The First Day Is Behind Me

Well,  I thought going sugar free was going to be fairly easy-  but I am quickly discovering just how much sugar is in everything we eat.

My day started with a Protein Bar :  2 Grams Of Sugar (I'm feeling fairly pleased with myself, as the bars I have are very low in sugar)

Post workout I have a smoothie consisting of Frozen Blueberries, Pomegranates, and Strawberries, Plus Skim Milk, Protein Powder and Flax Seeds.

Total Sugars (now granted, these are "good" sugars) but still:   25 Grams  and that was just breakfast!

My lunch consisted of Vegetarian Meat Loaf, Some Veggies and a Nectarine.

The Nectarine has 14 grams of sugar in it.

Dinner was taco night at my house..  Black Beans, Cheese, Sour Cream, Veggies (Green Red Yellow Peppers, Onions)

8 grams of sugars in the veggies

SO, just in "good" foods alone,  I consumed 46 grams of sugar yesterday.  Almost double the RDA
and that did not include one piece of bad sugar anywhere in my day.

I did break down and have some diet 7up around 7oclock because I had an out of control headache and felt like I was going to be sick.  Turns out after research this morning, that Diet 7Up is actually the best of the diet drinks containing no sugar- so I guess yay me on that small piece.

Anyhow.. I don't know if the headache was sugar with drawl (is that even possible when I still had forty something grams of sugar)  or if it was weather/allergy related.

We shall see what today brings!  On to day 2

I'm Going Sugar Free for 14 Days

With the Tri coming up in less than 2 weeks, I felt I needed a bit of a challenge to make sure I keep my eye on the prize.  I know, the Prize technically is the Triathlon, but since I'm participating as a relay, I'm having a hard time staying focused- and I really don't want to rest on my laurels thinking "Oh it's just the swim, it will be fine"  because I don't want to just do fine- I want to kill it.

Something last week- that of course I can't for the life of me remember right now, got me to thinking about how much sugar we consume every single day.  And its in everything not just the obvious things like pop and candy bars...  Milk!  Ketchup (I actually don't eat or like Ketchup but I'm trying to make a point here)

According to the USDA  a woman should eat NO MORE than 25 grams of sugar every day.  TWENTY FIVE GRAMS.  

Do you know how many grams of sugar are in say,  a can of pop?  27...  in ONE can of pop.

How about in Yoplait Yogurt?   In just regular old Plain Jane Vanilla Yogurt-  17 grams of sugar in one serving

Milk?  12Grams of Sugar (for 2%)  Skim Milk 12 grams

Turn that into Chocolate Milk you have a whopping twenty six grams of sugar-  almost as much as a can of pop!

The point is- life has become dominated by sugars... so I'm going to do a two week expirament on myself.

Starting Tomorrow:  Monday, August 1st 2011...  I'm going to keep track of and try and stay under my daily sugar intake allotment.  And, I am going to attempt to avoid processed sugars completely.  The only sugars I will have are naturally occuring sugars, like the ones in fruits...  and obviously the ones I can't avoid (like in Milk)    We'll see how close I can stay to the 25 gram requirement each day.

It should be an interesting two weeks.

I welcome your suggestions if you've gone sugar free :)