2 weeks down for NOSUGARVEMBER
Well we are over 2 weeks into NOSUGARVEMBER, with only 13 days to go. By now, you should be getting away from habits that make you eat sugar and cravings should be disappearing if not disappeared.
I am going to start by applauding you all for taking up this challenge. Most of you have broken the challenge so far, BUT all of you have eaten far less sugar in the last 2 weeks than if you were not on this challenge, so well done! I think it has also made you aware of how much sugar you do consume normally, so that is a great outcome. I also believe a lot of you will change a lot of your habits after this, so again, another great outcome!
I am going to tell you what I have noticed and I would love for you to tell me what you have noticed, be it weight loss, social patterns based around sugar, feeling less bloated, clearer thinking, better moods, sleeping better.
Here’s what I see;
* A lot of you cannot give up sugar completely for even 1 week let alone 1 month.
* A lot of you cannot attend social functions without feeling left out if you don’t eat sugar and/or drink alocohol.
* I can see why people are fat. When I get food diaries from people who wish to lose weight, I never get these morning tea’s, afternoon tea’s, parties etc. It’s not an accident that you cannot lose weight, because sugar creeps into your diet all the time. The proof is in the amount of excuses I have heard in the last 2 weeks, it is ridiculous. If this is what I hear in 2 weeks when you are consciuously avoiding sugar, then what is it like in a 12 month period when you are not avoiding sugar. Think about that next time you step on the scales!
* There is a serious problem with society when it comes to eating healthy. People are made to feel like the bad guys if they are trying to eat healthy. Attend a morning tea where the cakes etc are on offer and eat an apple instead. You may aswell be a leper because that is how your co-workers will make you feel. But, turn around to the unhealthiest person eating the cake and say they should eat an apple and you may aswell get a new job because no-one will talk to you again!
* If someone cannot succeed with their health, fitness and weight loss goals, they will not want you to succeed either. So what we then get is people constantly trying to sabotage you from your good intentions. I can say nothing other than toughen up and don’t give in to peer pressure. What often happens is when you do succeed, they will be asking how you did it.
It is up to us – the individuals to start to make a difference, we are a very unhealthy society, be it the large quantities of sugar, caffeine or alcohol, we need to start to make a change. You need to stand out form the crowd and make a difference. I am very lucky, most of the people I hang out with would look at you badly if you ate junk, so I have no problem being the way I am. You too can be like that, all it takes is 1 person to start to change and others will follow. I am not asking for miracles, I don’t expect anyone to go cold turkey, but to cut down and improve healthy habits is a great way to live. The healthier you live day to day, the more relaxed you can be when you cut loose once in a while.
Post your observations in the comments.
Thanks guys:)
Tags: no sugar, sugar free
November 17th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I agree with a lot of the comments Troy, but a lot of my mates have actually been curious about the idea of the challenge, rather than sabotaging or condemning it. I think a lot of people know they eat too much sugar, but they either don’t want to or don’t know how to go about changing that. I’ve been surprised with what I’ve found the hardest – I thought it would be biscuits, chocolate, cake etc, but I haven’t slipped on that front at all! I haven’t noticed massive changes, either energy or weight loss, but there’s still hope – 13 days to go!
November 17th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I’ve been talking about the challenge a lot at work …. there is a bowl of lollipops beside my desk that I re-named the “white death” bowl a long time before no-sugar-vember started .. so I think a few people think twice about taking one.
A lot of my colleagues have admired the fact that I’m partaking in no-sugar-vember and taking it so seriously, but at the same time they groan and pull faces or worse if I suggest to them that they might have a glass of water instead of soft drink or by-pass the tray of danishes at breakfast…. so I stopped doing that!
A colleague of mine specifically asked me to help her by making her accountable each time I saw her eating/drinking something sugary.
Later that day at a picnic she had a soft drink can in her hand which I told her to put down, but she poked her tongue out instead … later at the same picnic she was eating a cornetto, which i again told her to put down … and then half a cupcake.
Once we got back to work she spent tha afternoon complaining about me and how I’d not let her eat what she wanted. Firstly – she ASKED me to, secondly even though I called her out on it she continued to eat everything.
I don’t get it??
It’s been pretty disheartening to be honest!
but … very pleased with my own progress. Tim has also benefited by not having any chocolate in the house nor opening any bottles of wine with dinner.
next challenge: Decaf-cember!
November 18th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
So far I went well in the challenge mostly because I don’t like sweets, junk and alcohol and as I am a Bavarian Vegetarian everybody in work thinks I’m weird anyway. I don’t have discussions about my diet anymore because they live absolutely different and the attitudes are too different. so my nosugar-vember was no surprise for them – only another weird thing Moni is doing.. I’m lucky enough to have friends who are living mostly healthy anyway and accept what I’m doing.
this was definitely my last for a little while. Sorry Gloria Jeans…
the challenge for me was to give up sushi and to see that in almost every Soy milk is sugar – so I had to stop coffee as well (I don’t drink dairy). It was going really great the first time until last Monday when I decided to stop drinking coffee altogether and live vegan until end of year. I have bought my ‘last’ coffee with bananabread…(my mistake).. And guess what happened!!!?????
In my hurry to get out of my place I took the wrong set of keys and when I came back from my sugar mistake I realised that I locked myself out of the house and had to get the Emergency Locksmith…. this has been the most expensive Bananabread in my life – should have better stuck to what I signed up for
November 18th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
…sorry I forgot one important experience: it happens to me a lot that if people see me eating healthy food are justifying themselves for eating junk without me even commenting about it at all…
November 19th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
The lolly jar near my desk would routinely be refilled every second day. The no sugar challenge as had an effect on workmates as it’s been refilled only once in the psat week.
And no – I’m not eating any.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:47 am
The one thing that I have noticed, is that people automatically assume that the no sugar concept must be about weight loss.
It seems they cannot understand that the change in diet is about nutrition and not getting thin.
November 24th, 2009 at 8:23 am
So I have gone through most of the month with many of my work mates teasing me for not drinking on Friday nights and I have been taking my carrot sticks to social work functions – but slowly they have learnt to accept what I’m doing and the comments and teasing is less and less. Some have given thought to how much sugar they consume on a daily basis, but I don’t really see any change in their eating habbits. My sister is telling everyone about this crazy thing that I’m doing as she can’t go one day without sugar. Last week I was calling it NoFunNovember as I have found it really hard in social settings not to have a beer in hand but with only 6 days (after today) left of NoSugarNovember I’m surprise at how amazing I feel and the weight that I’ve lost. I have had quite a few people comment in the last few days how good my skin completion is looking and they can see that I’ve lost weight also. So Troy thanks for waking me up to my eating habbits and it really has taught me to think about what I am putting into my body and how it really affects your day to day living.