Yorica in Soho... where I will 100% sacrifice being sugar free to eat all the ice cream
A few years ago for 2 or 3 months, my mother, my sister and I went refined sugar free. I'm not sure why but it was good and I liked it while it lasted. They also decided after my sisters birthday this month to do this again, since I'm at uni and had been eating donuts and sweets and cereal and basically all the sugary foods I have decided to do this again but hopefully this time around slightly more effectively...
This time around I'm not being as rigid. My rules if that's what we're calling them are simply to avoid buying food with refined sugar as an ingredient, (so as not to waste anything, I'm ignoring what I already have) I am not adding any refined sugar to my food, for example my coffee is now sugar free and I am allowing myself one treat per week at most that may or may not contain sugar - this is mostly so that I don't have to miss out all the time when everyone else gets treats.
Even though I very much prefer savoury foods anyway, I still crave sugar and sweet foods which is why I am not depriving myself of all sugars because that would be ridiculous. I am making an effort to buy and eat more fruit. Mangoes and berries seem to be best when I want something sweet. I am also making sure I always have frozen bananas for milkshakes, which I make with cacao, peanut butter and unsweetened almond milk and are amazing. In addition to all that I have bought carob/ maple syrup for in coffee and with coconut yoghurt and fruit which is really nice.
Other bits that are great when you fancy something sweet are dates, you can do soooo much with them, including blending a handful with some water and plant milk which sounds dull but I like it. Nakd bars are also a must to have in the cupboard as they are great snacks, I currently have the cocoa crunch ones which have added protein. And if you're really really desperate for chocolate, I cannot recommend the raw chocolate company's vanoffee bars enough, they're refined sugar free, vegan and honestly my favourite chocolate ever.
I feel like I may come across as trying to be too healthy at this point and I'm not doing this to lose weight or be healthier. As someone who has been vegan since 10 years old I consider myself a pretty healthy person and I definitely don't need to do this. I don't want to give up sweet and nice foods altogether, I just want to eat more natural sugars and I want to take care of my teeth. Refined sugar is not good for your teeth, which is not news as such but I do think it gets forgotten.
I quite regularly watch Melanie Murphy's what I eat in a day videos and in her most recent one she addresses going refined sugar free and why she is doing it and she has a completely different diet to me, so how she works it into her diet is obviously also different. You can find that here!
If you are also sugar free or have been and have any tips please let me know! Or if you're just interested and want to share you're thoughts on that please let me know, this is something I really like discussing so that wold be great, you can comment on this post or tweet me!
IWx