Sugar Free January Week 2
Sugar Free January,  Wellness

Sugar Free January – Week 2

January 4, 2019

How did your first week go? It’s a short one! I already notice a difference in my energy by getting back to real food and decreasing my sugar intake.

Week 1 Recap – FAQs

While there isn’t much to recap on due to the short week, I thought I would share some of the questions that I received this week related to the sugar free January challenge.

1. Can I participate if I don’t eat meat?

Of course you can! Anyone can participate. The only guideline for this challenge is to reduce your intake of added sugar. My meal plan contains meat because I choose to include lean meats as part of my every day diet. There will be a couple of meat free recipes in the plan this week and planned for week 3 as well.

I created the blank meal planning calendar (linked below) – so that anyone can participate by creating their own meal plan specific to their tastes and dietary requirements.

Meal Planning Calendar Tool
Click to download the blank meal planning calendar
2. Can I have fruit and naturally occurring sugars on the challenge?

Yep! All naturally occurring sugars are A-okay as part of this challenge. That means fruits are fine, as well as other foods with natural sugars (like tomato sauce).

Not sure how to tell if its natural sugar or added sugar? Back in 2016, FDA announced that changes were coming to the nutrition facts label, which included that manufacturers must specifically call out “Added sugars” on the nutrition facts label. You may see some labels are now including the “Added sugars” category, but the date when manufacturers must comply with these changes is not until January of 2020. (Click to see old vs new nutrition facts label comparison via FDA.)

Best way to tell? Look at the ingredients list to see if sugar is included.

3. Do you have any tips for going out with friends, family, coworkers while participating in this challenge?

The short answer: No.

This is not a diet plan. This is just a fun challenge to encourage making real food choices and reducing our intake of added sugars.

If you are going out to eat with friends, you can make a choice on whether or not you want to try to stick to the no sugar guideline. If you don’t, make a commitment to yourself that you’re next meal will be a healthy one. You make the rules.

4. Is alcohol allowed?

Same as above, you make the rules. For me personally, I am trying to cut back on the beer and wine, since they do have higher sugar content. If I am going out with friends, I will probably opt for a vodka soda with lime. If you like to enjoy a big glass of wine on Fridays after work, right on.

Week 2 Meal Plan

Did you find the Week 1 meal plan helpful? Did you make any of the recipes? Let me know in the comments below what you thought and if the meal plan helped you plan out your own week!

Make sure to read through the recipes before hand so you know ahead of time if you are making substitutions and then update the grocery lists. All of the recipes can be doubled or multiplied if you are cooking for others in addition to yourself.

Download the Week 2 Meal Plan by clicking the image link below.

Week 2 Sugar Free Meal Plan

If you have any questions please post them in the comments below.

I’ll be sharing updates next week over on Instagram @WellnessInterpreted. If you want to make sure you don’t miss the weekly meal plans and grocery uploads, then you can subscribe to the challenge by signing up below.

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