Plans for the past week were always a bit in the air so the meal plan would get planned a few days at a time and some nights were changed around. Our food challenge was a bit more challenging this week. It didn't alter the meal planning so much but more inconvenienced our snacking and breakfast options.
Week 9: No refined or artificial sweeteners including (but not limited to): white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice. Foods and beverages can only be sweetened with a moderate amount of honey or maple syrup.
We're well into our challenge now and they're breaking out the big guns - sugar. Sugar is a big media buzzword these days. And rightly so since sugar has become such a big industry. It's almost everywhere you look and, in my opinion, that's what makes it so timely in any sort of food challenge you see. I mentioned that this was challenging for us. To be successful I would have needed to go through our pantry and refrigerator before the challenge started and flagged everything with a post-it that said "sugar" and avoided those things throughout the week.
Patrick started out his Monday with an English muffin topped with peanut butter and jelly. Then we both had an afternoon snack of leftover birthday party cupcakes. I'm not even sure what strike three was that day but I'm sure there was one. Some days were better than others and there were times we didn't eat something because it had sugar.
I did some light researching just now to share with you some sugar insight. In this public news release the World Health Organization "recommends adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake. A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits."
"Free sugars refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates. ...Looking back at this past week I see that eliminating sugars isn't a top priority for us. I wholeheartedly believe in everything in moderation. However simply by adding more nutritious options to our diet we will be eliminating the processed foods. So my takeaway from week 1 (eat two fruits and vegetables at every meal) is much stronger than this sugar challenge.
The WHO guideline does not refer to the sugars in fresh fruits and vegetables, and sugars naturally present in milk, because there is no reported evidence of adverse effects of consuming these sugars.
Much of the sugars consumed today are “hidden” in processed foods that are not usually seen as sweets. For example, 1 tablespoon of ketchup contains around 4 grams (around 1 teaspoon) of free sugars. A single can of sugar-sweetened soda contains up to 40 grams (around 10 teaspoons) of free sugars."
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Fruit bowl this past week |
Breakfast bonus: Overnight oats topped with sliced almonds and fresh strawberries
Wednesday - Crockpot beef stroganoff
Thursday - Potato soup
Friday - Leftover soup | PlayMakers show - An Enemy of the People
Saturday - Brunch Dos Perros
Kinky Boots matinee at DPAC
Dinner Chinese takeout
Sunday - Breakfast Whole wheat waffles
Dinner Pancetta and brussels pizza, salad
Wow, you will be busy in your yard! Love the meal planning.
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