Taming Our Sweet Tooth
Reducing your sugar intake + Honey Wheat Snickerdoodle Recipe!
Over the past year I've changed a lot of our family's eating habits. However, I never intentionally tried limiting my sugar intake.
Last October, the 12th to be exact, I joined our local YMCA with a friend of mine and we began working out EVERY DAY. It was such a struggle at first but having my friend as motivation to get out of bed and go meet her at the gym made a lot of difference.
The fun part is that we are both Jesus-lovers. So throughout our new healthy adventure God spoke into our lives about how to get fit spiritually as well. We both made some really awesome progress. Aside from the scale as proof, I FELT so much better.
Because I was counting my calories and making healthier choices it lead to me consuming less sugar overall. Sugar=empty calories. If I was going to eat something I wanted it to be something that was going to hold my appetite until the next meal and be "worth" eating. However, I still occasionally would grab a cookie or small frosty. I was counting the calories but figured as long as I stayed within my calories I was doing okay.
Looking back on when I started to eat differently I can see how greatly my body was addicted to sugar. The first week or so of making our healthy changes I noticed I suffered from headaches, faintness, etc as my body readjusted to a lower consumption of sugar. :-)
I was unintentionally eating less sugar to avoid the additional calories. I always knew a ton of sugar wasn't good for you, but my definition of a "ton" needed some correction. I started focusing on eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from our diet for awhile even reading labels on breads and cereals for the culprit. Soda Pop is not even allowed in our house (although my husband still drinks this, but he keeps it in his mini fridge in his office). However, I continued to eat sugar thinking I couldn't possibly be overdoing it.
The image below was posted on Facebook by a friend and it was a real eye opener.
Over the past year I've changed a lot of our family's eating habits. However, I never intentionally tried limiting my sugar intake.
Last October, the 12th to be exact, I joined our local YMCA with a friend of mine and we began working out EVERY DAY. It was such a struggle at first but having my friend as motivation to get out of bed and go meet her at the gym made a lot of difference.
The fun part is that we are both Jesus-lovers. So throughout our new healthy adventure God spoke into our lives about how to get fit spiritually as well. We both made some really awesome progress. Aside from the scale as proof, I FELT so much better.
Because I was counting my calories and making healthier choices it lead to me consuming less sugar overall. Sugar=empty calories. If I was going to eat something I wanted it to be something that was going to hold my appetite until the next meal and be "worth" eating. However, I still occasionally would grab a cookie or small frosty. I was counting the calories but figured as long as I stayed within my calories I was doing okay.
Looking back on when I started to eat differently I can see how greatly my body was addicted to sugar. The first week or so of making our healthy changes I noticed I suffered from headaches, faintness, etc as my body readjusted to a lower consumption of sugar. :-)
I was unintentionally eating less sugar to avoid the additional calories. I always knew a ton of sugar wasn't good for you, but my definition of a "ton" needed some correction. I started focusing on eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from our diet for awhile even reading labels on breads and cereals for the culprit. Soda Pop is not even allowed in our house (although my husband still drinks this, but he keeps it in his mini fridge in his office). However, I continued to eat sugar thinking I couldn't possibly be overdoing it.
The image below was posted on Facebook by a friend and it was a real eye opener.
In addition to what is mentioned above I also know that sugar negatively effects our immune system which is something I definitely don't want my children to suffer the effects from.
My friend and I put our workout routines on hold over the summer. A new gym is currently under construction and planning to open it's doors soon. It's said to be opening soon after the kids start school again. I am looking forward to starting back into a workout routine AND kick it up a notch with eating healthy. I don't only want to focus on losing weight but really highlight the foods I'm putting into my body as well as my family's.
So how am I going to change our intake of sugar?
Well a friend of mine suggested a while ago that her children have "S" days. They are allowed sweets on days that begin with S as well as major holidays and their birthday. I loved this idea and have implemented it in our family as well. On "S" day, I also make sure that my children don't just pig out on sweets and they are given a limit.
Now that you know what an "S" day is here are the rest of my ideas to tame our sweet tooth:
1. Eliminate chemical artificial sweeteners completely.
2. Eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup completely.
3. Enforce "S" days.
4. Start using honey as our main sweetener. (Even in baking!!)
5. On holidays such as Christmas, Easter & Halloween when kids are overloaded with candy, keep the candy somewhere the kids can't reach or find it. Allow them to have a designated amount on "S" days (I usually allow 3-5 pieces), then whatever is leftover by the next holiday, throw it out. You could even suggest to relatives and friends to healthier options other than candy.
6. Drink unsweetened tea (or mix with a small amount of honey).
7. Start looking at fruits as a sweet treat instead of cookies and cakes.
Do you have any more suggestions?
Over at Kitchen Stewardship Blog there is a great post about how to successfully bake with honey: Baking with Honey Tips
This sums it up:
- Use 1/2 – 3/4 cup of honey for each one cup of sugar in the recipe.
- Reduce the liquid by 1/4 cup for each cup of sugar replaced.
- Reduce cooking temp by 25 degrees (honey will make your baked goods brown more easily).
- If the recipe doesn’t already include baking soda, add 1/4 tsp for each cup of sugar replaced.
I experimented using this and baked some really yummy snickerdoodles. I even used whole wheat flour. Yum!! :-) I will still only use these as a "sometime" food, but they are at least healthier than before. (No fancy pictures this time; just a cellphone shot of the cookies).
Honey Wheat Snickerdoodles
- 3/4 Cup Butter, softened
- 1 Cup Honey
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 whole egg, 1 egg white
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 C All Purpose Unbleached Flour
- 1 1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
- Cinnamon & Cane Sugar
Mix wet ingredients (butter, honey, egg & vanilla) in large bowl. Mix dry ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, flour) in a medium bowl. Add dry ingredients one cup at a time until all ingredients are well blended. Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes. Using a spoon, form round balls of dough in your hands. Roll each ball in a mixture of unrefined cane sugar and cinnamon (optional) and place on baking sheet. Allow room for the cookies to spread out while baking. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks and enjoy.
Hope you enjoy the recipe and I encourage you to stick with reducing your family's sugar intake. It will be rocky at first but the benefits far out weigh any sugary dessert. :-D
