Sugar Free February- Are You Ready?
Although Gluten Free January is about to wrap up, the move toward better health through dietary changes isn’t over yet! The next step in this health challenge is eliminating added sugars for the month of February – yes, even Valentine’s Day.
So, why are we doing this? GFJ and SFF are part of a larger plan for everyone to participate in slowly going paleo over the course of one year. Most other CF gyms attempt this with a full-force one to two month paleo challenge where CFers drop all of their bad food habits at once and strive to win a prize at the end of the tunnel. While that is a great way to get quick results, they typically don’t last. Folks can stick to a very strict diet regimen when an end is in sight, but quickly return back to old habits once that challenge is over.
We’re more interested in helping you all to achieve a lifetime of good health, rather than see who can lean out the quickest. And the best way for dietary changes to become lifelong habits is to introduce these changes slowly, one at a time. We’re starting with the hardest pieces to give up–wheat and sugar—which also are likely the most detrimental to your health. 30 days is enough time to see benefits from a positive change, and also long enough to create a habit or routine. The hope is that you will carry on what you learned and adapted to in the previous month to the next.
So with that being said- here goes Sugar Free Feb!
The deal:
Avoid all added sugars for the full 28 days (sweet, it’s not a leap year!). This includes white granulated sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup (high fructose or otherwise), agave syrup, maple syrup, honey, molasses….
Also to be avoided are “secret” sugars that live in processed foods (which by now you eat in limited quantities anyway, right? Right). In addition to the ingredients above, you can often find things like dextrose, fructose, glucose, invert sugar, maltose, malt syrup, sucrose, barley malt etc. Often there are several of these in one food product.
But aren’t some of those, like honey, “natural sugars” that are ok to eat? Yes and no. The point of this month is detox. High sugar foods are an acquired taste and something that your palate gets trained to either like or dislike. By avoiding anything super sweet for the full month, a couple of things can potentially happen. 1- you’ll break the “dessert every night” cycle; and 2- treats that you used to enjoy may feel nauseatingly sweet and you can feel just as satisfied with a really small piece of dark chocolate or even some fruit.
Oh and one more thing- artificial sweeteners are off limits too. Check out Mark Sissen’s recent rant on diet soda for some more detail and references. The gist is this- fake sugars are creepy. They are chemicals made in a lab meant to trick your tongue into thinking it’s sugar. They may or may not be causing havoc on your insides (because they’re creepy chemicals, remember). But they definitely are making your sweet tooth more voracious. Since the point of this month is to quell that snaggle tooth, the packets of splenda, equal, stevia, sweet ‘n low should all be avoided. As should diet sodas, crystal lite, and any other zero calorie drink that tastes sweet.
Bottom line: While still trying to maintain the work you did with gluten last month, eat as little sugar (or sugar-like product) as possible for the next 4 weeks. This means taking coffee black, staying away from sweet-tarts and Sees candy, checking out the ingredients list on your packaged foods, and NO SODA or other sweetened beverages. The hardest part will be the first two weeks, after that your taste buds should start to adjust. Bonus: by eating less sugar you’ll experience less blood sugar highs and lows, and energy crashes!
On board? Put a comment below! Also put your questions or comments about how things are going for you. I’ll put up more tips and tricks as we move through the month, which will be more helpful to you guys if you put specific questions.
10 comments
For me, I think the hardest part will be my coffee and the random treats that “appear” at work several times per week. I’ve had a goal in mind of eventually being able to drink my coffee black for some time (already do that with tea) so this is just the push I need. I’ll start by buying some good quality, mellow flavored beans and brewing my cups on the weak side. If I go out for a cup, I’ll get an Americano instead of drip coffee because that tends to be less bitter.
For the at work treats, my best way to approach it is to make sure I am well nourished so hunger won’t weaken my resolve to stay away!
On board.
I struggled in January most at those social events that I tend to forget I do so often: Three (!) birthday celebrations and a dinner with friends. I also had a tough time at a big meeting for work at our conference center where the break rooms always have lots of sweet treats out for free grazing. However, all of my friends and family were really supportive…at the dinner party, the person responsible for dessert made chocolate fondue with lots of lovely fresh fruit, so I didn’t get singled out for eating something different than everyone else or not having anything at all. I was also able to make good substitutions – at the work event, I had nuts while others had cookies and candy.
Reading labels really matters with sugar, though. Those stealthy “-ose” ingredients and sugars show up remarkably often in stuff you wouldn’t expect. I had to set aside a package of jerky that I brought home without reading carefully enough.
No kidding about the jerky, I see soy products in the ingredients too.
this is going to be awesome…I’m psyched to stand up to Valentine’s day!
Ok…I am onboard. I am only committing to the work week though. Ultimately I am planning on taking about 24 hours off on the weekends to start with. Easing into it.
Does stevia count as an artificial sweetener? Or is this OK?
How was everyone’s first day? My coffee was a success- brewed at home and then put a pinch of cinnamon and it was delicious. I will admit that I wanted a cookie for the better portion of the afternoon… there’s definitely something about making a food forbidden than makes people want it more!
E-Shang- Stevia definitely is considered an artificial sweetener. It’s estimated at 200-300 times sweeter than sugar so falls under the “raising the sweet-tooth” category. And the main producers of stevia are using other processed additives like erythritol which is a sugar alcohol not unlike sorbitol (sugar alcohol found in other fake sugars). And again, the point of this month is detox so having stevia won’t help your cause.
And PS- If you’re going to cheat, use something sweetened with regular sugar and not the fake stuff. And if it’s cheat-worthy it better be damn good.
Alison,
I know corn tortilla chips are gluten free but since they’re made of corn doesn’t that raise the sugar flag? Isn’t corn converted to glucose in the body? I figured corn tortilla chips and salsa would be a great snack for this month and last.
Hey Jason!
You are right that corn is broken down into glucose after it is digested and absorbed into your blood stream. But that’s essentially what all carbohydrates do, and that’s not a bad thing in the right amounts. Glucose is eventually used by your cells to create energy which is needed to fuel every biochemical reaction in your body from the work that enzymes do, to keeping your heart pumping, brain working and muscles moving. In emergency situations we can make do without glucose, but it’s not ideal.
The problem is most people get too many of these carbohydrates, especially in the form of added sugars. Too much is stored as fat for later use, and consistently raising your blood sugar can eventually lead to diabetes and heart disease and (in my humble opinion) cancer. Added sugars like those I mention above do a body no good, and are best to be eaten in as little quantity as possible (whereas the carbs/sugars found in fruits, veggies and some starches also come with very healthy nutrients that you need daily). So this month is about taking those added sugars out, which typically account for a large portion of the standard american diet.
Hope that answered your question!
Gluten free corn tortillas were Liza’s saving grace today when she wasn’t feeling well and wanted something bland.