Pre-declaration of banditry on sugar, I would grab one of those cups of chai every now and again when I was craving a sweet pick-me-up. A recent look at the nutrition label shows that this tea drink contains 130 calories and 25 grams of sugar. In fact, sugar is the firstingredient on the list, before tea! (By comparison, a Starbucks 12 ounce chai latte made with 2% has 31 grams of sugar.)

Disappointed, but still craving chai goodness, I cobbled together the following:

• 1 8-ounce cup of strongly brewed chai tea (the kind that comes in dry tea bags and is just tea + spices)
• 1 single-serve packet of Splenda Hazelnut-Flavor sugar-free sweetener
• A splash of low-fat milk

I know you can buy the Splenda flavor packets online, and my office stocks them regularly. I steeped the tea for about 4 minutes, until it was practically opaque, then added a little over half of the sweetener packet, then stirred in a quick splash of milk, for creaminess. The result was a nutty take on chai tea and for practically zero calories or sugar.

Later in the week, I was dying for something sweet yet salty, so I popped a bag of microwave low-fat popcorn, then right out of the microwave I opened the bag a little ways and dumped in 2 packets of Splenda (not the hazelnut kind!) and a bunch of cinnamon, then shook the bag rigorously. Voila! Sugar-free and low-fat cinnamon-sugar popcorn. It tasted almost like a spicy kettlecorn. My tastebuds were pleased.

But for some reason, most diet articles assume that the reader drinks sodas on a daily basis. “Cut out sodas and lose 5 pounds in a week!” It’s kind of like that long-frustrating mantra of the anti-smoking brigade: “Stop smoking and save hundreds of dollars a year!” I don’t smoke, and yet I’ve somehow got about as much money as the smoker next to me in line.

Why? Because people like to spend their money on “the little” things. I don’t smoke, but I do like a morning coffee that I didn’t brew myself, or a used paperback novel, or if not that then something else around five bucks.

It’s the same with diet (and by diet I mean an unchecked, average diet). I don’t drink sodas, but I sure as hell love me a chocolate chip cookie to go with my coffee, or an extra breadstick at dinner.

So I’ve learned, in my quest for low-sugar zen, to mentally compare everything that’s not lean meat or produce to a 20-ounce bottle of Coke. I wouldn’t dream of drinking 20-ounces of Coke 4 times a week and call it healthy, so why should bagels, lattes and cupcakes get a free pass that often?

Every time I get the urge to sneak a treat in, I think to myself “If this were a bottle of Coke, would I still want it?” Of course, the answer is always “no.” This has helped me tremendously to easily pass on treats in any situation.

And let’s face it. Making 2 dozen muffins on a Sunday afternoon and freezing them is the easiest way to a fast, homemade breakfast that I know. I’m a senior undergrad now in college, and muffins have been a staple of my morning cuisine for just that reason; they are sooo ridiculously easy.

So, I was a little worried over the idea of going without muffins for the rest of my low-sugar days. I like oatmeal and all, but it takes a while and some mornings there’s barely enough time for a shower and a cup of coffee. Fortunately, I was able to hack together this simple banana nut muffin recipe from a few different “healthy muffin” recipes out there on the Internet. It’s been road tested a few times now, and they’re a hit with everyone who noms them down!

Ingredients:
1 cup gluten free all purpose flour*
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups ripe mashed bananas
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 tsp buttermilk
cinnamon and nutmeg, to taste

*A note about the gluten-free flour, all-purpose should be fine too, I just didn’t want to get a full 5 lb bag of flour and the only small bags I could find were gluten free. They taste just like regular flour muffins though, so whichever you have.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line muffin tins or a 9×5 loaf pan.

Mix bananas, butter, vanilla, buttermilk and eggs together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flours, spices, wheat germ, salt and baking soda. Blend in banana mix until moistened, fold in pecans. Pour into loaf pan or muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until center test comes out clean.

Makes about 16 muffins.

Nutrition information (per muffin): 147 calories, 6.3 grams fat (2.3g saturated fat), 31mg cholesterol, 257mg sodium, 20 grams carbohydrates, 1.5 grams dietary fiber, 5 grams sugar, 3.4 grams protein.

To start things off, I’ll post a few things about myself. I’m 28 years old, and I weigh 207 pounds. I’ve had a raging sweet tooth most of my life, but only recently have I realized just how bad it was. I was raised like most American kids in the 80′s, on high fructose corn syrup breakfast cereals, Hi-C “juice drink” boxes,

Ecto Cooler: the nectar of our childhoods.

fudgecicles, and gummi bears. My parents were both busy, and though they tried to feed us real food from time to time, many a meal for myself and my two siblings were bought from a McDonald’s or a KFC.

As I grew older, I learned like everyone else that fast food was bad because it was fatty and full of “fake” food. I learned that vegetables were a necessary part of a balanced diet. I learned that sugared sodas were the absolute pinnacle of badness that I could possibly put down my gullet.

What I didn’t learn, was that a lot of food out there is full of sugar. White bread (even the enriched kind!), Raisin Bran, morning glory muffins, Odwalla Super Food juices, power bars, the list goes endlessly on. Recently, I ate what I considered to be fairly healthy foods, without denying myself anything, for a period of four weeks, and wrote down everything. The results? I was eating on average 2200-2300 calories a day, and about 135 grams of sugar. Considering I never put sugar syrups in my coffee, never drank sodas, and wouldn’t dream of setting foot in a McDonald’s, I was pretty shocked by the results.

So, now I’m on a mission to straighten myself out and get clean of sugar. My goal is 1400-1600 calories a day, and 45 grams or less sugar per day. I’ve been going at this for a week so far, and I’ve only had one slip up (I went out with friends for dim sum brunch… 2183 calories that day and 87 grams of sugar!).

Each week I’ll post my weigh-in and measurements, along with whatever I learn that might help out other sugar bandits on the highway towards total sugar domination. Enjoy!

Weight: 207 lbs. Measurements: 39-34-43 1/2 Old Navy Size: 16