Sugar-Free

Today, I start the 10 day sugar-free challenge with RuntotheFinish and 60 other crazies. Added sugar that is, not all sugar. Fruit is such a huge part of my diet I'd never be able to quit. (Really, I could be 100% sugar free but I'd hate it. Who wants to live there life denying themselves all the time.) Since I started watching my weight, I don't really eat a ton of sugar anyway. This challenge won't be nearly as hard as it would have been in college when I drank full calorie cokes and ate out often.

While it will be easier, this challenge will not be a cake walk. I do have daily habits that will be a struggle. My morning coffee with milk and splenda might be my favorite part of the day. The splenda will go for a bit since fake sugars are out in this challenge as well. After I exercise or before a long run, I eat half a peanut butter sandwich. And GU will have to go too. Obviously, there is added sugar in PB but there is also sugar added to bread. Nothing make me as self-conscious as thinking I have bad breath. There's a constant stream gum and breath mints in my mouth after meals. Second breakfast will no longer be cheese & crackers or hummus & pita. And I will forgo my after dinner piece of chocolate.

But I have a plan to make it thru:

Pitfalls	Plan
morning pb sandwich	hardboiled eggs2
GU	not sure yet
breath mints	mouthwash/green tea/water
snack time	veggie chips
café au lait with splenda	black coffee or with milk only
after dinner chocolate	nothing

The whole goal of this experiment is to rid oneself of the desire for sugar. A side benefit for me, hopefully, it will be easier to stay on my diet since most of the foods I am avoiding are high in calories. I haven't figured out what to do about mid-run fuel. Normally, I grab a GU & go. More research needed.
I'll let you know how I do in the end.

Who lives in a Pineapple

There is something so zen about icing cookies. Even if you do it as poorly as I do. No one will ever hire me to decorate cookies for them. I've been shown how to do it properly. And of course, there's a plethora of information on the internets. But I find the proper way tedious. I just don't have the patience. Plus, I kinda like the abstracty look of these cookies. When I'm finished, these guys are supposed to be SpongeBob & Patrick for the girls birthday party

If ever someone makes you cut out cookies, you know they love you because these are a pain.

Gonna Tri

Am I seriuosly doing this? Guess I am. I signed up for the Iron Girl New Orleans Triathalon for this Sunday.

Not sure what I was thinking when I signed up. Actually, I know what I was thinking. I’ve wanted to do a tri for a while. The Iron Girl is a sprint tri, 1/4mi swim, 12mi bike, 3.1mi run. The bike and the run distances (and longer) I do multiple times a week. And we’ll chalk the swim up to being an over confident, pompous ass. Yep.

With two small girls and limitied pool access, I don’t really have time to train for the swim. But it’s only a 1/4mi and I’m strong. Or at least that’s what I thought until my first training swim. That swim did not go well. I struggled to get thru one length of the pool. After a few coaching session, my stroak is by no means perfect but it’s unlikely I’ll drown. My plan it to get in the back of my my wave and go slow. This will be an ugly, ugly swim but I’ll finish.

This will be my first time racing on my bike, Blue Betty. Because of my early morning training sessions, I rarely even ride near other people. I’m a little nervous of being close to other people on bikes. Again, I am no skilled cyclist. Oh, and I mount and dismount like an old lady. The running mount is way beyond my skill level. One day maybe, but first I need to work up the courage to get clipless pedals. Master that and I move on to more advanced stuff.

The run is the only thing I am not worried about. Who would have though that running would be my strong suit?! But it is. I may not be fast but I can do it forever, thru pain, with the wrong shoes and any other thing that can go wrong. I know that I will finish the run on my hands if need be. This is my comfort.

Hopefully, with smooth tranisitions and decent a decent bike and run I will put up a not too embarrising time. All I want is to finish. To finsih and get a medal.

Note: Due to the opening of the Mississippi River Spillway and the high winds we’ve been getting. There is a possiblity that the swim will get cancelled. The swim was cancelled for last weeks 5150. I will disapointed and relieved if the swim is cancelled. But mostly disapointed.

Sweet Enough...

As in I don't need any extra sugar. That's not true, at all. I could stand to be sweeter but I do not need any added sugar. Y'all know how it is, the more sugar you eat the more you crave. At least that way with all junk food for me.

I've kind of fallen off the wagon since my last race in April. My weekly mileage barely breaks double digits. And I don't start training for the fall half marathon season until July. In fact, I've skipped asmany early morning sweat sessions as I've done. This foolishness is not going to get me to my goal of 10 lbs lighter by the end of summer. So...I'll join in on some one else's foolishness and maybe it'll make me fall back into line.

RunToTheFinish is hosting a 10 day sugar free challange. She's been considering going without extra sugar for awhile and misery loves company. June 1 thru June 10 I will attempt to got sugar free with her.

This snippet from her blog explains the what to eat, what not to eat, and why.

What Not To Eat

• Syrups (cane syrup, rice syrup, corn sryup, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, honey, sorgam)
• Refined and processed sugars (cake, cookies, candy)
• Look through your cabinets, unexpected things like tomato sauce, ketchup and peanut butter can contain sugars we are trying to avoid or just excess sugar. Avoid: Fructose, Maltose, Sorbitol, Evaporated Cane Juice, Xylotol and other sugars end in “ol” or “ose”
• Sugar substitutes (Aspartame, Sucralose, Nutra-sweet, Stevia)
• Fruit juice
• Advanced: If you already have a very low sugar diet or want to see what a complete sugar detox feels like you will also remove “sugar forming foods”. This includes: all starchy root vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, quinoa millet and buckwheat.

What To Eat

• MORE importantly let’s focus on what to eat…WHOLE FOODS
• Fruits of any kind (recommended to eat whole fruits and not dried at this point)
• Vegetables: Especially cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower
• Protein: Eggs, meat, beans, dairy, avocados, nuts
• Spices: Cinnamon, vanilla, allspice, ginger, nutmeg

Why?

• Most of us realize that sugar isn’t great for our bodies, but until recently the research hadn’t been strong enough to give us more reason than weight loss. I have a complete post on all the ways sugar is harmful.. but in case you don’t click back.. here are a few:
• Addictive: “Sugar can be addictive, wielding power over the brains of lab animals much like a craving for drugs, according to Princeton University scientists.”
• Too much sugar blocks leptin in your brain and your body can’t tell when it’s full…this is part of why we are now in an obesity epidemic
• Toxins: Our liver holds on to toxins and fat when we eat too much sugar…so we need to clean it out by cleaning up our food choices.
• May be a leading cause of cancer - creating insulin which feeds cancer cells and scientist are working to prove the theory that it causes them to grow faster 

My family doesn't eat much pre-packaged food. Any sauce we eat I make. This challenge will not be too far out of my normal life. But there are treats I will miss.

Giving up "sweets" will be tough since I love candy. But the hardest will be bread. I eat at least one peanut butter sandwich everyday. Oh yes, and coffee. I looooove coffee. But I like it with milk & Splenda. But that's why she's calling a challenge. It won't be a "cake walk."

What do you think about this foolishness?