I Quit Sugar - Week Four

Oh my Christ.

Shit sorry Gran I mean oh my goodness.

We have nearly done it.

We have nearly went an entire month with no sugar.

Two days from now we can officially say that we have quit sugar for 31 full days.

By now our champion trophy's will have our names engraved on them and will be ready to get shipped to our wee house that looks like a drug den. The crowds will be gathered outside our front door as we make our victory speeches, in which we will end by taking a massive chomp out of our snickers bars to a roar of applause.  Even Colleen will do it and die a legend (really bad nut allergy, in fact this chick is allergic to life).

Wednesday is going to be a glorious day.

Okay I am totally aware that this won't happen and we will all just end up hugging one another followed by an awkward silence which will lead to a brawl over who gets the first bite out of the Easter cake, but none the less it will be a great day.

Giving up sugar really has been a lot easier than I thought. I didn't suffer from headaches or major cravings, in fact I could probably keep on going. Yes really. Quitting sugar as made me realise a number of things...

1. Real, natural food tastes just as good if not better.
2. You are not limited to the foods you can eat, there are so many options and they are god dam tasty options.
3. I don't need sugar as much as I thought I did. I don't NEED that tub of ice cream every Sunday or NEED to eat a full family block of chocolate. Yes their will be times I want to and I will, just not every time I watch a movie (does anyone else justify a binge by putting on the Notebook!? Ryan Gosling you sir are the reason behind my cellulite, prick).
4. I am a lot more concious of what I am putting in to my body and there are now foods I will probably not touch again e.g Jordan's Granola. There are other reasons for this too mind you (read my factory girl post).
5. My will power is pretty good, a lot better than I thought.
6. Sugar is not the reason why I have bad skin. I just have bad skin.
7. You don't need sugar for a buzz or a pick me up, you just need to pick YOURSELF up. Stick on Queen B and get dancing!
8. I really enjoy cooking and baking and creating low sugar recipes and have been surprised at how much I have actually enjoyed them
9. You can still be social and people won't look at you like you are bat shit crazy (well not every time)
10. I miss fruit and can't wait to have it back in my life.
11. I miss wine and I can't wait to have it back in my life.

Has giving up sugar changed the way I think about food? Yes. Would I recommend you try it? Yes. Come Easter weekend will I be drunk with a chocolate stained dress twerking in Doms the local night club? Absolutely.

The main thing this challenge has taught me is that sugar shouldn't be used as a crutch for when you have a bad day. It should be kept as a reward for being good all week or for that monthly viewing of the Notebook. Take note I did say monthly and not daily, (take note ha, see what I did there?). Balance is everything. No food is bad food. Everything in moderation and if you want a bit of cake more often there is ALWAYS a healthier alternative.

Speaking  of healthier alternatives,  here is a recipe I found on an amazing IG account (@cookwithemma) for sugar free chocolate fudge...

Ingredients (makes 4-6 brownies)

2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
3 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cacao powder
1 cup sugar free dark chocolate
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Melt all ingredients in a sauce pan until smooth, pour into a brownie tin lined with baking paper and store in the fridge over night to set.

Done.


And also my more or less sugar free taco recipe!

Ingredients (serves 2)

Old El Paso Stand and Stuff tacos (0.1g sugar per serve)
500g Turkey Mince
1 large red pepper
1 red onion
1 packet of taco mix (try and find one less than 1g per serve)
Cheese of choice (make sure it has less than 1g per serve)
1 Avocado
1 Lemon
Salt and Pepper.

Method

Cook mince in pan using 1 tbsp oil (coconut or olive oil), once mince is ready add  chopped pepper, onion and taco mix and leave to simmer for 10 mins.
Mash up avocado and mix with lemon juice, salt and pepper until you get a guacamole consistency.
Place taco shells in microwave for 30 secs.
Stack taco shells with mince, guacamole and cheese and serve.

As easy as that.

I also promised you my leg workout that I did today which honestly nearly killed me so here it is....

6 x 12-15 Squats
4 x 10-12 Sumo Deadlifts
4 x 12-15 Dumbbell Lunges
4 x 10-12 Stiff Legged Deadlifts
3 x max Jump Squats.

This workout took me under 40 minutes. I really don't understand how people can spend hours and hours in the gym or working out. If you are pushing yourself to your maximum potential then 1 hour to 1.5 hours max should be more than enough time.

Quality OVER Quantity.

Until next time when my post will be mostly likely be about how I want to end my life after too much Easter weekend shananigans!


Oh and me and Rust went to a 3rd birthday party on Saturday and played hide and seek all afternoon with toddlers. 

Did you know that the number 10 actually comes after the number 16? No we didn't either. 

Most fun ever! Pair of big wains! 

I Quit Sugar - Week Three

Did you know that Carlton Dry only has 0.2g of sugar? Did you also know that Carlton Dry is a really good beer and it so happens to be Rustins favourite beer? And it's also in my top 5 beers? Probably before Chang but after Hanns Super Dry.

So we had a night out this weekend, with the footie and netball team. A keg night where all beers from the keg were only $2. The keg also happened to be Carlton Dry. Rustins favourite beer, my number 2 and a beer that only has 0.2g of sugar. 

A blatant sign from God right? 

So we had one. 

Okay, maybe three....

Fuck okay I had ten and Rustin had about 25 that resulted in him being Spewey McSpewhead and me climbing up a stripper pole and being pushed in a shopping trolley home. 

CAF. 

BUT in our defence we came home and instead of getting in amoungst the meat tray Rust won in the raffle, we drunkenly read the packets of food to check their sugar content before giving up and going to bed in a huff. 

So technically we haven't broke our sugar challenge, even in my hungover state I haven't ordered in a pizza or ate a full packet of digestives. 

Probably because I was hanging out my arsehole and even the thought of water offended me.

Not so CAF.  

Aye so week three overall has been a good one. We managed to get drunk, laugh our heads off and had a perfect hangover cure of bacon and eggs and tv. 

We only have 10 days to go and I honestly can't believe how much giving up sugar has changed my perspective on food and what we consume. Even with a raging hangover I was determined to stick it out and my healthy Sunday dinner killed my cravings for a big dirty mexican feast just fine (I mean mexican food, not an actual feast of mexican people who haven't showered). 

A months challenge could potentially turn in to a lifestyle....unless Ben & Jerrys is on deal then we are fucked.

I Quit Sugar - Week Two

Hey everyone!

So we are now on week two of our no sugar challenge and it is still going pretty dam well. My dreams of deep dish pizza are still there (I have even been waking up with the junk food sweats, either that or I have a leak in the roof)  and I keep thinking everyone is saying 'Oi,  double cheese burger with a extra large caramel fudge sundae' every time they say my name but other than that I feel like I am going chocolate cupcake.

Shit I mean strong, I feel like I am going strong. 

Luckily for us the month of March is pretty boring. If I was back home it would be a different story as I have a few friends birthdays but here, the only exciting thing we have planned is...well...eh...the end of this fucking no sugar malarky. 

I think the reason we are doing so well is because we have made a real effort to keep our meals interesting. Each night we have been cooking meals using all the nice things we can have like spices and oils. Doing this means that we haven't really noticed not having the sugary treats. The biggest test for us this week was this weekend. It was the first day that Rustin and I have had off work together in forever and the fact we are as poor as shit means that we have more time to do nothing but think of food. When Rustin is at work, all we do is constantly tag each other in instagram pictures of grub that would probably give you three heart attacks before you finished half the plate, so come Saturday afternoon, a movie day with hunners of munchies, a few beers and Rustin giving me a lap dance sounded absolutely ideal. 

But we couldn't because now we are sugarless boring bastards. 

Okay I am really over exaggerating here (Natalie Morgan exaggerate!? NEVER!) week two has been fine. We are still counting down the days until Easter but I really am not missing much apart from fruit. Oh and pizza. And fro-yo. And wine. And beer. And nutella. And nachos. But other than that I am all good.

The challenge is really helping me understand where I was going wrong in my diet, it is helping me take more notice of what I am eating, what is in food and that I really don't need chocolate in my life as much (sorry Cadburys you must really be suffering in the sales department now). 

There ARE healthy alternatives and the way I am feeling about my health right now is totally worth it. My skin still sucks balls but. It would seem that the three huge green spots on my face are not caused by sugar but probably from the stress of working at the dried fruit factory. Really starting to lose sleep over them dam sultanas. 

Look out for my week three I quit sugar post and in the meantime here is some recipe for SUGAR FREE Zucchini Brownies and Chocolatey Oaty Cookies that we made instead of having junk, beer and doing lap dances. Okay we still did the lap dances.

Sugar Free Paleo Zucchini Brownies

Ingredients 

• 1 cup of nut butter of your choice (we use PB because it is cheap!)
• 1 and 1/2 cups of grated zucchini
• 20ml of Liquid Sweetner
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup of sugar free chocolate (we used Well Naturally sugar free dark chocolate but any sugar free chocolate will do, even sugar free chocolate powder! 

Method 

• Pre-heat oven to 180/350.
• Pour all ingredients into a large bowl and mix together.
• Pour mixture into baking tray and place in oven. 
• Bake for 35-45 mins or until fork come out clean,

Sugar Free Chocolatey Oaty Cookies 

Ingredients 

• 1 egg
• 1 cup nut butter
• 1/3 cup sugar free chocolate powder (we used Avalanche Sugar Free Choca Chocolate Drinking Mix)
• 1 cup oat flour
• 10ml liquid sweetner 

Method

• Pre heat oven to 180/350
• Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Roll in to small balls and press flat in to a cookie shape on baking tray.
• Place in oven for 8-10 mins. 

The Mind Of A Factory Girl....

Okay,so I have this new job. I have just started a week ago and it's...well...lets say...a cultural experience? Yeah we will go with that. A cultural experience. It makes it sound exciting and interesting and if I was to say to people 'oh yes I work in a position that allows me to gain a lot of cultural experience' they will think I am training kangaroos to surf or something.

My job falls under the category of 'Cultural Experience'.

Posh as balancing a book on your head and drinking a Pimms eh?

Truth be told, the only thing I am balancing on my head is a hair net.

Right fine okay, I work in a dried fruit factory. I stand by a conveyor belt with thousands of sultanas passing me and I pick out the ones that are A. clumped together B. still have stalks in them and C. look like they have had one too many Pimms. I do this for 8 hours a day. Yes, 8 hours.

So it isn't glamorous. I wear a hair net, gloves, a long white coat and big boots and my hands get really sticky and I sometimes get motion sickness looking at the belt but it IS a cultural experience non the less. Shut up it is alright!?

SO why did I take this job? Well firstly I need to do regional work in order to apply for my second year visa and I also wanted to do something that wasn't being a waitress, or shouting at people to give me another 10 burpees. I wanted a change. I wanted something new and bloody hell, to me this is new.

I am guessing that many factory jobs are the same in the sense that when the machines are on attempting to speak to anyone is pretty much pointless. The best way of communicating is by lobing a handful of sultanas at somebodies face and at that it is just to signal that you are going for a shit. Now I quite like my own company and enjoy a bit of 'me time' but having time to think and be silent for near enough 8 hours a day has me worried. Will I eventually run out of thoughts? Will I have to start counting the number of sultanas on the belt? And the number I have taken off the belt? Should I write this down and make a mental pie chart to pass the time?

Well so far, after only a week I have planned a lot of my life out. Even the colour scheme if the downstairs bathroom of my first home that I will buy....in twenty years time. Here is a brief summary of the some of the random thoughts of Natalie Morgan -  The Factory Girl...

1. Wow it smells in like a bowl of Jordans granola in here, I want a bowl of Jordans Gronola.

2. Is that noise meant to be coming from that thingy majig next to the whatcha ma call it?

3. What is my favourite type of Jordans granola?

4. It feels nice just running my hands through these sultanas. Maybe nobody will notice if I just do that.

5. Fuck she has noticed.

6. Okay I have decided,  strawberry Jordans granola is definitely the best.

7. I wonder if this hair net makes my head look like an egg.

8. Do we really have to stand all day whilst doing this? Could we at least get a yoga break or something?

9. I wonder if the other ladies do yoga?

10. I wonder if they run?

11. I wonder if they would be faster than me at running?

12. Okay need to organise a race at lunch time, start a leader board. Maybe make it more interesting by making it an egg and spoon race.

My co-workers and I lining up for the egg and spoon race. 

13. Well Jordans honey granola is good as well actually.

14. I wonder where I will be in 5 years time?

15. Is she looking at me because my head looks like an egg?

16. Okay the smell is getting a bit too much now.

17. I wonder if I will still be alive in 5 years time? What if I get my sleeve caught in the thing ma jig or the whatcha ma call it and it sucks me in and I die? And I am not here in 5 years time? I suppose then I won't need to worry about where I will be in 5 years time.

18. Wow that wumen's heed looks like an egg.

19. I really need a poo.

20.  Does this white coat make me look chunky?

21. This coat would be amazing on a fat day.

22. It's Thursday which means one more day and its the weekend! I finally know what this 'Friday Feeling' is and fucking hell its amazing.

23. Wow the smell in here is starting to make my eyes water.

24. I wonder if sultanas have feelings?

25. Did I really just think that? Am I officially going insane?

26. Wow how big do my feet look in these boots!?

27. 'Working 9 till 5 what a way to make a living!'

28. Shit its only 9.05am.

29. I really, really need a poo.

30. I am never eating a bowl of Jordans granola again.


So apart from the likelihood of going crazy due to my own thoughts, I am actually enjoying my new position, Instead of putting on a smiling face 24/7 and talking to everyone and there Granny about the weather whilst mucking up their order I can just stand, ponder and whisper to the sultanas, reassuring them that they are safe so I don't hurt their feelings.

Ayep, definitely gone insane.

I Quit Sugar - Week One...

So you may think I am insane. I myself think I am insane, or even more insane than I originally thought I was which probably means I shouldn't be sitting on my couch writing this but locked up somewhere, in a cave with my only friend being a rock named Frank.

Insane or not in my 'at the time this seems like a great idea' mind, I agreed along with my boyfriend and best friend to give up sugar for an entire month. That means 31 sugar free days. 31 days with no cheats. 31 days with no chocolate. 31 days with no alcohol and even 31 days with no fruit. So aye, basically 31 days of no fun and 31 days that could potentially end with me trying to kill myself with an over dose of sugar sachets.

What I am usually like on a Sunday night.....

Why have we decided to do this? Well, after hearing about it all over social media we decided to watch the trailer for 'That Sugar Film' that is coming out this month. The trailer itself was enough to get us thinking, not just about the obvious suspects (oh Dairy Milk why do you have to be such a bad ass) but the HIDDEN sugar in the food we consume everyday that you don't really think of.

I am talking about the processed sugar you find in bread, yoghurt, cereals, sauces, milk and even some meat. You may think you are not a sucker for the sweet stuff but if you have a look through your cupboards and on the back of your so called 'healthy non-fat' products you may be in for a shock. It might not blatantly say 'here mate this has pure hunners aw sugar in it, sa probs naw the best idea to munch on it' but they are there, looking to sneak up on you like a fart in the wind. Here is a list of some ingredients that you may not class as being sugar.....

In order to make this challenge a success we decided to set some guidelines. Obviously all processed sugar is a no go but we also decided to give up fruit and natural sugars too like honey for example. Why you ask? Because the likely hood of us binging on a 5kg bag of grapes and brushing our teeth with honey every night was high.

When it comes to veggies, we are pretty much cool with them all. We agreed that sweet potato is still okay because, well.....em...eh......its fucking good. We are also allowing ourselves to have our protein powders we bought before hand because, well....em...eh...that shit is fucking expensive.

Everything we consume must be checked. For example when me and Rustin went our first food shop we picked up good quality burgers thinking we were good to go but our dreams of improving our burger flipping skills were shattered when one of the ingredients was, you guessed it, our frenemie sugar. Curse you!

As we left Coles with our first food shop I couldn't help feel like we had abandoned our children, Ben & Jerry at the supermarket. At that moment, I highly doubted that Celery & Spinacheta (see what I did there? I made spinach sound like a name? too good) would fill our hearts and bellies quite like they did. It was a Sunday too and that usually means take out from Noodle World next door to the supermarket. I could see the heartbreak on their faces when we walked by. They knew what was going on just by looking at us - but we did it. We got into the car shut the door and drove in to the distance without looking back, it was.....

Okay I think you get the idea. It was bloody hard, we wrote our sugar free shopping list, went in bought it, I was a bit over dramatic, stamped my feet when I got told no to cookies, Rustin nearly had a fight with the casual shelf stacker over some organic chia seeds and that was the end of the matter.

So here we are. A week from going cold turkey and so far I have refrained from eating any chocolate and got my sniffing the nutella jar moments down to only four times a day opposed to thirty, so aye, progress is being made,

As a mater of fact, the whole challenge has been,..okay? No seriously. I haven't actually missed sugar as much as I thought I would and I was told that the first week is the hardest so hopefully this means that I may actually succeed at this? Alright so at this stage if you were to ask me will I be in Doms (local night club) on the podium with chocolate all around my face and dress with a bottle of tequila in my hand come Easter weekend, then my answer would probably be yes - but if you also asked me has this challenge already changed the way I look at food my answer would also be yes. People say fats are the problem and that carbs are the devil. Maybe you should take a look at sweet innocent sugar. Read labels. See how much sugar really is in that healthy low fat muesli bar of yours. I am telling you now you will be shocked. Now I am by no means saying don't have dessert or a piss up with your pals once and a while, what I am saying is why not try and eat more NATURAL food. Food that is real. Don't be afraid of fats and good carbs, make your own dam muesli bars. I can bet you that they will taste better and it will also take your mind of those dam wains (Ben & Jerry who are still locked in the freezer at Coles, we will be reunited again my loves).

In all seriousness I would recommend anyone to give it a go, even just for a week. Cut out the sweet stuff, eat the foods that don't need added chemicals to make them not taste like a foot and see how it makes you feel. I for one am feeling pretty dam good and will be taking my positivity towards the challenge into the coming week.

Watch this space for my 'Sugar Free - Week Two' post!

Also follow my instagram account @globesquatterfitness to check out all the sugar free and paleo meals I have been having this week!