Embracing a Sugar-Free Week: A Journey of Renewal and Growth

Q: Does fruit count as added sugar?

No. Naturally occurring sugars found in whole fruit are not considered added sugars. This Week 19 challenge focuses specifically on sugars added to foods and drinks.

Q: Do we have to avoid every food that contains sugar?

No. This challenge focuses on added sugar rather than naturally occurring sugars in foods such as fruit and milk.

Q: What happens if someone eats added sugar during the challenge?

Simply continue with the challenge. The purpose is awareness and learning rather than perfection.

Q: How can children participate?

Children can help read Nutrition Facts labels and look for the Added Sugars line, turning the challenge into a simple family learning activity.

As we step into Week 19, we invite you to join us on a meaningful journey — a week-long challenge to eliminate added sugars from our diets. With the sweetness of Easter treats lingering, it might be a little tougher for some of us, but we’re excited to take on this challenge together.

In a world where sweet foods are easy to reach for, it can be interesting to pause for one week and become more aware of what we’re eating. This challenge isn’t about being perfect or labeling foods as “good” or “bad.” For us, it is another small experiment in awareness, self-discipline, and intentional family habits.

If you’ve been following our 52-Week Family Challenge, you already know that these weekly experiments are meant to help us notice our routines, learn something about ourselves, and see which habits are worth carrying forward.

In This Post

Why We’re Trying a No-Added-Sugar Week
What Counts as Added Sugar?
Our Week 19 Challenge
How to Make the Week Easier
Frequently Asked Questions

Why We’re Trying a No-Added-Sugar Week

We’re doing this because we believe in the value of small changes and short challenges that make us pay attention to our habits.

We’re curious to see how we feel when we step away from foods with added sugar for seven days, and we want to become more thoughtful about the choices we make without turning food into something stressful.

This also connects naturally with our Understand Your Ingredients Week, when we slow down and actually read the labels on the foods and drinks we already have at home.

What Does “No Added Sugar” Actually Mean?

For this challenge, we’re focusing specifically on added sugars, rather than trying to eliminate every food that naturally contains sugar.

Added sugar is not the same thing as naturally occurring sugar.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration explains that added sugars include sugars added during food processing, table sugar, syrups, honey, and certain concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. Naturally occurring sugars found in foods such as fruit and milk are not considered added sugars.

Learn more about added sugars from the FDA.

This distinction makes the challenge much easier to understand. We’re not trying to remove fruit or every naturally sweet food from our meals. Instead, we’re paying closer attention to the sugars that are being added to foods and drinks.

Our Week 19 Challenge: Seven Days Without Added Sugar

For the next seven days, we’re saying goodbye to things like:

desserts and candy with added sugar
sweetened syrups
jellies and other sweetened spreads
sweetened drinks
extra sugar added to foods or beverages

It may feel challenging at first, especially if something sweet is part of your normal routine. But this is only one week. The goal is to observe, experiment, and learn — not to create a permanent rule overnight.

One thing that can make this especially interesting with children is reading labels together. On U.S. Nutrition Facts labels, Added Sugars are listed separately from Total Sugars, making it easier to compare products.

This is a great skill to carry into other challenges too. During our ingredient-awareness challenge, we make label reading part of the learning experience rather than treating it as something only adults do.

How We’re Making the Challenge Easier

Start With What You Already Eat

You don’t need to redesign your family’s entire menu. Start with the foods and drinks you already use and check which ones contain added sugars.

Keep Naturally Sweet Foods Available

The focus is added sugar, so naturally occurring sugars in foods such as fruit are not the target of this challenge.

Make It a Family Experiment

Instead of making the week feel restrictive, talk about what everyone notices. Which foods were surprisingly sweet? Which substitutions worked? Which foods did nobody miss?

Don’t Turn a Slip-Up Into Failure

If someone eats something with added sugar, simply notice it and continue. One choice doesn’t have to end the entire challenge.

That same mindset is one of the reasons we enjoy short family challenges. Whether we’re taking a gentle daily walk or learning more about what’s in our food, the goal is to practice awareness and consistency rather than perfection.

Join Us on This Journey

We invite you to join us for the week. Share your favorite no-added-sugar ideas, ways your family made the challenge easier, or something surprising you discovered on a food label.

We’ll probably have cravings. We’ll probably discover sugar in a few foods we weren’t expecting. And we’ll probably need to get creative.

That’s part of the experience.

Let’s use the week to become more curious about our food, practice a little self-discipline, and see what we learn together.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What counts as added sugar?

Added sugars are sugars introduced during processing or preparation, including table sugar, syrups, honey, and other sweeteners. On packaged foods in the U.S., you can find the amount listed under “Added Sugars” on the Nutrition Facts label.

Does fruit count as added sugar?

No. The naturally occurring sugars found in whole fruit are not considered added sugars. Our Week 19 challenge focuses specifically on sugars added to foods and drinks.

Do we have to avoid every food that contains sugar?

No. This challenge is specifically about added sugar, not all naturally occurring sugars. The goal is to become more aware of added sweeteners rather than remove every naturally sweet food from the diet.

What happens if someone eats added sugar during the challenge?

Just keep going. This is a one-week family experiment, not a test of perfection. Notice what happened, talk about it if it is helpful, and continue with the challenge.

How can children participate?

One easy way is to let children help read Nutrition Facts labels and look for the “Added Sugars” line. It turns the challenge into a simple learning activity as well as a family habit experiment.