Sugar-Free Holiday Challenge {45 Days of No Added Sugar}

In case you've missed out on our most recent food adventures let me catch you up.

Oct 1- Started out first Whole30.
Oct 2- Started regretting we committed to a Whole30.
Oct 29- Finally realized I liked the Whole30
Oct 31- End Whole30

Nov 1- Start sugar/wheat/dairy binge of the century
Nov 3- Regret ever going off our Whole30.

*You can read all my Whole30 posts here. 

Which brings us to now. It's the middle of November and after two weeks of pretty much eating all our favorite foods, I'm ready for a new challenge. I felt like we accomplished so much by cleaning up our diets on the Whole30, and I really want to keep some of those changes going.

But this time we're going to keep it pretty simple: 45 Days of No Added Sugar.

Okay, it sounds simple, but really it's not that easy.

This means no white sugar, confectioner's sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, stevia, agave nectar, honey, maple syrup, or any of those other "natural" sweeteners that seem to be trendy now.

However, we CAN have fruit and 100% fruit juice (not from concentrate), which is great because I'm pretty sure I'd rather have a fruit smoothie than my cookie dough ice cream these days (shocking!).

To make matters a little more difficult, our 45 days time limit brings us right up to January 1. Yep, that means no sugar through the holidays.

In fact, this little piece of information was what sealed the deal for me. I have a tendency to go a little sugar crazy around Christmas, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of going without those things. Plus, we've already proven we can make it 30 days. What's another 45!?!?

So, while the rest of the world will be welcoming the New Year desperately trying to lose the 10 pounds they gained over the holidays, I'm going to be relaxing with my fruit smoothie and feeling pretty great about myself. I may even make my husband some dark chocolate fudge to celebrate. Just because we can.

So what's the point of this ridiculous sugar-free holiday challenge? 

I want to feel good about the foods we eat. I want my family to be healthy, and of all the foods we eliminated on our Whole30 I can easily say that sugar was the hardest. I know there is lots of research and conflicting opinions about wheat and dairy and legumes and even fruit. However, everyone seems to agree that excess sugar wreaks havoc on your health, and after doing my research into what makes sugar sugar, I've come to the conclusion that none of it's actually good for you, even the "all-natural" stuff.

*I'll make an exception for raw honey. Local, raw honey is good for you in moderation. However, the nutritional properties are lost once it's heated, so baking with honey is out. 

We are so used to having everything sweetened normal foods just don't taste right without a little bit of sugar. This is the mindset I want to break in my family and in myself. We don't "deserve" something sweet. We deserve to be healthy and happy so we can use our bodies, our minds, and our talents to serve the Lord.

So if you see me out and about at holiday gatherings this year, don't be surprised if I come bearing a large plate of fruit or an delicious savory snack. We're saving all our cookies for after the holidays.

 Have you ever given up added sweeteners? Any sugar-free holiday snacks I should try? 

*FYI, I promise this is my last food post for a while! We'll get back to the normal babies, motherhood, and scripture related stuff soon. That said, I hope you don't mind if I check in every now and then. It's all about accountability, right?

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