Okay ya’ll. I promise I have not totally lost my mind. Remember, this post where I tell you all the new sweeteners we’re using instead of highly processed ones? Well, I have decided to take it one step further for our family…….I discovered a Sugar Detox Challenge online, and I’m not one to step down from a challenge. After reading tons of blogs and testimonials given by patients from luxury detox about how going off processed sugar makes you feel better, I decided to try it for myself. So, starting this week I began the 8 week Sugar Detox Challenge. We’re trying to better our health and get over various issues we have, i.e. allergies; so I thought this couldn’t hurt. I can do 8 weeks…..and if I feel better, GREAT! If I don’t…..well, then I know I’m no longer addicted to processed sugar. 🙂 Regardless, I know this can’t hurt us. I want to blog as I’m going, so you can know how I’m doing…..and you can listen to me whine…..and you can laugh at me while you eat your Tootsie Roll. It would be great if you wanted to do the challenge with me! Be warned though, it’s not for the faint of heart. |
This is verbatim from the Sugar Detox Challenge . “The consumption of sugar will suppress your immune system. By some accounts, your immune system can be lowered by up to 90% within the first 15 minutes. (Dr. Stoll) Other stats are not as drastic, but by most accounts just one can of pop can lower your resistance to disease and illness for 6 hours.”That might explain why we’re sick a lot in the winter. Because I’ll just tell you, I’m a sweets junkie. Before I started this, you just couldn’t come between me and my Tootsie Rolls. I might bite your hand off. Even when we moved to eating Whole Foods, I didn’t give up my stash of Tootsie Rolls. Annie has had a few problems with skin issues and I honestly believe I can trace it back to sugar intake.
The challenge for week one was to get rid of all things in your house with High Fructose Corn Syrup in them. No problem, right? I knew I’d been buying a lot of whole foods, in the past several months so I should be safe……but there was tons of stuff in my pantry left over from “The Dark Ages.” |
Why is HFCS bad?Donielle, from The Sugar Detox Challenge, gives a great overview of why High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad for you (when you sign up to get the Sugar Detox emails). It was sorta new information to me. It’s NOT what you hear on television. Remember the commercial about how it wasn’t bad for you? I really believe we should be consuming things closer to the way God created them (see this post about What The Bible Says About Healthy Living). HFCS does not fall in that category. 🙂 That’s why our family has switched to more natural sweeteners. |
I talked this over with Barry and he thought it was a good idea. We don’t make big decisions without consulting each other. So, I put my big girl panties on and headed to the basement. I got one small box out because I thought it would be plenty big enough. This wasn’t going to be so bad…………………..*cough.* Oh. My. Gosh. HFCS is in EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYTHING I SAID! Just check! It’s even in crackers. Crackers, for Pete’s sake! After I pulled out item after item, I moved from shock to sickness. Barry came down to help me. I think he was shocked too. I hope he was wearing his big boy panties. We filled about three large boxes with food from “The Dark Ages.” A few times, I would pick something out of the box and put it back on the shelf. Then I would put it back in the box. And then back on the shelf. And then I reminded myself that I had my big girl panties on. |
My pantry shelves looked bare to me, but that’s because I’m used to them being filled with canned and boxed stuff. Now I’m having 5 gallon buckets full of wheat, rice, and beans….and a freezer full of vegetables and meat. It’s a big change. We didn’t want to just throw the food away, so we decided to donate it. Does that sound bad? I don’t just want to throw it out, but I have to be honest with myself. There are some people who are just never going to care about HFCS. Should I give them mine to keep them from going hungry? I think yes. |
We cleaned out the pantry and the fridge too…..and I will just skip the part about finding stuff that was about four years old. *Cough* I should check the back of my fridge more often. I get distracted by wiping noses and butts. I’m not sure what my excuse was before Annie was born. |
I thought I would miss it more, but so far we’re doing well. I’m using my natural sweeteners instead and feeling fantastic about the switch. I don’t know what the next weeks will hold. Bye-bye, High Fructose Corn Syrup – I’m kicking you to the curb! Please don’t offer me a Tootsie Roll. 🙂 |
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Rachel @ day2day joys says
Also, forgot to add that this post is going to be featured as one of my top 3 picks from last week! 🙂
Stacy says
Thanks! I’ll make sure to post my journey as I go along. 🙂
Rachel @ day2day joys says
Thanks for sharing with Healthy 2day Wednesdays! Hope you’ll participate this week! Look forward to reading about week 2!
Rachel @ day2day joys says
GREAT Job! Eating “real” food makes a huge difference in how we feel and how our pantry looks! Wonderful post! I would love if you shared this with Healthy 2day Wednesdays this week! I know a lot of my readers and others who post entries would be interested!
Stacy says
Thanks Rachel. I’ll link up right now. 🙂
Jen says
Just did a pantry clean out today myself. I have been staying away from HFCS, but I had a hard time throwing all the crap-o-la away. I hate to waste! However, my new perspective is HFCS IS WASTE – A WASTE of SPACE that is! Good luck!!
Stacy says
What a great quote! 🙂 Thanks!
Dianne@Baking4Six says
Okay…pantry/fridge challenge completed. I’m typically pretty good at checking labels, but after looking at your stash, I thought uh, oh! I keep a realatively full pantry (we go through a lot of food with 2 adults and 4 1/2 grown children.) BUT – GOOD NEWS the only offenders were Special K and Raisin Bran cereal (which I didn’t check the label because I assumed they were healthy). Both boxes are unopened so I will be donating. (However, I came across 2 things made with corn syrup – but they aren’t things my kids eat – sauces for meats that we rarely use.) Apparently, I’m ready for week 2 already and haven’t technically started week 1. (except, for the logging sugar part) —
Kim says
I love sugar, but I know I should seriously cut back if not cut it out. And, I have a question about the ketchup. Maybe you are not at this point in the detox yet (because this week it’s HFCS), but “cane sugar” is listed as an ingredient. White sugar comes from sugar can doesn’t it? So isn’t that a fancy way of saying sugar?
Kim says
Oops, that should say “sugar cane” not sugar can…
Stacy says
Kim, there are tons of different types of sugar. The first week is avoiding HFCS which is the worst kind (in my opinion). It hasn’t said to cut out white sugar or anything else like that yet. I believe that certain types of cane sugar fall under the white sugar category….I guess it does sound better to say “cane sugar” than “white sugar.” 🙂 Good point. If it says “organic cane sugar” I’m more likely to eat that since I know it’s probably not been genetically modified. Does that make sense?
As a general rule, we use sucanat (dehydrated cane juice) which is low on the processed scale. I might eventually try making ketchup with it…….but we like the organic ketchup right now. 🙂 And we LOVE ketchup.
Organic ketchup, which I was talking about, doesn’t have HFCS in it. 🙂
I don’t plan on cutting sugar out forever. I just plan on weening my body from it so that I know I’m not addicted and so that we all feel better in general. I know that there is no possible way (with eating out and eating at other people’s houses) that we could ever cut all processed sugars out. This is just my attempt to keep us safe at home.
I hope that answers your question! 🙂
Kim says
Yup, it does answer my question. 🙂 I don’t know if I can make it 8 weeks, lol.
Stacy says
Donielle is very encouraging. 🙂 You can do it! I’ll cheer you on!
Dianne@Baking4Six says
Hey Kim – you’ll never know it you don’t try. I say go for it!!
Stephanie says
How do you possibly do this on a budget? How did you go from being a coupon queen to eating healthy? Did it impact your spending?
Stephanie says
And did you have difficulty thinking about how much money you wasted on the food you donated? I know it went for a good cause but didn’t it take a chunk out of your wallet buying replacement stuff?
Stacy says
I did have a hard time giving the food away. The hardest part was knowing I spent good money on it…..and I could have used it for something else.
I didn’t buy replacement stuff. We’ve been on this road to whole foods since March, so I have a good stock of stuff already.
For example, I got rid of some cereals but I have homemade granola here (no replacement required). I got rid of canned soups and today made homemade cream of chicken soup to freeze (I already had what I needed, no replacement required). If I got rid of something, I know it is an item I can make myself or an item that we shouldn’t be eating anyway.
I hope that answers your great questions! 🙂 Thanks for asking!
Stacy says
I still have the same budget as before…….I’ve made a gradual change. It is different, but I am adjusting. I buy in bulk now instead of a few things at a time. So, I might buy 50 pounds of sucanat and it will cost me about $65, but then I don’t have to buy that again for a looooooong time. I buy different things in large amounts each month, saving what I need to buy produce and milk. The rest of the money goes to upping my food storage.
I still use coupons at Earth Fare. 🙂
Cooking from scratch helps, versus buying everything organic. It’s cheaper for me to make my own whole grain bread than to buy the good organic stuff.
Is it more expensive? Yes. But cutting out candy and soda has really given me extra to spend here and there.
I also try to look at it from a medical standpoint. If I feed my family well, even if it costs more, then in the long run we’ll spend a lot less on medical things. The cost is worth it to me, but like I said, I still have the same budget each month. Buying ingredients instead of the finished product is cheaper in the long run.
Amanda says
I’ve really made an effort to buy more organic food. But it is really hard to look at things like the organic ketchup at $3.99 a bottle opposed to a much larger bottle of regular ketchup at $1.99. I just have to tell myself I’m saving on homemade cleaners etc, and our health is worth that extra $2.In the long run when you look at the whole picture, I don’t think it’s any more expensive to eat healthier.
Stacy says
Amanda, very well said. 🙂
Heather says
It’s also more versatile. Now, when you have that yen for a weird midnight snack, you probably have the stuff around to make it. Which even saves gas money, since you don’t make that run to whatever is open late that has what you want!
Dianne@Baking4Six says
Good for you Stacy (and Barry, too) – it’s wonderful that you are both supporting each other; Annie is a lucky girl. It angers me that HFCS is in almost everything these days, as you discovered. Having a baking blog (and loving sugar like I do), you would think I could care less. However, it’s quite the opposite. The majority of the time, I eat healthy and, for the most part, feed my children healthy foods. It really frustrates me to find “sugar” as an ingredient in what is supposed to a “food”/”fuel” as opposed to a treat. (At least my children know to read food labels.) My stance on sugar is that it is a treat… it’s no wonder there is such a high percentage of child obesity (and in adults as well) – People think they are eating “healthy” all day long, by avoiding treats, when all the while it’s in their breakfast, lunch & dinners without even realizing it.
Anyway, I’m right behind you on this. My youngest, who struggles with self-control, is really having a hard time lately. It’s disrupting our entire family and just breaks my heart. He has always been sensitive to sugar, it affects him like a drug – VERY different than our other 3 children. This morning I determined that I really need to have him avoid sugar — and, once again, here is your post telling me how to do it. For us though, it will be very difficult because he’s almost 8 years old. I’m not always with him watching what he eats (as in food offered to him by other people). So, I’m going to have to lovingly educate him on how to best take care of himself. Deep down he knows his body can’t handle sugar, we have this conversation frequently. It’s just hard to see the big picture when you are 7 years old – especially when your 3 older siblings that you look to for guidance don’t have the same issues.
I firmly believe it’s God showing me the way. There is going to be a lot of extra praying going on around here. I would love to be able to get him off sugar 100% for 8 weeks, but even if I can’t, even if I can only do 95% that’s better than where we are now. (I know it kinda defeats the whole “detox” part, but I can’t worry about that.)
Stacy says
Dianne, we can support each other……..because I could REALLY use a Tootsie Roll today.
Dianne@Baking4Six says
You can TOTALLY do it… I’ve gone off 100% sugar for 8 weeks before and survived – happily, I might add. —
question: I signed up for the de-tox challenge this morning & I was wondering how long did it take for you to start receiving the informational emails? (at least I know what step one is)
Also – it’s a wonderful idea to donate the food. Afterall, it’s the same food that’s available at the grocery store 🙂
Stacy says
I got one almost immediately. After that you’ll get one per week. I start week two on Monday and I got my email today.
Christina says
Once you get used to not having HFCS, the stuff that has it in it just tastes weird. Big time. I’ve done without it for the most part since my son was born 5 1/2 years ago. Can’t wait to hear about the rest of your story!
Adrienne @ Whole New Mom says
Woo hoo! You can do it! Take it from this former Tootsie Roll (and anything sweet) addict.
I am planning on making my own Tootsie Rolls soon :-)! Stay tuned to my blog!
Stacy says
Adrienne, I might kiss you. LOL 🙂
Dianne@Baking4Six says
I’m going to stay tuned for this one. 🙂
Leslie says
I can not possibly live without ketchup…what are you going to do without ketchup? I can’t live without ketchup. Are you making your own or is there an organic ketchup out there? Did I tell you already that I can not survive without ketchup? Please help!
Stacy says
Leslie, I posted a photo last night of the ketchup we use now. It’s Annie’s Organic. It’s AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.annies.com/products/category-16
.ambre. @ livingasoftheday says
Hunts and Heinz both make a HFCS free organic tomato ketchup. Same great taste!
Heather says
No, the organic (no HFCS) Heinz totally tastes better. That’s what we use at home, & I can totally taste the difference if we’re out. I have done homemade, lact-fermented ketchup, too. About 5 minutes prep time and awesome tasting. Once we use up a stash of organic Heinz, I’ll probably stick to the homemade stuff.
Becca C says
Awesome! HFCS is eeeeebil. The company DH works for uses it to make granola bars and such, I told him they need to find something better to use to make foods with, esp since some of it is for babies.
Willie Mitchell says
Thank you for posting this, Stacy. This is all it took to tip the already shaky scale in favor of a sugar challenge. I’ll be with you beginning Monday. Thanks!!!!!!
Kathy says
Awesome! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Good luck!
Brandy says
Noooooooo! Not the Ferrero Rocher! Oh, well. Better off without it. Good luck!
Stacy says
Well, they went to a good home. 🙂 And what you can’t tell is…….I had already eaten two whole containers of those myself.