A healthy start to the New Year

I have never been a big sugar lover or had a huge sweet tooth (excluding a few delicious desserts and treats..) but I have always known how much added sugar there is in everyday non-sweet foods and continued eating them. That's why at the end of 2015 when I saw a 21 day no sugar, no bread challenge, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to cut these foods out so that I would really realize how many of the everyday foods we eat, are actually filled with sugar. Because sugar and bread play a pretty large part in our lives, I have never really wanted to admit how bad they are, but I figured 21 days is short, and maybe that will be the start of cutting some of those pesky foods out more permanently.

The challenge starts today for me and a few Facebook friends who have willingly decided to start the year on a healthy note. (You could start this challenge any time, as long as you do it for 21 days. It is just easier when you have a few people doing it with you and encouraging you to stay strong)

The basic rules are:

No bread or crackers,
No foods with (added) sugar,
No food with refined carbs

That means that if it comes with sugar in from the start (fruit, honey etc) its allowed. If its man made and the sugar has been added (sucrose) its NOT allowed

Some examples of foods you might not know have unnatural, added sugar in are: Fruit juice, flavored yogurt, protein bars, most low fat foods, and most sauces (tomato sauce, BBQ sauce etc)

The 21 day challenge says that you can add some natural sugar if you really need to during the 21 days, but it is better to try cut it out completely. If you really need something sweet, use Stevia or honey.

So for the next 21 days:

Replace bread with veg or sugar free/Greek yogurt in the mornings
Stop sugars (or have stevia)
Read ingredients on food labels, where is the sugar & carbs coming from?

So I hope you will join me in this challenge and share it with your friends so we can all start the New Year on a healthy note

I will be posting some recipe ideas also ASAP


You can see more on the Challenge that made me decide to do this Here


Here is a short article on the effects of sugar on your body written by fitness guru Kayla Itsines

http://www.kaylaitsines.com/blogs/news/65473923-what-does-eating-refined-sugar-do-to-your-body?utm_content=buffer2af1b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer