Healthy Alternatives to Fried Foods: “No Fried Foods Challenge”  

Last month we kicked off the new year with our “Full Body Workout” challenge and “No Sweets for Two Weeks” challenge. How did you do? I know the latter was especially tough for the sweet lovers like myself. I have to admit the first few days of the “No Sweets” challenge, were an utter roller coaster,sweets seemed more tempting and alluring than ever! Thankfully, I noticed my sweet craving began to diminish, as the days progressed. Don’t get me wrong, I still gazed as I skirted by the dessert department at the grocery store and when those sweet cravings came a running, I made sure I counteracted them with healthy goodies like: frozen fruit(grapes,blueberries,strawberries,bananas). Removing processed sugar snacks from my pantry, also proved to be useful. Not having those tempting snacks at my finger tips, forced me to opt for healthier options. I soon became accustomed to eating yummy organic bars-KIND bars and Clif bars were my faves.   Dried cranberries also saved the day. I must say, I felt pretty good after the two weeks concluded, but I can’t honestly say my sweet cravings were gone for good.  I realized that soon after the challenge when I attended a friend’s birthday gathering- oh how I looked forward to sinking my teeth into that nice big piece of  birthday cake, surprisingly I did nothing of the sort. Realistically, I know I am going to eat sweets on occasion, but I take great satisfaction in knowing that I’m able to exercise more discipline and practice restraint which in turn prevents me from over indulging a.k.a “pigging out” on sweets. What was the final sugar verdict for you? How did you do with the “Full Body Workout” challenge.  Please  share what did and did not work for you.