Let's Talk about Sugar

Image c/o: Fritzs

Did you know that adult women are only supposed to consume 5 teaspoons of added sugar per day? I didn't. But a new report from Rodale News explains the latest sugar consumption recommendations from the American Heart Association.

It turns out that the daily sugar intake recommendations are as follows:

Adult women - 20 grams per day (5 teaspoons)
Adult men - 36 grams per day (9 teaspoons)
Children - 12 grams per day (3 teaspoons)

Now you may be thinking, as I was, "I don't eat five teaspoons of added sugar per day!" However, after reading the article, I can almost guarantee that you do. For comparison, a single piece of whole wheat bread has 5 grams of added sugar in it. A SINGLE PIECE. A bowl of Corn Flakes has 6 grams in it. Not Frosted Flakes. Corn Flakes. In fact, many adults are consuming their complete daily requirement of sugar at breakfast, which means that the sugar we eat throughout the rest of the day is over the limit.

So...I'm going to be making even more adjustments to my diet. From previous experience, I can tell you that it is possible to be an unhealthy vegan, because a lot of junk food is actually made without animal products. This time around, though, I'm going to get serious about kicking my sugar addiction as well.

Free YouTube Workouts

Hey everyone! As you may know, a big part of my weight loss journey has to do with my distaste for exercise. Once I get started exercising, I usually like it. It's the getting started part that's the problem. The good thing is that I love to dance and there are a lot of great dance workouts out there.

If you don't want to spend any money or if you'd rather not pay for a workout DVD before you know if you like it, you can always check out some of the free workouts on YouTube. I'm partial to African dance and reggaeton, but there are also a lot of free strength training workouts on there.

Here are a few of the workouts that I'll be trying out this month:


 This one looks like it's going to kick my behind.

 I've tried Zumba before, but I've never done a Persian version. (Hey, that rhymes!)


I love Pilates. I just don't do it enough.

So....who's up for trying these with me this month? If we get started now, we won't have to panic on January 1. :)

Week 1 Weigh In

Hi everyone! You probably thought I forgot about this blog, didn't you? Well, I didn't. I did get super busy though. We went through a major employment shift during the spring and then I started college in the summer and...yeah.

Anyway, things are kind of calming down now and I'll be weaning our almost one-year-old by year's end, so it's time to get serious about my health again. As of today, my weight is 160 pounds. That's five pounds less than last month, but I'm 5'3", so that's still not good.

I'm glad to say that I'll be posting here weekly with some of our vegetarian and vegan recipes, as well as some fitness plans we're trying out around here. As for our present diet, we're eating vegetarian and we're probably about 80 percent vegan. We still eat eggs and honey and, on occasion, we'll eat processed food that has dry milk in it. But hopefully over the next few weeks, we'll be able to return to full veganism.

Feel free to come along with us and share your healthy eating and exercise tips!