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Added sugar post-Whole30...how strict are you all?


Snappy Shark

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I did a search on the forums, but I couldn't find a topic about this question...

I'm about two weeks post-Whole30 now (still eating clean, because I love how I feel and simply can't imagine eating any other way at this point), and am wondering how to navigate the world of insidious added ingredients I so vigilantly avoided when I was doing my Whole30. Specifically sugar.

I have no interest in crazy off-roading at this point, and I've successfully broken my 6 piece of fruit/day habit. However, in my ventures into the previously "off limits" portion of my pantry this week, I'm wondering how I'm going to feel if I crack open the forbidden jar of roasted red peppers with some added sugar. Or, a few weeks ago, Whole Foods had some really nice-looking sausage made from high-quality meat on sale in the deli - all with added sugar. I didn't buy any then because I was on-plan, but I'm wondering if I could even taste such trace quantities of sweetness, and what the harm is (esp. because my sugar and snack dragons are finally at bay). I'm definitely not going back to the days of nasty preservative-laden almond milk and stevia in my coffee, sugary store-bought salad dressings and mindlessly dumping honey on top of sweet potatoes, but I'm not sure what to do about these store-bought items I might occasionally consider buying.

I guess I'm just curious how you all feel about small amounts of added sugar in otherwise "quality" products from time to time.

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Ugh...this is always a hard one. I am a sugar addict and it takes daily control to keep my dragon a bay...I think if there are other options (i.e. roasted red peppers or sausage sans sugar) I would stick with those before purposely purchasing things that have added sugar. IMO, quality food doesn't need anything added anyways! Again, this is a personal decision outside of the W30 that each person needs to make for themselves...it's just not one I choose to give in on. I'd rather have an apple than something purchased with sugar... :lol:

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That's a good question. I did my first Whole30 on August 1, 2011. This is my second one and I'm 26 days in. Both were successful (assuming I don't jump face first into pudding in the next 4 days). Between the two, I really pretty much stayed Whole 30 at least 85% if not more. Now, I can't say I scoured every label, but I rarely eat sausage. If I did, it would be high quality from behind the meat counter, but I wouldn't necessarily grill the butcher. I'm not big into fruit, especially dried, but I do enjoy berries or an apple mostly once a day if it's with a meal. I think if I were to really go offroad with sugar, it would be for the most amazing home made dessert (my mom's apple or pumpkin pie at Christmas) or a fantastic dessert at a great restaurant. I'll do it by choice and with mindfulness. I'm not into sodas and drink plain water with fun things in it like lime, mint, basil, cilantro..so I don't have to think about what's in drinks. I'd happily have a cosmo or glass of wine maybe once a month or so and I won't regret it. I guess I keep things so clean that I feel a little sugar in the occasional sausage or piece of bacon is not going to ruffle my feathers.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing and/or planning.

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This is a great question and have been wondering the same thing about sugar. One for example all the fun fall coffees are out and if I'm lucky enough to find one that is "all natural" I still hesitate to buy it b/c I know there is "natural" sugar added to it :( I have just started adding vanilla extract to my coconut milk in my home brewed coffee.

Alas, sugar is my demon and pretty sure I'm going to have to fight it daily with things like almond butter and "swypo" items!

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Can I also tack on to this again and ask....are you all making recipes that are not "swypo" style but that have an added sugar like honey or maple syrup. For examply, flipping through a well known paleo book and looking at a pecan crusted chicken recipe, it has 2 tablespoons of raw organic honey to 4 chicken breasts. So stuff like this, what do all of you do Post Whole30? Avoid this type of recipe? Make this recipe? Or omit the honey?

@Snappy Shark, hope you don't mind me highjacking your thread ;)

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What would the honey be used for with chicken? I probably wouldn't search out recipes like that. I'd like to keep my sugar usage to a minimum, but raw, organic honey is not the worst way to go. I think if I was out to dinner and there was honey or whatever in a marinade or salad dressing and that's the one I wanted, I'd probably have it. Kinda doubtful that I will keep it in the house just because I tend to prefer savory over sweet. In fact, I probably woudn't have it out for the same reason.

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Understood. I was just flipping through a recipe book trying to decide what to cook for the weekend and saw "Pecan Crusted Chicken" and thought..oh...that sounds good. Start reading the list and see the honey, so then thought, I'm going to hop on this thread and see what you all think :) :)

Is the honey to bind the pecans to the chicken? I can't imagine what else it would be for. If I came across a recipe that called for honey and it sounded like something delish (and I wasn't still on W30), I'd probably make it. My problem with sugar has never been in recipes or even honey in tea. It's more crappy cake from the grocery store with fudge brownie ice cream...at 10pm at night. I know honey in a recipe would not cause me to jump in the car. I'd try it (if I felt I could handle it) and see what it did to my resolve on never mindlessly eating crappy desserts. Oh, my other weakness was peanut butter and honey sandwiches late at night. I don't plan on eating nut butters of any kind and especially not peanut and I won't have bread around, so I still think it would be okay for me. This is just me...I don't know what triggers you.. We're all so different. :)

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For this recipe it is a binding agent mixes with a mustard before applying the crushed pecans. I think I would also be fine with honey in this type of recipe....not of we're talking about some kind of fluffy muffin that has honey in it, well them someone better tie me up, lol.

I too have the cake (and cupcake/pie/ice cream) triggers.

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I wouldn't avoid the honey in a recipe like that as it sounds like a "honey-mustard" chicken recipe...but I would investigate if I could modify it and not compromise the taste and leave the honey out...if not I'd go for it! Can't live your life in a box...

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@ Runningforme82: no worries, I'm glad that you hijacked my thread! This is exactly the kind of discussion I was hoping to spark...I really am appreciating everyone's comments.

I think that things like honey and maple syrup in cooking have their place - as binding agents, for their textures, and also for their taste, which is more than just "sugary". I'm still really on the fence about the sugary Whole Foods sausage and those roasted red peppers in my pantry...I guess there's no way to tell how it's going to affect me until I try it.

Can't live your life in a box...

Touché, Andrea!

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One for example all the fun fall coffees are out and if I'm lucky enough to find one that is "all natural" I still hesitate to buy it b/c I know there is "natural" sugar added to it

I was wondering how the flavored coffees made you feel? I had some "vanilla" coffee recently, and instant headache - I know it wasn't from the caffeine, because I was still within my 2 cup per day limit... I think the Whole30 made me REALLY sensitive to artificial crap (not that bad of a thing, actually!), like what's in the fun fall coffees... I think I'm just sticking with black, dark roasts. :)

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Added sugar is one of the things I really don't worry about with post W30, I try to avoid it still, but it could be worse. I really try to avoid sulfites, MSG, caragenaan, soy lecithin, etc. I don't buy things that have a lot of sugar, but if it is added to sausage I don't worry too much. I think if you get too deep it can be borderline obsessive, at least for me anyway. I plan on doing multiple W30's each year, so the time between is a time when I can play around a bit more. I think I have excluded enough stuff (gluten & dairy) to where a little added sugar to sausage or bacon isn't going to screw me up royally.

I also have a ton of homemade jellies and jams in my pantry that need to be eaten at some point. I don't plan on eating a ton of it, and it's a lot harder to eat when you don't eat bread, but a little of that a couple of times a week is OK for me.

As far as SWYPO, I haven't done any of that yet. I do plan on making Elana's paleo pumpkin bread.

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I did my first whole 30 mid August to mid September, staying 100% compliant. Since then I've had family commitments and then a trip to Colorado where I am now that have meant some serious off roading. What I've found interesting is that I've felt worse mentally about a commercial BBQ sauce than I did about having one of my homemade dinner rolls. The BBQ sauce seemed pointless as it didn't add any value to the meal, where the dinner roll did. This has made me realize that for me, I won't bother with anything that isn't 100% compliant unless it's really worth the trade off. I've purged my home of most of the non compliant stuff, so it's just a matter of buying good stuff from now on.

So like a couple of others have said, it's a personal decision that you just have to try and see. Not just evaluating physical reactions, but emotional ones as well.

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I was wondering how the flavored coffees made you feel? I had some "vanilla" coffee recently, and instant headache - I know it wasn't from the caffeine, because I was still within my 2 cup per day limit... I think the Whole30 made me REALLY sensitive to artificial crap (not that bad of a thing, actually!), like what's in the fun fall coffees... I think I'm just sticking with black, dark roasts.

I haven't bought any coffee except black coffee (so no flavored coffee). I have added my own coconut milk and vanilla extract to it and it has been good. I'm just curious about the ones that claim "natural" but do not tell you what that is, lol.

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No matter what kind of healthy eating plan I choose to do, historically I try eat as well as I possibly can at home (avoiding SWYPO foods or other "treats" as much as possible although I still eat too many nuts and too much dried fruit), because it makes me feel better about the off-road items or ingredients I might consume away from home. I don't think a tablespoon of honey in a particular recipe would be all that bad per se, but I would probably just find another recipe variation that looked equally good but didn't actually have the honey. If it were for a special occasion or an evening when others came to my house for dinner, I would be a bit more likely to go ahead and make a recipe like this with the honey or another non-complaint ingredient like parmesan cheese.

The Whole30 is so easy because we don't have to make all these darn choices, we just follow the rules! It's so much more of a challenge to ride your own bike. Thankfully with persistence and practice, we all get better at it! Good luck to you!

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For this recipe it is a binding agent mixes with a mustard before applying the crushed pecans. I think I would also be fine with honey in this type of recipe....not of we're talking about some kind of fluffy muffin that has honey in it, well them someone better tie me up, lol.

I too have the cake (and cupcake/pie/ice cream) triggers.

I totally agree and I'm glad someone else has the cupcake/pie/ice cream triggers. :)

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This has been really helpful for me. I think I will:

-make my own sausage when I'm craving it (SANS sugar), but not get anxious about buying some otherwise quality sausage from the deli if it's on sale;

-use honey and/or maple syrup sparingly in recipes from time-to-time (NOT when doing a Whole30, of course) when its taste and/or texture is an integral part of the recipe;

-eat the gosh darn roasted red peppers in my cabinet and not worry about what a few extra grams of sugar are going to do to me;

-NOT be making paleo muffins, breads or brownies anytime soon.

Thanks to all of you more experienced folks weighing in...this is why I love this forum so much!!

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This has been really helpful for me. I think I will:

-make my own sausage when I'm craving it (SANS sugar), but not get anxious about buying some otherwise quality sausage from the deli if it's on sale;

-use honey and/or maple syrup sparingly in recipes from time-to-time (NOT when doing a Whole30, of course) when its taste and/or texture is an integral part of the recipe;

-eat the gosh darn roasted red peppers in my cabinet and not worry about what a few extra grams of sugar are going to do to me;

-NOT be making paleo muffins, breads or brownies anytime soon.

Thanks to all of you more experienced folks weighing in...this is why I love this forum so much!!

I think your plan is a good one and if you find yourself headed for chocolate cake late at night because of anything you are doing, you can always re-direct your course. :)

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This has been really helpful for me. I think I will:

-make my own sausage when I'm craving it (SANS sugar), but not get anxious about buying some otherwise quality sausage from the deli if it's on sale;

-use honey and/or maple syrup sparingly in recipes from time-to-time (NOT when doing a Whole30, of course) when its taste and/or texture is an integral part of the recipe;

-eat the gosh darn roasted red peppers in my cabinet and not worry about what a few extra grams of sugar are going to do to me;

-NOT be making paleo muffins, breads or brownies anytime soon.

Thanks to all of you more experienced folks weighing in...this is why I love this forum so much!!

Great plan! After reading this thread, since I am not in the middle of an official Whole30, I had a piece of the turkey bacon I made for my family tonight. Dextrose listed as an ingredient on the label, but label said 0 grams per slice. Pretty sure that it won't make me go eat the box of Reese's Puffs my husband bought that is in the pantry right now. I'll let you know tomorrow if anything changes... ;)

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I am very strict about avoiding corn syrup and artificial sugars. If I am baking, I try to use overripe bananas to sweeten things, where possible. If banana doesn't work in the recipe, dates, honey and 100% maple syrup are the things I try and stick with. I haven't been doing this long, but I noticed that within a week of being off the W30, my sweet-seeking behaviors started up again. Although the things I listed are the only sweet things I've been eating, it's still an unhealthy relationship with food. And I'm ingesting calories I don't really need to get that sweet fix. SO, starting Oct. 1st I'm beginning the W30 again, but being stricter with sweet things, including fruit.

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Loved this thread. This discussion has been going through my head for a few weeks now. I'm on day 30 (!) but will probably extend a few days because I'm not feeling very awesome right now (my guess is lack of sleep + PMS + Sunday sadness that husband gone for 6 weeks). Thank you all for your input, I learn so much on these forums :)

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I am very strict about avoiding corn syrup and artificial sugars. If I am baking, I try to use overripe bananas to sweeten things, where possible. If banana doesn't work in the recipe, dates, honey and 100% maple syrup are the things I try and stick with. I haven't been doing this long, but I noticed that within a week of being off the W30, my sweet-seeking behaviors started up again. Although the things I listed are the only sweet things I've been eating, it's still an unhealthy relationship with food. And I'm ingesting calories I don't really need to get that sweet fix. SO, starting Oct. 1st I'm beginning the W30 again, but being stricter with sweet things, including fruit.

Great job taking back control as you notice the issues arise post Whole30! It's hard to explain to people that haven't done a Whole30 why you would want to limit those things, but you are doing exactly what you need to do about it. I find that even when I remain "compliant", unhealthy food issues are still something I must work to address. I am going dried fruit and nut free for the next seven days to reset and curb my recently escalating snack habit...

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Loved this thread. This discussion has been going through my head for a few weeks now. I'm on day 30 (!) but will probably extend a few days because I'm not feeling very awesome right now (my guess is lack of sleep + PMS + Sunday sadness that husband gone for 6 weeks). Thank you all for your input, I learn so much on these forums :)

Hang in there with hubby gone for so long. Be good to yourself!

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