I thought I had a pretty low-sugar diet, but when my doctor told me what I need to do to fight off impending diabetes, I nearly panicked. It's overwhelming. It's too much to do all at once on top of all the other changes I need to make.
Well, it really is too much. I decided to break it down into weekly, manageable steps. This first week, I am cutting out adding sugars to drinks or food. Smoothies? Use stevia. By leaving out sugar, I am discovering the actual flavors of the foods. No more sugar to mask sour blackberries--just be very picky when buying them. No sugar to sweeten up my bowl of quinoa. No sugar in a glass of lemonade. That's kind of tough. And herb tea? Discover its original flavor if it has any. Take time to drink it slowly and let the flavor sink in.
Maybe it's a good thing I already had to cut out chocolate, because I can't imagine chocolate without added sugar. Yuck! But this makes it that little bit easier. So, that's week one.
Can you have honey or is that considered sugar? I think when I make herb tea and want it a little sweeter I use that. If you can't have honey, liquid stevia might help.
ReplyDeleteHoney is out too; it's the glycemic index that's the issue, and honey is still a concentrated sugar. I do use liquid stevia, but I try not to depend on it, so I am trying to simply learn the flavors of things. I definitely use stevia with lemons. Last night I had a glass of plain chamomile tea. I was surprised by what it tasted like, and I actually like it. I hoped it would help me sleep too, but I don't think it did.
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