I make my lunch the night before, and even then I’m lazy and whine the entire time about having to make it. I only have about 10 minutes to make my lunch before I lose all patience and think it’s fine to just be hungry the next day (which only makes me really really mad at myself when I don’t have enough to eat). This means that if it’s not fast, I’m not eating it.

One of my go-to lunches that I can’t seem to get tired of is a salad in a jar. I can make it different every day of the week and it never leaves me staring at my lunch wishing I had something else. This time I used some leftover quinoa to provide a boost of protein, sweet potato, aduki beans, a bit of feta cheese, and some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Not only is it healthy and filling, it also holds up well in the fridge and can be eaten warm or cold. Packed into my mason jars, I can make a few days worth at once and then just grab and go. Too bad I don’t have pie in mason jars all lined up and waiting at all times to top off my lunch.

I would love to say how I am a great morning person, but that’s not entirely true. Just about everyone I have lived with has met the morning monster who poses as me. When my mom used to make sure I was up in the morning, caveman grunts were the only signs of life.

Now that my commute is only an hour (compared to my previous 2 hour each way trek into the city, it’s not so bad) I have a little more time in the morning to eat my breakfast at home. But on the days where I just can’t seem to get out of the house on time, this is my go to breakfast.

I love oatmeal because it’s really hard to ruin, it’s easy to customize, and by changing a few ingredients it can be different every time. Lately I’ve been adding beautiful seasonal berries on top of my high-protein oatmeal. I also really like to cook (read microwave as much as I hate to admit it) blackberries and blueberries in the oatmeal so they fall apart and add their incredible flavor throughout.

The best part, if I can’t eat it in time I put it in my commuter mug and hit the road. It stays hot and it’s easy to eat while I’m sitting in traffic.

It’s no secret I love to eat, so when our refrigerator broke, I was incredibly distraught. It was a time of crisis, and I wasn’t even home. Instead of being helpful in any way, I sent text after text ensuring that yes, the food in the freezer was alright, it was just the refrigerator that had suddenly decided to be warmer than the pantry.

Twenty-four hours later when I finally gained the courage to open the stink box and evacuate it, the experience was heartbreaking. My unopened gallon of soy milk, once stunning, sweet smelling strawberries, and my entire week’s worth of lunches straight into the compost bin. As the unopened feta and barely used whipped cream followed I was near tears (this is where we pretend I’m being overly dramatic).

So not only did I have to throw out food that would have been otherwise perfect (except for the whole bacteria-growing refrigerator situation), we also had to eat the random things we could find around the house that required no refrigeration. Since I had already cooked most of my meals for the week, there wasn’t much left, just grains and some (expired) macaroni and cheese from a box (which was of course made with water… yum.).

Despite my distraught (read: hungry) state, I couldn’t help but think that people used to live like this. As part of my new job I was flipping through magazines from the early 1920’s and they broke down how to hang meat to make it tender and last longer when an entire animal can’t be cooked and eaten at once. I certainly wasn’t about to hang up all of my food from the apple tree outside and hope for the best. But seriously, were their stomachs made of steal? just the thought of that gives me food poisoning.

So instead of my tasty Fourth of July meal I had planned (including homemade veggie burgers and some ridiculously tasty fries), it looks like we might be eating oatmeal. I wish I was kidding.

One of the things I miss the most about being able to eat nuts is having a wide variety of granola and energy bars to choose from. Now that I go straight to CrossFit after work, I’ve been struggling to find good pre-workout snacks. With 2.2 grams of protein and 61.5 calories in each, these balls of energy should get me ready to go and not leave me with a growling stomach or fear of projectile vomiting during the WOD. Even better, they only have four ingredients and they are completely nut and gluten free. But if you don’t have an allergy you can easily make them with nuts. This is also a great basic recipe to replace Lärabars with.

Ingredients

1 cup roasted sunflower seeds (salted or unsalted)
1 cup (about 12-15) whole, pitted dates
1 cup dried fruit: I used 1/2 cup cranberries and 1/2 cup dried wild blueberries
4 tablespoons chia seeds

 Instructions

1. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse 5-10 times, until the ingredients begin to mix. Break up any clumps (especially any large balls of dried fruit) that have formed.

2. Leave the food processor running for about 30 seconds to get the ingredients to being to break down and look chopped. Scrape the edges of the bowl (and underneath the blade if easily reachable) with a spatula.

3. Blend for 2-3 more minutes, until a ball begins to form and you are happy with the texture.

4. Form into a square or balls. If you wish to make bars, use waxed paper to squish the energy bar dough between. Once formed into a rough square, refrigerate for at least an hour (or overnight if preferred) before cutting it into 8-16 squares with a sharp knife. I chose instead to make balls because it cuts out a step and seems easier to eat on the go. The recipe made 17 one-inch balls, perfect for a small serving or two.

Recipe was adapted from TheKitchn.

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At the start of my sugar challenge I would tell myself that when this was all over I was going to devour exorbitant amounts of some amazing desserts, but now that it’s my last day, plans have changed.

I started the challenge completely addicted to sugar, to the point where even if I had a sweet breakfast, I craved a quick dose of sugar. It took me two weeks of the challenge to get my cravings under control, and even now I still am not where I want to be. I had hoped by this time to be fully freed from my sugar addiction, but I’m just not there yet. While much improved, I still give in to my cravings more than I would like to admit.

Now that my goal is over I won’t be as strict with what I eat and interrogate people about the sugar content of items. I will, however, continue to look for low sugar options and avoid foods loaded with added sugars. Never again will I pay to overdose on sugar at coffee shops, especially if I can make something healthier at home. I also won’t let myself snack on sweets throughout the day or rationalize eating dessert after lunch and dinner.

This whole experience was eye opening. I started finding sugar hidden in foods that I had thought were healthy and natural. More than anything I learned to ditch the packaged goods, say no to extra sweets, and eat whole, natural fruits and vegetables. While counting every gram of sugar was frustrating and at times stressful, I’m glad I did it and I’m not going to let it all go to waste.

Hello, my name is Mandy, and I am addicted to tea. I have a milk crate full of tea at my apartment and another at my parent’s house. I love all kinds of tea from delicate white to a hearty black tea either iced or hot. But no tea is as comforting as a creamy chai.

As part of my sugar challenge, I was desperately craving something sweet and comforting without reaching for sugar heavy cookies or cake. This chai recipe hit the spot without pushing me over my sugar limit. It tastes so much like the sugar heavy chai lattes at coffee shops that I don’t plan on buying them anymore.

What makes this recipe so creamy and rich is how it’s made. There is no water or sugar-filled mix in it. Instead it’s all nondairy milk (I used soy) and tea bags.

Recipe:

Bring two chai tea bags for every 8 oz. of nondairy milk to a boil. Stir occasionally to help brew the tea. Once it has come to a boil and the milk is a light brown color, remove the tea bags. Transfer to a mug and enjoy.

Because I got a little vigorous with my stirring and I may have pushed a little too hard to wring out the tea bag before I removed it, I ended up breaking the bag and letting the tea loose in my milk. I used a handy tea strainer that fit into my mug perfectly and kept all of the tea pieces out of my heart warming cup.

Because I used sweetened soy milk I didn’t have to add any sugar. My recipe is more than half the calories and almost 40 grams less sugar than a Starbucks’ chai tea latte with soy milk. Mine has 6 grams of sugar and only 110 calories compared to Starbucks’ 240 calories and 43 grams of sugar. Definitely never going back.

The definition of failure can be pretty flexible and loose, but it’s safe to say week three was a failure on the sugar front. I started out well, but as finals hit hard and fast my roommates and I turned to our usual habits… sweets.

On Tuesday one of my roommates finished with her finals and to celebrate she decided to make my other roommate and I some cinnamon rolls. Since we were wallowing in our insane amounts of work, we both quickly devoured the cinnamon rolls out of self pity (and man did they taste amazing hot out of the oven). In one sitting I doubled my sugar intake.
The next night it was my turn to celebrate being done. It’s a tradition in my apartment that when you finish something huge or get good news, we celebrate with food. We made some cookies to mark the completion of my second (and final) senior project/thesis, which really would have been fine if I hadn’t eaten six of them (in my defense they were small cookies). The next morning I had a waffle (thanks to Parks and Recreation I had a massive waffle craving for the past month or so and I finally got to give in to it), but I didn’t use the fake syrup and instead just had whipped cream and strawberries.

The week just kept falling apart from there. I would do great all day with my sugar intake, and then I would blow it out of the water at dessert. But by the end of the week (this weekend) I got myself back on track.

Honestly, I’m glad to have failed this week. I’m not going to be one of those people who refuses a homemade dessert because “I don’t eat sugar.” I believe that food should bring you joy as well as feed the body. Did my desserts harm me? No. Would I eat them again, of course (although I wouldn’t let myself eat so many cookies). I’m not saying I’m going to overdo it on dessert every day and be ok with it, but every once in a while I think it’s a good thing.