Week 3 - 10 weeks of Real food Mini Pledges

As week 2 comes to a close it's time to introduce the next mini pledge!  

Week 3 - Real Beverages
Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day). 

This might be of the more difficult pledges, but I realize that different things will be difficult for different people (depending on what your vices are!). So as you consider this next pledge please keep in mind that it is only for one week. I'll be giving up my weekly Starbucks tazo chai for this week which is my one vice and I know you can do this too! So here goes nothing… 

As you can see this means no Splenda (or sugar) in your coffee and it also means no pop. Can you (and your family) do it for seven days?

Sweetener Choices: The moral of the story is that all sweeteners (sugar, honey, maple syrup, raw sugar, brown sugar, etc.) are high in calories and low in nutrients. The artificial sweeteners that have no calories are just chemically created imitations invented in a lab somewhere…how’s that for appetizing? So no matter what kind of sweetener one uses we hope that it is, first of all, not an imitation and second of all, used in moderation. For this pledge we ask that you stick to honey and/or 100% pure maple syrup for your beverages for two reasons

1. They are both (mostly) made in nature and slightly higher in nutrients than other sweeteners like refined white sugar.
2. It is hard to find highly processed foods or beverages that have been sweetened with honey or maple syrup, and if you sweeten items yourself chances are you will put in a lot less than the factory. In our opinion sugar is way overdone in our society so while you can still have sugar in your food during this pledge we hope you can commit to at least keeping it out of your beverages (baby steps!).

Please note: Honey and pure maple syrup are more concentrated sweeteners than white sugar so you can use a little less.

Juice Restriction: Just like the sweeteners mentioned above natural fruit juice contains a concentrated amount of (natural) sugars, which again should be used in moderation. And while 100% natural fruit juice offers a great deal of nutrients and is highly recommended over a soda, it is not nearly as nutritious as eating the natural, raw, whole fruit itself. There is certainly nothing “wrong” with drinking fruit juice (as long as it is 100% real fruit juice and preferably organic), but we believe it is best used in moderation. Try displacing some cups of juice with something else like water, which most of us can never seem to get enough of.

Moderate Wine Consumption: In his book Michael Pollan suggests, “Have a glass of wine with dinner”  But Pollan does go on to say, “Drinking a little every day is better than drinking a lot on the weekends”. He also says “alcohol of any kind appears to reduce the risk of heart disease, but the polyphenols in red wine appear to have unique protective qualities.” So let’s take to heart Pollan’s research showing “abundant scientific evidence for the health benefits of alcohol” and not be afraid to enjoy a glass of red wine (in moderation!) with dinner this week.

Here are some beverage alternatives to consider during this pledge since most people like to cure one addiction with another…

• Try a  naturally sweetened latte or coffee
• Squeeze a little lemon in your water
• Eat a few juicy grapes or oranges to help quench your thirst with something naturally sweet
• Try offering your kids some naturally cold or hot chocolate milk
• Mix a half a cup of juice with some water to help stretch your juice consumption throughout the week
• Or just put a splash of juice in your water to add some flavor and make it last the whole week 

If you are addicted to Pop just think how much money you will save if you give it up since water (a far superior alternative) is free! My husband used to love pop and we would purchase a flat of it from the Superstore quite often!  Once we started eating only Real food we gave up pop completely and we only occasionally get a natural ginger ale from phillips brewing company!  In fact a few weekends ago while camping he asked me to purchase some Cola for him to have with his rye over the weekend and it felt very strange to be purchasing Coca Cola actually!  He didn't end up using the whole thing and came home with two full bottles of it. On his own he dumped the rest of it out when we got back!  I was floored but proud!