed at first! Once you figure out the products that don’t have added sugars, and what you are willing and able to make yourself it’s totally do-able.
A few things I found the most difficult to avoid:
Lunch meat, peanut butter, bread, tortillas, and cereal!
The solution:
Lunch meat: I found that there were two options for sugar free lunch meat. One is Boars head from the deli counter. However it’s extremely expensive per pound. The second was surprisingly Hilshire farms! The Smoked Turkey kind from the lunch meat section at the grocery store. Now I know it’s not the highest choice for people wanting to eat organic, grass fed, free range meats, but there is no added sugars! And that’s the focus right now.
Peanut Butter: This one has a solution, but not one I’m a fan of! They do make Peanut butter that is just nuts and salt. It’s just not my favorite. I definitely prefer sugar added to my peanut butter! This is the brand I have purchased:
Bread and Tortillas are next to impossible to find at the store without added sugars. I have found that Food For Life Ezekiel breads contain no sugar and made with sprouted grains which are very healthy for you! I have found them in the frozen section at Publix and at the commissary.
The cinnamon Raisin bread is my favorite for toast at breakfast. The other sprouted breads are good, but the kids aren’t huge fans of it because it’s not quite as soft as other breads we have purchased. I still really love Rudi’s brand breads. But they have the added “evaporated cane juice” which is sugar. The Ezekiel tortillas are ok, just again, not quite as soft and tend to tear when rolling them up. So I have decided to start making our own bread again, and found a recipe to make home made tortillas that I will attempt today!! We love tortillas for wraps at lunch, and we eat tacos at least once a week. So I’m hoping it’s a success and easy to keep on hand at all times! I used to bake our own bread a lot, but never quite got the hang of slicing it just right for sandwiches. Then life gets in the way and because I forgot to bake the bread it was easier to just buy a loaf at the store.
Cereal: This is an extremely difficult one! I did find that Food for life also makes Ezekiel cereal that I just bought yesterday to try, but it’s $5 a box and not a big box either! For myself and my hubby, we have been eating some home made granola I made a while back with my home made yogurt for breakfast and it’s super yummy! However the kids prefer a cereal. And I cannot find any that has no added sugar that they would like! For the time being, We just won’t be buying cereal. We can eat eggs, pancakes and oatmeal for breakfast. There are organic brands of cereal that we like, and have added organic sugars and fruit sweeteners that I would feel comfortable with them having, but again, the goal right now is to not buy or eat products with added sugars.
I plan to really focus on this and pay attention to the products we buy for the month of June. This will hopefully change my habits in shopping and awareness in how we feel when sugar is cut way back from our diets. We will still be going out to eat and enjoying ourselves!! So when we go out which is typically about once a week, I will not be overly concerned about added sugars because I’m obviously making the conscious decision to eat food someone else prepared.
So I’ll be sharing what we do and buy during this process! I’ll also try and share our menu plans for each week so you can see the different meals you can still eat and enjoy!
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