source: Daniel Novta

Join us for the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge in June!

Earlier this week I shared some of my reasons for giving up sugar this month. Today, I want to share with you some of the research I’ve done on the effects of sugar on our body so that you can learn more and make your own decisions.

There’s a lot here, so I recommend starting with the ones that catch your attention and reading more as you have time. You’ll also find even more articles linked inside most of these posts if you want to delve deeper into any of the related subtopics:

Facts About Sugar:

Sugar: Public Enemy #1 | Musings of a Housewife
Sugar (as well as refined carbohydrates) actually depletes the body’s store of vitamins and nutrients. We’ve all heard that soda and juice are “empty calories,” but Sally Fallon points out that “negative calories” would be a more accurate term.  She likens consuming refined sugar and white flour to drawing on a savings account.  I don’t know about you, but that’s enough reason for me to get it out of the house.

141 Reasons Sugar Ruins Your Health | Nancy Appleton
10.  Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.
11.  Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function – the more sugar you eat, the more elasticity and function you lose.
12.  Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins (HDL).
13.  Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency.
14.  Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer.

Why Is White Sugar Bad for You? | Kitchen Stewardship
The bottom line is this: either sugar is an empty food that gives us nothing healthy (and therefore, why bother – except for taste, and certainly in moderation) OR sugar is a toxic poison causing any number of physical and emotional diseases and ailments. Either way, it’s worth cutting down in your diet.

Get the Refined Sugar Out | Kitchen Stewardship
There have been many, many books written about the dangers of sugar. Every doctor, dietitian, and dentist (conventional or natural) recommends cutting back on sugar consumption. It’s one ingredient that no one tells you to eat more of. And yet we consume more sugar now than ever.

Give Your Body a Sugar Break | Simple Homemade
Perhaps you’ve noticed that you’re energy is low and you’re dragging just a little. Maybe your cravings for sweets have increased. Have you been found yourself feeling run down or getting hit by viruses that are going around? Now is the perfect time to give your body a bit of a sugar break.

Cutting Down on Sugar: Why Do We Eat It So Much? | Keeper of the Home
One of the primary reasons we crave [sugar] is due to Candida yeast overgrowth in the body. This yeast feeds on sugars (from not only actual sweeteners, but also grains and starches, particularly refined ones). This happens when our gut bacteria is off, and guess what you crave when you have too much Candida? More sugar!

Is Sugar Toxic? | CBS News
The chances are good that sugar is a bigger part of your daily diet than you may realize which is why our story tonight is so important. New research coming out of some of America’s most respected institutions is starting to find that sugar, the way many people are eating it today, is a toxin and could be a driving force behind some of this country’s leading killers, including heart disease.

Sugar Dangers | Mercola.com
Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from bologna to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread. And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one if taking formula. No wonder there is an obesity epidemic in this country.

Sugar Is Making Us Stupid | Jezebel
[Fernando] Gomez-Pinilla explains the consequences of his research [into the effects of sugar]: “Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think. Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.”

Videos:

Additional Resources:

• Break the Sugar Habit Guided Workbook | Well Grounded Life (FREE!)

• The Sugar Detox Challenge | Naturally Knocked Up (FREE!)

• I Quit Sugar and the I Quit Sugar Cookbook | Sarah Wilson

• Healthy Snacks to Go | Kitchen Stewardship
  **save 30% through 6/30/12 with coupon code NOWHITESUGAR

• Smart Sweets | Kitchen Stewardship
  **save 30% through 6/30/12 with coupon code SWEETSuCANEAT

Join the Break the Sugar Habit Challenge

Over the next four weeks (6/4-6/29), we’ll be eliminating sugar from our diet completely. We’d love to have you join us!

What other resources would you add to this list? Do you have additional questions about the effects of sugar on our bodies?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

More Reasons to Give Up Sugar {Break the Sugar Habit Challenge} is a post from Life Your Way

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source: Mandi Ehman

I’d love for you all to join me, and some of you have already said that you’re in (either enthusiastically or somewhat reluctantly, both of which I’ve experienced myself since deciding to do this challenge!), but I’m sure some of you are wondering why I would even want to give up sugar.

I mean, one look at my Yummy Desserts board on Pinterest is enough to convince any person not to give up sugar.

But there’s really no denying the fact that refined sugar isn’t good for our bodies. It’s been linked to everything from diabetes to cancer, and there are many mainstream researchers who believe it’s not just addictive but actually toxic.

Despite that research – and the way sugar makes many of us feel (bloated, fatigued and craving more) – Americans now consume, on average, more than 22.2 teaspoons of sugar a day. (source)

What This Means for Our Family

Even though our family has made some pretty significant strides in our attempts to eat healthier, eating more whole foods and less processed foods, I can clearly see this playing out within our home.

From sugar cravings in the afternoon and wild blood sugar highs and lows (for me) to requests for “treats” around the clock (for the girls), we clearly have an addiction to sugar. And to be completely transparent, I’m so addicted that it’s taken me six months to gear up for the no-sugar challenge, although the girls have – surprisingly – been on board since I first mentioned the idea back in December after reading this post at Simple Homemade.

On top of the medical risks of consuming too much refined sugar, it also has a surprising effect on energy and mood.

As someone who struggles with PMS and afternoon fatigue, I’m hopeful that eliminating sugar from my diet completely for a season, and then eating it only in extreme moderation after the challenge is over, will result in increased energy and mood stability.

To be clear, my goal is not to eliminate refined sugar completely and forever. I want to be able to enjoy Wegman’s Ultimate White Cake or the amazing desserts in my friend Shaina’s new cookbook, Dessert in Jars. But I want our sugar consumption to be intentional and not just because we can’t resist a craving or because it’s found in everything from our bread and crackers to spaghetti sauce and salad dressing.

Amy from Kingdom First Mom and I have been brainstorming together about the difficulties of this challenge and strategies for overcoming them (which we’ll share more next week!), and today she’s sharing her reasons for kicking sugar to the curb as well.

But What About Natural Sugars?

Because we want to retrain our taste buds to appreciate subtle sweetness as opposed to sugary sweets, our family will be eliminating all sweeteners, including stevia, agave, sucanat and honey. (I reserve the right to use raw honey if we catch a summer cold, though, since it’s one of our go-to remedies!)

Most natural sweeteners should still be used in moderation anyway, but they do offer a great alternative to the refined stuff, so after the sugar challenge we’ll be using these natural alternatives instead of white sugar.

However, this challenge should work for you, not against you, so if your family wants to give up refined sugar while still using natural sweeteners in various recipes, then that is absolutely a viable way to go about the challenge. Most of the tips and recipes I’ll be sharing will be 100% sugar/sweetener free, but feel free to adapt the challenge however you see fit.

More About Why

Most of this post is about my personal reasons for doing this challenge. Be sure to check back on Wednesday, when I’ll be sharing a ton of resources – including other people’s stories and some of the scientific research out there – so that you can do your own research and decide what’s right for your family.

Will you be joining the challenge? What are your reasons for wanting to give up sugar?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Why No Sugar? {Break the Sugar Habit Challenge} is a post from Life Your Way

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source: eyeliam

For this month’s Eat Well, Spend Less theme, we’re talking about kids in the kitchen…

Although I’m learning to enjoy my time in the kitchen, I still find it a bit stressful. I have to really focus and concentrate so that I don’t make stupid mistakes, and things that might seem obvious to someone with plenty of cooking experience often trip me up.

When you add four little girls to that mix who want to help, it often results in frustration for all of us.

And yet I want to have them in the kitchen with me — to help give them the skills and experience early, to bond over the meals we’re preparing and so that they can have a new appreciation for the food that we eat.

So, how do I balance these two things?

Surprisingly, it was my two-year-old daughter, who is affectionately known as “The Tyrant”, who taught me the answer.

Feeling left out when her big sisters go outside to play in the afternoons, she’s often stuck inside with me.  To make this time special for her and not focus on what she’s missing out on, I started inviting her to help me with a variety of chores…sorting and folding laundry, cleaning up toys and, yes, cooking dinner.

And I realized that having just one 2-year-old in the kitchen to focus on — something that’s never happened in our house before because our two year old’s have always had a baby sister until this one! — is so much easier than even having two of the older girls in there.

One at a Time

While there are moms who are much better at managing multiple kids in the kitchen, I realized that, for me, sticking to just one helper at a time is the answer. Rather than trying to carry on multiple conversations and delegate jobs fairly to multiple children, one of my girls can help me each step of the way all by herself. It’s much more peaceful and becomes a treasured time for just the two of us.

As far as making sure everybody has a turn, I’m not big on following set schedules or rotations because life isn’t always fair and things don’t always work out in perfect order. Instead, I’ll invite one of the girls to help me in the kitchen, keeping in mind what other one-on-one time we’ve had recently, who may need extra mommy time that day and a million other factors. It’s not a perfect system (more like an anti-system…), but it works for us!

Teach Independent Skills

Another thing that’s really helped is a focus on teaching my girls skills that they can then do independently as we’re cooking together. Cracking a raw egg (or slicing a hard-boiled egg), cutting tomatoes, peeling carrots and measuring ingredients are actually really helpful when we’re making a meal, so it’s worth investing some time in teaching these skills so that my older girls can help prepare egg salad or a dinner salad, add and mix ingredients in a bowl and more.

Let Them Do Easy Tasks

Even my four year old can serve snacks to her sisters, and these kind of easy tasks are a great no-stress way to get kids involved in the kitchen and give them confidence for future tasks.

Easy tasks in our house include things like:

• serving cookies, crackers and whole pieces of fruit
• setting the table
• getting ingredients out (and putting them away)
• spreading peanut butter on bread or crackers

Invite Them to Keep You Company Even When They Can’t Help

Sometimes when I’m trying a new dish, I just can’t have the girls assisting because it’s too overwhelming forme. But that doesn’t mean they’re banned from the kitchen entirely. Instead, one of them will crawl up at the breakfast bar with something to color, and we chat while I’m cooking. They still get to spend time with mom, see the work that goes into preparing food and learn about various processes, ingredient choices, etc.

We’re all learning to enjoy and treasure our time in the kitchen together!

For more tips on involving your kids in the kitchen, check out the other Eat Well, Spend Less bloggers:

• Aimee from Simple Bites
• Amy from Kingdom First Mom
• Carrie from Denver Bargains
• Jessica from Life as Mom
• Katie from Good Life Eats
• Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
• Shaina from Food for My Family
• Tammy from Tammy’s Recipes

Do your kids help in the kitchen? How do you make that time stress-free for your family?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Overcoming the Stress of Having Kids in the Kitchen {Eat Well, Spend Less} is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Food Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

source: MalisaPrice.com

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Christian Mommy Blogger about Baby Steps to Cooking from Scratch, and I’m excited to welcome Malisa from MalisaPrice.com to Life Your Way:

My hubster, Anthony, and I recently visited New York Citywhere we met Liza and her family. They opened their home to us and Liza served the most delicious brownies. She said they were really easy and generously gave me the recipe.

Liza’s original recipe called for a doctored-up brownie mix. I decided to use her fancy extras for a batch of brownies made from scratch. It took me four tries to perfect the brownies (hopefully our waistlines won’t suffer)!

They really are easy once you have a recipe to follow.

source: MalisaPrice.com

Liza’s Brownies

**adapted from Suzanne’s Best Brownies

Ingredients

• 10 tbsp. butter, unsalted (1 1/4 sticks)
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 (10-12 oz.) bag chocolate chips (I used semisweet, use whatever you’d like)
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray. You’ll also need a 9 x 13 pan for a water bath.

Combine the butter, cocoa, sugar, and salt in a heat proof bowl or double-boiler pan. Melt over simmering hot water, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to let the water boil or the chocolate might burn. When the butter is melted and the chocolate is smooth, remove from heat. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

If you used a double-boiler, pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl.

Using a wooden spoon, add the vanilla extract to the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring in between each addition.

Once the batter is shiny, add the flour and mix just until combined. Stir the entire mixture for about a minute with the wooden spoon. Add the chocolate chips and pecans. Pour the mixture into the 8 x 8 pan.

Place the 8 x 8 pan in the 9 x 13 pan. Add hot water to the larger pan, enough that it covers most of the smaller pan. Be very careful transferring the pans to and from the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove the brownie pan from the water bath and set on a wire rack to cool. The top of the brownies will be crisp and the inside will be moist. A perfect combination. Liza recommends freezing the brownies and serving with ice cream. We prefer to eat them right out of the pan.

Enjoy!

See all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants here.

What’s your favorite way to doctor up brownies? Do you start from a box mix or from scratch?

	Malisa blogs about her experiences as a married woman and a follower of Christ in the 21st Century at MalisaPrice.com, where she hopes to encourage and entertain her readers. Her favorite things include cooking and baking, although I modify almost every recipe to make it more healthy and tasty, and she’s also a craft enthusiast.

Liza’s Delicious Brownies {Made from Scratch} is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Food Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.