18 June 2010

Recovering Sugar Addict

Inspired by the Outside the Box Challenge, one reader shares her experience trying to cut back on sugar:

i realized that i was/am addicted to sugar, so i am going on a sugar detox. this means no more candy, cookies, processed crap like that. i’ve done it in the past, and always feel good afterwards. it’s amazing how cutting out sugar REALLY makes you not want it any more, and subsequently feel better and make a conscious effort to fueling your body with things that should be going into it instead of nastiness. looking forward to getting off the sugar train!

Thanks for the message! Anyone else tried to cut back on sugar? How did it go?

3 May 2010

Outside the Box Challenge: ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS!

And we made it! It was a long challenge, but hopefully well worth it for those of you who hung in there. THANK YOU to everyone who participated at any point. We hope you’ll do it again!

Hey hey hey! It’s the big day — time to announce the winner of the nine week Outside the Box Challenge!

You guys had some great reflections about the challenges. It looks like everyone struggled with the “Don’t Pour That Sugar” test. But it was interesting to see what other challenges you found easy or difficult. One girl’s hardest was another girl’s easiest! Just goes to show, we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

And now it’s time to announce the winner! We’re so proud of how committed you guys were and so we decided that besides the Grand Prize winner, we also decided to give a second and third place prize because seriously, we wish we could just shower everyone with gifts to say thank you for the enthusiasm about this contest and just for reading our blogs and for choosing to try to go beyond your comfort zone.

The Grand Prize goes to…

Builtbylove

Second Prize goes to…

Anneonline

Third Prize goes to…

My Quirky Life

After using Random.org to select, we checked on each one of our winners to confirm that they had posted each week — and they did! Congrats, ladies!

Please email Rachel[at]SheddingIt[dot]com with your mailing address and to get all the details of your swag!!

Congrats to everyone; even if you didn’t win a prize along the way, we hope you got enough out of this challenge to make you feel like it was worthwhile. And just because the contest is over, please keep on pushing yourselves! Whenever you’re bored with your foods, workouts, or just with life, you can always go back and do a challenge again, maybe slightly differently this time, just to mix things up and keep it fresh. And to anyone who didn’t do the challenge, no worries — we’ll plan another one soon enough!

26 April 2010

Week #9 Challenge: The Reflections Test

You all had some pretty insightful things to say about the Don’t Pour Some Sugar on Me Test. We were so proud of your amazing abilities to stay sugar-free.

But guess what, people? We made it to the end! After nine weeks of getting you out of your comfort zone, we’re just about done. And those of you who submitted an entry every week so far are still eligible for that fab grand prize!

This week, we’re going easy on you. All you have to do is tell us which challenge was the hardest for you and which was the easiest… And why. Submit your reflections here, and thanks to all of you who participated these past eight weeks! It’s been a blast for us to see how you’ve stepped it up week after week. For those of you that are playing along at home, you’ve passed:

• The Frontier Girl Test
• The Shock Your Body Test
• The Culinista Test
• The Know Your Food Test
• The Fantasy Fitness Test
• The Note Your Nibbles Test
• The Have a Little Herb Test
• The Don’t Pour Some Sugar on Me Test

One more to go and then it’s grand prize time!

19 April 2010

OTB Challenge Week #8: The Don't Pour Some Sugar on Me Test

You made it to Week 8! Way to go. We only have two more challenges left, so hang in there and you could walk away with the grand prize.

LAST WEEK’S WINNER: Christine! Congrats. Please email Rachel[at]sheddingit[dot]com to claim your prize.

This week’s test might be tough for some. We’re challenging you to go without added sweetener for a whole day. We’re defining added sweetener as any form of concentrated sweetener, natural or not (this means maple syrup, agave, and honey are all no-nos!). This also includes artificial sweetener. Whole fruit is okay, as is any other non-concentrated food that happens to taste sweet. Watch for processed foods with added sweetener, though.

Leah has written about the healthiest way to sweeten, but really, we also need to get used to no sweetness at all. Once you start lowering the amount of sugar and sugar-like substances you eat, you’ll notice foods that didn’t taste sweet before suddenly taste a bit sweet. And foods that were sweet before now taste saccharine. It’s all about reprogramming your tastebuds to appreciate subtle sweetness — like the taste of plain cinnamon or vanilla.

When you’re going sans sugar, notice when you crave it. It might be difficult to ignore the craving at first, but hopefully after a little while, the craving will pass. Once you’ve gone through a day without sweetener, share your experience here. As usual, you have until Sunday, April 25 at 12 midnight PST to enter. Good luck and no cheating!

15 April 2010

Try Some Herb and Win!

Don’t you guys want to win this book?

Or a big tub of Amazing Grass’ Chocolate GreenSuperfood?

All you have to do is bring a new herb or spice into your life — one you haven’t enjoyed in the past three months — and tell us about it here. You don’t have to have participated previously, and in fact, now’s a great time to start! Just get your entry in by Sunday at midnight PST for a chance to win. Do it to it.