Sugar Free?

I am experimenting with a few recipes. I’ve been seeing a nutritionist and have meal plans galore full of amazingly healthy recipes and a new way of thinking about food. I’m trying to cut down the sugar. Sugar has been all over the food press recently and although we never know which faddy crazes to believe it does seem sensible to cut out the excessive sugar in our diets and challenge the packaging to find out where sugar is lurking in food we trusted, particularly when it comes to low fat alternatives. Well… as my nutritionist has pointed out, fat is indeed one of the main 3 food groups we need…even a small amount of saturated fats. Sugar is not. So replacing the fats with sugar has maybe not been the best tactic and might explain some of the reasons our nations health is suffering. My nutritionist says we should be having full fat versions of the things we’ve been cutting out and I can honestly say that the past few weeks of inserting some full fat cheese, yogurt and nut butters into my diet I have not touched a single Haribo. (I’ve not even been tempted to) Previous to that I would easily get through a 200g bag or more with my evening TV lull. At 38 weeks pregnant I know sweets have been known to get me though and be my ‘craving’. Maybe the craving was more to do with the hold sugar can have on us when we are consuming far too much and less about our actual need for it. Its addictive. We think poorly of addictions to drugs, cigarettes, gambling or porn… so why does sugar get away with it when it has a hold on more people than any of those other addictions?

However, being a hungry family, I’m going to struggle reducing my family to beans and grains and nothing for puddings, so I will be trying to come across some good puddings so that they hardly even notice the new health kick. I’ve already been experimenting with most baking at 1/3rd of the sugar the recipe suggests and that is generally been a good rule, and completely unnoticed. However I’m going to push this a little further…!