The NEW f-word



Week 3 is almost over and one might say I fell off the bandwagon - I'd argue not so much  falling off, but more having a leg dangling over the edge. You see, I auditioned for a Weis Bar television commercial this week. You know those ads, care free young 20-somethings with the multi coloured lipstick? That's what I was going for. Except not the yellow lipstick part. Turns out their new flavour is Choc Hazelnut. So I guess that means.. brown lips.

 

the reason I fell off the bandwagon this week

 

Lip colours aside, I had to, and I reiterate HAD to munch down on a bar as part of the audition. And again, I'd argue less 'munching down' and more eating-like-a-chipmunk. My first bit of sugar in nearly 3 weeks. It. Was. AVERAGE. Yes average, I was actually a bit disappointed. But read on. The disappointment is replaced.

 

cookies you would sell your soul for

 

Ok, so that was the first instance of the proverbial leg dangling over the bandwagon. The second? In my kitchen. Of late, I have had the irrepressible urge to bake. And since I haven't figured out a way to replicate sugar laiden recipes of my the good 'ol days (yet) my husband is in 7th heaven. Literally. If 7th Heaven had a signature scent I'm sure it would resemble the sweet smelling haven of cupcakes, muffins, cookies and cakes that is our kitchen. Yesterday I made the kind of cookies you'd sell your soul for. Delectable, soft, chewy. Their buttery goodness just melted in my mouth with lashings of warm chocolate oozing from the middle. I had a bite. O.M.G. Weis Bar? What Weis Bar?

 

Let's  - shall we -  look at the aforementioned 'mishaps' as experiments. I didn't go nuts, didn't spiral out of control and I didn't binge (I actually threw the rest of the Weis bar out after the chipmunk got to it and I literally stopped after ONE mouthful of the cookie.) Hip hip hoorah for me, that my friends, was my biggest problem in the first place. NOT being able to stop. Ever. I'd say this whole 'experiment' is working.

 

Should I be quitting?

 

I don't know. Should you? By answering yes to the following questions, one might say you need to quit sugar. But. I'm not your mum and I'm sure you can make your own decisions these days. 

• Do you need a chocolate fix pick me up every afternoon, say around 3pm?
• Do you feel your meal isn't complete without a little sweet something to finish off?
• Can you seriously eat 2 squares of chocolate…and walk away?
• Or sit down to dessert and only have one helping?
• Do you feel bloated?
• Do you often feel unclear?

Maybe, just maybe, you might want to think about jumping on the IQS 'bandwagon' And if you fall off, jump straight back on! It's not a life sentence, remember - you're just 'seeing how it goes'.
 

The new 'F-Word'

 

To be clear – it’s fructose that’s the enemy. Not sugar, per se. When you hear all this 'Ive-gone-and-quit-sugar chat, it's fructose that's been given the ol' heave ho. It's fructose that makes us eat more. WTF? Told you it's the new F-word.

Remember fructose is fructose no matter what fancy pants it may be wearing

(thanks to Sarah Wilson for this image from her I Quit Sugar ebook)

 

Here it is plain and simple: every molecule of every bit of food we eat have corresponding appetite hormones. When we’ve had our fair share of a certain molecule, these hormones tell our brains, 'that'll do tiger'. In other words -  'STOP eating.' That's our bodies doing what they do best - telling us exactly what we need and how much we need of it.

 

Have a guess which molecule doesn't work like this? There's that F-word again.

 

Today we eat more than a kilo of sugar a week. Just 150 years

 ago we ate next to none.

 

why on earth did loincloths go out of fashion??

 

Now back when we looked a lot less Mr and Mrs Smith and more Tarzan and Jane, sugar was both highly valuable and extremely rare. If we did come across a berry here and there it was instant energy for beating cavemen off your Mrs with a stick  hunting wild beast (aka your dinner). Energy that was vital if you were to survive. As a result, we evolved without the fructose “full switch”. For Tarzan and Jane this was great - if they did so happen to  stumble across a berry bush they could gorge themselves stupid (instant energy source). All very well back when sugar was rare and we had to work hard to get it. But now that we can't get enough of the stuff and it's shoved in our faces 24/7 - not having an “off switch” is a huge problem! As David Gillespie says in Sweet Poison, "the way fructose is converted in our bodies means it’s not used upfront as energy, but converted directly to fat. It also becomes,  'porridge in our arteries'. Ew. That can't be good. 

 

Why do I have to give up fruit?
 

Again, you don't have to. Perhaps you just want to give up refined sugars. But a word of warning - so you can break the addiction, a lot of the sugar experts agree: it’s best to get rid of all of it at first. And ALL sugar includes fruit, fruit juice, agave and honey. Even sugar free sweeteners. Afterall, you want to ween yourself off the sweet stuff - real sugar or otherwise. Keeping too many sweeteners in your diet while you are trying to go sugar free will only confuse you and your taste buds. After around the half way mark (remember though we are all different), and if your addiction is broken, you may find you want to re introduce 1-2 pieces of fruit per day. Or you may not. See my previous post re:fibre and keeping 'regular'. It's a myth that you need fruit for that. Trust me.

 

My star recipes for this week. Jump on instagram and follow me there @frankieandnicole I post recipes and pics all the time. Yep, I'm one of those people.

 

 

raw coco muesli

 

hot smoked salmon + vege frittata



 

Until next week..keep away from the cookie jar (I am talking to myself here!)

PS. If you haven't already go and check out these great reads from two very knowledgeable authors. I speak alot about them both.

 

The gorgeous Sarah Wilson

And the man who started it all