Holy Sweetness

I still can’t believe I’ve been sugarless since January 19^th (check out my blog post “Survival of the sugarless”)  so that’s an astounding 74 days or 10.5 weeks of being sugar-free!  Holy crap, I don’t think I’ve ever stuck to something for that length of time (40 days for Lent is probably the longest!).  I’m actually REALLY proud of myself (and trust me, that’s not an easy thing for me to say about myself!).   It's incredible the rewards that have been reaped as a result of being sugarless...more energy, less brain fog, weight loss, brighter complexion, more control over the food that I eat, no pimples or zits (anyone who has suffered with acne knows that there is a difference between a siz and a pimple!).  That's just to name a few of the benefits!  So how did I do it?  Well, Sarah will be the first to say “that’s not true Mom!”  Okay, so since I brought up Lent, I guess I should confess.  The truth is that I have slipped.  I had a microgram of Sarah’s homemade chocolate pudding (that microgram was delish!) which she rudely made in my presence then raved about it to me (that’s right, me, the sugarless wonder!), so how could I resist?  The tip of my little finger somehow found its way into the bowl of pudding (oops!) then that finger found its way into my mouth (mmmm oops!).  Before I move on to confession #2 (yes, there's more to confess!), I need to acknowledge that Sarah has been wonderful throughout this sugarless period.  Not only because she put up with me but she also sacrificed by not having anything with sugar in the house (who needs sugar anyways?).  The only thing with sugar that I will buy for her is chocolate (in moderation!).  So if she wants chocolate, I buy her chocolate but then she has to hide it from me (I know it sounds pathetic but we do what we need to do!) so thanks Sare (P.S. I love you!!!).  I'm happy to say that I've reached a place where I'm okay with people eating junk food or treats with sugar in front of me (Sarah with her chocolate, Reb with her baked goods, and BFF with her damn swedish berries!).  Honestly, there was a time when I would feel violent violently ill seeing someone eat ice cream or chocolate or candy but I'm much better now :) 

So back to my confession...I also had a micro-slice of Reb’s super-yummy banana bread which she rudely baked right before I arrived so the aroma of freshly-baked banana bread was impossible to resist (my willpower can only help me resist so much, hence the reason I’m now a hermit!).  Then finally (it’s a tri-confession!), there’s a half of a cupcake that found its way into my mouth then down my digestive tract (and you all know where it then ended up so why even bother?) at Reb’s birthday party (I’m seeing a sabotaging trend with this Reb girl, the same Reb who doesn’t read my blog! But I must give Reb credit...she made a banana bread that was sugar-free!  I love that child!).  The half-cupcake was earl grey with lemon frosting…how could I resist?  Besides it was Reb’s 13^th birthday so I couldn’t say no.  Isn’t it bad luck or something to not eat the birthday (cup) cake?  It’s part of the celebration, right?  It could have been worse…I could have eaten two cupcakes and an extra-large piece of DQ ice cream cake (yes, my favourite!).  Hell, I didn’t even have a birthday cake for my birthday!  That was my first birthday celebration without a birthday cake (EVER!).  I figured it was probably bad luck not to eat a piece of my own birthday cake so I decided "no cake for me"; that is until we celebrated Reb’s birthday 12 days after mine!

So yes, I have slipped three times (or as my Dad would say "tree times"!) but the point is that I didn’t fall!  How does one go from having a sweet tooth (or in my case, an entire mouthful of sweet teeth!) or more accurately, being a sugar addict (seriously!) to being sugarless?  Simply put, you quit eating sugar!  But you have to have something that will fill sugar’s shoes.  No, I did not choose that poison called artificial sweetener.  Who wants that shit in their body?  Have you ever read about the dangers of artificial sweeteners?  In my opinion, much more dangerous than my sugar addiction but I’ll let you decide for yourself.  Who am I to tell you what you should and shouldn’t eat?  I certainly don’t want to hear anyone tell me that I shouldn’t eat something but I certainly do feel that learning about what we put in our mouth (go ahead, insert dirty joke!) is critical to our well-being.    So yes, education is important (did you hear that kids?).  You need to know where sugar is hidden found and trust me, it’s everywhere!  Besides the obvious (chocolate, ice cream, candy…my previous holy trinity of pleasure!), it’s in yogurt, salsa, bread, pizza, ketchup, juice, soy milk, peanut butter, jam, salad dressing, and even in some bottled water!  Don't trust the packaging when it says "sugar-free" because it's probably loaded with something worse than sugar.  You need to be diligent in reading labels!  I’ve always had to read labels since I’m Mom to a hard-core vegetarian but this is the first time I’ve had to look for sugar which is also disguised as rice syrup, cane juice, fructose or pretty much anything that ends in –ose, and it’s shocking to me how many products contain sugar (I think it's time we start a revolution...a war on sugar!).   The only way to know with certainty what you're eating is to prepare your food from scratch.  It's not only healthier, it's fun too (yes, cooking is fun!).   

Needless to say, the first-three weeks of Operation Sugarless were very difficult (underlying “very” doesn’t even begin to communicate the level of difficulty!).  I’m guessing it was similar to what a drug addict or an alcoholic go through when they decide to quit abusing a substance (let’s face it, sugar is a substance that is killing people!).   Cravings, headaches, nausea, dizziness and bitchiness were just a few of the sugar-withdrawal symptoms that I experienced during those three-weeks but I’m happy to say that my…wait for it…precious juicer got me through the tough times (check out my blog posts “J-J-Juice” and "RIP Sir Juice-a-lot") !  Surprisingly, juicing fruits and veggies rid me of my cravings.  Sure there’s sugar in fruits and vegetables but it’s different (really, it’s different!).  I was lucky to find something healthy that filled the void!  I also started eating yogurt (real yogurt…just milk and bacteria!) with bananas and blueberries as my daily snack (it felt like a treat!) and have continued with this daily ritual.  My holy trinity of redeemers couldn’t be complete without my…wait for it…sweet potato!  That’s right, this root vegetable is now one of my favourite foods!  Since I don’t eat sugar, the sweet potato sometimes tastes so sweet that I have to eat it with something tart.  

Now that I've revealed my new holy trinity of pleasure (derived from food!), I thought it would be fun (it's blatantly obvious that I no longer have a clear understanding of the word "fun"!) to dedicate a blog post to the sweet potato.  First of all, let’s clarify something of great importance…a sweet potato is not a yam!   I’m offended when my sweet potato is referred to as a yam so I thought I should explain the distinction immediately (the word "yam" just doesn't sound worthy of the sweet potato's greatness!).  I guess I’ll start with the appearance since it is the most noticeable difference.    A sweet potato is short, stubby and has slightly tapered ends, with a thin yellow or orange skin, and a smooth appearance, and its flesh is a pale yellow or orange depending on the variety.   A yam is long and cylindrical (a yam can grow to be over 7 feet long!) with rough and scaly skin which resembles the bark of a tree, has brownish almost black skin with flesh coloured purple, red or off-white depending on the variety.  Sure if I were to date either, I would probably go with a yam (sorry but rough and scaly trumps short and stubby…not that I would date a root vegetable but some of the men I have dated have had the intellect of a vegetable, the really stoopid vegetables but when I was describing the sweet potato and yam, I felt like I was reading through online dating ads…not that I know anything about online dating because I don’t…okay, so, wow, I really don’t get out much!) but to eat, I’m loving the sweet potato!  When it comes to the taste, sweet potatoes are sweet (duh, really?) while yams have a starchier taste (so I’ve read!).  Unfortunately, grocery stores usually mistakenly label sweet potatoes as yams but in fact, you are buying a sweet potato.  According to my extensive research, it is difficult to find yams in supermarkets across North America since yams are only popular vegetables in Latin American and Caribbean markets, with over 150 varieties available worldwide. Interestingly, yams contain more natural sugar than sweet potatoes and have a higher moisture content.  Great, now I’m going to be obsessed with finding a yam (not that I have an obsessive personality!).  So I can't help but wonder (surprise!), when Americans serve candied yams for Thanksgiving, are they actually serving candied sweet potatoes?  Just food for thought :)

Since I’m not an expert on sweet potatoes (or yams!), my research has been, well, educational.  I’ve learned that there are several varieties of sweet potatoes including Goldrush, Georgia Red, Centennial, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, and Velvet.  I just ran to my pantry (while I was up, I remembered that I had a load of laundry waiting to be transferred to the dryer, started making dinner then remembered why I was up…the joys of an aging mind!) and found that I’m currently eating California grown premium organic sweet potato…no variety listed (note to self:  find a local producer for organic sweet potatoes!).  While I was reading the information on the bag, I came across suggestions on what to add to your sweet potato including margarine/butter, cinnamon, brown sugar or mini-marshmallows.  Lovely!  Now I have to picture my sweet potato with brown sugar or mini-marshmallows.  Why not suggest adding chocolate, ice cream and licorice to the sweet potato?  We could call it Tracey's Holy Trinity of Pleasure Sweet Potato!  Boy, am I living in a cruel, cruel world!  Thankfully, I also discovered that one sweet potato provides 440% of your daily recommended vitamin A dose.  That can’t be bad, right?  Okay, if it’s topped with brown sugar and marshmallows, it is!   I swear, I didn’t want this blog post to turn into an encyclopedic entry for sweet potatoes but it feels like it has slowly taken a turn with all this talk of varieties and vitamins.  I simply want to share my enjoyment of this sweet and tasty root vegetable with you. 

Yes, of course, I’m going to share a new recipe with you (that’s just what I do!) and an amateur photo (I admit that I’m not very good at photographing food!) but before I do that, I thought you should know that there are many ways to prepare sweet potatoes.  Currently, my favourite method is roasting the sweet potatoes.  You just peel them, slice them and toss them on a cookie (mmmm….cookies!) sheet with some EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil) or my new favourite oil, coconut oil, sprinkle with salt then put them in the oven at 325 degrees Farhenheit for 20 minutes or so (depending on how dark you want them, and although my family and friends would say that I like them dark, I actually like my sweet potatoes lightly roasted!).  I usually toss in whatever else is in the fridge that could be roasted including carrots, asparagus, onions and garlic.  If you prefer, you could make sweet potato fries with them by putting them in an oven preheated at 425 degrees Farhenheit for 30 minutes or so (keep an eye on them because the sugar in the potatoes could cause them to burn due to caramelization!).  Don’t forget to serve your sweet potato fries with mayonnaise and garlic, or mayonnaise and cumin dip (yum!).  I also enjoy boiling my sweet potatoes (the same way you would boil potatoes) then top with salsa or make a baked sweet potato topped with sour cream, green onions and cheddar cheese (I’m so hungry right now!).   I believe my Mom has cooked sweet potatoes, whole, in the microwave but I'm not sure how long or how to prepare them.  It's a nice way to serve the sweet potato.  All you have to do is scoop out the potato (Mom, feel free to share your cooking tips!).  However you choose to prepare the sweet potato, trust me, you’ll love it! 

So now onto my recipe…as you know, I’m a big fan of quinoa (check out my blog post “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s quinoa”)  mostly because it is a complete protein (perfect for vegetarians!) so I try to incorporate quinoa into as many meals as possible (I’ve even added it to my yogurt with bananas and blueberries snack!).  I decided to try a new recipe from my Quinoa 365 cookbook by Green and Hemming…sweet potato and coconut quinoa soup (it was delish!).  It not only combined two of my favourite things but also included the nutritional benefits of coconut (I’ll save that rant for another blog post…you’re welcome!).  Here’s the recipe…try it, you’ll love it :)

Sweet potato and coconut quinoa soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup quinoa
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (optional)

Heat oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in quinoa, sweet potato, and vegetable stock and turn heat on high until boiling. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes until the quinoa and sweet potatoes are cooked.  Puree mixture with an immersion blender or in small batches in a regular blender.  Return to low heat and add coconut milk and chili powder. Serve topped with yogurt or sour cream. 

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Coconut Soup
(it tastes better than it looks...blame it on the photographer!)