No Sugar: Day 2 and Lemon Pound Cake

 

Yes, today should technically be day 4, but we had guests in town this weekend, and one of said guests makes an excellent lemon pound cake (from scratch). So, it was one of those "live life" moments. Which I was completely fine with. I did get off track a little after the cake... damn animal crackers. BUT, yesterday, I started fresh, reassessed my goals, and got back on the wagon. Here's the plan, since I didn't go into much detail before.

-No adding sugar to thing. No sugar (white, brown, powdered), no stevia, no splenda, no honey, no maple syrup, etc
-No foods with added sweeteners. (cereals, granola, nut milks, protein bars...)
- Two servings of fruit a day, either green apples, berries, or greenish bananas, no juices.
-Protein shakes are allowed on the days I work out, because I typically burn 400-600 calories per session.
Two beverages of choice on weekends to help me keep my sanity through the start of pumpkin beer season. Typically, I'll split one with my Honey.


Goals: Feel great for family photos on Sept 13, for little Honey's first birthday party, and look awesome in a bikini for the fall beach trip I have planned for the end of September!

There it is. Two down, twenty-eight to go!

Guilt Free Chocolate Covered Banana Bites

Oh man. I hit it big with this one. In my quest of no sugar for 30 days, I found a loophole. Not really, because it doesn't have sugar, but it feels like one. Now, these aren't crazy low calorie, but they are rich enough that just a few will do the trick. Plus you get a dose of healthy fats from the coconut oil. So, here is the recipe for these crazy-good chocolate covered banana bites. 

2 T coconut oil

2 T cocoa 

1 banana, sliced and frozen

Wax paper

Put coconut oil in the smallest container you can find (I used a shot glass).

Microwave until liquified-about 15 seconds.

Stir in cocoa powder until thoroughly mixed.

Dip frozen bananas in the chocolate and lay on parchment paper to set. 

Store in freezer until ready to eat.

That's it! It took about 5 minutes to whip up a batch of these, and the three or four I ate were plenty to take care of my dessert craving. Next time, I may top them with a sprinkle of sea salt or sliced almonds. 

What is your go-to guilt free treat???

Quitting Paleo for Quitting Sugar

    

 

Hi friends!

Lately,  the hubs and I have been on a Paleo kick... Short version: Paleo is eating like a caveman: meat, veggies, fruit, seeds. No grains, no dairy, no processed anything. You can find the long version here. I honestly didn't feel so great on the Paleo diet. I am still nursing, so I had to be sure to get enough calories and healthy fats in, but really just felt weighed down and like I had no energy. I may have not given my body long enough to adjust, but I decided to take a different path after reading I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson. It was an eye opener. I have a HORRID sweet tooth, and reading about the crave/eat sugar > high> crash> crave/eat sugar... cycle really opened my eyes to what I do to my body and my brain when I eat junk. It  really creeps me out when I read that sugar is as addictive as cocain. A few months ago, I completed the 21 Day Fix (which I LOVED... more about that later...) and it really taught me what I should be eating and how much. I lost 10+ pounds in 21 days, "got jacked" as Honey would say, and felt amazing. Then, life crept back in as it usually does.  I am still in the gym and I still eat pretty well most of the time, however, my sweet tooth has made a return in the form of "just one bite", "I worked out, so I can have dessert, right?", and "one extra beer won't matter..." YES. It matters. Because it starts the cycle. SO I'm quitting sugar for 30 days to retrain my body and my brain. No processed junk, no sugar in my coffee, no maple syrup, no honey, no crazy fruit binges and worst of all (dun, dun, duhhhhhhh...) no crazy delicious organic animal crackers that are more like crack than a snack. ( I keep telling myself "they are for the baby... they are for the baby..." )  It's 5:50pm on day one, and I'm already feeling better and like myself. Here is what today's menu looked like:

Breakfast:
Coffee, TJ's soy creamer, 1/2 tsp coconut oil, splash of vanilla
2 Kale and turkey sausage egg white cups, 1/4 avocado, Ezekiel bread with cinnamon
Lunch:
Left-over naked fajitas on spring mix
Fage 0% yogurt with almonds and cocoa powder
Snack:
Green apple
Hummus and celery
Dinner:
Chicken Apple Sausage with mixed veggies
Paleo Chocolate

One last note about getting into diet trouble... I like to make things waaaay more complex than they need to be. I like to get creative and add a pinch of this, a dash of that, and handful of chocolate chips to oatmeal... ( totally healthy right??? Not.)  So, I'm definitely scaling back on the kitchen creations and getting back to the root of simple recipes and whole foods.

What are your dieting woes and tips to stay on track? I'd love to hear!!