Goal: Eliminate Added Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners and Eat Lots of Fruit
Strategies:
- Tame cravings for sugar by increasing your daily intake of whole fresh fruit. Unlimited servings allowed.
- Replace syrups with fresh fruit reductions.
Drink fruit and vegetable smoothies. Do not add protein powders unless they are nut based like PB2. - Replace processed or dough/batter-type desserts with fruit desserts like baked fruit and nice creams (a banana-based substitute for ice cream).
- Keep fresh, clean fruit on hand at all times. If it’s quick and easy, you’re more likely to choose it.
Make a huge fresh fruit salad and portion it out into to-go containers so that you can easily pack it in a lunch or grab a snack. - Replace sweet breakfast food like pancakes with banana pancakes.
Replace sugary coffee routines with tea. Tea has more caffeine per cup than coffee and doesn’t carry the ritual of sweetened creamers. Black coffee drinkers don’t need to worry about this strategy since black coffee doesn’t contain sugar or creamers. - Replace store bought or oil based salad dressings with vinegar reductions or nut-based dressings. Balsamic vinegar reduction is great on meats, salads, vegetables, and desserts.
Equipment: Kitchen Gadgets that will assist your transition.
- High-powered blender like Vitamix, Ninja, Oster Versa, or Nutribullet
- Food processor
- Ice cream maker
Day 1
Breakfast: If your normal breakfast includes things like cereal, oatmeal, processed sweets, fast-food etc., replace it with recipes like Banana Pancakes with Raspberry Reduction.
Snack: If you feel yourself needing a sugar fix, grab a piece of fresh fruit or a serving of your pre-made fresh fruit salad.
Lunch: Replace store bought or oil-based dressings with vinegar reductions or nut-based dressings. Balsamic Vinegar Reduction is great on meats, salads, vegetables, desserts and is quite sweet.
Snack: Tame afternoon cravings with fruit and vegetable smoothies. The Pretty In Pink Smoothie is delicious.
Dinner: Many fruits pair deliciously with savory meals. Apples are wonderful with pork, citrus is great with chicken, and grapes are wonderful with pork, chicken and turkey.
Day 2
Breakfast:I f your normal breakfast includes things like cereal, oatmeal, processed sweets, fast-food etc., replace it with recipes like Yogurt With Berries.
Snack: Pair fruit and vegetable snacks for a great combination of flavors as well as achieving your goals for Month 1 & 2.
Lunch: Replace your normal lunch with a Garden Salad and Balsamic Reduction. By making this choice, you add a pound of vegetables and a touch of sweet to your lunch.
Snack: If your not craving sweets but still want to add fruits and vegetables to your diet, the Bloody Mary Smoothie is a great choice because of it’s savory flavor.
Dinner: Pork Chops with Onion Apple Chutney and Asparagus for dinner will not only provide 12 ounces of vegetables but the apple satiates the craving for sweets.
