Earlier this month, I shared an approach for Welcoming the Quality in 2017 and Letting Go of The Quantity, One Month at a Time, and prior to the end of the month I wanted to take a moment to share with you my mid-month progress.

Each month one habit, concept or practice is the focus with the goal of reducing or letting go of something entirely that is not improving the quality of our lives. In January I’ve decided to focus on something that while rather general, allows you to tailor the life improvement that best suits you: Reduce or eliminate entirely one food or food type that does not serve you well.

As promised, I am checking in to share with you how the month has been going for me as I chose reducing or eliminating (the goal was eliminate entirely, and you will see how I did below) refined sugars.

As each month is focusing on letting go of something, I created a short series of questions to answer or statements to complete, so that you too can share your progress.

January Mid-Month Progress:

Abstained from the following refined sugar go-tos:

• croissants
• lemon tarts
• cake

Moments of weakness:

• pain aux chocolat
• clafoutis aux poires
• crackers

Things I’ve learned:

• When I am hungry and tired I tend to reach for food that is easy and full of carbs (crackers are my go-to). This is not a bad thing, but a realization. And so ensuring I have healthy carbs paired with protein ready to grab and nosh on is crucial so that those pesky refined sugars aren’t consumed as well.
• Simply having the one month goal, not a set number to reach, feels far more doable.
• Having the goal and having shared with TSLL readers and podcast listeners gave me pause each time I reached for something with refined sugars. (Most of the time it stopped me.)
• Simply having the conscious awareness reduced the amount of times I actually consumed refined sugars.
• As I try to reduce or refrain from buying processed foods in general, it was easy to abstain from cookies, ice cream or store bought processed sauces. (However, homemade sauces – yep, yep, yep!)
• My appetite has been satiated, and I’ve never felt deprived.
• I’ve begun to explore further into different vinaigrettes to dress up my greens for lunch and dinner which add an abundance of flavor.
• With the primary focus of my lunch and dinner being low-starch carbs and protein, I am reading this cookbook to become better adept at making delicious sauces to add flavor and variety to my meals.
• I am feeling more energetic.
• My sleep is sound and restful.
• What I’ve learned about refined sugar during the process:
  • The American Heart Association recommends no more than six teaspoons of sugar a day for the average woman, and no more than nine teaspoons for the average man.
  • However, American adults consume 22 teaspoons per day, while the kids are scarfing down a daily average of 32 teaspoons
  • 4 grams of sugar is equivalent to one teaspoon
  • Check the label: Some of the many different ingredients that actually refer to sugar include high-fructose corn syrup, corn sweetener, demerara, evaporated cane juice, evaporated cane juice solids, fruit-juice concentrates, dextrose, fructose, lactose, and a number of other terms ending in “-ose”.

With just under two weeks to go, I am diving into reading The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes and am curious to read Year of No Sugar by Eve Schaub as well. Click here to read my final thoughts on how letting go or reducing something that wasn’t serving me wrapped up, how I will be moving forward and the observation regarding the improvement of the overall quality of living.

I encourage you to share how you are doing as well with the one item you chose to let go or reduce. Feel free to answer the three items above.

Image:  source