Quitting Sugar - Days 4 and 5

Wasn't this weekend great here in the Cotswolds?!

How have things gone over the weekend regarding sugar for us both?  Here are each of our experiences.

For me, the weekend involved quite a bit of studying and quite a lot of digging and working on her allotment.











When I went to get our Friday takeaway I realised how I chucked in chocolate or sweets without thinking!! In addition we used to have a "treat day" once a week when the kids were younger but now that had crept into daily life.

Had a few moments where I really would have liked something sweet, chocolate, cake etc but was able to quickly dispel them!



I was going to get on my soap box about chronic diseases, sugar and how the sugar tax is not the answer... more like putting a plaster on a broken leg but not today.


Karen writes that it was a very active one starting on Friday afternoon with meeting her aunt for coffee in town and was pleased with herself by ordering a granary sandwich rather than skipping lunch and having a slice of lemon meringue pie of cake.  Saturday morning was taken up with gardening and on Sunday taking a woodland walk, enjoying a picnic followed by kite flying. 

She hasn't struggled with cravings as such, for her it is still more about habitual eating of sweet things and treats so being conscious of this is her main focus.  What was a bit of a struggle for her was grocery shopping on Saturday, being aware of not eating sugar and refined carbohydrates, and having to stop reaching out for the usual things she would add to the trolley like muffins or waffles for breakfast, chocolate mousse or ice creams for dessert, chocolate for while watching TV and so on. 

She has realised she likes far too many sweet treats and eats far more than she actually realised, purely out of habit and as associated activity.  For example, pre-quitting sugar, going out for a coffee would automatically come with cake or going out for a meal would automatically mean dessert. 

On Sunday she tried out a little experiment.  After her walk with her hubby, they stopped at the tea room for tea and coffee and this always would mean a giant slice of cake each as well.  She had her cup of tea (no sugar added) and treated herself to the bottom part of the cake, minus the icing and hubby enjoyed the rest.  The experiment was to see whether this would be enough and also whether it would actually feel more of a treat than it usually would be.  It was eaten slowly and appreciated, rather than taken for granted and also that small piece was sufficient.  But you know, she said she could easily not have had it so now knows that a visit to a tea room doesn't actually need to have cake at all. 

Another success so far, this time in recognising and then disconnecting an activity from habitual eating.