Follow-up on the No Sugar Diet

We just returned from a Caribbean Cruise, where I officially ended my "No Sugar" diet. I actually went a day longer than I planned without sugar -- the day we were flying to Miami, I continued to go without. I figured it would be super lame to break my sugar fast on a crummy chocolate chip cookie in the airport or something.

The first day on the ship, I had my first dessert after lunch -- a bowl of ice cream. The ship had it's own ice creamery and I got a bowl of chocolate, strawberry and cookie dough ice cream and sat down. It was a little disappointing, so I took a bite of each flavor and figured I'd hit it hard after dinner when the fancy desserts were offered.

So... later that night I ate half my creme brulee. Mmmm... it was good, but a little too rich. It seemed like every day got easier and easier to cram as many sweets down my gullet as possible. One night between the four of us, we shared eight desserts at dinner! (The chocolate souffle was my favorite!) I also chased down my desserts in the evening with a handful of buttermints that were offered as we left the restaurant.

It's pretty hard to pass up on sugar when the desserts look like this...

Or this...

Or this...

 Or this...

I did a little better than I thought I would. Okay, I'm totally lying. I think I actually did worse than I thought I would. Now I'm back home, determined to do better! Here is my new goal on sugar...

EAT AS LITTLE OF IT AS POSSIBLE.

I know that's novel. But in reality, if I can keep as much sugar out of my diet during the day as possible, then I am giving myself permission to have a little treat in the evenings, if I really need to.

For instance, right now I am eating a bowl of oatmeal and I did not put any sweetener in it.

Now if I can get my belly used to not eating five huge meals a day, I will be in business!

My "No Sugar Diet," Part VII - The Final Chapter

Day 15: Hmmm… this day didn’t seem very exciting, as far as sugar goes. It was very exciting from a parenting perspective -- exciting in a bad way, though. Matt and I almost resigned as parents. Yep, we’ve had it with our kids. Luckily we had just one bad night, realized that we don’t follow through as well as we should, and went to bed reading, “Parenting with Love and Logic.” Hopefully things get better…


Day 16: I love “Love and Logic!” It really works!! But since this isn’t about parenting and is about not eating sugar, let me tell you what I did wrong… I sort of forgot I was on a no-sugar diet. I met Aubree’s Concert Orchestra at the mall food court after their orchestra festival. Aubree was getting Chinese food. I thought it sounded great! I had a sample of some honey chicken and it was delicious. I thought to ask them if they use MSG in their food, but forgot to ask if the honey chicken had sugar in it. Let’s be real… honey chicken is not just going to be made out of honey. I’m sure it’s loaded with granulated sugar, too. It wasn’t until I had paid $6 for my meal and sat down to take the first bite that it hit me – I never asked if there was sugar in it. At that point I had paid way too much money to not eat it, so I ate it. Oh well. At least I didn’t blow it by gorging on chocolate cake or something, right?

Day 17: Today is the last day of my challenge. I actually want to continue cutting out sugar as much as possible, so it’s not like I’m going to wake up tomorrow at 6 a.m. and start eating brownies. I guess I feel like this is a bit anti-climactic. Here are some things I learned: first of all, I know my blood-sugar levels were out of whack because I was eating way too much sugar. Secondly, I’ve realized more than ever how addicting sugar really is. It’s funny how I stopped craving it within just a few days of not having it. Thirdly, I crash after eating sugar, so I’ve decided eating a little before bed is better than eating it early in the day. Then my crashing will happen while I’m sleeping and not while I’m trying to be a patient mom in the middle of the afternoon. Lastly, when sugar is not a huge part of my diet, food flavors are more vibrant. Also, I’ve realized that sugar is in almost EVERYTHING. It’s pretty sad that we live in a society so dependent on this. My name is Aimee and I’m no longer a sugar addict! Yay!!

My "No Sugar Diet," Part VI (Is anyone else as sick of this as I am?)

Day 14: Today is my two-week anniversary. Tonight I totally want something sweet. I think a bowl of vanilla ice cream with some homemade hot fudge and hot caramel would do the trick. Mmmmmm! In fact, I dare say that if Roni brought over her sugar cookies right now, I would totally give in. I guess I couldn’t do this long-term. I would really miss some of those yummy desserts.


On Sunday our Relief Society lesson was on the Word of Wisdom. I really believe that when my body is addicted to sugar, which it has been, I am not keeping that commandment. I am so determined to do better and use “moderation in all things.”

Today I went with some friends to Zupas. I love their mango yogurt salad dressing and tomato basil soup. Well, I found out they both have a lot of sugar. So after drilling the employees about which salad dressings and soups don’t have sugar, I had to settle for a salad with ranch and the Wisconsin cauliflower soup. It was just okay. I also gave away my chocolate-dipped strawberry. Boo hoo! Only five more days until I get to eat a delectable dessert (or two). Yay!!

My "No Sugar Diet," Part V

Day 12: My day went pretty well today. I feel kind of bad, though, because I made my multi-grain pancake mix for breakfast and after I mixed it up I realized there was sugar in the ingredient list. I was super excited for them, and just ate them anyway. So I guess I cheated a little. Oh well. Since sugar is in so many things, it’s hard to make sure it’s not in my diet at all.


We went to a Persian wedding dinner Saturday night. It was so cool to see how another culture celebrates. It was quite the party! Dinner was at the Marriott and the dress was formal, so I knew the dessert would probably be fancy, too. It was -- a beautiful chocolate mousse kind of thing. When I got mine, I ate the three berries that were on the side and pushed it over to Matt. He graciously ate half of it for me.  A woman sitting by us had finished hers and her three berries were still sitting, untouched on her plate. I asked Matt what he would give me if I asked her if I could finish hers. He said he would pay me NOT to say anything. (LOL! That’s the difference between me and Matt.) After the rest of the table got up and left, I snagged her plate and ate her three berries. They were delicious!


Day 13: Tonight I baked some cookies for the kids. I wasn’t even tempted. How cool is that?!? I never thought I would say this, but I kind of want to keep doing this a little longer. The mental benefits for me are amazing -- more energy, happier, no anxiety, etc. Okay, now that I’m thinking it through, maybe not. I think knowing I’m going to be offered delectable desserts in a week on a cruise ship makes me able to get through all these days. Tomorrow I am going to Zupas for lunch with some of my friends. My favorite salad dressing there is their Mango Yogurt. I know it’s full of sugar, so I’ve got to figure something else out. I hope I can find something good!

My "No Sugar Diet," Part IV

Day 10: Today was a pretty good day. I am starting to get used to this and it’s really not much of a pain. I am finding that I don’t miss it at all, so that’s good. I must be over my “withdrawal period.” (Where's some wood?)



Day 11: Tonight we took the two little boys to Applebee's for dinner, since they both had free kids meals coupons from school. I was a little nervous to go out because my favorite dish at Applebee's is the Oriental Chicken Salad. It has a very sweet dressing, so I knew I couldn’t get it this time. Instead I had the Fiesta Lime Chicken with steamed veggies instead of rice. It was good. My kids kept trying to tempt me by handing me a French fry with ketchup on the side I couldn’t see and trying to get me to eat it. (Ketchup has sugar/high fructose corn syrup.) They also told me I could have a drink of their soda. It didn’t work, though. I’m a little nervous for tomorrow night. We have a fancy wedding dinner to attend and I’m sure there will be an amazing dessert served. I hope I can survive!

My "No Sugar Diet," Part III

Day 7: Oh, this day was hard. I’m not sure why, though. I think I started thinking that I’ve only been doing this for a week and got a little down about it. Only 11 days left, and it feels like forever. My family had Dunford chocolate cake donuts for FHE dessert tonight. They were donuts Matt brought home from a work thing and we put them in the freezer. I am not a huge donut fan. Okay, I guess I’m a pretty good-sized donut fan. Anyway, part of me wanted to give up right then and there and have one. I find it’s easier sometimes around 10 p.m. to just go to bed, because that’s when I start getting hungry and want a little treat. Hopefully I can make it for the next 11 days!


Day 8: Today was much better. I did go to the grocery store, which was kind of hard. In fact, I chuckled to myself as I chose an aisle to walk down to the cashier and it was the candy aisle! (By accident) Some of it didn’t look as good as it used to, like licorice. The chocolate looked better than it used to. Tonight I had a bit of a breakthrough. I told Matt that I’ve felt so happy over the past few days. Like things that used to bug me, don’t, and I am just happier than I usually feel. Also my anxiety hasn’t been as bad as it has in the past. It just occurred to me that maybe it’s because of the sugar. I wonder how an overindulgence of sugar affected my brain?? Hmmm… I am determined to do a better job (in 10 days) of eating only the sugar that I really really want. Not just the sugar that I really want. Ha ha. I am ending my no-sugar diet the day we leave for a cruise. I mean, I really can’t imagine being on a cruise and not being able to eat the desserts. I’ll probably get sick the first day! I am determined to be very selective on the treats that I eat, though. I can’t wait until I hit the halfway point on this thing – ooh, that’s tomorrow. Yay!

Okay, I have a little confession... those donuts... those darn donuts... anyway, I had a little bite of one and then spit it out in the sink. It wasn't fresh and yummy like it looked and wouldn't have been worth it. Does it count as a slip if I spit it in the sink and rinsed my mouth out?

Day 9: Yay! Today is my half-way point!! Only 9 more days! I was at Kim's house and she had these homemade donuts with sugar on them. They looked so good. She told me she'd make me some without the sugar and then I could dip them in honey. I thought it would be great to have one. She made four. I told her I couldn't eat four. But then I ate all four. I don't feel so well.

My "No Sugar Diet," Part II

Day 4: So I didn’t do so well today. Well, actually I did pretty well until Matt came home with three beautiful flower sugar cookies in a box. (Doesn’t a box always make them taste better?) I mean they were BEAUTIFUL. The frosting was super thick. Mmmm! He told me I couldn’t look in the box. (Too late.) I kept saying to him, “How could you?” I really can’t believe he brought them in the house. I mean, he knows my weaknesses and sugar cookies are one of them. So when no one was looking I took a little bite. He told me the frosting was cream cheese, which is not as good as vanilla butter cream, so I had to make sure it tasted not as good as I thought it would. I chewed up the bite and then spit it out into the sink. I even rinsed my mouth out, just to make sure none of that sugar went down. I felt so guilty! I am glad I did it, though, because then I stopped obsessing about the sugar cookies. They weren’t as good as they looked. Okay, they were good, but not as good as Roni’s. Man, if Roni came over with a plate of her sugar cookies, I would be toast!


 Day 5: Today was a good day. I’m not feeling very good, so I am not craving sweets much at all. I am getting used to this now. I’ve realized that going out to eat – a passion of mine – is not fun on this diet. I’d rather eat at home so I know exactly what I’m eating and so I’m not tempted. (Seriously, Thai curry sounds so good, but it has sugar in it, so I have to wait.)

 Day 6: Another good day. My sister was so sweet! She and her kids came over to hang out tonight. She made banana muffins for me with no sugar. She said she read that if you use really ripe bananas, they are sweeter. She also used some natural applesauce. It was very nice! For General Conference I usually make homemade cinnamon rolls. I decided today that I would just buy some mini ones from Costco. I haven’t been feeling well (weird head pains – random sharp, stabbing pains on the right side of my head. I think I have an ear infection that’s gone crazy), and it would be hard to bake knowing I couldn’t eat them. I bought a yogurt jalapeno dip from Costco, too. It is delicious, so I figure I can snack on that tonight if I need to.

My "No Sugar" Diet, Part I

As I mentioned last week, I've decided to go on a No Sugar diet for three weeks. I started keeping a log of each day and how it went. A few of my friends asked me to post it here, so I will be posting my diary for the next two weeks. Here are the first three days:

Day 1: It’s been exactly four hours since I made the pledge to not eat sugar until April 15. I think when I made the pledge, I wasn’t really thinking straight. I just saw how Tiff was so strong and could withstand all 12 of us eating caramel brownies (that she made, I might add). There was something about that that really impacted me. Maybe it’s because I want to see what kind of will power I have. Maybe it’s because I’ve been diagnosed with acid reflux and don’t want to take meds for it and figured diet would take care of it. Maybe it’s because I felt super healthy after exercising and thought I could conquer the world.



All I know is I wished I would’ve put more brown sugar on my oatmeal this morning, now that I know it was my last helping of sugar for awhile.

 Day 2: Today I woke up and my belly wasn’t as bloated as it sometimes is. I swear I read something once about how sugar creates yeast in your digestive system, which causes bloating. I wonder if that is true, or if not having my normal reward-myself-with-a-big-bowl-of-ice-cream in the evening just helped me feel slimmer. Anyway, I’m not doing this to lose weight, as much as get rid of the sugar addiction. I was finding that I needed little hits throughout the day and then I would get headaches and “crash.”


The craziest part of my day was that Caleb saved $4 in allowance and begged me to take him to the Holiday (gas station). I did, and I chuckled at the irony of standing smack in the middle of the candy aisle for a full two minutes while he perused. He ended up spending his money on a pack of assorted candy, Swedish Fish, jawbreakers, and he topped it all with a Slurpee. Wow. I’ve really taught me kids how to be healthy, huh? I try not to say anything about their purchases because I know it’s how they learn. It was great later on that night when we went to Target and he saw some toys for $4 that he could’ve bought instead. Buyer’s remorse is always a great learning tool.


I went to Book Club tonight. I was mentally preparing myself to pass on the sweets that usually accompany Book Club parties. I was so lucky! The hostess had artichoke dip and crackers, which I ate, and a salad (didn’t eat because of the dressings). It was great!



Day 3: I was so proud of myself this morning. I went to the junior high to help with an activity and they served a light breakfast and lunch. I prepared by eating my bowl of oatmeal (no sweeteners), assuming the breakfast would most likely be muffins. It was. There was juice and fruit, but I wasn’t really hungry anyway.


I find that when I am hungry is when I want sweets. When I get hungry I just find another snack to fill me up. My favorite snack lately is bananas dipped in organic peanut butter. It is so yummy! I’ve also used pea pods, oranges, apples, and homemade whole wheat bread to fill in the gaps.


Right now it’s 9:50 p.m. and I am dying for a bowl of ice cream or some other sweet. I never really thought I was an emotional eater, but I really am at the end of the day. It’s like I want to reward myself for a hard day’s work and sweets become my reward. Not good.

Touring in Southern California

Last summer I was hired to be a tour group leader for a travel company, specializing in youth tours. Matt came with me and we had fun taking Boy Scouts around Washington D.C.

A couple months ago this same company called to see if I would do another tour. This time it was for a high school choir from Kamas. The destination was Southern California. They said I could bring Tyler along as my assistant.

So one cold, cloudy morning in March, Tyler and I hopped on a plane and flew to warm, sunny California.

The company flies me in a day early so I can do site inspections. This means that I go to every site that the group will see. I make sure I know where to go, where the bus can park, if the reservations are good, etc. It's a tiring day, but one of my favorites.

Tyler and I were up at 4:45 a.m. to catch a 6:30 flight. We arrived in Long Beach at 7:30 (Pacific time) and picked up our rental car. Luckily we brought along our trusty GPS. I had mapped out ahead of time the order we would see the sites, so Tyler would plug each one in and off we would go!

We saw the Hollywood sign in LA.

We staked out the Walk of Fame and Graumann's Chinese Theater.

We had lunch at the Hollywood and Highland complex. (At 10:30. We were starving!)

Between 9 a.m. at 2 p.m. we visited Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood, Cypress, Glendora, and Long Beach. We checked into our hotel at Buena Park around 2:30, completely exhausted. I promised Tyler if I could have a 20 minute cat nap I would take him to Disneyland for the rest of the day. (Spoiled rotten!)

So we did! It was a great afternoon for Disneyland. This is a picture of us on our first ride... Indiana Jones.

Here we are in New Orleans Square. I told Tyler I would go stand behind the performers and he should take a picture so it looks like I am with them. Tyler is not a very good photographer. We said it was kind of like a "Where's Waldo" photo -- only "Where's Aimee?" (Yes, that's me to the right of the bald head.)

Who doesn't love the Jungle Cruise??

We had fun on Thunder Mountain, but were sad that Splash Mountain was closed.

I made Tyler go with me on Small World.

We love Space Mountain. I wanted to make a goofy picture for the camera, and had my tongue hanging out for the last 30 seconds of the ride.

This ride was a better photo. Tyler realized when we would be photographed and played along.

We were pooped by 7:30 and picked up a pizza on the way back to our hotel. Funny story -- I did not want to pay for D-land parking for only four hours, so we grabbed a snack at the McDonald's across the street on our way in and talked the manager into letting us park there. They had us write down our license plate, phone number, etc. Mental note to self: They will seriously tow you, if you do not have official permission. Good thing we did, because our car was still there when we returned.

We slept great at our Hampton Inn. Well, Tyler slept great. I obsessed about returning the rental car and meeting our group the next day.

The next day we returned our rental car at Downtown Disney and then met our group. It was fun to introduce Tyler as my "assistant" since some of the kids were his age. (They were 9th grade to 12th graders.) We spent that day at Disneyland, too. During the day, the choir met at Toon Town for their Soundtrack Recording Workshop. Tyler and I got to join in with the group, recording the "A Pirates Life for Me" song for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was great fun!

We went to Disneyland the following day, as well. The group performed at Disneyland.

On Saturday we took them to some choir clinics. Between the two clinics we stopped at a great food court in Long Beach. Here I am in my tour director get-up.

Here's Tyler in his tour director assistant get-up. He wasn't ready for this picture, I guess.

Here is the choir at one of the clinics. Tyler sat in the back and got his Geometry homework done. We loved listening to the tips the directors gave.

That night we headed to Hollywood to have dinner at the famous Mel's Drive In. It was the original Max Factor Salon building where many Hollywood stars would go. Then we walked down a very scary, and not-very-modest street (many lingerie shops and strip clubs) to the Pantages Theater. While getting my group into the theater, I was attacked by a woman. It was an old friend of mine from high school who now lives in LA. It was great to see Rondi and funny to run into her there.

We saw "Beauty and the Beast." I took this photo before the show started. I got in trouble by one of the ushers. I guess they don't want any photography during the show, or before the show.

The next day we took the group to Hollywood to see the Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, etc. Look at these stylin' dogs...

There were people dressed up as various characters. We chose to get a photo with Jack Sparrow. (I was going to get my picture with Michael Jackson, but the guy looked so realistic that it was kind of freaky. And I noticed he was grabbing his crotch in all the pictures -- didn't need that.)

Here we are at the Kodak Theater, where the Oscars take place and the finale show of American Idol.

After Hollywood we went to the LA Farmers Market. It was amazing! I had the best Indian dish ever! There were dozens of places to eat and all different kinds of food. Tyler chose a hot dog.

Then we took the group to the Santa Monica pier. They had a ball at the beach! I had a nap in my jeans and tour shirt on the beach. Party. Pooper.

We ended the night with a fabulous dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Here's my little Forrest Gump...

The next morning the group headed to Disneyland for a final day. We said "goodbye" to them on the bus and then flew home that afternoon. We were glad we didn't have to sleep on a bus all night (twice) like they did.

This was such a fun trip! I loved hanging out with my boy. I'm glad he wasn't too embarrassed to be hanging out with his mommy in Disneyland. We had some good laughs and great memories!