Food Challenge Week 11: Eat Local Foods

We already do this as much as we can.  It is difficult in the winter but I do still buy local beef and honey.  My chicken farmer's hens are taking a break from egg laying so I have had to buy regular grocery store eggs recently.  Hopefully, they will start producing again soon. 

I want to update you on the last two weeks.  We cut all added sugar out for weeks 9 and 10 and then additionally cut out unrefined oils during week 10.

I fully anticipated missing sugar but it wasn't too bad.  I did cheat by eating about 1/2-1 serving of really dark chocolate a day (5g of sugar per serving) but that was it.  It didn't bother me to skip the sugar.  In fact, it made me aware that certain foods that either come with sugar or we usually add sugar to them - (crackers, oatmeal, homemade spaghetti sauce) are not any worse without sugar.

I also realized how frequently I am offered sugary items that I often eat mindlessly.  Even if you ignore the calories these extra "treats" are really not adding any satisfaction to my day.  We went to two birthday parties and church twice during these weeks.  So all four of those times Victor and I refrained from eating the standard cake and cookies offered.  Neither of us felt deprived and overall found we felt healthier and proud of making good choices.

Now, onto the oils!  This I found VERY hard to give up completely.  I was still able to use olive oil at home so I didn't miss anything from our day to day cooking.  I did miss crackers though! Probably more than the kids.  There are NO crackers available in our store with unrefined oils.

Triscuits offers a 100% whole grain cracker with only 3 ingredients (whole wheat, salt, and soybean oil).  It doesn't fit the oil rule but I am adding them back into our diet as they were missed.

So all in all I think both Victor and I found it harder to cut out unhealthy oils than it was to cut out added sugar.  Not what I would have expected.

I am planning to continue to eliminate added sugars/sweeteners and unrefined oils for the most part (making an exception for occasional desserts and triscuits!).

I would encourage anyone reading this to try eliminating oils and sweeteners from you diet for a week or two.  It is pretty eye opening!