Strangling the Sugar Beast

  I have a confession to make - we eat a lot of sugar.  No, a lot.  We didn't a few years ago, but I've gotten lax.  I've laid down with the Sugar Beast myself and my head is paying for it.  When I started seeing signs of what frequently gets labeled as ADD in my son I knew it was time to take both the easiest and hardest route - limiting the sugar consumption.  We started last week, right after we made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast *facepalm.*  Today is the last day of muffins, so it will be starting more in earnest tomorrow.  Though we have already taken out a lot and gotten in the habit of stopping ourselves (at least boyo and myself).
  DH just got home yesterday, so he's very new to it and I've already heard whining.  "Does this mean I can't make those vegan brownies?"  Yes fool, it does.  It's not permanent, but when we are done desserts will be eaten once a week.  Not every night, plus candy and sodas during the day.  I did give DH that he can cheat at work.  I know he's going to anyway.  I'm hoping that will make the transition at home easier because he's the biggest whiner in the house about it.
  So those fruit snacks that made it on to the list of things to make - gone.  I'm not disappointed.  Just like boyo gets to finish off his muffins, I get to finish off my pumpkin spice syrup.  In case  you missed that recipe two years ago, or lost it: (you're welcome)

                                                                  (photo credit: Alison of Culinary Adventures in the Kitchen)
  So far I have noticed that my son is paying slightly better attention.  Now we've only been at this about a week and we did not cut out all refined sugars immediately.  We are also only cutting out refined sugars.  So fruits, breads (including pancakes, he doesn't use syrup), and recipes that use less than 1/8c of sugar in them are still a go at this point.  We're cutting down significantly, but not eliminating - yet.  This does mean no candy type or chocolate chip studded muffins, pancakes, etc.  Today I will be trying my hand at a new recipe for muffins, I'm looking for a recipe I have everything on hand for now.  The chocolate chip muffins came from a baking book and we doubled the recipe to 20 muffins, cut down the granulated sugar from 2/3c to 1/3c and brown sugar from 6Tbs to 4Tbs and they were still very sweet.  I could always use that as a base and keep reducing the sugar until it's the correct sweetness or the muffin recipe no longer works right.  Eventually tweaking without substituting will make it crap out.
  I am also looking into Jeddy's blend to try.  Right now I'm focusing on the sugars though because I really want to cut them down.  I know if Jeddy's blend works on it's own DH will be off the limited sugars band wagon and it will be a huge fight.  They need it the most too with their waists (somehow I wasn't putting on weight - I think it was a lot of sugar for me, but not so much that it had weight effects).  Something I want to point out is it's far better to get rid of than substitute sugars.  The average substitute has the same, if not worse, effects.  The only thing we substitute with are fruits.  Very ripe bananas and dates are the most popular in my house.