Low sugar challenge low down

It's been a week since I've sipped on a sweet treat like this-I made it!!! By my calculation, I've spared myself a pound or two of sticky sucrose this week alone. I can feel my arteries thanking me...

Shocking! I'm guessing my beloved Target icees aren't much better...

Really though, how do I feel? I have to admit I am just now, at the very end of these 7 days, feeling a notable change for the better. The greater half of the time has been somewhat rough, being that the majority of my sugar was tied to caffeine. Eeek! All things considered, I'm happy to say that I do feel like I've turned a tiny corner. For starters my husband would be the first one to tell you that I am NOT a morning person. That said, I feel much less sluggish in the morning lately and have slowly but surely reclaimed some energy throughout the day without the aid of coffee and sweet tea. It's also nice to ditch the food guilt for a change-chewy Chips Ahoy you will not get the best of me today! I'm proud of myself for sticking to it-I turned down Baskin Robbins AND a cupcake this week! As for the scale, I lost a whopping one pound. Now I wasn't in it for weight loss primarily, but I'll happily claim my little loss.

Over the course of this little experiment, I learned that cutting added sugars out of your diet really isn't that difficult at all-unless you live in America and love a white chocolate mocha from Starbucks that is.

Cue the broken record-what it all comes down to is eating healthy whole foods. Tadaaa! It's the not so secret truth and we all know it. You can still eat fruits and vegetables, meat, seafood, dairy, protein like nuts and whole grains too-does'nt sound incredibly restrictive right? If only it were that easy.

Oh USA, you win the gold. 

Going without over this past week has been a steep learning curve for me because sugar is just too familiar a friend in this day and age-and parting is such "sweet" sorrow. At this point, I don't plan to dive off the whole 30 edge just yet, and yes I do see a Baskin Robbins rainbow sherbet ice cream cone in my future. It will be glorious.

Can we rewind the clock 300 years on the processed food front please?

The name of the game is moderation, and that's my take home. I don't need to make special occasion sweets an everyday event. I do plan on consuming less sugar, and will continue to work towards incorporating more whole foods and less of crazy processed ones. I've already cut my coffee sugar in half, and am considering switching from french vanilla creamer to milk. Also, I've learned so much more about reading labels and have already started making better choices at the grocery store. Hopefully this will be a small diving board to bigger changes in the long run. And now, I think I'll help myself to a sweet something to celebrate. :-) All things in moderation!