Nashoba Brook Bakery

Confession time. On Sunday I ate with reckless abandon and ended up eating a few pounds of sour patch kids, and finishing off an entire package of fudge covered sugar wafers with a good friend of mine. Now that I'm back on track, I can say that although my taste buds were happy...my stomach was totally unbearably angry.

But I've been good ever since!

One of the worst discoveries that I have made so far is that most bread contains sugar...and I love bread. Bread is wonderful. But wait! I discovered Nashoba Brook Bakery bread at whole foods. There are 0 grams of sugar...and their bread is like...so good. Probably the best bread I've ever had. 

So when you have their Rosemary Garlic bread and add to it home-made tuna salad (with mayo, pickles, and onion), you can actually have a sandwich that contains no sugar. Yay! Also, if that tuna salad sounds gross to you, don't knock it until you've tried it. I'm still doing the watermelon mint water stuff...and I'm heading to Whole Foods tomorrow to try something new. Not sure yet, but I have a few ideas. I'll for sure edit this when I have a decent concoction. 

It's still hard to get a quick something to eat when you're on the road or running late to work. For instance, I had my usual Starbucks breakfast sandwich when I was running late enough for work to not be able to make my own food. Whilst chowing down, I looked up the nutrition facts. There were only 3 grams of sugar, which isn't that much. What startled me was the fact that it had 28 grams of fat and 500 calories. That is literally more than a quarter of what I need for the day...and it's tiny, so you'll be hungry again in an hour. Even McDonalds' breakfast burrito isn't that bad in comparison, coming in at just under 300 calories with 16 grams of fat (and 2g of sugar). At least the former is pretty good...leaving the latter a rather tasteless and flaccid "burrito". Although their coffee isn't the worst I've ever had...so that's an upside. 

Enough about calories. I'm just glad to have finally found something that's actually really good with no sugar. Thanks Nashoba. 

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Things I have noticed now that I am almost done with the second week of no sugar:

-The morning following my sugar binge I snoozed my alarm so hard. Now that I'm back on track I've been waking up on my own at around 6:30am. Not that I actually want to ever get out of bed at that hour, but it's better than sleeping through my alarm or pressing snooze a million times.

-I used to nap in a booth at work between shifts. Now I have more energy and crash less in the afternoon.

-Aaaaand, I've lost five pounds, even though the point of this was not to lose weight. 

And there you have it. The results of 12 days (mostly) without sugar.

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Edit: 9/13

The newest concoction has been made. 

Ingredients include strawberries, basil, and lime seltzer. 

If you think it looks good, you're right. 

Happy Weekend. 

Not as Easy as it Sounds

Not sure why there is a huge space here...whatever. 

Turns out, going without sugar is a total drag. Literally.

It's time consuming to read every single label and to google nutrition facts whenever I am about to eat something at work. It's inconvenient when you're on the road and desperately need some nourishment after teaching and the only thing that is fast and cheap is a Dunkin (I had black coffee and ALMOST a donut). It sucks when you want to have a coke or a lemonade for that sugary fix in the middle of the day and then fatigue hits you and then you want to hit a coworker for speaking to you because you're tired (lest you have a diet coke...oh the chemicals...although I did have a small one out of desperation). It also sucks when you go out with friends for drinks and you have you have your Hendricks on the rocks instead of with tonic water. Oh wait, that's better. Tonic water also has about 32g of sugar per 12oz. But it's also incredibly painful when you're dealing with a sudden change in your diet and you get a giant stomach ache in the middle of the day that makes for hours of discomfort.

BUT...

Six days in, what are the good things? I'm drinking a lot more water, and having fun with putting things in my water to make it healthy. I'm cooking more of my own food at home which is healthier anyway, but it also makes my wallet feel good. I am actually sleeping much better at night and waking up early is easy. It takes some planning ahead, but bringing in my own meals to work is working for me (low fat hummus and baby carrots, almonds, huge water bottle full of stuff). I think I'm just eating healthier because I'm reading the packaging and going for whole foods instead of processed, and since I'm allowing fruits and not fruit juice or sweet teas or any other sugar beverage that disguises itself with healthy sounding labels, I all around feel better.  

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The water:

A lot of internet sites will call the following "detox" beverages. I just think they're delicious...but also no matter what our diet is, our bodies are always detoxing, so is there really such a thing? 

Lemon, cucumber and mint: 

One lemon, one cuke, and one handful of fresh mint. 

Let sit overnight and enjoy.

Of course when I walk into work everyone is like "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT"

Watermelon and mint:

Two ingredients. Hopefully one really good water drink. 

Two simple ingredients 

Of course, I wasn't able to let this sit overnight to let the flavors mix in, but there was quit a bit of leftover watermelon juice in the container.

So it's going quit well for me over here. I've had a few moments where I maybe had something that contained sugar (bread), but I think a slip up once in a while is okay. It's hard and it's a huge change, but so far the benefits have been worth it.

First New Challenge in a While

Okay this month I actually have something for you. Whoever "you" are. But first let me say something about narcissism.

Since this is my personal blog, it contains my thoughts, my perspective, and details about my life. So you could say that blogging by nature is a narcissistic activity. I think that is true for most. I, however, think of this more as a way of reaching out to the world, and as a hobby. I enjoy writing and sharing certain things about my life, and this blog has been useful in getting me out of "ruts" and rough patches that have occurred in my life.

That being said, this blog was inspired by a TED Talk given by Matt Cutts, and there is a link to his video on the right hand side of this page (unless you're reading this on a phone, in which case I have no idea where it would be). It's about trying something you've always wanted to try and giving it a shot for the next 30 days. It's about adding something new to your life...or taking something away. I haven't really done an actual "challenge" in a while, but this being the first of the month, it's a great time to start one.

So the challenge is: go sugar free for 30 days.

Why? Because I've realized that I am dependent on the stuff. Every time I'm at work and need a lift before starting a shift, I pour myself a coke, or a lemonade, or a ginger ale...then I go out for drinks and usually get a gin and tonic (gin itself isn't so bad...its the tonic that has a ton of sugar). Add to that the fact that I'm a total chocoholic and work in a restaurant where I am constantly grazing, and maybe have a few too many bites of whatever dessert we are featuring that week. Plus the usual soy vanilla latte that I have before work...and the one I have on break because of their damned "treat receipt".

After thinking about this for a few days, and really noticing my sugar-binging habits, I'm going to stop. Here are my rules:

1. Fruit is allowed, because besides the sugar, there are vitamins and fiber and other health benefits. Fruit juice, however, is completely out of the question.

2. Coffee is allowed. Black coffee. Nothing in it. (So I probably won't be drinking it anyways)

3. Drinking is permitted once a week (and in moderation)(...it's okay, I laughed at that too). Red wine, dry whites, and hard liquor. No beer, whites, or mixers. Except for soda water. But I'd rather have my gin on the rocks anyways, thank you very much.

4. Since it is the month of a certain significant others birthday, I will allow myself one day of indulgence. Because what's a birthday without cake? COME ON.

5. Read the labels...because it's surprising how much shit has sugar in it.

My plan of attack so far is to make my own naturally flavored water to stay hydrated so that my cravings for soda aren't fueled by thirst. I am also going to start to bring raw almonds, hummus, and baby carrots to work instead of eating the food that they prepare for us (it is not because one of their meals made me violently ill with food poisoning which affected other members of the staff...no, not at all).

Because this post was written haphazardly in my kitchen while eating a raw pepper, I am trying to get out of the house, so grammar and spelling are taking a back seat. This goes unedited this time.

No sugar. Join me.