Spring is knocking at the door and often with the warmer weather we start thinking about our diets. If winter is a time for comfort food then summer has to be the healthy season. Going sugar free is not as painful as it sounds, or really quite as crazy. Four years ago I put myself to the test to see if I could live without added sugar. The truth is when we look at the list of ingredients of nearly everything that is store bought there is some form of sugar included. Our taste buds have become conditioned to need things sweetened and I find it rather scary.
Four and a half years later and I still have not had a grain of added sugar, at least not intentionally, and that includes maple syrup, stevia etc., and all forms of artificial sweeteners which I truly detest. I am sure there have been the occasional sauces in restaurants with sugar added, even the odd meal, but I take after my Father who hated all sauces and I am not a sauce person either, I don’t eat dressings and so the possibilities are very slight. But it is purely a choice and not a medical necessity. I still eat honey, albeit very occasionally, I eat lots of fresh fruit and I drink champagne and red wine, of course!
Our French friends think I am quite mad, they all eat healthily but they don’t do fad diets and they do eat sugar, a little coffee is always taken with sugar, a little dessert after dinner, bien sûr, they don’t do large portions but they do have a little something sweet to finish a meal, but our friends have got used to it and no one even questions my choices anymore. But we really do not need sugar, and I regard it as a poison. I had no reason to do this other than a desire to lead the healthiest lifestyle possible. I also interestingly had no withdrawal symptons!
I cannot deny I still watch the children eat a KitKat, especially when they break it with a satisfying crack right under my nose (yes I used to love the odd KitKat)! or an After Eight mint, or a piece of chocolate or a sweet biscuit and I think I’d quite like a mouthful. But it’s not a huge desire, just a mere passing fantasy, a brief moment when I think that would be nice. Likewise I admire the pastries in the boulangerie, I buy croissants for guests and family breakfasts at the weekend but I don’t eat them and I don’t feel as if I am missing out. At the same time I also don’t feel the need to make anybody else follow my lead, just because it is what I want to do. So I don’t consider myself a sugar free bore!!
I still bake, because I absolutely love baking. I adore making chocolate cakes and classic sponge cakes, meringues and desserts. In fact I am always the dessert chef in the family and someone else taste tests for me. I’m strict I won’t even try a tiny little bit! But making a cake or brownies for the children is a hobby, so I am rather glad they still enjoy them at the weekend!
However every now and then I do like a sweet fix. I’ve learnt to cook all sorts of things without sugar and here are a couple of recipes plus a firm favourite, focaccia, because every time I post a photo of it on Instagram I get several messages asking how to make it.
Now the first is a fairly new idea I’ve come up with. I used to love crumbles. Rhubarb in the spring, blackberry and apple in the autumn and I missed those childhood desserts, just like my granny used to make. So I played around until I found a good crumble topping that worked. We were all guinea pigs with my efforts, some better than others, but this one has become a firm winner, even with all our sugar eating kids!
APPLE CRUMBLE
8 apples peeled and cored and chopped
1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
Place the apples and spices in a saucepan and add enough water just to cover the bottom and gently simmer for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile make the crumble mixture and heat the oven to 180C/350F
Crumble Mixture
100g (3.5 oz) rolled oats
200g (7 oz) Flour
200g (7 oz) salted butter at room temperature
1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
2 large teaspoons honey
Combine the oats and flour and spices in a large bowl and gently crumble in the butter with your fingers so that it resembles a coarse mixture. Then add the honey and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Place the prepared apples in a heat proof dish and spoon over the crumble mixture.
Place in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes.
Delicious served with cream whilst still warm from the oven.
Another simple go to recipe when I want something a little sweet to go with a cup of tea in the afternoon has to be Banana Bread. It’s easy and delicious.
BANANA BREAD
125g (4.5 oz) wholemeal spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon allspice
50g (2 oz) butter, softened (I use salted butter)
100g (3.5 oz) raisins
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
3 large bananas mashed
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
4 dates (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a loaf tin with baking paper. Put all the dry ingredients into the mixer and turn on to low.
Add all the remaining ingredients excluding the dates and mix further.
Place the mixture in the prepared cake tin, pressing four dates along the top (optional) and bake for about 40 minutes. Test with a sharp knife; if it doesn’t come out clean, cover with some tin foil to stop the top burning and bake for a further 10 minutes.
Turn out onto a cooling rack and try not to eat it all at once!
Finally, my go to favourite bread recipe, fantastic with soups in the winter, with salads in the summer and whenever you have friends over and want something just a little more than a baguette.
SEA SALT AND ROSEMARY FOCACCIA
500g (1lb 2oz) strong white bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp herbes de Provence
2 sachets dried easy blend yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
400ml (14fl oz) cold water
olive oil for drizzling
Sea salt and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary for cooking
So this is where I have to admit I cheat and I use the bread machine to mix my dough. If you want to be like me, then put the ingredients in the dough pan in the manufacturers suggested order. Except for the last two ingredients.
If on the other hand you want to do this the proper good old fashioned way here goes:
Place the flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and 300ml (10½fl oz) of the water into a large bowl. Gently stir with your hand or a wooden spoon to form a dough then knead the dough in the bowl for five minutes, gradually adding the remaining water.
Stretch the dough by hand in the bowl, tuck the sides into the centre, turn the bowl 80 degrees and repeat the process for about five minutes.
Tip the dough onto an oiled work surface and continue kneading for five more minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.
Now this is where things are the same, bread machine or not!!
Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Tip the dough out of the bowl onto a well floured surface and divide into two portions. Flatten each portion onto a baking sheet, pushing to the corners, then leave to prove for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 220C/390F. Drizzle the loaves with the olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and cover with a few sprigs of rosemary.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve warm or cold.
Our French Oasis 
Thank You for this. We too have decided to cut or minimize sugar in our diet. Please continue to post recipes.
I will do, thank you xx
Oops, when you eat honey you are eating sugar. No doubts about it.
I agree totally, which is why I only eat honey maybe once a month at the most. xx
Good for you, Susan. I may try all these when I have a bit of time.
janet
Sugar becomes less appealing after canning fruit in summer. Seeing how much goes into the preservation of something that is already so sweet is quite a deterrent. Because no sugar is grown here, it is purchased in big bags.
Oh I agree, making jam is horrifying!
I do not even eat it. I only make it because others do. ick.
Same here!
I’m making all of them! I have taken myself off most sugar and salt. Don’t miss them. It’s all in what your tastebuds get used to.
Good for you, I think it becomes less appealing and suddenly fruit tastes incredibly sweet! I’ve even tried 99% cocoa chocolate and even that is not that bitter anymore!!!
Thank you for the recipes!
Hats off to you. I have a horrible sweet tooth and have been also trying to cut back. Age is catching up and so are the numbers.
I have been impressed with your determination not to eat sugar. It really is a contributing factor to most diseases. Luckily I do not have a sweet tooth. However, a bit of sugar in a good cup of coffee, or a small taste of a home made dessert is such a great treat. I love to look at the beautiful pastries in a patisserie, but have no wish to sample.i think of them as another art form. My husband on the other hand……
Ali x
They are indeed an art form, they are to be admired in every boulangerie but I have no desire to buy them anyway, so I am very content just to look!
please don’t take this as raining on your parade, what you are doing is admirable and many people would be better off if they did it too. However what you are doing is better termed satisfying a sweet tooth without adding sugar from the pantry. But bananas and apples and the rest of the fruit we eat have been domesticated, selected over the eons for sweetness among other things. See https://www.sciencealert.com/fruits-vegetables-before-domestication-photos-genetically-modified-food-natural Many fruits have been bred more intensely over the last few decades for sweetness; most of the apple varieties in the store (even in France) didn’t exist 50 years ago. So many of the recipes are adding sugar, just sugar from natural sources. Which is a good thing, at least you get the fiber and nutrients lacking in the white stuff, but for people trying to learn to wean themselves away from sugar cravings the fruit substitutes may not be as helpful as they want.
Very true words, I have always said I will continue to eat naturally occurring sugars in fruits etc. I am doing this for me not for any medical reasons. which I why I enjoy fruit, but I don’t use stevia or other sweeteners at all and honey only once a month or so. Mostly so the children will eat something I make!!!
Was delighted to read your post! Golly we do make excuses to feed the addiction – but sugar feeds cancers, and that’s reason enough for me to avoid it!
Totally agree with that one xx
Oh to have a sliver of your discipline. I envy you.
What a fabulous post, Susan ! Oh, we could be sitting in your garden at eventide and finish a bottle of Bordeaux and not stop talking on this theme ! Medically and nutritionally trained I know sugar is by far worse than fat and its overuse lies behind almost every First World disease. I do not have a sweet tooth, was not brought up in a home of desserts and managed to marry two guys who could not give a damn about anything sweet ! I do not order a dessert and have forgotten the last time I accepted a piece of cake – absolutely no problem ! I DO use stevia – it is truly natural; I also eat fruit and drink milk both of which contain sugar. No problem there. My p’problem’ lies in the fact I cook and eat Asian fusion 4-5 days a week – yes I have about a dozen different sauces in my pantry to male me and mine happy . . . – as I don’t do what most in Europe and the States do ./ . . I feel in balance. Adore my diet. I also have an affinity to dark 70% and over) chocolate . . . just a few squares a few nights a week . . . and my beloved wine naturally also has natural sugars . . . no biscuits, no snacks, no ‘health bars’ which are not . . . . am happy with ‘my way’ . . . but shall certainly copy your banana bread and focaccia tho’ am not a baker . . . .what a fun post !!
I think it is all about balance and doing what is right for us. I don’t like stevia, no idea why just don’t! Chocolate I actually like the 99% stuff, amazing but now it tastes ok, but I only have a square maybe at Christmas. Can’t really be bothered to buy it otherwise. Wine, sure that’s one of life’s pleasures and in moderation has its health benefits, which is good enough for me. And don’t get me started on the subject of health bars, or unhealthy bars as we call them in our family. So misleading for the general public. xx
Those baked goodies look mightily tempting!
Fab!! I once didn’t eat sugar for a year. It was tremendous! Totally agree with you. Well done you!!!!!! Don’t let anyone try to pull you down 🙂
But you have your own amazing diet xxx
Years ago I gave my Mom a cookbook filled with recipes about how to sweeten things without sugar. All the recipes used dates, applesauce, banana, etc. It is unfortunate that there is so much added sugar in many foods.
I agree, it has become a staple to most food which is so sad. xx
Congratulations on your efforts to eliminate sugar from your diet! I’lll have to try those recipes. Two “sugar-free” products which I’ve been using both contain Malitol, which I just read is a “sugar-alcohol.” Hmmm…
I try to eat only things that I make or that have very few ingredients and anything I don’t understand I try to avoid. Its about the only way because otherwise the list of things put in our food is quite horrific. I think it is slightly easier here in rural France though xx