Gram Count Check In

Well, I'd like to throw my hands up in the air and say, "It can't be done!" 15 tsp of sugar is still quite a lot, yet I only managed to stay below a few times out of the week.

July 26: 62.6g--15.65tsp
July 27: 27g--6.75tsp 
July 28: 60.5g--15.125tsp
July 29: 73g--18.25tsp
July 30: 87g--21.75tsp
July 31: 78g--19.5tsp
Aug 1: 38.5g--9.5tsp
Aug 2: 100g--25tsp
Aug 3: 86g--21.5tsp


Problem #1: Homemade goodies are incredibly hard to record properly. For example, when I made cupcakes, I just added together the amount of sugar in the batter/frosting and divided that by 12. But, I am sure the amount is still a little high (because you don't get every drop from the bowl, nor did I use ALL of the frosting) so I just adjusted the final count a bit. But mostly, it was the most educated guess I could give.

Problem #2: I am pretty good at writing down sweets as soon as I eat them. However, I don't always record the gram amount. Therefore, I'm not sure how many tsp I've already eaten--or how many more I'm allotted for the rest of the day.

Problem #3: Ice cream. I splurged on ice cream a lot this week--which would've been fine except I didn't stop there. I still ended up eating other sweets later in the day.

Problem #4: I'm addicted to sugar. I've had more headaches this week than I've had ever. They aren't terrible, but they are there which is unusual for me. But, I know it's related to the sugar.
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Good Thing #1: I'm still aware of what's going in my mouth. I don't just open the fridge door and grab something to eat because I'm unconsciously moving in that direction.

Good Thing #2: Although I'm not counting my son's intake at this time, I can already tell I'm making wiser snack choices for him. But, he's still getting much more than he needs.

Good Thing #3: My friends are super supportive and give me nice feedback, which is encouraging.

This weeks goal: I'm going to eat no more than 15tsp of added sugar/day. I know this is the same goal as last week. But, it's like 7th grade art class: I failed, so I've gotta take it again.

Gram Count Check-in

Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing my math right.

And then I wonder if I'm just doing better than I think I am.

I am still consuming more sugar than I want to be. Having a cup of cookie dough ice cream gives me 30g, or 7.5 tsp. That's a lot of sugar, but I could eat quite a lot of ice cream before maxing out my goal of 19tsp from the past week.

July 19: 50g--12.5tsp
July 20: 29g--7.25tsp
July 21: 75g--18.75tsp
July 22: 54.6g--13.65tsp (Should actually be higher cause I didn't measure all the snitches of frosting I tasted as I tried to make it.)
July 23: 75.6g--18.91tsp (Rough day. Potluck desserts. But I only took one brownie!)
July 24: 52.6g--13.15tsp
July 25: 19g--4.75tsp


Hooray! I met my first goal! I'm sure I'm missing something, somewhere and that my measurements are imperfect, but I am not stressing about that. I'm just doing the best I can. And cutting back to just 19tsp really wasn't that difficult. I was still putting a lot in my mouth.

As for my second goal of measuring my son's intake--I didn't do so well. I did it for one day, but found it pretty difficult to keep up with his continual snacking and meals. So I'm going to reformulate a plan for that little one.

I would love, love, love to hear about your sugar-intake goal, see your numbers in writing, and read a little bit about meeting/not-meeting your goal.

Starting today my goal is to eat no more than 15tsp of added sugar. Babysteps. I'll do my next report on Wednesday, Aug 3.

Theo Winner

Richard finds it funny that I'm choosing to giveaway chocolate bars on a blog where I am encouraging people not to eat as much sugar.

Is this not the sign of a messed up individual who is struggling to cut back, but still enjoying the good things in life?

Let me rephrase my personal goal as it stands at the moment: I want to significantly decrease the amount of sugar in my body by tracking my intake and reducing the amount of sugar I choose on a weekly basis. This does not mean cutting back completely or going cold-turkey. No way, Jose! I still plan on indulging in cupcake and cookie baking--I'll just plan it around a time where I can share the wealth, and not eat every cupcake from the pan. Maybe my perspective will change in the future, but right now I believe if you're going to indulge, you'd better invest in a good thing---a chocolate bar that's worth it, like Theo's.

Which brings us to our winner. Thank you to all those who entered, and especially to those who continue to read Sugar&Greens.

Alright, I'm on random.org right now....my son's gonna click the button...and the winner is:


SUZY! who requested both bars be toasted coconut. Good choice. That's the new flavor I picked up last time and it's mighty good.

Above Average

Oh, goodness. This isn't going so well. Although I've been doing really well at measuring out my added sugar, I haven't been reducing my sugar intake.

Here are my counts for the past few days-

Thursday: 22.5 tsp., 90 g

Friday: 24 tsp., 96 g

Saturday: 31 tsp., 124 g

My average daily sugar intake so far, seems to be around 29 tsp., or 116 g

It's the start of a new week and I have two goals for myself.
1. Reduce my daily intake this week to 19 tsp/day. This should be as simple as cutting out that extra brownie, or saying no to a cold glass of chocolate milk. Have you ever read the label on that drink?

2. Start measuring out my son's sugar intake. I've been pretty much living in denial about his sugar intake, but I'm ready to face reality here. I can positively declare my son is very sweet, inside and out.

Good vibes welcome.

Did you know?

The average American consumes 21 tsp., or 84 g, of added sugar daily? The recommended sugar intake for adult women is 5 tsp., for adult men it's 9 tsp., and for children it's 3 tsp., a day.

*source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/363283-recommended-daily-allowance-of-sugar/