#healthy blog

Recently, actually exactly one week ago, I received an email from Crate & Barrel: “Only 8 weeks until your wedding day! It’s not too late to add to your registry…” I made up the second sentence by assuming the content because I saw “8 weeks” and my heart dropped. EIGHT (now SEVEN) weeks until I get married. This is so exciting and so terrifying at the same time and I think this is what is considered “crunch time” - literally and figuratively. 

That day I signed myself up for butt-kicking pilates classes and also happened to watch a documentary focusing on sugar in our diets. 

Without adequate time to blog lately, I have missed to other side of the blogosphere as well - a wealth of knowledge (that must be filtered, of course) that encourages health and understanding. I love motivation to read the food labels, listen to my body, and exercise regularly. 

For AT LEAST 7 weeks I am going to cut sugar out of my diet. Not completely, but the slashing has begun. 

HOW I MODIFIED MY FRIDGE

• switched to plain nonfat Greek yogurt
  
• switched to reduced sugar vanilla almond milk (it’s a journey, I will get to original at some point) 
• hunted for granola high in protein, low in sugar and free from unpronounceable ingredients
• ditched the sweetened white chocolate wonderful PB (though it has been my version of dessert for years) for plain peanut butter
• tossed most of my salad dressings containing sugar
• bought organic tomato sauce lower in sugar than others
• bought lots of fruits and vegetables to add natural sources of carbohydrates and sweetness to my life

Switching to the reduced-sugar almond milk was one of the harder transitions but as of today (three days later), it’s already getting easier to enjoy my morning latte without making a face after the first few sips. 

This weekend I am going to Austin and am trying to plan for the best to hold strong in avoiding sugar. It will definitely be a challenge to avoid sugar and alcohol when surrounded by friends, but I’m just telling myself “7 weeks and I’m home free”… while in the back of my mind hoping that by at least four weeks in the lust for sugar will have mostly subsided anyways. 

**ANY tips for cutting out sugar or additional information on why to avoid sugar are greatly appreciated. But please, if you believe “avoiding fruit” are two words that go together, this is not the place for you

Lately the most I have cooked for myself is espresso (if that even counts). I never understood why the so most of the population enjoys the majority of their meals away from home. Now that I have started working and pretending to live in the real world I understand why. It is exponentially easier to drive home from work and see a glimmering pre-made or pick-up meal at the end of the commute than have to conjure up some healthy, satisfying, cheap meal in two minutes because my stomach is telling me “eat now or die”

So I’ve gone back to making my own coffee instead of starbucksing every other day. And I have started cooking the same three things for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (interchangeably, just to spice things up). 

In four months I am going to be a wife. It’s not so much a reason as it is motivation to get some good recipes under my belt. Creativity, I dare say, has stood me up, and I am more than willing to delve into my roommate’s Cooking Light and start… cooking light. (like i said, muses have left me)

So maybe maybe maybe this blog will be a dud no more.