8 Tips for Surviving the January Sugar Detox

Last week I put it out there that I was hosting a sugar detox in the month of January and I had a great response! So many of you have felt the tight grip that sugar has on you and want freedom. Well I am so excited that you are joining me in January to increase awareness and control of your sugar consumption. If you haven't signed up, there's still time. Just join my mailing list and you will stay in the loop with recipes and my weekly sugar detox diaries update. I know that the thought of giving up sugar for an entire month sounds daunting thought, so I put together a few tips to help you get through!

1. CLEAR OUT THE CABINETS

Take everything out of your house that may be a temptation. You may feel strong now, but at 10pm on day 12 of the sugar detox you might feel like you would kill for an oreo, which would be a much easier time to cave if that oreo didn't require you to put your warmest coat on, brave the cold, and drive all the way to the grocery store. So get those oreos out of your house during the duration of the sugar detox. I won't pretend that out of sight truly means out of mind, but distancing yourself from things that tempt you will make you feel less likely to give in to your sugar dragon. 

2. READ YOUR LABELS 

Sugar is in everything. Like seriously, everything. Peanut butter, bacon, tomato sauce, yogurt. EVERYTHING. So just be sure to read your labels and reference this post where I talk about a lot of the names sugar hides under. Even those this might seem like a minor detail and even an "optional" portion of the detox that is really just for those that are "hard core", it's not. Cutting out all sugar, even if it's just the tiniest amount in your peanut butter, will help you truly conquer that sugar addiction. And reading labels will open your eyes to how many things have added sugar in them. 

3. RECRUIT A FRIEND

Having a friend to keep your accountable will make sticking to the sugar detox a little bit easier. That person will be able to understand what you're going through. You can swap recipes and push each other to keep going even when it sucks. 

4. DRINK MORE WATER

I am all about getting as much H2O in your body as possible. A good goal is to shoot for 8-10 8 ounce glasses per day, which depending on your current intake may sound crazy. If you tyoically only consume one glass of water a day I encourage you to start with adding in at least an additional glass and gradually work from there. Drinking water throughout the day will keep your hands busy and keep you fuller longer. And when you're full it's easier to resist a cinnamon roll that is hanging out in the work break room. 

5. EAT MORE PROTEIN + VEGGIES 

This one has to do with feeling full as well. If you are eating enough protein and veggies, you're going to feel fuller longer and a cupcake sitting on your desk won't even phase you. You'll totally ignore it because you feel totally good without it. So enjoy a breakfast of eggs and veggies and then a lunch of leafy greens and chicken breast and feel more in control of your sugar cravings throughout the day. 

6. GO FOR A WALK

During the detox, even if you drink all the water and eat all the veggies and protein you can, you'll still face times of cravings. During those times take a walk outside. The brief distraction and fresh air will make it easier to sit down and finish out your work day without reaching for a sweetened latte or donut. Better yet, have a friend join you and you'll be even more distracted and refreshed! 

7. MAKE YOURSELF A CUP OF TEA

In the evening you might feel like your sugar cravings are beyond what you can handle, but believe me, this is temporary. Although the cravings might get worse initially, they will also get better. You will find it easier to resist having a slice of birthday cake at a birthday party and still feel involved in the experience. Whenever there is food involved that I don't want to indulge in at the moment, I make myself a cup of tea. Having something to sip on keeps me busy and allows me to stay true to my current goals. So if you feel like you just need something to curb those cravings, make yourself a cup of tea. 

8. REMEMBER IT'S ONLY 30 DAYS

This isn't forever, because that would be cruel. The goal of the detox is to bring awareness and control to your sugar consumption, not make you never ever touch a donut again. This is temporary and I promise, so, so worth it. So stick to it for 30 short days and then you can make further decisions about how much sugar you want to consume going forward. 

Roasted Honey Mustard Cabbage

When I was in high-school there were multiple occasions where I wanted to lose weight quickly. Because I'm a typical American and lacked any education on how to lose weight in a healthy way, I attempted this diet called "the cabbage soup diet". There are a lot of variation of it and you can read about the basics here, but essentially you eat a cabbage based soup and little else for like seven days in hopes of losing 10 pounds. Totally magical! Or maybe not. Almost every attempt left me cranky by day 3 (because I just needed a gosh dang piece of meat!) and I would find myself giving up all together. A series of unhealthy eating patterns such as these cascaded into a long period of skewed body image and disordered eating, but that's a longer story for another day.

Fast forward to now. I have a much different relationship with food -- better, most days. Not perfect and still evolving, but better.  Because my relationship with food had changed, it took me a very long time to look at cabbage as a food that could actually taste good and I could healthfully eat. After those many cabbage soup diet attempts in which I started out viewing the cabbage as the-have-all-end-all and ultimately found myself despising, letting go of those feelings was difficult for me. I was afraid that if I ate cabbage at all, a lot of that disordered food relationship would resurface. 

I don't remember the first time I decided I would start eating cabbage again, but one day I decided to give it a shot. I had it roasted. The moment I put it in my mouth I completely rethought everything I knew about cabbage. I completely forgot about how horrible it tasted by day three of that dreaded diet, but I also didn't see it as a key to getting myself to fit into a particular dress size. I just ate it as food, and it was good. If you too connect cabbage to the cabbage soup diet (and days in a row of starvation) or just have never found cabbage to be the greatest of vegetables, I encourage you to try this recipe. You might just find a completely new, healthy relationship with it. 

Roasted Honey Mustard Cabbage 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon grainy mustard 
• 2 teaspoons honey 
• 1/2 a head of cabbaged, sliced into 1" wedges 
• salt and pepper to taste 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees 

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, grainy mustard, and honey. 

Place the wedges on a large baking sheet. Brush the top of the cabbage wedges with the honey mustard oil mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the edges have browned as pictured above. 

Remove from the oven and enjoy. 

January Sugar Detox

Hey there, friends! 

In an attempt to kick 2018 off on a healthy foot, I'm hosting a sugar detox in January and I would be so thrilled if you joined in! 

When does the sugar detox start? 

January 1st - January 30th 

What does a January sugar detox look like? 

For 30 days I'm going to avoid all forms of sweetener --- natural, artificial, and refined. 

Wait, but aren't natural sweeteners totally cool? 

I am totally cool with natural sweeteners in moderation, BUT they are still sugar. Technically natural sweeteners ARE better for you, because they're natural, BUT they still spike blood sugar levels and can leave us hung over in an afternoon slump if we don't manage their use wisely. I also wanted to include the aversion of natural sugars in this detox because when we detox from sugar, but simply replace our evening refined sugar cookie with cookies made from maple syrup, our body and brain aren't really going to learn that they don't need to depend on a sugar source. Moral of the story, natural sugar isn't bad, but in order to fully reap the benefits of the sugar detox, I'm cutting them out too. 

But what about fruit? 

A line must be drawn somewhere, so for me I am totally cool with eating fruits during the sugar detox. Both dried and fresh are fine, but read your labels because a lot of times dried fruit can be loaded with added sugar. 

How do I KNow if a food contains added sugar? 

Read your food labels. Ideally most of your food is going to come from your kitchen, so you'd know exactly what was in it, BUT that is certainly not real life 100% of the time, so look at the ingredient lists on food labels to see if that food contains sugar. If you're dining out, a lot of restaurants list their ingredients online so take a look before you head out to dine. What makes things a bit tricky is that sugar can go by A LOT of different names. Here are a list of a few that you should be aware of. If an ingredient list contains any of the below ingredients, then it is not free of sugar and isn't compliant for this sugar detox. 

• Fructose
• Sugar
• Beet sugar
• Blackstrap molasses
• Brown sugar
• Buttered syrup
• Cane juice crystals
• Cane sugar
• Caramel
• Carob syrup
• Castor sugar
• Coconut sugar
• Confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
• Date sugar
• Demerara sugar
• Evaporated cane juice
• Florida crystals
• Fruit juice
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Golden sugar
• Golden syrup
• Grape sugar
• Honey
• Icing sugar
• Invert sugar
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Muscovado sugar

• Panela sugar
• Raw sugar 
• Refiner's syrup
• Sorghum syrup
• Sucanat
• Treacle sugar
• Turbinado sugar
• Yellow sugar
• Agave Nectar
• High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
• Barley malt
• Brown rice syrup
• Corn syrup
• Corn syrup solids
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Diastatic malt
• Ethyl maltol
• Glucose
• Glucose solids
• Lactose
• Malt syrup
• Maltodextrin
• Maltose
• Rice syrup
• Crystalline fructose
• Brown sugar
• Buttered syrup

Why would you cut out sugar for 30 days? 

Sugar is addicting. It tastes good and temporarily sends your brain signals that make it super happy. Unfortunately though, after that super intense happy feeling comes a lethargic dip in energy. I know that sugar has a strong hold, both physically and emotionally, on so many people's lives and I wanted to create a space where people felt motivated to take a step towards gaining control of what they put in their mouth as well as give myself a source of accountability in this journey. Although I wouldn't say my sugar consumption currently is at it's all time high (it has been real crazy at times!), I still feel that I could benefit from resetting my body and regaining awareness of how prevalent sugar is in foods.

Wait, Does this mean I should never eat sugar again? 

Committing to this detox for 30 days does NOT mean that you should never, ever consume sugar again. My hope is that by completing the 30 day detox you will become more aware of the amount of added sugar in food and find that you feel amazing without it, but I am all for balance and am totally into having a donut now and then (when you are not doing the detox). 

How to be successful during the 30 Days 

1. Know that you might start to feel bad before you feel good. And by "might" I mean "you will." That is an unfortunately reality. As any detox process goes (whether form drugs, alcohol, etc.) there is a period of feeling bad (read: terrible). The severity of that feeling corresponds with the amount of sugar that you were consuming prior to the detox. So the more sugar you were consuming, the likely the more severe your detox symptoms will be. 

2. Read your food labels! There is sugar in so many hidden places.

3. Cook as many meals from home as you can. Knowing the ingredients that you are putting into your food will make it so much easier to follow through with the sugar detox. 

4. Most importantly though, do your best and do not let the guidelines discourage your from trying your hardest to cut out or limit your sugar consumption. You've got this! 

Leave any questions you might have in the comment section! If you would like to join the challenge, sign-up for my email list (right corner of this page) and you can stay updated with all of the sugar-less recipes I'll be posting in January. 

Soft Vegan Gingerbread Cookies + #CookieSwapParty 2017

Until recently I had forgotten how much fun cookie decorating can be. A group of friends and I were getting together and the friend who was hosting insisted on preparing some cookie decorations so that we could all decorate cookies. The rest of us were indifferent to the cookie decorating idea, but the other friend was SUPER into the idea so we went along with it.  So when we all arrived to her house she had various frosting colors, sprinkles, and cookies prepared for us to decorate and despite not feeling super into the holiday spirit we began to cover the cookies in frosting. One by one we picked between the festive red, green, or white frosting and sprinkles and one by one I began to feel more festive. I began to feel more Christmas-y.  We all started to laugh a little louder and somehow care a little deeper. Between the perfectly lit Christmas tree and the feeling of togetherness that a simple activity brought, I began to feel the magic that comes from Christmas. 

Cookies and Christmas go hand-in-hand. There's something about the magic of giving and the magic of baking that work together so seamlessly.  One of my favorite Christmas cookies of all time is a gingerbread cookie. Not a crunchy, gingerbread type cookies, but the soft, chewy, melt-in-your-mouth kind. I love the spiciness that comes from a gingerbread cookie and that they can be made less sweet than most cookies. When one of my blogger friends, Madeline, asked me to participate in her #CookieSwapParty this year, I was thrilled and knew I had to find a soft gingerbread cookie recipe that didn't use an dairy. It ultimately ended up turning into a vegan cookie that can accommodate even more dietary preferences, which is super awesome! I used coconut butter to keep the cookies soft and moist and maple syrup to keep with a natural sweetener. 

I love Madeline's idea to spread some virtual cookies and virtual love around the web during this Holiday season and I am thrilled to be apart of it. Check out the recipe and the rest of the cookies that the other lovely ladies have to offer below. 

Soft Vegan Gingerbread Cookies 

• 1 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 1/2 cup liquid melted coconut butter 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

2. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and salt to a large bowl. Whisk together. 

3. Add the syrup, molasses and the liquid coconut butter last. Give the liquids a quick stir and then mix all the batter together for about 30 seconds until it all comes together into a sticky, thick batter.

4. Use an inch and a half cookie scooper to measure out the dough and then form the batter into balls with your hands and place on the pan about 3 inches apart from each other.  Using the bottom of a glass or measuring cup, flatted the balls into rounds that are about 1/4" thick.

5. Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove and cool 10 minutes on the pan. 

Note: It's super important that the coconut butter is measured as a melted, liquid consistency. I put it in the microwave and heat it for 20-30 second increments, stirring between cook times, until it is completely melted. Be careful not to overcook it as it will burn. Optional: Sprinkle with coconut sugar before baking. 

#CookieSwapParty 2017

Madeline Hall - Snowflake Chocolate Sugar Cookies || Katherine in Brooklyn - Cranberry Jam Linzer Cookies || lyndsey eden - Orange Zest and Almond Chocolate Shortbread Cookies || Conscious Eating with Rui - Snickerdoodle Mexican Wedding Cookies || Nommable - Nutmeg Nutella Rice Krispies || The Foodwright - Peanut Butter Cup Thumbprints || Wood and Spoon - Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies || Pumpkin & Peanut Butter - Gluten Free Gingerdoodle Blondies || Seek Satiation - Cinnamon Chocolate Dipped Shortbread || This Brown Kitchen - Chocolate Holiday Nankhatai Cookies || Bappy Girl - Strawberry and Blueberry Meringues || The Table of Contents - Sesame Almond Ginger Lace Cookies || Gracepcheng - Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies