In my earlier post I forgot to relay the story of J-boy's pronouncement this morning. We were laying in the bed when he reached down to my feet and said "From here (indicating my feet) to here (indicating the tops of my legs) and from here (the top of my head) to here (about the middle of my rib cage) you don't need to lose any more weight." My dear, sweet, precious husband. I love him so much and he is a very intelligent man, but I had to explain that isn't the way it works. He said he knew that, he just wanted to tell me that he liked the size of those areas!! Of course, I didn't need him to point out to me that my backside & belly are the issues. They always have been. It was sweet though, and gave me a morning chuckle.
On to the question - I am trying to get off artificial sweeteners. I have stevia growing in the yard that will be ready in the late summer as I understand it. In the meantime, I'm using all the artificial sweeteners that I have on hand and I'm not buying any more. I'm not buying diet colas, or anything 'diet' that has artificial sweetener in it. So, my question - What do I drink? I suck down the water all day long. Usually, after my third 32 oz glass of water I give myself a treat of tea, crystal light, or cherry coke zero. Now what? I've heard of agave nectar, but haven't done much research to know if it will work with hcg. Honey won't. I've used honey in between hcg, which has the added benefit of helping with allergies since it is local honey. I mostly like that in hot tea, not as much in iced tea. I'm drinking that plain more & more. Still, I'd like some suggestions. What are some good ideas? What are some things that aren't exactly what they claimed? I need to know.
Lessons Learned
3 years ago
Water, lots of herbal and green teas...it may take a while for you to become use to the unsweetened drinks, but it can be done! I got off the sweet drink stuff about 5 yrs. ago and now when I drink juice or something like that it’s too sweet.
ReplyDeleteBlend all fruit smoothies, add more water to make them more “juice” like.
My hubby and kids like “talking rain”—we buy the clear flavored carbonated water kind. No sweetener of any kind in them.
Both Agave and Stevia are funny sweeteners—everyone has a different opinion about the taste. But at least they both come from a natural source! I used stevia leaves with herbs from my garden to make teas last year (the chocolate mint one was a hit!), but half the people in my household complained of the bitter after taste, while it didn’t bother the rest of us. Keep that in mind. The teas I made without stevia were just as good…Agave also comes from a plant and doesn’t have an effect on blood sugar so I would think you could use it on the hcg. I don’t care for it, it’s a bit too sweet for my taste.
Hope that gives you some ideas! :)
I have a vita-mix so I can make some great juices & smoothies.
ReplyDeleteI love all sorts of tea, but generally I like it sweet. At lunch today, I drank tea totally unsweetened. It wasn't horrible!
This will answer your question about what I drink but for someone who has traveled on this journey as far as you have, is probably something you've already determined you can or cannot do. I drink only water and coffee. I've done this for about six years and very, very rarely, do I stray from this. In fact, last evening at a cookout, I picked up a cup of iced tea because there was no water readily available, and it tasted awful. I only drank enough to wash down my dinner. You really get used to the water and anything else just doesn't work. BTW, I was a total diet coke freak until six years ago, made a bet with my husband that if he could go three months without Coke (he was drinking the real stuff and even without a weight problem, I knew it wasn't good for him) I'd go without Diet Coke. We did it, but after the three months, I followed through, he didn't. I really do prefer only the water and don't miss anything else. Now giving up my coffee would be another story..........
ReplyDeleteSharon,
ReplyDeleteI might be able to go down that road. I like tea, and since it has some health benefits, I'd like to keep it in my plan. I just need to learn to sweeten it, or like it without sweetener. Right now, too, I'm using it as a reward for getting all my water in. Yesterday, though, I actually wanted water.
Thanks for the input. I can use all the help I can get!
Lori