30 Day Sugar Challenge

So 30 days ago my friend Chris gathered a bunch of us and challenged us to stay away from all things with sugar for 30 days. Today was the end of that 30 day challenge, and I have to say for me it was a pretty annoying burden. Every breakfast bar, energy bar, chocolate craving, dessert opportunity, etc was avoided for the past 30 days. I even had to think of condiments, like sweet and sour sauce or typical juice drinks which are loaded with sugars.

I do have to say I allowed myself organic juice, which I usually water down - 4 parts water to 1 part juice. And if I was going on the long bike ride I would have powerade mix.

Also desserts and sugar aren't a huge part of my diet in the first place, so it wasn't too drastic of a change for me. For instance I usually prefer the savory crepe to the dessert one, so avoiding dessert wasn't hard. What changed in my diet was the cutting out of breakfast bars - which usually have a lot of sugar (I didn't realize that actually), no more soda, and the addition of more fruit.

Overall I am a little better, but I think the unhappiness of it outweighed the health satisfaction. I said I don't usually eat dessert, but once every few weeks when I want one it was really frustrating that I was forbidding myself that tasty treat. Now I'll probably pick up more fruit, but I'll still have the occasional frozen custard.

I'll have to do another challenge soon. I used to do one a year, but stopped about 4 yrs ago. It's a good way to change things up and make you think about the food you put in your body.