It’s Ash Wednesday. AKA the 1st day of Lent.
This year, after analyzing my insane weakness when it comes to sugar (I’m addicted…) I’ve decided to give it up for lent, all 40 days of it.
I’m kind of terrified. Like I ate 3 cookies just last night (I know, terrible!) So I decided what’s best for my body (and my state of mind!) is to cut out the white stuff for Lent starting TODAY. To clarify, I’m giving up all added sugars. No honey, agave, fructose, white sugar, artificial sugars, etc. I will ONLY eat sugars that are found naturally in fruits, vegetables, and plain yogurt. Basically, I’m gonna miss my chocolate and flavored yogurts. BUT, this is what my body is telling me it needs, and I always like to listen to it and honor its needs.
Sugar is hiding in basically all of our foods. It’s added left and right without us even thinking twice about it. Why does bread need sugar? And pasta sauce? (This is a whole other topic for another day on food policy…ugh!)
Here are all 50 different names sugar is disguised as in foods. So anytime you see one of these in an ingredient list, it means there’s sugar added: click here.
Not so sweet, huh? I could start writing a novel on all the bad effects and health issues sugar causes but I’ll spare the time. All you need to know is:
1. Sugar is toxic.
2. Sugar is addictive (works on the same brain receptors as cocaine and heroin!)
3. Excess added sugar is a leading cause of obesity, metabolic diseases like diabetes, and even cardiovascular disease.
(Here is a great article from the Huffington Post on some of the toxic effects of sugar and some research on sugar’s correlation with diabetes)
To read about my friend Ali’s experience going sugar free for a month, some more info on why sugar is not so great, and the recipe for this amazing ZERO added sugar dessert below, head over here.
Lastly, here is an amazing short little article on why we observe lent, not just for the sake of “giving up” something or “look at me! I can give up coffee!”, it’s for God’s sake and drawing you closer to Him.
Sooo, what’s on my grocery list for this month?
- LOTS of fresh veggies (sweet potato, zucchini noodles, salads, mmm!)
- fresh fruits (strawberries, bananas, dates, kiwi, oranges)
- Whole grains like quinoa and brown rice
- PLAIN yogurt (struggle…i sure love my Vanilla Caramel Yogurt) plus raw nuts and raw cacao nibs
- 90% dark chocolate (no added sugar!) for when I’m really craving something sweet
- tofu and tempeh
- organic eggs and chicken
- unsweetened almond milk (definitely going to be making lots of smoothies!)
- raw cacao powder (I already have this in my pantry but this is a MUST for creating healthy no added sugar chocolate treats like this one )
To start off day 1 with zero sugar, I made an awesome smoothie for breakfast filled with: 1 small frozen banana, 1 fig, handful of frozen strawberries, water, mixed greens, cinnamon, 1/4 vanilla bean, 1 scoop Vital Proteins collagen peptides, and 2 scoops Mediclear Plus (<—this stuff is gold!!!)
What are you all giving up for Lent? Wish me luck!
