How I 'Do' Sugar-Free

I've had a few people ask - if I'm sugar-free, and yet everything has sugar in it - what do I eat?! So, I recorded everything I ate for one week. I intended to tell you how I 'do' sugar-free, but instead I learnt that I am still very much a work in progress.

I am doing a thousand times better. Previously, I would possibly have toast or Weetbix for breakfast, but the toast would be with Marmite or peanut butter or the Weetbix would be with sugar. Sometimes I'd skip it altogether and fill up on Milo at work, or spend money on a bacon and egg panini with mayo (full of sugar in the panini and the mayo).

Morning Tea would be reasonably healthy - if I ate it at all, but I'd have another Milo to go with it, or a hot chocolate from the cafe downstairs. Often our work supplies free donuts when we've had an achievement in the Contact Centre and Id happily take a second one if it was offered.

I was usually good enough to take my own lunch, but it was most likely quick and easy like cheese on toast. I make an effort now to make meals in advance. If I didn't take any, Id either have a kebab on rice, or Id just have chocolate from the vending machine - and probably another Milo.

I've always had Nut Bars for afternoon tea, usually with a piece of fruit, but it wasn't unusual for me to chase it with something from the vending machine if I hadn't already at lunchtime. Dinner was usually either cheese on toast or Burger King, because I was too busy to make a real effort. Now I make time and I'm much better for it. Oh and don't forget dessert! If it was up for grabs, I'd have as much as I could without looking greedy.

Pretty gross, right? Think of all that sugar, backing up my liver and poisoning my body. The worst part is, most people are doing the same thing. Maybe not in the same way, with the same foods, but definitely with the same poison. We just don't realise what sugar is in.

OK, so here is the first day of my food diary for a working week, Monday to Friday. I'll post the rest tomorrow and you'll see what I mean about being a work in progress!

Monday 7 February 2011

Breakfast - 2 slices of Pams wholegrain toast, 2.5% sugar, 1/4 small avocado, 1/4 large tomato, pepper, 300ml water.

I couldn't see an obvious sugar in the ingredients list of the bread, but thought Wheat Gluten might be it. I googled Wheat Gluten... Don't click this link if you want to look at bread the same way again!

Morning Tea - 2 Real Foods Corn Thins, 0.7% sugar. Normally I have 3, but Courtney dropped one of them! 2 tsp Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 2.7% sugar. 200ml Light Blue Anchor Milk, 5% sugar (natural lactose only, nothing added), mixed with 200ml Hot Water. Its like drinking weak tea.

Lunch - Frittata made with potatoes, broccoli, courgette, red pepper, carrot, basil, salt, pepper and garlic. Each serving has 1 egg in it (6 servings per frittata). When I mix the eggs, I use water instead of milk. The cooking time is longer but the fat and sugar content is lower.

Afternoon Tea - 1.5c diced watermelon. 1 Nice & Natural Nut Bar (Original Flavour), 22.9% sugar.

The Nut Bars are full of sugar but much of the sugar comes from sultanas and raisins. The rest is from Glucose Syrup and Brown Sugar. They were recommended by the Nutritionist that helped me kick sugar last year (the second time I have done it, and the most successful thus far) so I have been eating them ever since. I am seriously considering switching them for mixed nuts, but nuts are so expensive.

Dinner - Chicken Burgers made from 2 slices of Pams wholegrain toast, 2.5% sugar. 75g chicken fried in Soy Sauce, which is 3% sugar. Sliced beetroot from a can, drained, 1% sugar. 1 egg, fried (on a non stick pan, no oil). 1 tsp Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 2.7% sugar. 1/4 Onion, fried (no oil).

Healthy Food Guide says even though there is added sugar in canned beetroot, it's OK. When you drain the can you are left with only 1% refined sugar - the rest is naturally in the beetroot.

Courts invented these 'burgers' the other day when he saw the beetroot can and had a craving. We didn't have burger buns so he used toast, and we just put the chicken, egg, beetroot and onion in between two slices, with cream cheese on one side (since sauce is high in sugar). Its actually really good!