I'm sugar's bitch

[Liisi]

Our local natural foods co op has coconut sugar, but I "subscribe" to it on Amazon, because it's easier and cheaper that way. You get a discount by signing up to have it delivered to your house (free shipping, too) on a regular basis, and you get to choose how frequently you want it. I get 6 bags of it every 6 months, which works well for us.

[SoonerTexan]

I'll have to check that out. I'm a big stevia fan myself.

As for staying away from sugar, I'm better than I've ever been but not where I need to be. Damn trader Joes

[bokelley]

4 days sugar free. I really do feel better being away from sugar. I love stevia and the unsweetened coconut milk at trader joes

[Meenah]

Damn, I just want something crunchy, salty, and greasy!!!!

[SoonerTexan]

And here we go for Round 3! I always do well for a couple months, then fall back into old habits, though it's always a little better than before. I finally got my butt in to get a fasting glucose test and lipid panel and I have highish cholesterol...bad news for a 24 year old with a lot of heart disease in the family. Maybe this will be the kick in the butt I need to get through the holidays and finally lose some weight before I go get myself knocked up again.

[Liisi]

Sorry you got that bad news about your cholesterol. (I've never had mine checked, yikes!) The holiday season can be rough, with soooo many temptations... ugh. I've been on a sugar bender lately, I'm sorry to say. If I have a little bit of sugar, it doesn't satisfy me, it just makes me crave more and more. So as a "compromise" of sorts, I just baked my latest favorite - black bean brownies!! They're amazingly yummy brownies that use black beans instead of flour (everything gets put through the blender, so it's not really like eating beans). So they do have sugar, but the beans make them very filling, so I'm less likely to eat the whole freakin pan in 2 days flat.

My strategies for holiday gatherings include planning ahead of time which dessert to have, so I don't just go nuts at the table full of pies, and also having seconds and thirds of vegetable dishes so that I'm literally too full to have more than a small taste of dessert. Sometimes this works for me... Oh, and I use small plates/bowls and silverware for dessert, to trick myself. e.g. it's more satisfying to eat a small scoop of ice cream out of a tiny ramekin than a normal-size bowl, because in the ramekin, the ice cream is "overflowing," whereas in the bowl, the same amount looks pathetically small.

And then there's always stickk.com - it's a website where you set a contract with yourself, for something you want to accomplish, e.g. go 3 weeks without sugar. You have to submit "reports" about your success or failure, and you can set up penalties for yourself for failure, such as having a "Your Friend Failed!!" email be automatically sent to a person of your choosing, or having a certain amount of money be deducted from your credit card and donated to an organization that you hate!!