Hello! Happy Christmas WEEK, and I hope you're looking forward to 2022! Today marks 10 more days until you kick off your New Year with love to your body and brain. I'll be sending prep emails until we start and then just weekly.
As a reminder, the 31-day challenge is a focus on abstaining from added sugar and other substitute sweeteners, but it is recommended to also detox from any alcohol (because the blood sugar highs and lows alcohol causes acts like the sweet stuff to your body). You are also welcome to take it a notch up and remove any refined grains and synthetics. Find more info at:
Sugar Challenge Info. In addition, it's important to download the Added Sweetener handouts (along with the other nourishing food handouts)
HERE.
Getting Prepped! It is encouraged to spend the rest of the month getting prepped. What's crucial is to understand just what you'll be cutting out for the month. Easy to understand are the sweets -- cookies, soda, etc. -- but in our modern era it's important to also recognize all the alternatives. While I should have called it more appropriately the "Sugar, Sweetener, and Sugar Alcohol Challenge" -- it just didn't have the best ring. Haha! See below to get the skinny on what the challenge is so you can start to assess and make a plan.
Sugar? Substitute Sweeteners? Sugar-Free? This challenge incorporates not eating or drinking anything sweet that is added to food -- whether you're adding it or the manufacturer is adding it -- but rather relying only on the natural sugars already in the raw food (i.e, fruit, milk). So, this includes regular table sugar - any natural sweeteners like agave, honey or maple syrup - and any alternatives like stevia or the like. And, let's not forget any of the sugar alcohols that aren't considered added sugar on the labels but can be found in the ingredient list. You'll recognize them because they end in "-'ol" (i.e. erythritol, manitol, sorbitol, etc.). They're used because they have zero calories and are 100x sweeter than table sugar -- better for cost and promotion. If a sweetener is not in your food on its own -- it's added. And, that's what this challenge is -- we want to refrain, reset, and recharge.
Food Labels: Added sugar and sweetener isn't always the easiest to locate. There is one definitive place to look when you're buying food for meals + snacks - the food label. Note, sugar is necessary in food products to keep food shelf stable so you'll be hard-pressed to find pre-packaged snacks without it. And if you eat out a lot -- you don't have access to an ingredient list and it is 100% expected your food has added sugar. Just an FYI! Look to the food label and you'll find info in the ingredient list and also the added sugar list. First look to the 'added sugar' row -- it should list 0g. But, synthetics aren't real so they'll only be identified in the ingredient list. Added sweetener is prominent in about 75% of the grocery store -- so spend some time looking at those 2 places. Be careful -- just because you see "0 grams" for added sugar, look to see if there are sugar substitutes in the ingredient list. Anything "sugar-free" is a dead giveaway. p.s they make it confusing it on purpose! Ever wonder why sugar is listed in grams even though we don't use the metric system? hmmmm. Some major culprits are: flavored yogurt, beef jerky, cereals, dressings, sauces, condiments, snack bars, alternative milks, coffee creamers -- the list goes on and on.
Click HERE for the skinny on how to identify
added sugars and synthetic sweeteners.
So what can you eat? All real, nourishing foods are on the table (literally and figuratively). Fresh or frozen fruits and veggies, quality sources of meat and non-meat proteins, minimally processed whole grains and all dairy products (that aren't full of sugar or synthetics). But, it's the identification of real, nourishing foods that will be the most important. If you don't have access to an ingredient list -- be WARY. Quick tip: If you couldn't get all the ingredients yourself -- it's a food product and not real food.
Click HERE for a downloadable Nourishing Shopping List to help you.
Happy Tuesday!
Jaime
