Different types of sugar

It’s a SUGAR minefield out there, it really is!!! Sometimes I think you need a PHD to try, and translate the food labels. It doesn’t exactly encourage anyone to go SUGAR FREE. I have to confess my first year of sugar free eating, I felt like the sugar police! I went round the supermarkets checking the food labels, and how many grams of sugar in them. Actually I kind of enjoyed it!! I know weird, but it’s the little things that keep me happy!

If only labels simply said sugar life would be much easier. I don’t profess to know too much about the different types of sugar. However I did learn to translate a little. Some SUGAR FREE sites might include natural sugars, or sugar substitutes in the recipes. Personally I chose not to as certainly for me it would have been a slippery slope back into SUGAR! However it is important you do what’s right for you. For me I have found cutting it all out much easier, it also avoids confusion.

Unfortunately foods aren’t simply labelled SUGAR if only they were, life would be SO much easier. There are of course the obvious SUGARS, there are natural sugars, and sugar substitutes. Many of these are hidden sugars, and often I find the writing so small you can barely read the labels.

Here are just a few other words to look out for when you go SUGAR free:

 

• Agave syrup
• Golden syrup
• Maple Syrup (in fact anything with the word syrup in!)
• Dextrose
• Sucrose
• Fructose
• Molasses
• Honey
• Xylitol
• Stevia
• Apple juice

Basically if it tastes too good to be true, it probably has some kind of sugar in it. You might wonder why I have mentioned Stevia, I know it comes from the leaves of a plant, however it is still a natural sugar.  The only sugar I haven’t quit is whole fruit.

Interestingly enough with regard to labelling on foods,

Gillispie (2001), makes an interesting point in his book, ‘The Sweet

Poison Quit Plan’. He states ‘British law does not require a manufacturer

to break down the ‘sugars’ section on the nutrition label.’

Reference: The Sweet Poison Quit Plan. 2001

I don’t have the healthiest diet but since going PRACTICALLY SUGAR FREE, I have a much healthier diet. There is no right or wrong this is simple the way that worked for me.

 

FINALLY…..I am super excited to announce I shall be running my first SUGAR FREE WORKSHOP up in Cumbria on Saturday 20th October. For more details please email me at: tracy_smithers@aol.co.uk or check out my Practically A Sugar Free Me Facebook Page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our relationship with food, and sugar!

I have touched on relationships, and food before, but I think it is always a good subject to return too. Just like other relationships, they are constantly evolving. In recent weeks, I have been chatting to people about relationships with food, and every time I am reminded of the impact it can have on our eating habits, and patterns. I was listening to someone speak last weekend, and they were talking about eating providing nourishment, and that nourishment in turn providing our foundations. I would go further, and add that I believe that from these foundations we can grow, and develop.

If you are reading this so far, and wondering WHAT relationship with food, and what I am going on about a few years ago, I would have been right there with you!! Before I quit sugar, I used to say I had a sweet tooth, or I was a comfort eater. But I didn’t really contemplate, why?! I got into the weight loss cycle, lost weight, gained it, followed diets, then didn’t, tried eating healthily, and then didn’t. Set myself the target of I must get back to the skinny weight I was at 21!!! All along I was hoping for some miracle. Yes, I really hoped one day I would wake up 6 stone lighter!!! Not sure what planet I was on!!! But hey I’m a hopeful positive kind of person. Like many I saw foods as good, and bad, healthy, and unhealthy. Yet, I never stopped to consider why I ate what I did, the reasons for my comfort eating, the trigger for eating sugar, and the blocks I had to reducing my sugar/sweet intake. I really believe that sugar desensitised me. I have since read that the brain is the most sugar hungry part of the body, so it is no wonder that I didn’t think to much about what I ate. My brain told me I wanted sugar, and I ate it! I am not making excuses for my sugary eating, it was totally my choice. No one forced me to eat the doughnuts, chocolate, and fizzy drinks, I take full responsibility, and at the time I enjoyed it. The thing is with sugar once you quit you realise, how much a part of your life it becomes. Just like any bad relationship there are always those reminders around, making it hard for you to end the relationship. Once you break free you realise that it wasn’t so good for you after all!

Just like so many things in life there is no right, or wrong answer. Everyone’s journey will be different, however just like every journey, by exploring the route you take, you can gain a valuable insight into what you do next. By doing so this will empower you along the way. When contemplating your relationship with food, most especially sugar, it can help you to contemplate the following?

• What were your meal time/eating experiences as a child?
• How often do you eat sugary foods?
• Do you stock up on sweet treats, when you are out and about?
• How long does a bar of chocolate last you?
• When was the last time you went without desert?
• Do you eat sugary treats when you are angry, sad, frustrated, depressed, lonely, or tired?
• What would stop you from quitting/reducing sugar?
• Are you aware of how much sugar is in the foods you eat?

 

It is not always easy to be honest to talk or thinking about our eating habits. I know in the past I have felt embarrassed, or a shamed. It can be a very personal, and sensitive, especially if like me you have struggled with your weight. BUT it is NOTHING to feel embarrassed or ashamed about. For years I was in this relentless cycle with my eating habits, it was like a vicious circle. I kept reading, or hearing about others experiences with weight loss, and wondered why it didn’t work for me. I felt so worthless, that I didn’t match up to everyone else. It’s tough not being good enough, a feeling I have battled with for years, however I’m getting there!! I took me quitting sugar to realise that all this. Once I quit sugar, I started evaluating my ‘relationship’ with food, and realised a lot of triggers I had, the habits that had formed, and how my journey didn’t need to be like everyone else’s!!! Believe me it felt good to rip up the SUGAR FREE RULE BOOK, and do it myself!! It felt even better, when it started to work, and now a couple of years on when I hear this is working for others too, it is truly heart warming. I am not knocking for a minute other peoples sugar free work, anything to raise awareness is GREAT. However some of the plans, and ideas didn’t work for me, which is why I did it MY WAY. I am the first to admit, it isn’t the healthiest way, it’s definitely NOT perfect. But it does and it HAS worked for me for 2 and a half years. Just like all relationships my relationship with food, and sugar is a work in progress!!! But it is progressing, and I have a much healthier relationship with food than I once did. Going SUGAR FREE is so much more than what you can, and can’t it, understanding our relationship with food, is I believe the key to becoming A PRACTICALLY SUGAR FREE YOU!

Much love, and good luck,

Tracy xxxx

Are you trapped in your eating habits?

I didn’t plan to do an early Sunday morning post, but my heads buzzing with ideas, and thoughts, which I thought might help empower you!

I realised this morning, that I have fallen into a trap recently. Not I am pleased to say a sugar free one, however my recent trap could as easily relate to food. I know that I have been in similar of traps before with food. Since moving up to Cumbria, I have been looking for work without much success. I have been after a particular job, and totally focused on this. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot around, and I have been applying everywhere, even if it requires a move, because I just LOVE working in libraries, and that’s what I REALLY WANT to. This week, I was pipped at the post for a job, it was so disappointing, and led to all these thoughts of why didn’t they pick me? Not feeling good enough? I need a job? I need money etc? I am sure you get the picture. When I reflect back it reminds me of those days before I quit sugar. I was in a food/dieting trap of I have to lose weight, I need to eat this to lose weight, then when I fell off the wagon , and the scales went up a few pounds, beating myself up. Or worse still talking with others at slimming group about having a ‘bad’ week. I had this week fallen into a trap, just like I did when I was eating sugar. Actually you could even call it a ‘crap trap’, and who want’s one of those?!

Traps come in all different shapes, and sizes. Sometimes you don’t even realise you are in a trap. That never ending cycle of…. I need this, I have to do this. Your life, well my life certainly becomes controlled by these things. The thing is part of this trap means you are reliant on someone or something else. By this I mean someone to say you can have this job? Or you have had an amazing week!! This means each of us slowly, and gradually give away our power, and are controlled by a situation or circumstances. I am sure if you are like me you have said something along the lines of, after Christmas I will quit sugar, or I need to lose 10 lbs by….. I would suggest that all these thoughts have a tendency to trap rather than EMPOWER!! I know it is sometimes hard to believe. especially when life is throwing us a million challenges. Choice I hear you say, what choice! The first choice you have is to stay trapped, or to break free. Breaking free from the place we are trapped enables us to have/to do the following.

• TO CHANGE!!!
• ALLOWS US TO TAKE OUR POWER BACK
• TO CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR OURSELVES
• TO FEEL POSITIVE ABOUT OURSELVES
• TO FREE OURSELVES FROM A CONTROLLING SITUATION

 

I really believe that remaining in a trapped situation can lead to negativity, a sense of failure frustration, and feeling worthless to name just a few feelings. Lets face it who wants to feel this, and if I was feeling like that I would more than likely NEED a sugary free fix!!

As for my work situation. I decided whilst I will still be open to working in a library, I am going to look at other opportunities. These include redeveloping my private practice as a counselling, and developing my sugar free workshops. I very much hope to be running another sugar free workshop up here in Cumbria soon!

I hope you have found this post useful. Better to break free from the cycle , and set yourself free to become a person YOU truly want to be!