Sugar Free September – The End

Yesterday was the last day of ‘Sugar Free September’. Did I start today with sugar laden cereal or go for coffee and cake to help me stay awake after very little sleep (thanks to my son)? I could if I wanted to, the challenge is over but no, strangely I haven’t headed for the sugar…..

The last month has been a real eye opener. Thirty days of no sugar, pasta, bread and dairy. Thirty days of eating clean. I love a challenge and I’m pretty hard on myself so there was no way I was going to give in. Even last week, with 17 people in my house for a Macmillan coffee morning and enough cake for about 50 people. I didn’t so much as lick a stray bit of cake off my fingers. I’ve found it all pretty easy apart from those first few days. What I have really noticed is how many things contain sugar. I have had to cook pretty much everything from scratch. It’s made me look more at what I’m giving my children as well. I don’t have a problem with them having sweets or chocolate as a treat occasionally but I want to be the one who controls how much sugar they are getting. When you start to look at how many daily food items have so much added sugar you realise how it’s been taken out of your control and you are actually giving them much higher amounts than you intended. My major concern is sugar laden cereal and I am going to stop getting this for my children. It’s difficult because they have a routine of having milk and dry cereal every morning as a pre-breakfast and the proper breakfast is wholemeal toast, fruit or porridge with raisins (no added sugar). I am going to have a chat with them and hope they understand.

I didn’t take on this challenge to lose weight but the 10lbs loss has been an added bonus, I have also lost the following inches:

Bust 1 inch
Waist 3 inches
Hips 2 inches
Arm 1 inch
Thigh 1.5 inches

I feel good, less bloated, have more energy and I’m strangely calmer. I don’t know what I expected but it certainly wasn’t feeling like this.  My taste buds have definitely changed and a dried fruit bar that was a bit tasteless to me a month ago now tastes really sweet to me.

The future is the hard part for me, my idea is that I continue to live like this whenever I’m at home but if I’m out and really feel like a treat I can allow myself that. I can’t forget day two and three, going through withdrawal from sugar like it was a drug.  It was awful and I don’t ever want to go through that again. I want to keep that memory for as long as possible to help me stay on the right track. I am going to try to make some cakes that don’t contain sugar.  I’ve tried baking a few in the past and they have been pretty awful and inedible but that could just be my cooking, I’m certainly no Nigella.

So I want to leave you with some things to consider. Do you know how much refined sugar you are actually consuming? Are you feeling tired, irritable and bloated? Do you think it could be time to cut down your sugar intake…….