Sugar- The Enemy?

If you've been following my blog at all, you'll remember that I've been trekking along, exploring and researching nutritional health and lifestyle changes for our family.  First there came dairy.  Or actually, there it went.  With Toby's severe allergy to it, I mainly cook dairy free although after our recent trip to the states, we have a bit more hanging around than normal.  So we are a soy and almond milk drinking family, we use a lot of soy cheese and vegan margarine and we try to avoid it as much as possible.

Then there came meat.  Now, I'm not going to pretend that we're full on vegans, cause we just spent 3 weeks BBq'ing in Hawaii.  But after much reading and some creative recipe making, at least 50% of the time we go vegetarian and I hope to continue in that direction.

But this doesn't mean we're healthy eaters.

I prided myself on the fact that I make dinners from scratch all the time and we rarely go out to eat. Simultaneously, I've let my kid's snacks (and my snacks) go to the wayside.  "Too much time, too much work, not worth it, fishy crackers it is!"  Meanwhile, I've started to wonder about sugar.  I am the LAST person on the earth who wants to give up sugar.  I just heard myself say to a friend the other day "you'd have to pry chocolate from my dead, lifeless hand because there's no way I could do without it."  And I feel somewhat similar with sugar.  I am not a salt eating girl.  I never walk down the cracker and chip aisle. I don't drink pop and avoid most juice, but watch me dump 5 spoonfuls of sugar in my coffee, make sweet and yummy cookies, eat chocolate chips and dried fruit like I'm invincible.

Yikes.

Then, I did something stupid last night and watched this lecture on YouTube: Sugar: The Bitter Truth.

Crap.  Now I've been informed.  And I believe it. From what I see in the hospital, sugar IS terrible for our bodies and if we buy processed, we eat it in everything!  Shucks. I mean, sucks.

So now what?  People I know having been taking out sugar all around me and I've kind of shrugged and thought "you're crazy."   I've even had people tell me that it's toxic and I've kind of chuckled.  I mean really, toxic?  Isn't that going a bit too far?!

I had one friend say that, "why would we teach our kids that doing drugs is bad, not just some of the time, but all the time, but teach our kids that sweets are okay some of the time when they are toxic for us?"  Yikes.  

But what if it's true? I see diabetes and cancer and all kinds of things in the hospital and it's clear that these medical conditions are on the rise.  I think I'm so immune but do I really eat well?  Am I really paying attention as I dump sugar down my throat and my kids' throats?

All this guilt and shame is well and good, but what actionable steps should I take?  I gotta start simple cause this change is a doozy for my family.  I don't want to be legalistic with "always" and "never" statements because in this social-eating world, sometimes you gotta forget your food restrictions (I think) to accommodate others and not the other way around.

So we're starting with this:
1. No more juice. Now my kids know what it tastes like and it's one of Toby's first words, so that kinda sucks, but milk and water.
2. Research some sugar replacements- any ideas anyone?  Stevia?  Coconut sugar?  What's good, what's bad, what's uglier?
3. Start phasing out the processed snacks like granola bars and stick to fruits, veggies, nuts, and dried fruit (sparingly).  And make less sweetened snack breads: zucchini, banana, date breads, etc.
4.  This one is hard: experiment with changing up our breakfast routine.  Not sure how to get around toast, or maybe we don't need to (?)  But a healthier, more protein-rich breakfast would do us good.
5. And lastly, get rid of cereal altogether.  It's our 'late night snack.' And it's expensive, sugar-full, and nutrient poor.  

First problem: get rid of all that's in my pantry, or slowly phase it out?

Notice I mentioned nothing about my coffee or chocolate?  So, I'm sticking to dark chocolate for now (or else I'll die) and I've started putting coconut sugar in my coffee.  Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

I do hope and think that Silas' behavior issues might be helped as well by limited processed foods and slowly eliminating sugars.  Wouldn't that be interesting...

Just a disclosure though: if you invite us over, I'm not going to show up at your door and tell you "I'm not eating that meal or cake you made us" because it's a pet peeve of mine.  I do think health is important, but would you believe, I actually value relationships more than health?  That being said, whenever it's possible, I will let you know what our current eating habits are like to spare us both the confusion and frustration of kind host and picky guest conundrum.

p.s. Please inform me even more on my blog comments- anything I'm missing? Tips?  Great recipes?  I'm very open to suggestions and helpful hints.  I'm a very baby researcher when it comes to nutrition.