How Sweet it Is: Breaking the Sugar Habit

As we covered in the last post, sugar’s affect on our body ain’t so sweet.

You may feel like you want to give up the sugar habit for good, but how? It’s overwhelming. Sugar is everywhere.

The first step is awareness. We need to know our enemy before we can defeat it.

Were you aware that about 90% or more of the 8,000 or so items in the average super-market contain added sugar? YIKES. We need to be armed with information if we want to kick this habit.

Know Thy Enemy
Sugar goes by many names. Here are the most popular:

 
Know Thy Self
Next is the decision. I had to get really honest with myself and look at my history with sugar. Time and time again, I’d end up sabotaging my diets or healthy eating plans due to this substance. When I went up against sugar, I could never win. One cookie was too many and 1,000 were not enough.

With a lot of prayer and support, I decided that I couldn’t do sugar. Period. It was a process for me and I definitely had my “bottom” with it.

I went through the typical stages of grief in letting go of my vices…

1. First, the denial stage… “I’m not really that bad.”
    
2. To the anger stage… “Why is my body this way! Why is there sugar in everything?!?!”
    
3. And then the bargaining stage… “Maybe I could do sugar once a week?.. Or how about using the more ‘natural’ sugars?”
    
4. And my personal favorite, the depression stage… “I can never have a cookie again… I won’t have a birthday cake again… no more Christmas cookies”
    
5. Finally, I reached the acceptance stage. That’s when the light started to come in. My sugar consumption actually got worse right before I gave it up. It can be darkest before the dawn.

Quitting Cold Turkey – How to Fight the Detox
The first thing I did was decide that I couldn’t safely eat sugar anymore.

Once this was done, the next step was action! I cut everything with any form of sugar out of my diet. My rule of thumb is that if sugar was in the first five ingredients, I didn’t eat it. I became an expert label reader and if I saw any form of sugar, even the sneaky ones like caramel color, I wouldn’t eat the food. By cutting out sugar, I significantly reduced my consumption of processed foods as they were loaded with hidden sugars. Check those labels! Salad dressing, SALT!, soups, etc. can all be guilty of this.

WARNING: Cutting out the sugar did produce some detox symptoms like headaches, cravings, and fatigue. But take heart, they pass quickly. I found that extra sleep and plenty of fluids helped do the trick. Furthermore, I just learned that the glucose and Vitamin C have similar chemical structures. Who knew?! So how does that help us? Well, every time you have a sugar craving, take 500 mg of Vitamin C which should help reduce its intensity.

So, once I took out the sugars and got through the detox, it actually wasn’t too bad. I didn’t “crave” sugar anymore because I got it out of my system. It was vital though for me to have that boundary. No sugar, no matter what. First 5 ingredient rule was my foundation in those grey areas. It is fascinating to me how after 10 years of sugar-free living (thank you God), I can still detect sugar in foods I eat; if I inadvertently consume some sugar (usually in a sauce or dressing), it can set up a craving. That’s why I’m diligent about the top 5 ingredient rule. I don’t want to make this any harder than it already is.

Find out what works for you
I know many, many people who can eat sugar in moderation. They can drink ½ mug of hot chocolate and then get bored and leave it alone. Or, it takes them days to eat a large piece of cheesecake. That’s great for them.

Your goal should fit your particular health needs and disposition. The key is to cut back consumption whether that is to 2 Hershey kisses a day, or 3 treats a week, or none at all. Whatever works for you. Ultimately, your body will thank you for cutting back on the sugar.

What do you think?
Where do you fall in the land of sugar consumption? What do you think would be the hardest to give up?



Next post we’ll look at 4 great sugar substitutes that will have you thinking, “Sugar, who?”

This is part four in a seven-part series.

1. Intro
2. A Brief History of Sugar
3. How Sugar Affects Our Bodies
4. How to Break the Sugar Habit
5. Great Sugar Substitutes
6. Amazing Sugar-Free Treats
7. How to Build Your Sugar Support System

Tagged as: addiction, habit, how-to, series, sugar