Post Pledge: Did I meet my goals?

Before I began my recent pledge, I listed 3 goals that I wanted to accomplish from my no sweetener pledge. Today I will discuss if I accomplished these goals with the pledge or not.

The first reason I had for taking on this challenge was to gain awareness of how much sugar is in most foods. I do think that after avoiding sugar for a week, I am more aware of what contains sugar and simple ways how to avoid added sugars. A few tricks that I learned: use mustard as a condiment instead of ketchup (mustard has no sweetener, while ketchup is mainly made up of sweetener), substitute tomato sauce for pasta sauce when making pizza (this may seem small but I make a lot of pizza and most pasta sauces have added sugars). I also learned that I can make good breads and doughs without using sugar to proof the yeast and that waffles are tasty without added maple syrup.

I definitely feel like that this pledge has helped reset my taste buds. Today I ate a bagel that probably contains a small amount of sugar to help proof the yeast (it is not a sweet bagel at all). I had a hard time eating it since it tasted so sweet.

I definitely have seen now that it's possible and not so difficult to avoid added sweetener. I didn't find this pledge to be so difficult and when I first decided to embark on the pledge I wasn't sure I would make it past the first day!

The Challenge: Day 7

What I ate:
zucchini chips (flavored with soy sauce)
cucumbers with cream cheese
1/4 grilled cheese sandwich (leftover from yesterday)
a few tablespoon of rice and lentils (leftover from yesterday)
2 stalks of celery
apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter
1/2 sweet potato
kiwi
corn (it was super sweet :) )
mac 'n cheese
matza pizza with peppers
mushroom barley soup (yesterday's leftovers)
a bit of a Larabar

The Challenge: Day 6

Only one more day left to the challenge- I can't believe it's almost over!

What I ate:
asian green beans with almonds
3/4 grilled cheese sandwich (made from my homemade bread )
rice and lentils
zucchini "chips"
kiwi
baked green beans
stuffed pepper
mushroom barley soup
celery with peanut butter (The first time I tried this combo and I wasn't a fan)
a bite of a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar

Mushroom Barley Soup

Here is the recipe for my mushroom barley soup. It uses a few simple ingredients and tastes great. It contains no added sweeteners (of course :) ) and no oil or other added fats.

1/2 c. sliced mushroom
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove crushed garlic
1 stalk of celery peeled and diced
1 carrot diced
1/2 zucchini peeled and diced
3 T. barley
paprika
salt
1 1/2 T. tomato paste
Dash of sherry

1. Combine mushrooms, onion, garlic, celery, carrot and zucchini in a pot. Cover and cook on low flame until the vegetable soften.
2. Add barley and water to cover and bring to a boil.
3. Lower to a steady simmer until the barley is fully cooked.
4. Add paprika, salt, sherry and tomato paste.
5. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

100% whole wheat pizza dough with no sweetener

I used this dough to make the pizza I had for dinner tonight and it was delicious. I got the basic recipe from here. Of course, there is no sugar used to proof the yeast in this recipe, just warm water.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tsp yeast (active dry yeast)
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur organic white whole-wheat flour)
• Tomato sauce
• Grated mozzarella cheese
• Chopped vegetable, if desired for toppings

In the bowl of a stand mixer (I used my Kitchenaid), drop the yeast into the warm water. Wait a few minutes until it begins to foam and bubble. Add salt and olive oil and mix. Slowly add flour, mixing after each addition until the dough is smooth and stretchy (if the dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it is right. At this point you can freeze the dough. Allow the dough to rise for at least an hour. Stretch it out into a wide circle, top with sauce and cheese and toppings, if desired. Bake @ 475 (on a pizza store, if you have one) until hot and bubbly.

What are the challenges of going sweetener free?

I am now nearly halfway through my no sweetener challenge. It may seem like this challenge has been simple for me, but that is far from the truth. Some aspects of the challenge have been particularly difficult.

The hardest part of the challenge for me has been making many foods from scratch. There are basic pantry items that I generally purchase, but now need to make from scratch since the store bought version almost always has some sort of added sweetener. Foods like bread, pasta sauce (I subbed tomato sauce which doesn't contain sugar, but unfortunately doesn't make a good ziti either), duck sauce and barbeque sauce (I subbed soy sauce, olive oil and spices depending on what I needed it for) are totally off limits. I needed to think out of the box or get my hands (and the kitchen) dirty to make a good sweetener free version of the food I wanted.

You also need to think outside the box. There are some foods that either were too time consuming to make from scratch or it just wasn't possible to make this food item without sugar. In those cases, I needed to substitute something else for the sweetener or not eat that product for a week. Instead of dessert (you can't make that without any sort of sweetener. Trust me I checked into it) I had fruit, a natural Larabar and a baked sweet potato. Those foods gave me the sweetness I wanted without any added sweetener. I usually dip my chicken in ketchup, this time I used mustard. It tasted different, but still good. Maple syrup was a no no for my waffles, so I dipped them in natural peanut butter and plain yogurt with blended strawberries.

It was also challenging not to eat what everyone else is eating. The family is eating chocolate cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies, they are off limits to me! I can't have a bowl of cereal with milk (many contain added sweetener) while everyone else is.

Another thing that bothered me was that I couldn't taste foods I was preparing that contained sweetener. I was whipping up my favorite chocolate cupcakes and cookies and I couldn't even lick the bowl! I sort of made up for that my saving some cookie dough and cupcakes for me to taste when my challenge is over.

The Challenge: Day 5

What I ate:
mini spinach quiche
zucchini "chips" (some with soy sauce and some with mediterranean spices)
1/2 cucumber with cream cheese
sweet potato (this was my dessert)
mac 'n cheese
rice and lentils
corn and lima beans (from a frozen mix)
homemade whole wheat pizza with peppers- I made the dough on day 1 on the challenge and froze it. The dough tasted great- not only doesn't it have sugar, it's also 100% whole wheat.
asian style green beans with garlic and almonds (leftover from yesterday)

Here's a picture of tonight's dinner: