November Weigh In #1

Last Friday - 164
Last Sunday - 165
Today (Friday weigh in #1) - 161!!  YAY!


Laying off the Halloween candy was KEY for me today. Laying off the candy at work - also a big deal.  I've been under my calories and trying to eat more veggies and protein for sure.

Hoping to see the 150's next week!!

Monday is Coming!

What I wanted to have for dinner:

Homemade cinnamon rolls

What I did have for dinner:

Kale, beets, carrots, cucumber, lemon, tomato & apple juice

Monday is my goal day. I am quitting sugar again. I am also going to {attempt} to quit/dramatically reduce my caffeine. I have been reading up on half marathon tapering and the benefit of quitting caffeine before a race has come up several times.

A little caffeine is often a habitual start or pick-me-up during the day; however, when daily caffeine consumption becomes so routine that a continuous IV would work just as well, some question whether the ergogenic effect may be dampened. According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, ergogenic response during endurance exercise is greater and lasts longer in nonusers versus users.  Running Times

So with one week before the 10K and two before the half marathon, I am hoping to help my performance along with some good fuel and hard work!

So starting Monday - keep me accountable!! No sugar, no caffeine!

Now I'm off to chug my juice, have my cinnamon roll - because come on, they are delicious- and get some sleep. I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a cold and that is NOT what I need right now!!

Save!

This hunk of rosemary olive oil bread saved my booty from eating sugar tonight! Stress upon stress today, but I stayed strong. Juiced for lunch, which I've missed with the kitchen remodel having my cooking space out of commission.

Yum yum!

Delicious Recipe for you!

We had a few bananas that were WAY past their prime lying around and E has been begging me to make banana bread.  I've done so well this week saying no to sugar, I just couldn't bring myself to end the week by ruining the efforts.  I jumped on the internet and found the Spoonful of Sugar Free blog where there was a whole wheat banana bread muffin recipe.

Unlike some sugar free recipes, this recipe was COMPLETELY sugar free. There was no agave, no stevia. It was refreshing! The only sugar was from the bananas.  I was able to make 8 standard sized muffins out of the batter. I did also replace the milk substitute with skim milk, because that's what I had on hand.

I would have taken pictures for you, but honestly, the muffins WEREN'T ON THE PLATE LONG ENOUGH! My son, 18 mos, had two. My hubby had two. My daughter (4 this week, eek!) had THREE of them! I would say this is a resounding SUCCESS for a recipe!!  No one even mentioned that it didn't have sugar.   In fact, it even has flax added to it for an extra health kick. 

 I'm purposefully letting bananas get too ripe now, so that I have a reason to make these again. But maybe I'll triple the recipe next time. :-)

Here is the recipe, from Spoonful of Sugar Free:

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins:
These muffins are whole grain, vegan, and of course sugar-free!

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 Tablespoons ground flax
• rounded 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk substitute (i used almond milk, but soy, rice, hemp, or cow’s would be fine, too)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil (or coconut, vegetable, grapeseed..)
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• round 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (optional. can substitute almonds or dried fruit, too)

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix together all of the ingredients, but add the baking soda last. Line muffin pans with liners (i used adorable mini muffins!). Then, fill each muffin with batter to the rim. For mini muffins, bake for 20 minutes (makes 20 muffins). For regular muffins, bake for 25 minutes (makes 10 muffins). To make banana bread, double the recipe and bake for 30 minutes.

This is a definite KEEP in our house and I look forward to trying more recipes from the blog!

Back to basics.

As more people ask me about quitting sugar, I find myself back in the place I was before I started. I hear them say "I'm weak" and "It's not for me!"  and I am instantly back to last summer/fall, before I quit. I remember thinking how ridiculous it was to quit sugar. I remember thinking about how small my willpower was and how sugar wasn't "that bad" for me. And then I re-read this post and remember how empowered, strong and awesome it felt to achieve "the impossible."

But I did the 8 weeks. And I FELT better. Wholly better - emotional, physical... clearer, pain-free. 

So here's a quick bullet point of some of my favorite "sugar free" tips: 

• Trader Joe's has two salad dressings that are sugar free - a Greek Feta dressing and a "Goddess" dressing that tastes vaguely like hummus. 
• Whole Foods has sugar free ketchup!!
• You can easily make your own taco seasoning and Italian seasoning (Italian dressing mix) that taste BETTER than the jarred/envelopes!
• Greek yogurt (plain!) starts to taste less like sour cream and more delicious the longer you are without sugar! Yogurt with walnuts and cinnamon is a fantastic breakfast or snack!
• Triscuits are about the only crackers that don't have added sugar that I have found.
• 
  

I'm not going to lie, I haven't been "sugar free" these days.  A little ice cream here, some fruit there. And I pay for it - my joints hurt, I have cravings, I have wicked mood swings. 

In my head I know I CAN do it. I also know that I am doing fine allowing the occasional "treat" now and again.

And I'm kicking BUTT on my fitness. Still doing Weight Watchers and last week, I earned **42** Activity Points!

Tues: Yoga - 75 min

Wed: Spinning - 66 min

Thurs: Spinning - 75 min (I rode extra!)

Fri: new class - cardio drills & power sculpt - 75 min (this class KICKS MY BUTT!!)

All in all a good week.  Weight holding steady at 152. I feel like I need to weigh in on Fridays instead of Mondays! 

Weekends are my diet enemy!

Delay!

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear about my WI on Monday.   Let me calm your hopes - I didn't make goal :(

Saturday I wound up visiting Urgent Care in the evening for what I thought was strep.  Turns out it was a virus, but I was wallowing in my pain and had stopped at the store for some (sugar free) vanilla ice cream and (sugar free) chocolate fudge. Sunday I could do nothing but eat (hello sugary things! bring on the cravings!) and Monday AM I was at 151.  Granted, last week I weighed in at 151.5 so still a LOSS (the scale is moving in the right direction!) but not my official GOAL. I was sad, but such is life.

As a sidebar, when you're quitting sugar keep in mind that things like Splenda and Stevia are all still "sugars." You are just replacing real sugar with a fake sweetness - which doesn't actually detox your body.  If you're going for a full sugar detox, you must cut all of it from your system for awhile. If you keep giving your body the "sweet" it's craving, you'll never get away from the grasp of the addiction.

Instead, I went to the gym. I ran a 5K in 30 min and lifted (some heavier weights than usual, too!) I missed spinning on Friday and yoga on Tuesday thanks to a sick kiddo (same sick kiddo but two different illnesses- that's how we roll.)

But since E is all better, tomorrow I will ship her off to school, the little man off to the child care at the gym and I will be SPINNING my heart out! I will miss Pilates this week because of a kiddo dentist appointment, but hope to get right back to it with another spin class on Friday.

I've talked Jen into taking a spin class with me. Leave her some love and let her know she'll do just fine :-) It really is addicting! I can see why people keep going.   There is something cathartic about working out until you are drenched that really makes it worth it.

60 Minutes video

So this quitting sugar thing is really catching a lot of media attention!  60 Minutes had a great story last Sunday about sugar as a toxin!

Click here to see it. VERY worth the time to watch.

A success story (that isn't me!)

I LOVE hearing this kind of thing! A friend, K, sent me a message on Facebook yesterday and I was quick to ask if I could share her experience with you guys. I love hearing other people's experiences with quitting sugar.

Hey! Just wanted to say that you inspired me to go sugar free and I have lost 8 pounds in the past 2 weeks! I feel SOOOO much better. My headaches, cravings for sugar and carbs, and bitchy attitude are nearly non existent. I haven't been doing any different kind of workouts or exercise than I was doing when I wasn't sugarfree (still just running and strength training), so I know it has been because I cut out sugar! Thanks for the motivation!

It is seriously scary the control that sugar has over me when I'm eating it. I have found myself eating insane, crazy amounts of food when I am consuming it. The cravings were constant and there was no amount that could satisfy me. I have been reading tons of info about it and am reading in many places that sugar makes the brain react in the same way it does to heroin! It sounds crazy, but I believe it. I just don't think I will ever go back to eating that way again.

I LOVE her point about how sugar has CONTROL over us! I completely agree!  I have found that when I am eating sugar, I'm eating more. Not more sugar necessarily, just more of EVERYTHING! I want to be stuffing my face all.day.long!  Now that I've quit again, my overall calorie consumption is down I would guess by half. I don't snack endlessly all day and I certainly don't crave sugar all day long.

Very interesting point about how sugar affects our brain the same way as heroin! Puts a whole new spin on it, doesn't it??  We're all just reformed junkies, aren't we??

Welcome to Social Hour

If you found us from Alison's post, welcome! :-)  Alison is just starting her sugar free journey, so go to her blog and give her some love too!

I wanted to give a shout out to Naomi, a fellow IQS-er. We quit about the same time last October and a few weeks ago she wrote a FABULOUS blog post about quitting sugar. She took the time to write the Quitting Sugar ABCs!  She has some amazing points about quitting, tips and tricks and other great information. Go check her out here.



A little update from me: 

I have been doing really well with quitting sugar.  I feel great and I'm down to my lowest weight again (I've been up to 158 for awhile, but now I'm back down to 154).  We've been playing outside in this lovely abnormally warm weather, which has been great to keep me moving!  I went to the gym this morning and ran my fastest 5K ever! 3.12 in 30 minutes!   I am planning to do a 5K at the zoo here at the end of May and my new goal is to finish in under 25 minutes.

Of course, there are stumbling moments. To celebrate our new swing set & fire pit, we (read: my family, not me) made s'mores last night outside.  I realized it was wwaayy too soon for me to be exposed to charred marshmallows.... mmmmm  

But these cuties really loved it! 

Ahhhhhh.....

That's more like it!!!

(2nd Detox/Day 6)

I am all of a sudden NOT having cravings. My mood hasn't been in the toilet and I haven't been stuffing my face with everything known to man.

I forgot how "even" feels. I have eaten WELL over my Weight Watchers points for the last few weeks, resulting in some pretty ugly weigh ins (up to 157.5 last week!)  This week, I'm down 1.5lbs. I found it hard to decide what to eat today and when I did, it filled me up just fine! Loving it.

We've been assembling a swing set for the past week, so I've slacked in my running (boo!) but the swing set is almost complete (just need to add swings and anchors!) so I'm back to my regularly scheduled running ASAP!

On the road again...

Just like Jen, I'm back to quitting sugar completely again.  I found that I'm uncomfortable, bloated, crabby & emotional - all things that I wasn't when there was no sugar in my system!

It's been a hard week. I've wanted to quit multiple times already, but I haven't done it!  I am even going back and reading the blog for inspiration and to remember WHAT THE HECK I was eating last time I did this :-)

I am keeping a bit of fruit in for the first week or two. I made the baked steel cut oats for breakfast this week, since I've been having a hard time figuring out what to eat for breakfast now, and used blueberries and apples in the casserole.  But I'm trying to keep it only to breakfast time and not snacks throughout the day (or else I'd be eating 3-4 pieces of fruit just trying to get through!)  I am also excited to have found ketchup with NO SUGAR ADDED!! Very exciting for a ketchup addict! It was a big win with my preschooler and I'll learn to love it too.

I'm also heavily relying on Jillian Michael's detox water. 60 oz of water guaranteed to be in my system (I've really been slacking on the hydration!) and here's hoping the dandelion tea works it's magic too!

I'm excited to know a few people who are quitting sugar starting on Monday. It will be great motivation for me to know that they are following this path for the first time and to remember what it was for me to do it last October.

I ran five miles in 54 minutes yesterday.  Again, I'm not fast, but I am definitely improving and getting somewhat faster. I attribute my increase in strength to my yoga and Pilates classes. I feel SO MUCH stronger and in control than I used to. I highly recommend finding out if you have access to either or both of these classes! A great investment of time.

For the sweet tooth

Even after the 8 week detox, I still find myself wanting something sweet now and again. I saw this recipe on Chocolate Covered Katie and HAD to try it!

I am glad I read the directions before buying the ingredients. She mentions a can of coconut milk. I have purchased a CARTON of coconut milk before, but found that the consistency of the canned coconut milk is VASTLY different. Honestly, it looked a lot like spackle to me, while the carton looks like watered down cow milk.

I wound up adding three packets of Stevia to mine. I tried it between every addition and it was TOO bitter until I hit that third one.  Mine came out as more of a mousse consistency than a frosting, but it hit the spot either way.

Very yummy! I highly recommend it for the quitting sugar crowd (after your 8 weeks, of course. :-))

Chocolate Frosting Shots

Back in the Game!

I took a month(ish) off from being completely sugar free. I had a great piece of cake at my son's birthday party (with a spoonful of ice cream!) and it was awesome. I had a cake ball the next day.  And for two weeks in a row, I didn't lose weight (gained 1lb!) So I'm back to no sugar for awhile, just to jumpstart the loss again. In addition to not losing, my joints have started hurting and I've been INCURABLY hungry! So I figured back to basics! I plan on doing a week with absolutely no sugar, then allowing fruit again.  We'll see if I'll be adding any "treat' sugars back in, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet.

I went to the gym yesterday, even though it was a great day to curl up in pjs and watch movies all day. I thought I'd just get on the treadmill and see what happened, planning only to walk slowly and not really thinking I would get very far before giving up.  What happened? I wound up running 5 miles! In fact, I ran it at a 12 min/mile pace, which although it's still slow is the fastest I've ever run a complete distance before!


So much for a leisurely walk :-)

But it was good and reaffirming about running on a treadmill, which I'm finding I dislike more than I thought I did.

If you need some running music, be sure to check out Rock My Run - great mixes that keep me going for all my miles! I hate having to skip songs or fumble with my music during my runs, and the long (hour +!) mixes really change things up but keep them motivating. It's really changed the way I've focused while running.

So here's my calendar, updated with this week + the last two training.  (my "planned" workouts are timed, my actual workouts are the all day boxes)

Disney Princess Half Marathon Update - We leave in FIVE WEEKS!! WOOOOOO! I'm up to 8.2 miles. Hoping (if the weather goes above 40 degrees!) to get a 9 mile run in this weekend. If the weather is still cold - will be attempting that distance on the treadmill!

Moderation

My personality is very all-or-nothing.  When I make a plan, I am either doing it ALL THE WAY or not at all. When I do WW, I stick to my points - I never go over my weeklies and rarely use more than just a handful. When I quit sugar, I quit ALL sugar.

However, now that I'm outside of the 8 week detox, I'm having a hard time finding a balance between militant NO SUGAR and falling back into my lifestyle. Jen is encouraging me that it's all about moderation and some sugar now and again isn't bad. But I LOVE the weight I'm losing! I'm scared that adding sugar, even in small amounts, will bring my weight back up. I am scared that, since I never lost the daily cravings, that I will fall back into the hugely addictive place I was in before my detox.

I have been allowing myself to have an apple a day, and it has been fabulous. I can't stop staring at the cookies and saying "mmmmm I want a cooookie!"  The other advice I've read is to start my week knowing that I will allow one sweet treat for the week.  Then when I encounter a sweet treat that I think I would like to have, think about my ONE treat - is what I'm currently digging on WORTH using that one treat?  Most times, I find that no, it's not really worth wasting the treat. And I get to the end of my week finding that NOTHING has been worth wasting that treat. That makes me feel like I really have changed my life!

As far as my workout goals - I'm sticking with it mostly.

• Last Saturday, I ran 8.2 miles around the lake. 
• Sunday, Monday & Tuesday I rested (because I couldn't move after my 8 mile run ;-))
• Wednesday, I ran 2.51 miles on the treadmill.
• Thursday, I had my first one hour Pilates class. Boy did I forget what Pilates does to your midsection :-) Also, since the weather is quite springy and delightful, the kids and I walked .5 miles to the park. No, wait. I walked to the park - PULLING both kids in the wagon :-)
  
• Today, we have swimming lessons for both kids. I was planning to swim after their lessons, but there was a mix up and our class time was changed from 9 to 10:45.... instead, I will probably walk to the park with the kiddos again.

What do you think? How would you do "sugar in moderation"?

Starting Week Six

Saturday started week 6 of my no sugar journey.  And I'm still learning things!
For example, my mom called me today and informed me that table salt has added -- yes, you got it -- SUGAR! Why? Apparently the process used to refine salt into "table" salt makes it bitter. Add some sugar (dextrose, specifically) and Voilà! Table salt!

I feel like I'm becoming a more informed consumer. I'm reading a book called Suicide by Sugar.  In it, the author discusses different afflictions from sugar, the hazards and also the dangers of maltodextrin. Wikipedia defines maltodextrin as such:

Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food additive. It is produced from starch by partial hydrolysis and is usually found as a creamy-white hygroscopic spraydried powder. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose, and might be either moderately sweet or almost flavorless. It is commonly used for the production of sodas and candy. It can also be found as an ingredient in a variety of other processed foods.

 What I get from this scientific paragraph? "Maltodextrin is bad and we should avoid it." (ok, maybe it's from a combination of not understanding more than 10 words above and the stuff I have read in the Suicide by Sugar book. :-))

So I'm slowly moving my family to whole foods - maltodextrin is present in almost every pre-packaged food I've looked at, from spice mixes to marinated pork tenderloin.

I'm really leaning on a local produce co-op that we've been using for awesome veggies. I'm looking forward to getting back to some fruit soon (2 weeks!) and we always get lots of great tasting stuff!  I'm experimenting with different ways to make old favorites. I got a recipe from a friend for Oatmeal waffles that I'm just leaving the brown sugar out of the recipe. They taste GREAT now, with some pecans chopped up on top.  My daughter loved them with applesauce and hubby had a little powdered sugar and butter.   I made sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving - instead of putting in 1/2 cup of brown sugar and covering them in marshmallows, I used butter and cinnamon. They were a big hit!

My cravings aren't completely gone. I was making our Advent calendar for this Christmas season tonight and purchased a bag of my (formerly) favorite holiday candies -

Hershey's mint miniatures!  (The dark chocolate/mint was my favorite)    It was all I could do not to open every single one and eat them. So no, my cravings aren't GONE. But did I eat them all? Nope. Did I even eat one? Nope. Instead, I went and got some peppermint chocolate tea.  NOT the same, but definitely satisfied the craving in a sufficient way!


So here goes week 6 in the journey. I will be posting some updated stats soon. I will say that as of my weigh in last week, I was 1.5lbs from my first weight loss goal!

Sweet Education

So now you know - if you've been following along - that sugar is hidden everywhere. But do you know how to find it?  Do you know all the different names it goes by?  

Let's play a game - how many times can you find sugar listed on this label? Go on, I'll give you a minute. 

 

 So, how many could you find? 

High fructose corn syrup; Corn syrup; Brown sugar; Sugar; Honey; Molasses

So what gooey goodness is this, you ask?  Brownies? Cookies? 

Nope. Plain bread crumbs. The sugar content on the label was 4g. If you were just to look at the sugar content, you wouldn't have noticed all the different (overkill) ingredients. 

So here's a list of what to look for, with the rule of thumb being anything ending in "-ose" is sugar. The exception here is lactose, which doesn't affect your blood sugars the way the others do and is okay to consume during a sugar detox.

list found at About.com

• Agave Nectar
• Barley Malt Syrup
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
• Dehydrated Cane Juice
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Lactose
• Maltodextrin
• Malt syrup
• Maltose
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Rice Syrup
• Saccharose
• Sorghum or sorghum syrup
• Sucrose
• Syrup
• Treacle
• Turbinado Sugar
• Xylose

Also - evaporated cane juice, which Wikipedia describes like this: "Nutritional benefits are minimal; evaporated cane juice contains trace minerals and vitamins but has the same amount of calories as table sugar."

The other thing to watch out for are "sugar alcohols." These are the things they add to "sugar free" products.  (Read more about them here). While there technically isn't sugar proper in these foods, the "fake" sugars are still fooling your body into thinking that sugar craving is being satisfied.  During a detox from the addiction to sugar, it's best to avoid this as well. 

I'm 20 days into this journey, only 1 1/2 hours from being a solid three weeks in. I must say, it's not as wholly-consuming as it was in the beginning. I've armed myself with "safe" snacks. I'm learning there are certain things I will need to make from scratch instead of purchase in order to avoid unnecessary sugars. I do still have cravings, mostly in the afternoon when lunch is over and I'm hurting for something sweet to "finish" my meal. But I'm staying strong, staying true to this journey. 

And that's what it is. A journey. People keep asking "are you ever going to eat sugar EVER AGAIN?" Why of course I will! But when I do, I'm praying I'm able to stop at one piece of candy, a reasonable amount of ice cream, a few bites of cake. I will evolve and get to that place. Right now? I don't think I could stop yet, as I still crave it. Every day I'm feeling stronger and more in control of my situation! 

A Day in the Sugar Free Life

Two weeks ago, this would have been my typical day:
Breakfast:
Coffee with about 2-3 Tbsp flavored fat free creamer
Either: Cereal (not "bad" but definitely containing sugar), oatmeal w/brown sugar or some baked good - pancakes or waffles - with plenty of syrup

Mid morning:
banana and/or Greek yogurt with added fruit

Lunch:
Crackers & cheese

Afternoon:
Something sweet, always. Cookies, ice cream, Nutella (BIG ONE!), candy - something sweet while the kids nap.

Dinner:
Dinner wasn't too bad, I guess, except when you count ketchup, bbq, salad dressings...

Dessert:
Every night there was something sweet. A bowl of ice cream, Nutella s'mores, bananas and pb were a few of my favorites. I also love to bake, so there's usually something yummy lying around.

 My menu plan has changed drastically since then!

NOW, Breakfast:
Coffee with half & half
slice of bread with turkey sausage, egg & cheese (or PLAIN Greek yogurt with walnuts and cinnamon)

Midmorning: nuts or cheese

Lunch:
Crackers, cheese and lunch meat OR Leftovers from dinner

Afternoon:
Veggie sticks - like potato chips, but with spinach and tomato. There IS a little bit of sugar added to these, but I figure this is a lesser evil than a cookie
Cottage cheese with spices from an Italian seasoning grinder

Dinner:
LOTS of fresh veggies now - more than before for sure.  A lot less "convenience" things

Dessert:
I use that term loosely. Definitely no sweets! I've been relying a lot on popcorn (even buttered popcorn which I usually don't even enjoy) and beer. :-)


Other additions to my life:
Jillian Michael's Detox water - 60oz water/1Tbsp pure cranberry juice (I got mine at Trader Joe's)/2 Tbsp lemon juice/dandelion tea

Chia seed - while it might just be a fad, it WORKS.  I sprinkle about a tsp on my meals and it keeps me full for hours! Also, it can be added to liquid to be turned into a gel that can be used to replace up to half of the fat in baked goods! I've done this now with two different kinds of dinner rolls and it works!


Breakfast is the hardest meal of the day for me. Most days lately I wind up skipping it. However, I'm also on Weight Watchers and having 10+ points left at the end of the day is killing me - I don't have any high point snacks to fall back on!   So what are some of your favorite {quick} breakfast ideas that don't include sugars???

There's sugar in my WHAT?!

Going into this "giving up sugar" thing, I figured I'd be giving up all my loves - cake, cookies and ice cream.  I never imagined that this would require me to also give up fruit. Salad dressing. Bread crumbs?!

Giving up sugar isn't for the faint of heart. It requires label reading and lots of attention to ingredients! My PLAIN bread crumbs ingredients list looks like this:

bread; high fructose corn syrup; corn syrup

What?! Not only is sugar the second ingredient, but also the third??? And the more I read, the more I'm finding sugar in weird (well, weird to me) places. Canned beans and tomatoes all have added sugar, things I use to make savory dishes have, surprisingly, a lot of added sugar.

When you're looking at labels, you can't simply look at the sugar content. It can be deceiving! "Sugar free candy" still has a sugar replacement, which won't help you kick the sugar addiction -- you're still feeding the "need" for sugar.  You have to read ingredients. The following are all forms of sugar that you should be avoiding:

• evaporated cane juice
• high fructose corn syrup/corn syrup
• stevia (more on this later)
• fruit juice
• sugar
• dextrose
• sucralose
• aspartame
• Splenda

Sneaky, isn't it, how many words there are for our beloved sugar?

Italian dressing mix for my favorite comfort food recipe? Sugar is the FIRST ingredient. Obviously I was disappointed (and terrified!) when I started to fire up my crock pot this morning. Never fear, off to the internet I went. I found a recipe at Mom Advice  for homemade Italian dressing mix and decided to go for it, omitting the sugar in the recipe.  So here it is, your first repalcement for something that really shouldn't need sugar in the first place! I also omitted dried celery flakes, as I didn't have that on hand.

Homemade Italian Dressing Seasoning Mix

Recipe from Mom Advice

Ingredients

1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp ground oregano
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp salt (adjust to your own personal preference)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground basil
¼ tsp ground thyme
½ tsp dried celery flakes

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.  To prepare the dressing: Mix two tablespoons of the mix with ¼ cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons of water, and ½ to 2/3 cup olive oil or canola oil.

And, in case you're wondering how my favorite comfort food turned out, my three year old daughter looked at me during dinner and said "Mommy, dinner turned out PERFECT!" I love her sweet little self!