Day 8
This sugar detox thing is going pretty good; the hardest place to be is the grocery store—sugar is fucking EVERYWHERE in those places.
The worst time for cravings is at night, after 8 pm. I start to get a little antsy, I whine to my roommate (who completely sympathizes), and then we make a big pot of tea. A nice bold tea like the Yogi Red Chai or the Yogi Sweet Thai Delight with a little bit of cream can make the sugar cravings go away. I read that 2 tbsp of L-glutamine in a tablespoon or two of cream with a bit of Xylitol can bust a sugar craving, but I am not into the Xylitol thing and a straight shot of cream with this powdery stuff in it just doesn’t work for me.
Then Friday around 2 pm I got side-swiped with a serious sugar crave…off I went to the store looking for something REAL to eat, and to see if there was anything I could eat that was sweet but what I would consider legal.
And I found these.
Clif Nectar bars—they are 100% organic fruit and nuts. No added sugar. Just a shitload of fruit and some little crunchy roasted nuts. I bought three different kinds: the cinnamon-pecan, the cranberry-apricot and almond, and the DARK CHOCOLATE and walnut. Okay, I bought two dark chocolate and walnut.
Now, you may be thinking, as was I, that the dark chocolate and walnut must have some sugar or honey or something in it…but lo and behold, there’s none of that stuff. I checked and re-checked, and re-checked and checked, but really, nothing. The bar contains unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder. The sweetness that keeps the bitterness out of the chocolate comes from all the fucking fruit. (And I'm serious about the fruit thing--these bars are, like, 90% fruit. The package claims that each bar is worth two servings of fruit, but really we're talking, like, 5 servings of fruit per bar.)
Oh!
Yeah!
YEAH!
I have definitely found a good candy/chocolate replacement. All of the bars are mostly organic dates, which accounts for the nice satisfying sweet taste—but I am okay with that, because they didn’t process anything to make the bar sweet. I would think twice if it was organic date sugar, but this is the whole damn date, pureed and smashed together with other stuff. That, I can deal with.
The cinnamon-pecan bar tastes a lot like apple pie filling, even though there are no apples in the bar. The pecans are roasted, but there aren’t enough of them for my taste.
The dark chocolate walnut is pretty damn good, even taking into account that I don’t like walnuts. With this one I am not complaining that there aren’t enough nuts. Lovely.
The cranberry-apricot and almond bar was my least favorite. It seemed sweeter than the other two bars, and it has apple juice concentrate in it...
I was hoping for a “meal replacement” type bar without processed sugars but I couldn’t find a single one. All of them at Wild Oats have some sort of sweetener, be it honey, sugar cane, white sugar, barley malt, brown rice syrup, etc.To me at this point I don’t care if the damn bar has 26g of protein, if it has any amount of processed sugars, it’s fired! So while the Clif Nectar bar isn’t a suitable meal replacement bar (26g of carbos and 2g of protein), it is, more importantly, 100% natural, naturally sweetened, and organic. No other bar can claim that. Clif Nectar bar has my vote for kick ass snacky snack of the year.
The worst time for cravings is at night, after 8 pm. I start to get a little antsy, I whine to my roommate (who completely sympathizes), and then we make a big pot of tea. A nice bold tea like the Yogi Red Chai or the Yogi Sweet Thai Delight with a little bit of cream can make the sugar cravings go away. I read that 2 tbsp of L-glutamine in a tablespoon or two of cream with a bit of Xylitol can bust a sugar craving, but I am not into the Xylitol thing and a straight shot of cream with this powdery stuff in it just doesn’t work for me.
Then Friday around 2 pm I got side-swiped with a serious sugar crave…off I went to the store looking for something REAL to eat, and to see if there was anything I could eat that was sweet but what I would consider legal.
And I found these.
Clif Nectar bars—they are 100% organic fruit and nuts. No added sugar. Just a shitload of fruit and some little crunchy roasted nuts. I bought three different kinds: the cinnamon-pecan, the cranberry-apricot and almond, and the DARK CHOCOLATE and walnut. Okay, I bought two dark chocolate and walnut.
Now, you may be thinking, as was I, that the dark chocolate and walnut must have some sugar or honey or something in it…but lo and behold, there’s none of that stuff. I checked and re-checked, and re-checked and checked, but really, nothing. The bar contains unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder. The sweetness that keeps the bitterness out of the chocolate comes from all the fucking fruit. (And I'm serious about the fruit thing--these bars are, like, 90% fruit. The package claims that each bar is worth two servings of fruit, but really we're talking, like, 5 servings of fruit per bar.)
Oh!
Yeah!
YEAH!
I have definitely found a good candy/chocolate replacement. All of the bars are mostly organic dates, which accounts for the nice satisfying sweet taste—but I am okay with that, because they didn’t process anything to make the bar sweet. I would think twice if it was organic date sugar, but this is the whole damn date, pureed and smashed together with other stuff. That, I can deal with.
The cinnamon-pecan bar tastes a lot like apple pie filling, even though there are no apples in the bar. The pecans are roasted, but there aren’t enough of them for my taste.
The dark chocolate walnut is pretty damn good, even taking into account that I don’t like walnuts. With this one I am not complaining that there aren’t enough nuts. Lovely.
The cranberry-apricot and almond bar was my least favorite. It seemed sweeter than the other two bars, and it has apple juice concentrate in it...
I was hoping for a “meal replacement” type bar without processed sugars but I couldn’t find a single one. All of them at Wild Oats have some sort of sweetener, be it honey, sugar cane, white sugar, barley malt, brown rice syrup, etc.To me at this point I don’t care if the damn bar has 26g of protein, if it has any amount of processed sugars, it’s fired! So while the Clif Nectar bar isn’t a suitable meal replacement bar (26g of carbos and 2g of protein), it is, more importantly, 100% natural, naturally sweetened, and organic. No other bar can claim that. Clif Nectar bar has my vote for kick ass snacky snack of the year.
Righteousness! The fruit in the Cliff Bar of Salvation has a much lower glycemic index than sugar so you're just better off no matter how you shake it. Good for you. A nice effective solution to the sugar craving problem.
ReplyDeletethanks! i am seriously glad that i found these things at the store the other day. seriously.
ReplyDeletehowever, i am trying not to get so into them that i am eating one a day...would defeat the purpose of this detox in the first place.
and i'm glad to know about the glycemic index...makes me feel a little better.
Dude I have been eating nectar bars for months. Why don't you ask when you need some beta like that? Jebus woman.
ReplyDeletedude, i had headaches and hot flashes! when i was drinking a lot.
ReplyDeleteyes, the peeps. it all goes back to my post about being the peep that had two shots of stoli and a cig for breakfast in a room of beautiful graceful swans. i figured i might as well embrace my true self. i don't think i can actually remember the taste of a marshmallow peep. i just decorate cakes with them; i don't really eat them.
*sigh* *sniff* *wail* baking....martha's big freakin book of baking (a better title, don't you think?)....i can't wait to be done with this phase of my life so i can marry that book. uh, i mean, bake some stuff out of it.