Original Post Date: 8/17/2015
At some point, you need to look at yourself and ponder what may be causing some of your health issues, at least, that's where i'm at right now. I have struggled with Asthma as a child, but then seemed to grow out of it, only to have it come back way worse than ever in my twenties. 
I have always had bad allergies, which went hand in hand with the Asthma. But then also in my twenties, I started to see a skin condition come and go called Tinea Versicolor. Per WebMD, it says it can be most common if you have oily skin, live in a hot climate, you sweat a lot, or if you have a weak immune system. My thoughts are primarily the latter, since for the past couple of years, I will notice it getting worse when I have foods higher in sugar.  

For all of the above medical issues I have, I have decided to give up sugar for 1 year (with a couple of minor exceptions), in hopes to rid, or at least better some of these conditions. I have heard that for every year of poison or negative effects you do to your body, it takes one month to reverse it. I am hoping that 12 months of no sugars and very minor processed foods, that I can reverse my health back 12 years ago to my very early twenties when I did not have these conditions.
**exceptions will be made along the way possibly for holidays or rare family get togethers, and also for May 1, my wedding anniversary to have a piece of cake that my wife saved from our wedding. And also the occasional meal out, since it will be difficult to tell if sugar has been added to any of the ingredients of our meals.**

My wife is on board with this as well. It is best if your entire household does any challenges with you in order to help eliminate temptations that they could bring into the home, and also for support during the difficult times of the challenge.  

This is sometimes the hardest part. 
When do you start the challenge? And what will you do with the food in your home that you don't want to eat nor tempt you?

Now. 
The best time to start is now. You're thinking about making the change, you want to do it, but if you put it off in order to finish the food in your home, you may never start.

Inspired by our friend Jared and his DIY Spicerack, we took a look at what we were currently doing for organization and while good in theory, decided to make a new rack/shelf. Also, how and where did all these spices come from? I swear I only use red pepper flakes...

Here are a couple pics of our old rack (although we've already pulled out most of the spices we use for the new one. It was a nice pull down spice rack that I thought saved space at the time. But in reality, its too cumbersome.

We drove to menards and bought a 36 inch pre-made shelf board and 2 shelf brackets. In a matter of minutes we were able to hang and level the below shelf, and add/organize all of our spices right above the stove as seen below.

Driving home on Hwy 41 (3 lane hwy) in the middle lane, when the truck in front of us changes lanes to avoid hitting a wood box in the middle of the hwy... We didn't have enough time to completely change lanes in order to miss it. Luckily we did swerve enough to only hit the corner of the truck, but it did cause a fair amount of damage to the the bumper cover and wiper fluid reservoir tank. See Pictures below.

above, you can see the white wiper fluid reservoir tank. Needed to cut the white tip off as the tank got pushed so far back that the tip got removed from the secure hole above it and the tank was rubbing against the tire which caused a hole in the tank. After cutting it off with the magic knife that we just purchased from an estate sale for 50 cents an hour before, we were able to push the tank away from the wheel and drive the truck home.

First we took the truck to a mechanic to make sure everything was safe and there were no issues other than the cosmetic look. They confirmed everything was ok.

Next we started researching parts and getting quotes.
The cheapest quote we received was over $1500, so we decided to order the parts and see if we could do this ourselves.
The replacement parts we needed to order were:
Bumper Cover Replacement: ~284 (Free Shipping)
Bumper Cover Paint and Service: $175
Fog Lamp Lens and light: ~ $14
Side Reflector ~ $26
Reservoir Tank Replacement: ~$43
Tire Inner Fender Cover: ~$23
Total Material Costs $565.00

Ordered the bumper cover, and had it professionally color matched and painted.

Finally received all the parts, and ready to start the installation.

Above are the final 2 pics after putting everything back together. There were a few snags in the process, but well worth saving ~ $1000 to do ourselves.

Also a special thanks to our neighbor Mike who let us use his heated garage and tools during the process.

We originally put up these unattractive wire shelves years ago as a temporary fix to add some storage space. Finally, we decided to use some scrap wood in our garage, and buy a couple extra pieces of 2x2s, 2x3s, and car siding to make 2 cabinets. The first one on the floor with an opening top to hide our laundry basket, and the second one a larger cabinet with a door, and an extra open area at the bottom for storage. See pics below.

Final product.
We do not have any pictures of the middle shelf (behind the door) after installation. But you can see it in the finished pictures below. The floor and shelf were 1/4" particle board. It was meant to be temporary since we had it lying around. But after a couple coats of stain, it looks good in our opinion and we are in no need to rush out and replace them.

2 views of both cabinets together.

One last view of it with bathroom accessories in it.

Leave us any comments or questions you have regarding this project below.

This is a one day challenge.
The challenge is to complete 2014 Pushups in 24 hours on December 31st, to close out the year.

This is our first year doing this challenge. We first saw Drew Manning from Fit2Fat2Fit do this at the end of last year when we started following him. We then started our own Daily Pushup Challenge. If you are interested in checking that out, You can start that Here:


Results are posted below. I put together this spreadsheet that had all pushups laid out in Increments of 50. Then also split into 25, or 10s in case I couldn't do 50 at a time. Completed challenge just before 10pm. Took some long breaks in between. Next year, I will plan on doing them all earlier so that I can enjoy the rest of the day.

Download the 2015 Pushup Challenge Spreadsheet HERE.

How does the Pushup Challenge work?

This is a challenge where on you try to do one pushup for the corresponding day of the year. On January 1st, you do one pushup. January 2nd, two pushups; all the way through December 31st, 365 pushups.
Track your progress throughout the year.
I print out this sheet and hang it up somewhere you will see it everyday, like on your fridge.
Then cross out the pink #, and write in the new one after you complete your pushups for the day. Then once a week, month, or random interval, log on to your computer and update your spreadsheet. I then print out the new one and replace it with the old hanging one so that the totals are updated as well.

Good Luck! Let us know if you are attempting and how things are going. You can start it  it at any time. Just zero out the days before you start, and the totals will reset.

I started Jan 2nd of 2014. See my challenge for 2014. I did not hit my goal, but did get over 60,000 for the year.

The 2014 Calendar Year, Daily Pushup Challenge:
This is a challenge where on you try to do one pushup for the corresponding day of the year. On January 1st, you do one pushup. January 2nd, two pushups; all the way through December 31st, 365 pushups.

I started this Challenge on January 2nd, and for the first 5 months, I was on track... but then steadily declined. I am over 60,000 pushups with 2 days left.
The goal for the year was 66,795

I will post official results sometime tomorrow or after.

Here is a screenshot of my current progress.
Pink #s originally show the goal for the day such as the last 2 days shown.
Then overwrite them in black (or leave as pink if goal is not hit).

We love the Cauliflower Crust Pizza, but wanted to make a variation on it. We wanted to speed up the process and see if we could still get that great taste. And we did! At least, we did in our opinion. :)

Ingredient List:
Raw Cabbage or Coleslaw Mix (we bought it in a premixed bag already).
1 egg
Cheese (8oz or so)
Small can of sauce (or can of tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes (and we will blend it).
Onions/mushrooms (optional to add to sauce or as toppings).
Toppings - Anything and everything. We do different toppings every time. It just depends what we have.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes until cheese is at its desired meltiness.

Enjoy!
Please leave us a comment and let us know how your experience went with this recipe.

We have made a few variations of this, but this is the last one that we made recently. Ingredients list can vary to your liking, But this is our latest recipe below.

Ingredients Needed:
Zucchini - Approx 4 if smaller ones, but only 1 if you're able to find the giant ones.
Fresh tomatoes, or approx 16 oz can of fresh tomatoes. (to make sauce).
Toppings of your choosing: We used Onion, (mixed in sauce), mushrooms, raw cabbage (cole slaw mix), can of french green beans.
1lb ground meat (beef, turkey, pork, chicken). We found pork on sale this time.
8oz of Mozzarella Cheese (or cheese of your choice)

Start by browning the meat in a pan. You may season the meat to your desire with a little salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, or spice that is desired.  While that is browning, you can start slicing the zucchini.
Slice the Zucchini the long way as seen in pic below. I was able to use a cheese slicer to slice evenly.

Next we made our Red Sauce which I neglected to take any pictures of. But here are the steps:
Place raw tomatoes or canned tomatoes in a blender. We did not add any spices, but did add a few Arbol Chills to give it a little heat. Blended until it made a tomato sauce/paste, then added that directly to the meat when its almost done browning.  Let it simmer for a little bit so all the flavors can blend together.

Place in the oven on 350 Degrees for 30-40 minutes. If you have no frozen ingredients 30 should be plenty. Let stand for a few minutes to cool and for the juices to thicken. Then serve and enjoy!

Please comment or send us a private message if you have any questions. Thanks for checking out this recipe.

2.5 weeks of no sugar, and no carbs.

What this really means, is that we are giving up all processed sugars and carbs. No Bread, Pasta, or Rice. No Sugary Sodas or Juices including anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup. No Artificial Sweeteners of any kind. We do not want anything processed during this time. We will however still have natural sugars and carbs from fruits and vegetables.


We have seen others give up sugar for 10 days, but we wanted to go a little further. We would've said 1 month, but we know the temptations will probably be too high on Christmas Day, so we opted for 2.5 weeks, and may then reward ourselves with some Christmas Cookies or Pie.

What will we be eating during the challenge?
We will do our best to get pictures of some of our meals on here, but here are some of the things we plan on eating: Raw Fruits (mostly bananas, apples, strawberries, and mangoes), Veggies (lettuce, spinach, carrots), Eggs, Meat (mostly frozen chicken cubes that we purchased from GFS (no added ingredients)), and Nuts (pecans and almonds mostly). Rereading the above description, I realize it sounds boring, but can assure you that we've done this in the past and enjoyed some very delicious meals.

Today is Day #3 (12/3/2014).
This is where people say they start to have a difficult time with the challenge (between days 3 and 7). So far I haven't experienced any crashes during the day like I normally do when having a soda, or other snack for lunch, so we will see how the rest of the day and week goes. Below is a photo of Dinners from the first and second day. More filling than it looks and than I would have thought, and delicious as well. Also a reminder that in the first few days, it is recommended that you drink EXTRA Water and even add a little salt to your food. This is because when your body is cleansing itself from carbs, it takes a lot of water out of your system with it.

The salad above is on a regular size plate, but the other dinners are on small appetizer plates. We are trying to use smaller portions now. If not, I would keep eating until everything was gone from the plate, even if I wasn't hungry anymore.

Today is Day # 22


Only 3 more Days until Christmas and completing a successful challenge!
Over the past few days we have had dabbled in creating a few new recipes. The best, is probably our Cabbage Crust Pizza, which we baked in a lasagna pan. So delicious, we had it for dinner on Saturday, and again on Sunday for lunch. :)  -- Its been over 3 weeks since we started the challenge, and now only 3 days left.

Today is Day #23
Only 2 more days to complete the challenge. No big updates here. just checking in.

Today is Day #25, Christmas Day!
We have completed the 25 Day no sugar/carbs until Christmas Challenge! Overall, it was a great experience, and we plan to continue for the most part not having much sugar, nor refined carbs. I believe this challenge wasn't as difficult as when we initially started our first journey over a year and a half ago, but still had struggles, especially leading up to Christmas with our family making Christmas Cookies and other goodies.



After Midnight, as a treat for our efforts, we decided to indulge in a special treat to reward ourselves. And because we thought these were so cool and had never seen them before.
Check out our 1 lb Candy Bars below! 
Don't worry, we only had a couple bites.

Throughout Christmas Day we had our fair share of sugar and carbs. I personally feel pretty lethargic after everything. I did manage to have 2 cans of Pepsi as well (made with real sugar, no High Fructose Corn Syrup). After a few sips of the first one, the carbonation was a little much... but again, I did drink it all. And then craved another one later and had that as well. We won't be drinking much of this in the future. Probably just for special occasions when it is available at a get together.

We Highly suggest everyone tries a 10 day no sugar/carb challenge. Or at the least a no sugar challenge if you "need" to eat bread.

Please leave comments below, especially if you are planning on doing a challenge or have attempted one.