We Quit Sugar

Right. After months of discussion, debate and research, we have decided as a family to totally give up sugar and as much processed food as possible. 

In short, we want to go green and be healthy.

I could go into so many of the reasons behind our decision - all of them scientifically proven but, what they all come down to is this: vegetables and fresh foods are magical, whereas sugar is poison.

Sugar Causes cancer. It ages very part of our bodies both inside and out prematurely. It slows us down, stopping us from being able to focus and concentrate. It makes us fat and basically destroys our health.

Pretty much anything that has been made for us (ready meals, sauces, bottled drinks, 'fat free' yogurts, granola bars) is pumped full of sugar. Big companies need our food to taste better so that we buy more of it. It's as simple as that. The only way to avoid it really, is to try and make as much as you can from scratch.

Last year I quit suger for 5 months (before falling off of the wagon on my birthday). I can honestly say, that after the initial five week suger free detox, I felt enormously better than I have ever felt. My mind was clear, I had masses of energy, I didn't get ill once during the full five months, I had more patience with my children and felt more connected to them, my complexion was completely clear. I literally glowed. 

I was breastfeeding Connie at the time, and, not giving too much detail, even my milk was of a better quality. Connie was less fussy and slept soundly through the night.

At the time, Steve and I decided that it would be unfair to ask Bella to join us. We felt like we would be depriving her of part of her childhood by asking her to skip puddings or decline when sweets were offered. After considerable thought however, we have decided that we were wrong. After experiencing how good we both felt once we were completely sugar free, we realised that what we had actually been doing was depriving her of an education in food.

This time we will do things differently. We want to learn as a family to cook fresh, nutritious and healthy meals from scratch - we aren't fantastically accomplished cooks, so we are going to learn alongside Bella and Connie. It is important that they see us as learners too, as they will be right there with us as we learn new recipes and figure out our way around our mistakes. This will help us all to develop a sense of confidence and ownership over food. Steve and I have spent most of our adult lives fearing the kitchen for some reason. We left home and survived on all things easy and quick because we didn't feel at home with food. Hopefully starting girls off at such a young age will prepare them and keep them healthy for life. We want them to enjoy food with their senses, and truly learn to love the magic of it.

When it comes to sweets, cakes and treats We have decided (along with Bella) that we won't eat anything out of a packet. Instead we will have a go at making lovely treats ourselves using naturally sweet ingredients such as rice malt syrup and sweet potato etc. This way, the treats that we eat will taste even better, because we will have made them from scratch and we will be spending more time together as a family, cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Parties and play dates will be handled slightly differently, here, Bella will be left to make up her own mind about what she wants to eat. We are hoping that after tasting such fresh and gorgeous foods that sweets and cakes will start to become less and less appealing It will be up to her to decide.

Our aim is to rid the kitchen of anything pre-packaged or processed, or with over five ingredients, or ingredients that we can't pronounce or understand.

Now we aren't millionairs, and having looked around our local health food stores, it doesn't look like it is going to be cheap, so we will spend the next seven(ish) weeks finding our feet and recording how much we spend. We want to find out if a truly fresh, tasty and sugar free diet can be achieved at the same price as an average food shop. 

Likewise, we don't always have masses of time, so we will also be looking for quick and easy recipes that can conveniently slot into an every day routine. Accessible recipes that can be adapted in order to involve younger chefs.

By the end of the seven weeks we are hoping to have developed a two week menu for a family of four who are also trying to go green. We will provide a list of the (UK) shops that offer the best value for money ingredients, together with a shopping list (some of the ingredients we have stumbled upon lately have been a bit odd, so we will try to provide a good description of what to look for).

We will be looking for the tastiest dishes that can be created on a budget, but that even the fussiest munchkins will devour.

While we do this, we will also be blogging about all of the difficulties that we face while trying to stay sugar free as a family and how we overcome them. If we overcome them!

Like all parents, we want to do the best we can for our children. We want to keep them it and well and help them to maintain a healthy relationship with food. We also want to keep ourselves fit and strong so that we are always there to look after them.

It would be so lovely to have your support along the way along with any Advice that you can offer. It's probably going to be a tricky ride, but I'm sure it will be so worthwhile.