How Our Family Went Refined Sugar Free - Part 4: Eleven Tips for Taking the Plunge

Are you convinced yet?  Have you done the research?  Can you see how refined sugar is effecting your body?

If you're ready to take the plunge, I would recommend committing to a minimum of two weeks of refined sugar free living, but two months is ideal.  You will most likely have withdrawal symptoms for the first 10 days.  You may have headaches, mood swings, rage, stomach upset.  The list goes on and on.  Be prepared for it to be hard work.  But the rewards are well worth it.

Here are 11 tips for you helping you on your way:

Make a commitment
Decide that you're going to be refined sugar free.  Make a commitment to remove all refined sugar from your diet for a minimum of two weeks. Choose an upcoming day in the next week or two to start (take into consideration when you grocery shop) and commit to start that day, making preparations beforehand. You may even want to treat yourself before you start. Indulge in that piece of cheesecake one last time.  At least you won't look back and wish you had.

Caramel Slice by Nadia at "the Good Food Cook"

Because I've been doing mainly writing posts as I work through the series How Our Family Went Refined Sugar Free, I thought I would share a review on a great recipe that a family member came across and asked me to try.

Since going refined sugar free one of my biggest challenges is finding recipes that actually taste good.  Let's be honest: sometimes I think people who no longer eat sugar have lost their taste buds.  I know I'm one of those non-sugar eating people, but so often I try a recipe that has been labelled "tastes exactly like the real thing" and find that it tastes nothing like the real American brownies I was attempting to make.  I've had more fails than I can count attempting new recipes and I've thrown a lot of food in the bin because it was inedible.

One of my markers of success is when I can feed a naturally sweetened, refined sugar free recipe to a white sugar eating friend or family member and they tell me how incredible it was.  That was the response I got with this one. 

Healthy Date and Cashew Caramel Slice 
from Nadia Lim 
at The Good Food Cook

How Our Family Went Refined Sugar Free - Part 3: What We Eat

Refined sugar is in everything.  I'm going to be honest: it's hard work removing all refined sugars from your diet.  Almost everything we eat in our house on a everyday basis is cooked and prepared from scratch.  There aren't a lot of items on the supermarket shelves that don't have some form of refined sugar in them, and it isn't just sweet things.  Sauces, marinated meat, stir fry mixes, and dips (to name a few) all contain some form of refined sugar.

Our family doesn't eat added sugar, but we still consume sugar that is found naturally in foods, such as fructose (from fruit) and lactose (from milk).  And, we use sweeteners that are closely related to how they occur in nature, such as honey, dates and maple syrup.  We also enjoy, in moderation, things sweetened with fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate, such as jams or fruit snacks.

Because refined sugar is in everything, including non sweet foods, we have a basic rule.  We don't eat a supermarket item if sugar (for the names of sugar, read this) is listed in the first three ingredients or the item contains more than 6 grams of sugar per 100 grams.

How Our Family Went Refined Sugar Free - Part 2: The Evidence

Everyday a new headline appears:

"Is Sugar Toxic?"

"The Bitter Truth about Sugar"

"Sugar is Now Number One Enemy in Western Diet"

What is the problem with sugar and why such a fuss? What sugars are actually bad for you and why?

What is refined sugar?

There are many different forms of refined sugar, with two we hear of the most.  The first type is table sugar.  Table sugar is either sugarcane or beet sugar that has undergone the refining process to have all the molasses (and all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients) removed, leaving only the crystals.  It's what you put in coffee or use to bake.

How Our Family Went Refined Sugar Free - Part 1: The Beginning

Last week I shared an article from "The Guardian" on my private Facebook page which sums up really well why my family is refined sugar free.  You can read it here.

After sharing the article, I got bombarded with questions from family and friends asking how and why we went refined sugar free.  I also got lots of comments like "I thought fructose was the problem" and "what about bread?"

To help answer the questions I've received, I'm sharing a series of blog posts on our journey to refined sugar free living.

Here's our story:



In January of 2013, I was challenged to seriously consider my eating habits.  My youngest child was already one, and I wasn't shifting any of the extra baby weight.  I knew I had to do something drastic, so for 3 weeks I only ate real food, nothing processed, nothing containing sugar.  This was a huge challenge to me, and at the end of those 3 weeks, I went on a refined sugar binge.  I ate so much sugar I felt sick, but after that, I couldn't seem to return to being refined sugar free.

I thought about sugar.  I dreamed about sugar.  I craved sugar.

7 Tried and True Refined Sugar Free Recipes

I've tried a lot of refined sugar free recipes and failed.  A LOT.  It always the same thing. The taste isn't right.  The sugar substitute used doesn't create the right flavour combination. It's bland or difficult to eat.

Just because I don't eat refined sugar doesn't mean I don't want to enjoy sweet foods.  It means I want to eat healthier without the nasty side effects of sugar addiction and teach my kids to eat foods that aren't highly processed with chemicals and additives.  I want real food recipes that we can enjoy and savour that I'm not ashamed to feed to my sugar eating family and friends.

I've dug through piles of blogs and tried hundreds of recipes to compose this list of  my tried and true refined sugar free recipes from other bloggers for you to enjoy as well.  These recipes please the hardest of critics (including my kids), and are made over and over in my kitchen.  I hope you love them as much as we do!

Honey Vanilla Toffee -- Gluten and Refined Sugar Free

Last week I shared my recipe for homemade vanilla ice cream topped with honey vanilla toffee.  This week, I'm sharing my recipe for the toffee. 

This is the perfect recipe for parties and special events when you need something that sugar eaters will enjoy as much as you do! 

Vanilla Ice Cream -- Gluten and Refined Sugar Free

Ah, ice cream.  How I love thee.  If anything were to ever make me return to eating refined sugar, it would be ice cream.  Especially Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough or Maple Tree Hugger...Yum!  Or Snickers ice cream bars...drool!!  My friends and I ascribed to the motto at college that there was always room for ice cream because it just fills in the cracks!!  In my opinion, there is always a reason to eat ice cream.

3 Ingredient Fruit Juice Jell-O (Jelly for the Aussies!)

When we removed refined sugars from our kids' diets, I never considered Jell-O.  My kids love it.  It used to be an easy treat, boil some water, pour in the box and stir.  They were devastated the first time we walked past a box in the grocery store and they realized I wasn't going to buy it for them anymore.  The thought remained in the back of my head that mums must have made it for their kids prior to processed foods being readily available.  I did some research and discovered that making Jell-O from fruit juice is as simple as making it from a box, and much better for them.  No nasty colours or flavours and it's not pure refined sugar!

Vanilla Cinnamon Poached Pears -- Gluten and Refined Sugar Free

Want a dessert that's tantalizing enough to serve at a dinner party, but simple enough that you can make it as a weeknight dessert for the kids?  These beautiful Vanilla Cinnamon Poached Pears are it!

Poached Pears are one of the simplest desserts, but also one of the most sophisticated.  They are beautiful, rich, and impressive, but so easy to make and you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen!  With simple and wholesome ingredients that are also good for you, you'll never feel guilty indulging!!