Didnt do so well this week. Though, I had about two hours of walking one day (to find cupcakes, and I had to ask them to get the cupcakes out of the freezer!) So, about 240 minutes of walking. (Low intensity).
Next week, Monday to Friday, is my “no artificial sweetener” week. If my grandmother would have cooked with it, it is fine. This includes sugar, brown sugar, honey, and molasses. If it is an artificial sweetener, or any fancy new stuff (high fructose corn syrup, agave syrup, Splenda), I will not be eating it.
My english muffins have sucralose in them :(
Wednesday is the YumJared No sweets challenge. He says he will write about it soon. But, I am taking the challenge as “nothing that has sweetener in it.” I might make myself whole grain bread and eat butter and bread and meat that day. May throw in a vegetable or two :)
So, Monday to Friday (defined as 12:01am Monday to 11:59pm Friday), no artificial sweeteners. Wednesday, no sweeteners of any kind.
Anyone joining me on the week or the day challenge?
That’s a lot of walking for a cupcake – awesome! Also, Agave Nectar isn’t an artifical sweetener, and it’s not really “new”. It has been used by ancient cutltures to sweeten things for centuries. It’s just recently become popular. It’s not overly processed or artificial in any way, it doesn’t spike blood sugar, and isn’t chemical. It’s not similar in any way to Splenda, Aspartame, HFCS, or any of the other chemical sweeteners that our body can’t properly metabolize and carry associated health risks. Just thought I would pass that along. Good luck on your no-sweeteners challenge week!
@Aisha_B
There are some conflicting reports about Agave Nectar, including the fructose balance being higher than HFCS. HFCS has between a 42% (food) or 55% (soda) fructose content, and Agave ranges from 55% or higher. In addition, it requires more processing than sugar, and more than honey and/or molasses, which is why I am excluding it.
In any case, my grandmother did not cook with it :)
I have some, and have started to play around with it in recipes and such, but it isnt a staple in my house :)
I intend to do the challenge too! I will have to be vigilant though, as my fridge is stocked with AF sweetened foods like yogurt and now I will be checking my breads too! Gah!
Breads have to have some type of sugar or else the yeast won’t work properly. Without the sugar your bread is just a cracker.
@Debra
The flour in bread converts to food for the yeast, especially in using a long fermentation process (like Artisan Bread in Five). You can make bread with water and flour (sourdough), or add yeast for a faster process and salt to make it taste better :)
That said, my favorite whole wheat recipe uses honey, and many recipes use it for both taste and yeast. I havent looked at bread products in the grocery store in a while, it might be a good investigation :)