A couple years ago my mom decided to quit sugar for a month, and she asked if I wanted to join her. At first I was like, yeah right! I love sugar! But I thought about it and decided to give it a go. Why not? My sister Kalina and brother Tucker joined in too. The rules were no refined sugar. Natural sugars such as honey and fruit were okay. I’ll admit I didn’t make it the whole month, but it was still a great experience and was a lot easier than I had imagined it would be.

Lately I’ve decided I want to be healthier, so I thought I’d do another no-sugar month. I asked in our family facebook chat if anyone wanted to join me, and Mom and Adalia agreed to do it as well. Starting March 1 we’ll be cutting out refined sugars for a month.

What will this look like?

I’m going to do my best to avoid all refined sugars. This includes avoiding seasonings, bread, cereal, etc. if it lists sugar as an ingredient. However, I’m not going to be obsessive about it. If Jared and I go out to eat sometime, I won’t refuse to order because nothing is completely sugar free. I’ll just choose an option that I know has minimal sugar.

Growing up, my mom showed my siblings and I a lot of documentaries, which I loved! Some of my favorites were the documentaries on the subject of health, such as Super Size Me; Food Inc; Forks Over Knives; Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead; Food Matters; and more! I recently got Food Inc from the library and watched it with Jared. I’m hoping to find a copy of Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead as well so I can convince Jared we should get a juicer… 😉

Last week I got several books from the library about nutrition. One I got is called ‘I Quit Sugar For Life’ by Sarah Wilson. Now. I am not going to quit sugar for life. But I am looking forward to reading it and getting ideas and inspiration for sugar free meals and snacks.

Another book I checked out is called ‘Foods that Harm Foods that Heal Cook Book’. I started reading it and so far it’s very interesting! It lists many foods and their health benefits or risks. It includes many recipes for healthy cooking. Towards the end there’s a section on ailments and which meal plans are best in your situation.

My favorite thing about the Foods that Harm Foods that Heal book (so far)is the information about each food. What nutrients it contains, how it helps you, how it could harm you, how and when to buy, store, and cook. I’m really excited about learning more about nutrition and how to eat a diverse and healthy diet.

I found an amazing recipe for Cinnamon Apple Muffins last week that I’ll share with you. These muffins are heavenly! Click here for the original recipe. I made a couple of changes, and they were amazing! The original recipe is sugar free and calls for 3/4 cup of splenda or other sweetener. I used 1/2 cup of white sugar, since I don’t buy splenda. The original recipe calls for 1% milk, which I never buy, so I used whole milk. It also calls for 3 small apples- my apples were on the larger side so I used 2. That’s it! Let me know if you make these muffins, if you use the original recipe or my changes. I’m sure the original one was amazing too but I sometimes tweak recipes out of necessity (I don’t have splenda or 1% milk). Be sure that you bake these for the full 25 minutes; otherwise they will be gooey inside due to the moistness of the apples.