just desserts

I have a problem.

When my children ask what is available for dessert, and the answer is "we don't have any dessert at the moment," I feel like a bad mommy. It's as though I've failed to meet some basic criteria for a happy childhood. What's that? The cookies are all gone, and we finished off the ice cream? Mo-ther!

Of course, they don't really sound like that. In fact, I have no doubt that the mommy guilt I suffer is far greater than any angst or disappointment they may feel in those moments. And truly, they don't seem to be suffering. They'll almost always shrug, then go on with their day.

The thing is, I rarely have to give that answer: I make sure of that. We usually have some kind of treat, be it cookies, ice cream, homemade Power Bars (one my absolute favorites!), or something else. The One Dessert Per Day rule which we instituted a few months ago has helped our supply hold out longer, I suppose. But still, I do try to stay on top of it. I like having something available. Not only for my kids, of course, but Jeff enjoys them, too. As do I, the sugar addict.

I do believe that Americans eat too many sweets for our own good. And even with natural sweeteners, I think moderation is best. But I can't seem to shake this need to have something available for my family. Even if we don't eat it...which usually, of course, we do.

(Actually, I have improved a little in that area. I now try to keep myself to a somewhat vague dessert-every-other-day-or-so rule. I do much better if I do that, both with general health and with my own mentality. But I do still love my sweets!)

I've thought of deliberately making fewer desserts. I would like my children to grow accustomed to not having treats of this kind on a daily basis. It would be healthy to not feel entitled to something sweet, to have it be more of a treat. I've heard of families who make dessert a special, once-a-week treat. But I'm not quite sure if we could handle that!

And my children do not see fruit as a dessert item. Perhaps it's because I serve them so much fruit as it is - fruit and dessert are not in the same category in their minds, at all.

So I suppose we're a work in progress. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to let go of my mommy guilt, and truly realize that my children will survive if they don't have a sweet treat available to them every single. Maybe someday I'll take the plunge, and take a break from supplying my family with goodies.

But for now, I have No Bake Cookies in the fridge, and smoothie popsicles hardening in the freezer, and plans to make ice cream someday soon. After all, in the heat of summer one needs some creature comforts....

the "Beyond Sugar" Challenge

Lately I've read a few things that are causing me to re-think how I view and consume sweeteners, even natural ones. I do believe that natural sweeteners (honey, Rapadura/Sucanat, and molasses, to name a few) are infinitely healthier than the refined white stuff. While refined sugar is actually detrimental to one's health, unrefined sweeteners offer nutritional benefits - such as minerals.

Yet our culture today relies heavily on sweets. I've already talked about how sugar and high fructose corn syrup are in so many products on the grocery store shelves: peanut butter, pasta sauce, ketchup, and even cereals like corn flakes, and yes, Cheerios. I recently read this post at Food Renegade, which talked about the increased consumption of sugar over the past century or so. It said that our great-grandparents typically consumed around 5 lbs of sugar a year, whereas today the normal American eats the same amount in about two weeks. Wow! We're out of control, here!

Shortly following that, Wardeh at GNOWFGLINS posted the "Beyond Sugar" Challenge. She and her family are eliminating all sweeteners (natural or otherwise) from their diet for 30 days. Any readers who are interested in participating, at whatever level, are invited to do so. I had already been thinking along those lines, and I welcome the compananionship and ideas that will come from shared goals.

I, however, am not (yet?) aiming to eliminate all sweeteners from our family's diet. I fear that I would have utter mutiny on my hands if I attempted that! My goal is to cut way back personally, to encourage my family to focus on enjoying the wonderful variety of flavors and foods which God has given mankind. We tend to be fixated on incorporating "something sweet" into our day, several times over. While I do believe that sweet things have their place, I think they're a bit too much of a priority around our house.


My goals:

• For me, only one sweet treat per day. I know this sounds a bit wimpy, but it's a significant change! I never have completely tamed my sweet tooth, not yet anyway.
• Come up with popular, healthier alternatives for my family at snack time.
• Convince my children that they don't need dessert (even a healthy one) every night.
• Become content with fruit as my last bite of a meal, as opposed to, say, chocolate.
  

If anyone has any ideas for wonderful, healthy snacks, I welcome them! Some our family's favorites are: crispy nuts, homemade crackers with peanut or almond butter, cheese, popcorn (popped on the stove in coconut oil, then buttered & salted!), bean dip or Cream and Chive Dip with fresh veggies, and apple slices. I'm also hoping to try making hummus soon.

I encourage you to check out the GNOWFGLINS (which stands for "God's Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season") website. It has many wonderful recipes, techniques, and tutorials. Or, better yet: join us on this quest. I'm confident that we'll all be better for it.

There are so many wonderful foods in God's creation, a wild variety of flavors, textures, and combinations. I'm ready to stop fixating on the sweet stuff, and embrace the bigger picture of the tools the Lord gave us for our nourishment!

the sugar blues

My name is Mindy, and I am a sugar addict.

I've known this for years. I love sweet stuff. For years, I've required "a little something" at the end of a meal. Not breakfast, but always, always lunch & dinner. In fact, I've been known to haul a bag of candy corn or fat-free brownie in my purse to someone's house...in case they didn't serve dessert. I'd bring a sweet in my purse to eat after we went to a restaurant, usually a fat-free brownie. And when I went on vacation? I nearly always packed a Rubbermaid container of those brownies...or a bag of dark chocolates...or else just hit the grocery store while we were there for a certain brand of fat-free devil's food cookies. I simply couldn't do without something sweet during the day...several times a day. I couldn't...or didn't want to try.

Lately it's come more and more into my consciousness that sugar may not be quite the innocent treat I have thought it was. In the wake of the health changes of the past few months, I've been doing a lot of reading. I highly recommend "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon. It's technically a cookbook, but is dense and wonderfully full of information about the history of food and nourishment. I also discovered "Sugar Blues" by William Duffy. This slim volume has been very eye-opening. Scary, even. A quote:

Refined sugar is lethal when ingested by humans because it provides only that which nutritionists describe as empty or naked calories. In addition, sugar is worse than nothing because it drains and leeches the body of precious vitamins and minerals through the demands its digestion, detoxification, and eliminiation make upon one's entire system. ~William Duffy, Sugar Blues (Warner Books)

Here is a website I came across recently, which talks matter-of-factly about what sugar does to the body, and gives some tips on how to cut it out of your life. In a nutshell, the health effects cited are:

• "Sugar increases fat storing"
• "Sugar disrupts normal brain function"
• "Sugar decreases your overall health and makes you age quicker"(1)

Also, I was thrilled beyond words to find this blog. It chronicles the writer's quest to be sugar-free for a full year (2008). I was so encouraged to find someone who tried, and succeeded, kicking her sugar habit.

Because, at least for me, it is a habit, an addiction. I've discovered that so many of my tastes are influenced by whether there is sugar in a product or not. My taste buds are trained to love the stuff with high fructose corn syrup, granulated sugar, and others. I've done a lot more label-reading these past few months, and have been appalled at how many supermarket items have sugar in them: often several kinds of sugar in one product. One of the worst offenders if ketchup. Also in the line-up are peanut butter, bread, crackers, cereal, salad dressing (I was hard put to find one without sugar in it!)...the list goes on and on.

I'm not saying that it's wrong to enjoy sweets. I believe God created us with "sweetness" as one of the tastes that our bodies crave. But the more I learn about refined sugar, the more disgusted I become. I'm trying to steer my family toward more natural sweeteners: honey, agave nectar, pure maple syrup, date sugar, coconut sugar. Even Rapadura, which is whole, unrefined cane sugar. I'm seeking things that are as close to the natural state as possible. The less refined, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

The point of all these rambles is this: I am going to try to truly kick my sugar habit. That's my goal for this year. It won't be popular. It won't be "normal." It will go against much of what the culture finds acceptable. And certainly, it won't be easy. I'm not entirely sugar-free yet. But I have hope. I'm going to do it; for my health, for my family, and also, because I feel so much better when I am avoiding that stuff. I know it will be worth it in the end.

Pray for me!



(1) http://zenhabits.net/2008/10/beat-the-sugar-habit-3-steps-to-cut-sweets
-mostly-out-of-your-life/