The deal...

So here's the deal. I'm cutting out added sugars, sweeteners, and artificial sweeteners from my diet. Only for this week, though because I am a sugar addict.

Hi. My name is Kayla and I'm a sugarholic. 

Why would I decide to do such a thing?!
It goes like this. Added sugars are not good for you. I like [healthy] food challenges. I like food. I am a foodie. I love learning about nutrition and I have a problem. --> I eat too much junk (mostly sweets). So, with the support of a couple of friends, we've decided to tackle this challenge together. We all work together like all day, everyday so it won't be very hard to get on to each other and to most importantly lift each other up when the cravings get bad.

So, why is sugar so bad for you?
Dude, sugar is so good but it has nothing beneficial in it but calories and those calories are empty, meaning there isn't any nutritional benefit that comes with those calories like vitamins, minerals, protein blah blah blah. It is also not very filling (hence "empty" calories) so more gets consumed putting more calories in your body that you probably don't need. Sugar can suppress your immune system, it promotes inflammation (man, I swell up a lot there better be some changes by Friday), it obviously raises your insulin level, and it can quicken aging!

Artificial sweeteners have zero calories so, like, why cut those out too? Because, like that stuff is like made by some crazy chemistry genius man and not by God who like made us so He like knows what kind of sugar is safer on our precious bodies. For real though, studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can cause headaches, migraines, chronic fatigue (you know, you're tired all the time), cancer, and they can actually make your feel more hungry. WTF. Seriously? Why would something with zero calories make me extra hungry?! I really don't know right now, you can Google that yourself. I also want to cut this fakeness out because if I have to cut out real sugar then why would I continue to consume sweet things. The whole purpose is for me to cut back on sweets. Like, I don't even want that section of my tongue to be activated.
The sweet taste buds are going into hibernation for the week.

Now, you've got all the educational information I care to type up, if you want to know more Google about it, that's what I did. I got my info. I'm ready to go! This blog isn't meant to give you a nutrition lesson like textbook format.There are textbooks for that. This blog is for me to share my week with you. So, enjoy. Or get out.

Most people are probably like "oh a no sugar added week, that can't be too hard". This doesn't mean only cut out cupcakes and cookies, people. This week means: Reading nutrition labels-if the word sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sweetener, artificial sweetener, aspartame, Splenda, anything ending in -ose is in that list of ingredients...you can't eat it. There are more dumb sneaky words that mean sugar so you gotta be smart and research if you aren't sure. Black coffee. Naked berries. Natural peanut butter (it's really not that bad). Bread is tricky. We got Ezekiel bread, it's in the freezer section because it doesn't have any preservatives. Many times if sugar is listed in the ingredients list, especially towards the middle and bottom, it is being used as a preservative. Don't know what that is? There's Google for that.
Thank goodness Naked juices were on sale because I plan to have one each day. Sure, if you read the nutrition facts label on those there are several carbs and sugars but it all comes naturally from the fruit it was made out of. I will be consuming fruit whenever I get a sweet craving, and throughout the day. Fruits are part of a healthy diet as long as they are properly consumed. So don't eat like 2 apples, 5 bananas, 3 handfuls of berries, and 82 grapes. Replace some of that with meat and veggies!

Ohhh myyy gosshh... WHAT am I going to drink?! I guess water. Damn. or Dam. ha! haha. haaaaaaa. Whatever, water's good for you and I suck at drinking enough of it anyway. I usually cheat by adding those little faked out sweetened drink mixers. Can't do that. Can't drink the green tea I usually drink. Can't have a freakin diet Mt. Dew. Waaaah...neither can starving children in third world countries. (awe now I feel bad and out of guilt may have to cut all of this out forever). No Starbucks! Might as well not eat out because who knows what they put in your fast food. Can't trust nobody.

So Phil and I went grocery shopping Thursday. He needed reading assistance. For example: he was being good and reading the nutrition label on the cracker box...like hard..asks me if it has sugar in it. I took a double take because there were some weird words on that ingredient list. COME ON PHIL YOU'RE TRYING TO READ THE SPANISH INGREDIENTS! Seriously. Turns out those Premium brand crackers do not have any added sugar! Yay for him! I don't eat crackers. After spending like an hour in the store we came away with some pretty good stuff. I got bananas so they would be ready to eat on Monday since I like mine spotted (like leopards). I loaded up on Naked juice because it was on sale and I was afraid it wouldn't be when I came back Monday. I couldn't grocery shop this weekend because I was going out of town. I'm not going to tell you what all I bought because you will eventually see it as I blog about each day and what I ate.

Enjoy!