a person who is addicted to or excessively fond of chocolate
Some basic truths:
* The FIRST thing I do EVERY morning is go eat a piece of chocolate.
* I eat a piece of chocolate after every meal to "cleans the pallet"
* I eat chocolate when I'm stressed.
* I've decorated my kitchen using a chocolate theme - you should see it . . . . . I should blog pictures of my kitchen. . . . .
*I am a goal oriented person. I thrive on a structured challenge.
*Opposites attract.
A 30 day push up challenge is NOT My Love's idea of good fun.
So when my husband suggested doing a no-sugar-challenge, I jumped all over it! I was excited for us to work together toward a challenging goal!
Our mission: No sugar from New Years Day to Valentines Day
- Natural occurring sugars from fruit - OK
- NOT going to obsess about the sugar content of random foods like mustard. Just abstaining from obvious sources.
Before I share my survival tips I want to say how PROUD I am of my husband! During that 6 weeks, people brought all sorts of sugary goodness to work! Cookies, donuts, and cheesecake! (He would send me pictures of this torture.) But he was strong and didn't give in!!
How I coped:
* My "FIRST thing in the morning" chocolate was replaced with a small spoon of natural peanut butter.
* Grapes went from a snack we sometimes have on hand to - a MUST HAVE staple. They worked really well for getting me through those after meal - cleans the palet - sweet cravings.
*Project 7 Gourmet Sugar Free Gum My favorite flavor so far is Red Velvet Cake. But I really want to try Cookie Dough Ice Cream. You can order this gum on Amazon but I've also gotten it at Target or Joanns.
* A Yonanas machine helped us get through Shortcake's birthday. You can't have a birthday without ice cream! It turns frozen fruit into soft serve ice cream. It really works. No need to add sugar or milk or nothing. JUST FROZEN FRUIT. The machine itself kind of a noisy little bugger, but it totally does the job. Yummm.
* Chocolate Banana Milk Shake - Yes, you read that right. It is A-MAZE-ING. Not a spec of sugar! Put in a blender:
- 12 ice cubes
- 1 banana
- 1 Tbsp Cocoa
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
(Cow milk works fine, but almond milk is low cal.)
This recipe makes a FULL blender. I half it if I'm the only one around to drink it.
This is my guilt free treat! 1 cup almond milk is only 30 calories. An extra large banana is only 135 calories.
* Homemade Dark Chocolate - I heard tales of this. I hunted down and tested out a pretty good recipe. Easy too.
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 4 Tbsp honey
Heat and stir on medium-heat until smooth. Then you can,
A) Pour into chocolate molds and refrigerate. (I found chocolate molds at Joanns.) Once it's hardened, it still needs to be stored in the refrigerator. The coconut oil will cause it to melt if stored at room temperature. THIS is now my go-to chocolate fix first thing in the morning. Mmmm.
OR, I also recommend:
B) Dip fruit in it. You can enjoy the fruit fondue style. But we dipped strawberries and bananas in it, placed them on wax paper, and put them in the freezer for 5 min to harden. It made quick yummy snacks for us to enjoy during the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl. Mmmm.
DISCLAIMERS: We did indeed intake sugar during this challenge. Sugar is hiding in everything!
The seasoning I use when I cook up turkey sausage, chips we buy from Costco, sloppy joe sauce, salsa - and I'm sure there were more offenders that we didn't figure out.
Also, My Love thinks it's really important to include this part - proves I'm human or something. The day before our challenge was complete, I was shopping at Costco. I walked past a chocolate sample and ate it without even thinking about it!!! Blah!
Were we "truly" successful at our task - neh. Don't care to devote thought or argument to the matter. But I'm very happy with the overall result. It forced me to think outside the box and find other healthy yummy options.
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