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  • ^- Peanut butter and jelly.

  • - Poo poo.

  • - Cool, I love having boys!

  • (upbeat music)

  • Sugar.

  • Sugar.

  • Everything has sugar!

  • ^I'm Hannah.

  • ^I'm the world's OK-est mom

  • and my family has a sugar problem.

  • Now, I feel like it's my fault

  • because I'm a busy working mom

  • and I let a lot of things slide,

  • and I kind of say yes a little bit too much.

  • So now my kids are expecting treats all the time.

  • And I feel like their behavior is suffering as a result.

  • They're not getting good sleep.

  • And they're throwing a lot of tantrums lately.

  • Now, I'm not a nutritionist, but I think we can all agree

  • that too much sugar is not good for you.

  • So I want to try something.

  • For one whole week, I'm gonna cut out all added sugar

  • from my family's diets.

  • Now I'm not saying we're gonna last a whole week.

  • I'm not saying we're gonna be okay with this.

  • And we might end up eating each other at the end.

  • But I'm gonna stay positive and see what happens.

  • So wish us luck!

  • So some ground rules for the week

  • because sugar is kind of a broad term.

  • The sugar that we were cutting out

  • was added, processed sugar.

  • We weren't cutting out fruit,

  • we're not cutting out fruit juice.

  • But anything that has sugar added to it,

  • or any processed sugar at all was off the table.

  • So I went specially grocery shopping

  • at the beginning of the week for this experiment.

  • Goodbye!

  • So I am pretty shaken up

  • over how much stuff actually has sugar in it.

  • I felt completely lost in that grocery store

  • and I was like, checking every label.

  • And I'd get through like 90% of the ingredients,

  • and then boom, at the bottom, sugar!

  • I was very surprised to see just how much has sugar in it

  • that I've thrown in my cart and not even thought about.

  • Like tomato sauce.

  • When I was looking at the different brands,

  • I actually found one that didn't have sugar in it.

  • So had I just taken the time before to check,

  • I wouldn't be purchasing tomato sauce

  • ^with sugar all this time.

  • ^He's upset 'cause he really wanted Kix cereal

  • and we're doing cottage cheese and fruit.

  • Hmm. - I do not like this.

  • - Well, you're eating your oranges.

  • I'm proud of you.

  • ^Okay, so I totally forgot we have catered lunch today.

  • Nope.

  • Nope.

  • I don't know what's on this.

  • Nope.

  • This is my plate.

  • It looks like a rabbit's plate.

  • This is Allison's plate 'cause she eats meat.

  • (laughing)

  • But I literally I,

  • I'm like not looking forward to this.

  • It's like wet kale.

  • Getting hungry really dawned on me

  • that I'm gonna be doing a lot of cooking this week.

  • ^You want dinner?

  • ^- Sure.

  • - [Hannah] You wanna eat the broccoli I'm making?

  • - No.

  • - Yes!

  • Tonight we're gonna have some roasted broccoli

  • and some chicken and tri-tip for the boys.

  • You did pretty good!

  • Jackson got some broccoli, tri-tip, chicken.

  • Inside-out PJ shirt.

  • It is 8 p.m. and we are currently eating.

  • So in addition to changing my shopping habits,

  • I had to change my whole wind down, evening,

  • me time, relaxation habits.

  • I get home from work, we do dinner, get the kids in bed.

  • And then that's my time to shine.

  • And I park my butt right here on this couch,

  • grab a pint of ice cream, turn on my true crime shows,

  • and I just

  • slug out.

  • Now, I try to deny this to my kids.

  • I try to pretend like it doesn't happen.

  • But they know.

  • ^I'm not eating sugar.

  • ^- [Hannah] No I'm not.

  • ^- No.

  • So the kids are asleep and this is typically the time

  • that I would raid the freezer

  • and get some ice cream,

  • or get some candy.

  • But I'm not gonna do that.

  • My body is like, come on, it's time!

  • But no.

  • So I'm gonna eat some kale snacks that my mom gave me.

  • ^So, I made this oatmeal this morning.

  • ^It took forever and I'm gonna throw some blackberries on it.

  • And that's breakfast!

  • I ended up having to make oatmeal from scratch

  • because a lot of the packaged oatmeal

  • and the instant oatmeal has sugar in it if it's flavored.

  • - The oatmeal is really good.

  • ^- [Hannah] Oh my god, you like it?

  • ^- Yeah!

  • ^- Nice!

  • They were super excited about the oatmeal I made,

  • and were like, oh, it's actually good!

  • That's some dank oatmeal.

  • I probably shouldn't say dank.

  • Dank is done 'cause I said it.

  • Dank is officially over.

  • No one can say that anymore.

  • I'm sorry to the youth.

  • So very quickly, I realized that at work,

  • I needed to bring all of my own food

  • because I work at Tasty.

  • It's the most epic food channel ever

  • and there's always the most delicious food

  • just coming out of that kitchen 24/7.

  • It's just too tempting with all the snacks,

  • and all the catered lunches

  • and all this delicious food that's always there.

  • ^Nick and I are having our healthy lunches.

  • - [Nick] Well, mine's not that healthy.

  • - Kind of.

  • I want dessert!

  • I didn't bring a piece of fruit.

  • I should have brought like a piece of fruit with me.

  • And I ended up starting to live vicariously

  • through my co-workers.

  • Can you just taste it and tell me how it tastes?

  • - Yeah.

  • Mm, mm.

  • - [Hannah] Am I missing out?

  • - Yeah.

  • - There's something really satisfying

  • about watching someone else enjoy food.

  • I'd be like all up in their mouth.

  • Like let me see.

  • It's chocolate and white chocolate and shortbread.

  • Is it good? - Mm.

  • ^- All right, another morning, another breakfast grind

  • and lunch grind.

  • What do you want?

  • - I want a cheese quesadilla.

  • - Jackson has requested oatmeal,

  • and Wyatt has requested a quesadilla this morning.

  • So I'm making it because it doesn't have any sugar.

  • But it's really tough when they each ask

  • for something different.

  • And I have to make two breakfasts.

  • I'm actually feeling okay today.

  • My face is a little less puffy.

  • Usually it's really puffy when I wake up.

  • And I think that's partially due to the excessive amount

  • of ice cream I eat at night (laughs).

  • For me, I have a really big sweet tooth

  • and I realized throughout this week how much

  • I rely on sugar for energy throughout the day.

  • I am the first one home this evening.

  • So I'm going to go ahead and start making dinner.

  • Today was pretty difficult

  • but I feel like it's getting easier.

  • Although, I do have a crazy work week this week

  • and I have noticed that me craving sugar

  • has kind of clouded my ability to work a little.

  • 'Cause I'm thinking about it a lot more

  • and kind of craving it.

  • But I have a great dinner planned tonight.

  • I'm making a falafel feast with this flatbread,

  • and hummus, and garlic spread,

  • and tabboleh, and tzatziki, and olives,

  • and it's gonna be delicious.

  • I'm very happy with this dinner.

  • The kids already ate.

  • I do feed them, I promise.

  • ^Towards the end of the week, I really thought

  • ^we had jumped over a hurdle.

  • Like we were on our way and doing great.

  • But then, I made the mistake of deviating

  • from my usual, special oatmeal

  • and I decided to make pancakes.

  • And I used this pancake mix that's, you know,

  • full of wheat flour, and protein, and no added sugar.

  • But then when I served 'em, I realized

  • I had nothing to put on top of them.

  • And that did not go over well.

  • He's crying cause I won't put syrup on his pancakes.

  • (crying)

  • I'm sorry sweetheart.

  • (crying)

  • So Matt agreed to participate in this experiment as well,

  • which I was really excited about

  • 'cause we're all doing it as a family.

  • Obviously, we eat breakfast and dinner together

  • but I wanted him to suffer,

  • (laughs) like I was suffering.

  • But I don't know if I quite trust that he followed through

  • every day when he was gone at work.

  • How'd you do today?

  • - No added sugar.

  • - Oh, really? - I had a veggie burrito.

  • - Oh, really? - Mm-hmm.

  • - Hmm, really?

  • In his defense, I didn't make it easy for him.

  • Do you want ice cream?

  • Should we cheat?

  • - No. - No?

  • - It's been like five days.

  • Let's keep going.

  • - [Hannah] We have Magnum bars in the freezer.

  • - Why are you saying this?

  • - And just so you guys know

  • that I haven't edited this to make myself

  • look completely guilt-free

  • and like I did this experiment perfectly,

  • I have a confession.

  • ^I messed up.

  • ^- She cheated!

  • ^- I messed up, I didn't mean to.

  • It was totally by accident.

  • I had a co-worker who was like, tasting all these things,

  • and she's like, can you taste this

  • and tell me if it's spicy?

  • And I'm like, oh, I love spicy food.

  • And I put it in my mouth and the second I did

  • I was like, ah, I can taste the sugar on it!

  • I just, my hands just grab food if it's offered.

  • And they just move right to my mouth.

  • My hands have a mind of their own, okay?

  • ^Day six.

  • ^Got my eye pads on.

  • For breakfast we are doing

  • a totally health food packed smoothie.

  • Oh, okay.

  • - Doughnuts, doughnuts!

  • - [Hannah] No, he's joking!

  • - I want doughnuts!

  • - Now, on the final day of this week we had an event.

  • My really good friend's son was turning three.

  • And she's having a big backyard birthday party for him.

  • There is nothing more tempting, sugar-wise,

  • ^than a birthday party.

  • ^So we're on the way to the birthday party.

  • ^We have two arguing kids in the back.

  • So I'm a little nervous because they're already

  • in kind of gnarly moods and they haven't napped today.

  • How do you think we're gonna do

  • at this birthday party with no sugar?

  • - Oh yeah.

  • To be continued on that.

  • - So far, so good.

  • There's a bounce house.

  • - There he is.

  • - So, so far, so good.

  • At the end of the party, we were doing so well.

  • We're packing up our stuff to go

  • and I made the fatal mistake of peeing.

  • You parents out there know, you can never go

  • to the bathroom without something horrible happening.

  • Would you take a cupcake out

  • of your very temperamental three year old's hands

  • at a party with a bunch of other parents?

  • Yeah, no, I was not about to go there.

  • But then (laughs), when Wyatt has a cupcake in his hands,

  • that's not fair to Jackson.

  • So Jackson needs a cupcake and it just triggered

  • this chain of events of, like, ah you get a cupcake,

  • and you get a cupcake,

  • and I had to literally, like, yell at Matt

  • to back away from the cake.

  • Think about it.

  • Drop the knife.

  • Walk away.

  • Walk away.

  • Stop the cupcake cycle!

  • Like, stop.

  • Everybody stop.

  • And here's the kicker of the whole cupcake situation.

  • While I was in the bathroom,

  • Matt was outside with the kids.

  • Now, I'm not accusing him

  • of giving Wyatt the cupcake himself.

  • But all I know is that he assisted in unwrapping it.

  • - [Matt] Here, buddy.

  • - So, in total, we made it six and 3/4 of a day,

  • which is six days longer

  • than I really thought we would last.

  • Good enough.

  • So in conclusion, my learnings from this week.

  • One of the main reasons why I did this experiment

  • is because I was looking to see how it would affect my kids.

  • I was looking at their temperament, their behavior,

  • and their sleeping habits.

  • And I definitely saw improvement in all three.

  • They really did seem to have an improved mood

  • and more energy and just not crashing

  • so much at the end of the day.

  • Now for me, it kind of had the opposite effect.

  • I was so aware that we weren't eating any sugar,

  • it just made me think about it all the time.

  • And so I felt very distracted throughout the week.

  • (crunches) I'm really happy.

  • I love kale.

  • I love grass.

  • I kind of envy my kids, 'cause they were,

  • for the most part, oblivious to this experiment

  • because they have someone just making food for them.

  • I kind of wish I had this magic food maker

  • who just decided everything I got to eat.

  • Instead of me just eating a bunch

  • of cottage cheese all week.

  • So going forward, I really think

  • that there are a lot of swaps that we can do

  • and a lot of things we can be more conscious of.

  • Instead of cereal, serving oatmeal.

  • Or instead of packaged fruit bars,

  • we'll just eat fresh fruit.

  • I think those are little swaps and little changes

  • that are gonna help us long-term.

  • And I'm definitely gonna be more mindful

  • shopping in the grocery store to look at the ingredients

  • and really look for what I'm bringing into our house.

  • Because all of it has freakin' sugar!

  • All of it!

  • Ugh!

  • So that's all I got for today.

  • I'm Hannah and if you have any tips or tricks

  • to get your kids to eat better,

  • please leave them in the comments.

  • But be nice to each other, guys.

  • Because we're all just trying to get by here.

  • ^Or you can text me, this is a real number,

  • ^and I do read each and every one.

  • ^I don't always respond because I get a lot

  • ^but I love hearing what you guys have to say.

  • Now, if you'll please excuse me.

  • My kids are asleep.

  • This is my time to sit on the couch, like the sloth

  • that I am and enjoy a box of Girl Scout cookies.

  • Till next time!

  • (upbeat music)

  • I missed them.

  • I missed you!

  • Don't look at me! (laughs)

^- Peanut butter and jelly.

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