Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Diary of horror - cutting out refined sugar - day one.

Hallo meine Lieben,

yes, I am still alive and I did not run to the store at midnight to get a bottle of Dr. Pepper or starting baking a chocolate cake. Actually, I am surprised that I did not have any sugar cravings last night.



I confess: I am the cookie monster. I am sure there are some sugar-free cookies out there...Somewhere?


It was a pretty spontaneous decision to cut out sugar for five days. I have read about it Sunday and bam, decided to start Monday.


Breakfast.


So far so good....my first problem was the breakfast. I usually eat bread with either vegan wurst or cheese. So I went to the fridge and grabbed the packages...I was prepared for the worst but thanks to the vegan breakfast god: there was no sugar in my cheese or wurst. Thank you! Well, I already told you that I asked the lady in the bakery if my bread contains any sugar which she denied and I was happy because the chewy part of my breakfast was safe!
I was only left with the liquid part of my breakfast: I usually drink a coffee and a tea for breakfast. And yes, I do love my tea very sweet but I believed in myself and managed to drink a sugar free tea which actually wasn't that bad. I could get used to that!
The coffee was the bigger problem because I only had vanilla soy milk in the fridge which contains lots of sugar. So no coffee for me in the morning because I just can't drink black coffee.



The snacks.

I solved the coffee problem by buying unsweetened rice milk which isn't as yummy in my coffee than the vanilla milk but I guess it should be fine for 5 days. 
I usually eat a huge bowl with fruits and raisins (I guess they count as fruits too. I mean, they are dried grapes. Duh.), coconut flakes, walnuts and plain soy yogurt. As I already told you yesterday, I was shocked to see that there is even sugar in my plain yogurt. Epic fail. I really did not expect this. So I ate my yogurt bowl without yogurt which wasn't as satisfying as usual but it was fine.





Lunch.

I am not a huge lunch eater, I prefer breakfast and dinner. So I only had some more bread. I am German, you know. 


Dinner. 

I decided that you can't go wrong with veggies because they are fresh and do not contain any refined sugar. But just veggies is a bit boring, even for me (David says I eat the same stuff than the bunnies) so I decided to add some couscous and a spicy sauce. I thought that brussel sprouts, mushrooms and broccoli are a good choice and roasted everything in a pan, added the couscous, grabbed my bottle of sriracha sauce....and stopped. Sugar in the sriracha sauce. Huge disappointment since I eat that stuff with pretty much everything. But yeah, not that I don't have a huge selection of spices. I love spices and everything I cook is really spicy. So yeah, I decided to make a nice curry....grabbed the jar with curry paste....and stopped. Sugar in the curry paste! Come on! There really is sugar in everything. I double checked that there is no sugar in coconut milk, added ca. 46 different spices and had a yummy sugar-free meal which only was a little nerve-wracking.





Drinks.

I mostly had tea and sparkling water all day. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of water which probably isn't the best thing in the world but what can I do. I hate normal tab water (boring like hell and tasteless) and I am not a huge fan of sparkling water either (I guess I have that in common with America, you never get that there) but it is a whole lot better than just still water. But my favorite juice (apple and rhubarb) contains sugar so I can't drink that right now. Boo. 

The surprise.



I thought I would have really bad chocolate cravings in the evening. I expected to stand in front of the fridge at night and trying to resist all the temptations...but no. Nothing happened. I guess it will happen soon though....so stay tuned.


Have a lovely Tuesday!


15 comments:

  1. cutting out sugar would be hard, good for you!! keep up the good work.

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    1. Thank you, Cassie! It really is surprising that you find sugar in almost everything!

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  2. Ugh, this really is a diary of horror! Stay strong! It's awful that sugar is in everything, even hot sauce. :(

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    1. Thank you so much, Martha! I am doing my best! I did not expect sugar in my hot sauce!

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  3. Wow, I'm so so so amazed you do this :) And I so know what you feel like. I cut out on refined sugar for years due to my food intolerances and boy was I surprised back then to find it in literally everything (just like celery because it's used as a flavor enhancer in Germany and I'm allergic to it). I still cut out on refined sugar because I like it...but I must admit I take care of my sugar intake with (mostly dark) chocolate so it's a bit like cheating here ;)
    I'm sure you can do this for 5 days and I can't wait to hear what else you'll find out till then and if you will get a sugar craving by the end of the week (I'd guess you won't) :)
    Ich drücke Dich gaaaanz fest und finde es echt super, dass Du das einfach so mal ausprobierst. You rock! :)

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    1. Thank you so much, Beate. :) It was a spontaneous idea. I am sorry that you are having so many problems because of your food intolerances. That must be hard! What are the things you can't eat? I can't believe the celery thing! I did not know about that. Wow, so stupid! But yeah, dark chocolate rules! :)
      I will post about it again in the next couple of days. I am already half-way through! :)
      Ich drueck Dich soooo dolle, liebe Beate!

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  4. Good job on your first day! I love the title of your post - it made me giggle! :o)

    I actually prefer my tea without any sugar - you'll probably get used to that pretty easily! Here in London people put milk in their tea which I just can't understand. Maybe I'm missing something and it actually tastes really good with milk?

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    1. Thank you, Sarah! Glad you like the title. :)

      That's great you prefer tea without sugar! I wish I would! :) But I am getting used to it! And I love tea with milk! Not all teas but I do love my Irish breakfast tea with almond milk! Well, any kind of black tea. But also green tea and mint tea is good with milk in my opinion. You should give it a try. :)

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  5. See, sugar is in just about everything!
    I'm impressed that you are managing this - being vegan, I imagine you pretty much can't eat anything anyway. Taking away sugar must leave you with almost nothing!

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    1. It really is in almost everything. I was so surprised that there is sugar in chips, hot sauce, curry paste, plain yogurt....everything!
      Thank you so much, being vegan can be tricky sometimes, especially when you live in a smaller town. I do love to use fresh ingredients which makes it a bit easier to be vegan and cut out sugar. But I do agree that it can be difficult in general!

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  6. Awwww, sriracha... that makes me sad too. I'm glad you're doing so well with it though

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    1. Thank you! I really did not expect sugar in sriracha!

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    These 3 studies from large medicinal magazines are sure to turn the traditional nutrition world around!

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