What happens when your love for the life you have built starts to wane, your ambition to do the things that need to be done is all but gone, and you find yourself feeling sick, achy and heavier than ever? Most all of us have been at that point at one time or another. There are lots of things you can do to snap out of it, but for us it all came down to what we were eating. For most of the year now Mr. One Ash and I have been on a get healthy journey. While we have had a lot of things to work on- physical health, psychological health- the most impactful part of this journey has been to get rid of sugar in our lives. Now, before you just “poo-poo” the idea and close down this post, check out our 7 ways to quit sugar, how we avoided over-complicating it, and what our results have been.
It started for us with getting more than one health scare and an overall sense of just feeling bad. We had multiple issues with blood work for both of us, increasing joint and especially back pain which exasperated existing injuries, serious lethargy, illness that just wouldn’t go away, and psychological changes. All of this, coupled with the pandemic lock down, being out of work due to an injury, and upcoming retirement, caused us to take a serious look at our own mortality. God’s timing for this chapter in our life could not have been more perfect and we thank Him daily for what He has done with this. We decided we needed to buckle down and become completely intentional about what we were eating, how we were cooking and truly how we were living our lives. Becoming intentional in what we do and how we do things is a blessing and wisdom that we are thrilled to have gained and a way of life that is enhancing our homestead. As we go forward with our journey it’s our plan to share our intentional homesteading with you all. For now, we are pleased to tell you that Mr. One Ash has lost over 40 lbs., I have lost almost 30 lbs., and our health results are seriously improving and reversing in all aspects! All I can say is this- if we can do it, anyone can!
Once we decided to make this move to intentional living the first step for us was to get educated. We have watched every YouTube video and read everything we could find about what sugar does to you- the inflammation on your organs, the weight gain, potential medical issues, lack of energy and vitality, lack of psychological balance. In addition, once a body has an issue with all of these things it prevents itself from losing weight. WOW! No wonder we felt so horrible. We watched, we read, we talked and we honestly got scared. This was NOT how we wanted to live out our golden years.
When people had talked in the past to us about cutting out sugar we always just thought about cookies, desserts, sodas- the obvious. What we didn’t know then, and what we learned from all of our research, was that it’s about much more than that. There are “hidden” sugars and that’s where the trouble lies. It does help to just cut out those obvious sugars but it will not help you break the sugar addiction. We had to become “label readers”, and quick! Our diet and habits needed to change immediately for our health and longevity.
Sure, you can see the sugar you add to your coffee or tea, you know that sugar is in donuts, and you know that 20 oz. bottle of carbonated deliciousness is filled with more sugar than any human truly needs. Those are the things that everyone knows need to be be cut. But did you know that just about every processed or pre-prepared food contains sugars? Did you know that every time you go out to eat there is hidden sugar in your meal? We even looked into the vegan option but found that almost every vegan food contained some form of sugar (just read the labels!). Now, I am no doctor and only know what we have learned, so I encourage you to go do your own research. But for us we knew we had to immediately stop eating out, stop buying pre-made foods and cook only from scratch, and cut out the things that elevate the blood sugar.
I have always enjoyed cooking, and I have always enjoyed using my favorite Amish cookbooks. But there is a lot of added sugar in most of those recipes! So I had to quickly learn alternatives, and how to cook without that added sugar. I still love and use those Amish cookbooks, but I am good now at either substituting or eliminating sugars (I like using the stevia one-to-one substitutes like this one). I also had to get used to cooking 3 meals a day- no more running to the local diner or fast food spot when I felt like I wanted a night off.
One of the most eye opening things we learned about sugar in our diet is that it is an addiction. Yep, a straight up addiction like any other. And along with that addiction comes withdrawal when you are trying to break free. This happened to us and there are definitely symptoms of withdrawal that occur during the first few days to a week when cutting sugar. I’m not telling you this to scare you away but because it’s important to know what’s happening and that it’s normal. When breaking your addiction to sugar you may feel lethargic, short tempered, and just generally bad. But once you hold strong and get through those first days you will start feeling just the opposite. It is completely worth setting aside a few days of feeling not so great to implement an intentional decision that will energize and support the life you want to live!
Here is a list of the Top 7 things that we did to help facilitate our sugar free journey. We hope these help you if you are wanting to make changes~
- We learned to read labels. This is probably better stated as “we educated ourselves”. But reading labels was a huge base step. Look at the spot on food labels that says “total sugars” and “added sugars”. You don’t want any added sugars! We read the label on each and every thing we were getting ready to eat. It is amazing the items that have sugar in them that you think are healthy and good for you. Some of the most surprising for us were yogurts, lots of crackers, even sandwich meats. And take a look at the sugar content of those cereals you are eating- even if you think it’s a healthy bran. I am still shocked when I pick up some items that I think should be fine and without sugar. It can be tough, but I just place them right back on the shelf and move on.
- Learn what sugars are okay. Fruits have sugar. But if you start researching and watching videos like we did, you will learn that the fruit also has fiber. And the combination allows your body to process it properly. This is where the sugar free thing can get somewhat confusing, but don’t let it stop you. Continue to educate yourself and learn what works for your own body.
- Carbs- yes, carbohydrates. This is one of the basics of going sugar free. But, we have not cut carbs completely, nor have we focused singly on cutting carbohydrates. We still eat bread (but only homemade, high fiber, sugar free bread). We eat flour tortillas in a limited way, we eat a little rice. We have avoided white potatoes and substitute sweet potatoes instead. We don’t eat pasta, but make zoodles out of zucchini. We don’t eat pizza out but make a fantastic pizza at home with a keto pizza crust.
- We bought an air fryer. I know you’re thinking “how does this fit with sugar free?”. This was one of those things we weren’t sure about either. I had read a little about them and thought they sounded interesting. But I sure didn’t want to house an appliance if I wasn’t going to use it. I’m just not that into them. However….our Ninja Air Fryer is one of the best purchases we ever made! I think it has been used almost every day since we purchased it in the spring. The thing that was great about the air fryer for us was this- we have been able to cook foods at home that taste as good as our favorite eating-out spots. And eating out was one of our biggest sources of hidden sugar. One of the absolute favorite things we have made were the “fried” veggies this summer. We had a bumper crop of green bell peppers and have made a bunch of Air Fryer Bell Peppers (click here to see that recipe!). I recently tried the same recipe with onions and they taste like the blooming onion from the restaurant! We have also enjoyed broasted chicken that is so juicy and tender- perfect to cook ahead and add to other things like fajitas, a salad, or eat alone. Sweet potato chips and roasted garbanzo beans made in the air fryer have often been a great snack!
- I’ve mentioned this one a lot, but we stopped eating out. This was probably one of the most difficult, but also most important, things we did. Just think about it- when you eat out several things happen. First, you have no idea what ingredients are being used so you can’t do #1 from above- how do you know if there is hidden sugar? Second, you have no control over portion size. Seriously think about this one. When you go out to eat you want to order whatever is the best value for your money, right? You review the menu seeking out what “sounds good”. Then you start looking for the menu item that sounds good, but is also the best value for your hard earned cash. And this often includes the “value” of a larger portion, inclusion of drinks or side items, and often the inclusion of a dessert. Face it, very few of us have the will power to say no to a great “value” meal. And we have absolutely no idea how big the portions are or how they fit in with our required nutritional needs (as in low or no sugar). Eating out is quick and easy and as I said, this was very difficult for us. But we have had a whole lot of WOW moments when we have realized just how much, and what, we were putting in our bodies by eating out so often.
- Walking became a routine. And not just walking from the house to the chicken coop. And also not walking a long mountain hike. We found a couple of spots where we could walk a measured couple of miles and we just got outside and moved our bodies. Walking became great for our cardio health and also for our psychological health. There are lots of studies you can find about how walking helps to boost your metabolism, boost your mental positivity, and boost your cardio health. We didn’t make it difficult, we didn’t make it a burden and we changed up the location so it didn’t get boring.
- Reading recipes was a huge help to me. I mentioned that I love my Amish cookbooks and that I have learned to make substitutions so we can still eat some of our favorite recipes. One way I learned was by reading recipes. If I want to make something- say lasagna- I will go online and look for a keto recipe for lasagna. Zucchini zoodles are amazing! When I wanted to make shredded pork tacos I knew I couldn’t use the same store bought sauces I had always used, so I found a keto recipe and learned to make my own delicious sugar free marinade using ingredients I already had. And for a chicken marinade the same thing. There are lots and lots of resources out there for sugar free recipes. You can also research them as substitutions. That’s one way I learned to use stevia instead of sugar (and then cut the amount in half as we got used to no sugar), and learned the science behind feeding the yeast in bread dough to make it rise. The most important thing for me was to understand the concepts and to just start experimenting. There are so many ideas you will have a menu set up and be cooking sugar free before you know it!
As for us, we will continue on this intentional journey toward our best health and we will keep learning, experimenting, making mistakes and growing. I know that our tips are not for everyone but as we have gone through these past months we have become increasingly led to share our story. It is our hope that we can inspire someone to make a change that will help them improve their life. So don’t be hooked to the sugar addiction any longer- break the addiction, educate yourself and go after the rest of your life in a healthier way!
Here are a few of our recommendations for research- click on each to learn more!
Get The Sugar Out- 501 Simple Ways to Cut The Sugar Out of any Diet
The Everything Guide To The Blood Sugar Diet: Balance Your Blood Sugar Levels
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