I gave up sugar..

[paradise lost]

Um...April 12th i think is Easter Sunday. So 4 weeks and 5 days (i had to look that up in the calendar - i'm not counting down at all).

Banana bread/muffin recipe is:
2 cups self raising flour (if using plain flour add 1 tsp baking soda)
0.5 cup of vegetable oil
0.25 cup pineapple juice (unsweetened)
0.5 tsp (teaspoon) salt
1 beaten egg
2 bananas, mashed (the riper the better)
2 small sweet eating apples, peeled and grated
1 ripe pear, peeled and grated
0.5 cup of raisins
handful of dessicated coconut
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon

One could also add nuts if one wanted.

Mix liquid ingredients together, add fruit and coconut and stir well, sift in flour, cinnamon and salt until a thickish batter is achieved. Pour into greased loaf tin or muffin cups and put into the upper part of an oven preheated to 350F. A loaf takes about an hour, give or take and muffins about 50mins - stick a skewer in to check if it's baked right. If it comes out clean you're there.

Bx

[Manhattan]

Hoobley! I don't think I could ever give up sugar to the extent you have.

I am Catholic, and for Lent I have given up lollies, choc, biscuits and cake. I am a sweet tooth to the max, so this has been extremely difficult for me

I was getting quite a few headaches last week, and thought perhaps I'd done my hair too tight, as I was drinking lots of water, and eating plenty of fruit etc. Never did i make the connection with the no sugar. I guess you really do learn something new everyday.

Interesting you said you have been reaching for fatty foods, I too reach for the savoury chips and nuts. I guess old habits die hard! And generally I dont lose any weight during Lent for this very reason

Anyway, keep up with the good work, we can stay strong until Easter.

[BellyBelly]

Yup artificial sweetener is a huge cause of headaches... did it to me too. I will never have it again, so bad for you. I am trying to replace sugar in my tea with honey, its my only vice. I have replaced cows milk with rice milk which is ok. I'm doing some pre-detox detoxing! Apparently there is a Rooibos tea which tastes like black tea but fine on detox. I know I will feel better but ah... gotta get thru the withdrawls!!!

[paradise lost]

Manhattan i SERIOUSLY struggled with just some sugary things. It's as if only giving up some things makes you crave it more, but when you give it all up your body's levels all return to normal and you feel fine again. There is a lot of Type 2 diabetes in my family so i know i need to be careful, perhaps this is going to be a start of a more sugar-free life for me!

I just had toast for breakfast, once slice with butter and one with peanut butter and sugarfee (no artificial sweeteners) jam. Mmmm! My sugarless coffee now tastes totally normal too. I am chuffed with my progress. I knew i would be able to do it (lent i mean) because i'm very strong willed and once i decide something that's it, it's decided, but i never realised it could feel EASY!

Bx

[paradise lost]

I am now chuffed with myself as i just made muffins (with the above recipe except i put blueberries in as well) and hot cross buns, all sugarfree! I was thinking "oh no!" when i remembered you have to glaze the hot cross buns on top, then i hit on the idea of squeezing an orange and microwaved the juice to reduce it - nice and sticky and no added sugar

Bx

[christy]

This is something I've played with a lot around here, but we have a HUGE problem. My girls react to fruit... more than a whole apple is too much to them in a day. We can only have pears, apples and mangos for Matilda as any other fruit causes runs and behavioural issues, for JJ we can have more fruits but bananas and pears cause the explosive runs. So I'd have to bake with 2 apples or 1 apple and 1/2 a mango.... and that scares me

[paradise lost]

But if you put all of that into a mix that makes 12 muffins and give them one muffin they're only getting one 12th of it - i bet you could mess with the amounts so that a muffin wouldn't make them feel ill or give them behavioural issues and they would still be able to have fresh fruit too, kwim? Or you could even make mini-muffins with it to make it even less that they were getting?

Bx