The idea was for us to eat less than 10 grams of added sugar per day. I will admit some days it was pretty hard. Often times I woke up thinking about cookies and went to bed dreaming about chocolate ice cream, but we survived. The holidays (which defined by me starts in October and ends after New Years) can really undo a healthy lifestyle, frankly we didn't even give sugar a second thought during the holidays. We were busy, and sometimes (to unwind from a stressful day of Stats homework torture and long work hours) a Reeses or two... okay three-- just seemed justifiable.
Yes, if you know me this might seem heinous. I am a dietetic intern and graduate student in clinical nutrition. I know I'm not supposed to have these sweet treats everyday... but guess what? I'm human too. And I fall off the wagon just like everyone else.
For one month we limited our added sugar intake to less than
10 grams per day. That’s only 40 calories (2.5 teaspoons) from added sugar in a day.
The most recent 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that 10% of your daily calories can come from added sugar, and that is the limit not a goal. So this means if you are consuming 1,200-1,800 calories a day, 120 and 180 calories respectively can come from added sugar! So a small coffee frappe or a can of soda will pretty much ruin your entire day, sugar/calorie wise anyway.
What exactly are added sugars? Think of caloric sweeteners (like table sugar) and syrups. These are added sugars. The biggest contributor of added sugar in the American diet is from beverages, they account for 47% of all added sugars consumed. But soda, fruit drinks, sweetened tea/coffee (plus many more) aren't your only culprits in the added sugar saga, it seems like it's in everything: flavored yogurt, bread, pasta sauce, condiments, canned fruits, etc has added sugar. Specific names of sugar will be listed in the ingredients list. Did you know there are at least 61 names for sugar? Check out this source and educate yourself on all the names sugar uses to be incognito (SugarScience.org).
Naturally occurring sugars are not added sugars, these are from your whole fruits and also plain milk. So eat and drink up from these sources (more about this in a minute).
The "no-sugar" challenge rules:
10 grams or less from added sugar per day. That's 40 calories or less a day coming from added sugar.
I know what you’re thinking... Fruits and some
vegetables have sugar, right? Yes—Fruits contain fructose which is sometimes referred to as “fruit
sugar.” My husband and I deemed this okay, because fruit is nutrient dense. Meaning, for
the calories, you get a better bang for your buck. (fiber, vitamins, minerals,
antioxidants, etc.) So, we ate a lot of fruit during this challenge.
We calculated added sugar by checking the food label under
SUGAR. If there were any grams of sugar I then checked the ingredient list and checked
for *sugar* as an ingredient. Remember, sugar is sneaky and can hide itself under many
different pseudonyms. By doing this I was able to tell if something actually had added sugar or not, because natural and added sugar both get lumped together under the same spot on the food label. Example? A plain, nonfat Greek yogurt might say it has 12 grams of sugar per 150 gram serving. Go to the ingredients and look for "sugar," if it's not there... guess what? You've found a product with naturally occurring sugar, in this case lactose.
How was it? Well for us it was completely do-able. We don’t
consume a ton of sugary products that are typically hard to give up (like
soda, sweet tea, snack cakes, the works) but it was those sneaky items that
were kind of hard to give up. Plus we definitely hadn’t shied away from the
after dinner dessert item before the challenge (my husband has a sweet
tooth—but adamantly denies it!). Since we had to cut out certain products, fresh
vegetables and fruits were a go-to. The problem? We may have increased our
fiber intake too quickly! OUCH. We had some bad stomach aches for about a week.
Don’t let this stop you! Just keep in mind, if you’re not eating a lot of
fiber, it’s never a good idea to amp up the fiber before you give your body a
chance to adjust--trust me. Be sure to drink plenty of water, this helps alleviate some
of those pesky stomach cramps associated with fiber…
So what did we eat?? Well here’s some examples of foods that
fit well into our no sugar added challenge!
Breakfast:
- Eggs (any way!)
- Toast with avocado (find a bread that is low sugar! This is a challenge!! But we found a few brands that were around 2 grams per slice).
- Toast with peanut butter (any nut butter works, but you MUST check the ingredient list. Almost all nut butters {even the natural ones} have added sugar... you just want peanuts, and a little salt is fine if that's included).
- Oatmeal (another tricky one, those little pouches of instant flavored oatmeal almost always have tons of added sugar… find one that’s about 1 gram per serving and flavor it yourself with berries and nuts)
- Breakfast sandwiches (I made these myself. Make it which a whole grain sandwich thin. I found one brand that had 1 gram per sandwich thin. See this recipe for ideas on how to make and freeze these sandwiches).
- Baked Oatmeal: NO added sugar, and it actually tastes good! I recommend topping with blueberries and a little bit of whipped cream, which is about 1 gram sugar per serving)
- No sugar added granola (this recipe from Budget Byte$ is great!) on top of plain or stevia sweetened yogurt. (IF you are sensitive to high amounts of inulin, a type of soluble fiber common in low calorie yogurts... watch out, it could give you terrible stomach cramps).
Lunch:
- Sandwiches (again find a low sugar bread. No more than 4 grams per sandwich).
- Fresh veggies and hummus.
- Any fresh fruit and some fruit cups (if no added sugar is on the label).
- Bananas/apples with nut butter are filling
- Fresh berries mixed together with about 1-2 tbsp canned whipped cream.
Dinner:
- Meats (meats are sugar free, so eat whatever you want. I like lean meats like chicken breast and pork tenderloin. We baked and smoked salmon a couple of times. Keep it simple.)
- Veggies (We LOVED sweet potatoes. By the last week these little babies seriously tasted like CANDY!)
- Avocados! These are awesome, they are so tasty with so many different foods. You can eat all the guacamole you want to.
Desserts and/or "sweet" treats:
- Berries, bananas, apples, grapes, no sugar added applesauce, no sugar added fruit cups
- Smoothies (made with fresh or frozen fruit, milk {any unsweetened milk will do the trick--I really like to use unflavored Keifer in my smoothies for the probiotic benefits}, spinach {for extra nutrition}, ice-- blended all together
- This no sugar cookie dough dip by Chocolate Covered Katie was really a surprise for me. The ingredients are, well weird. But as weird as they are, it tastes good! Not exactly like cookie dough, but a pretty good substitute given you don't have to sacrifice nutrition.
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream. The sugar saver here is the frozen bananas, they add substance and give it the same mouth feel as soft serve ice cream. I made this and was really into it! So yum!
- "Dole Whip." My hubby made this. Kind of a cross between a smoothie and sorbet.
- Kiwi Whip. Same as a the dole whip but add in the kiwi and you get a whole different flavor profile. Not to mention the crunch from the little kiwi seeds.
