I did it! I’m no longer a sugar-holic! After a lifetime of consuming cookies, ice-cream, cake, chocolate croissants, cupcakes, hot chocolate, candy, cheesecake, you name it…on a daily basis, I’m totally over it!
After a 21 day detox, I no longer crave sugar. It’s incredible. As someone who got her “fix on” every single day, this is, obviously, life-changing for me. No more Starbucks runs. No more standing in line for frozen yogurt. No more trips to the vending machine for a Twix bar.
After the detox was over, I thought maybe I’ll do another 21 days. But I figured that was a bit draconian. So here’s my guideline: I’ll only eat processed sugar if it’s offered to me. Donuts at the office? Bring it. Cupcakes at a baby shower? Gladly. But I will not spend a dime to buy myself a sugary treat.
There’s one scenario that’s really hard for me. On the weekends, I love strolling Franco around in our neighborhood and sitting down at our local bakery and having a hot chocolate. Not being able to do that is really tough. I guess I can always get tea, but for now, I know I need to avoid the aroma of baked goods. I can see myself caving in with a hot chocolate and one of their pear tarts.
I will say that when you give up an addiction, you’re really just transferring one addiction for another. In my case, I now eat more salty snacks and drink more alcohol.
But otherwise, I feel great! No more sugar rushes. No more ups and downs.
Now if I can just get my baby to sleep through the night!
Hey Catherine!! Boy have I missed a lot! So good to be back to blogging! I’m recouping from major surgery, so your post is right up my alley! I pretty much had to stop sugar cold-turkey over the summer to prepare my body for my surgery 3 weeks ago. No sugary drinks, no cakes, no pies and definitely no candy! I feel so much better! I’m on a plant based whole food diet and I feel great! And I know it’s a factor in me healing quicker than expected! Take care my friend! Btw…congrats again on your beautiful little bundle!
Way to go Catherine and got to admit not sure I could go without hot chocolate or sweet types of lattes like pumpkin spice here, but still so proud of you. And hoping baby Franco sleeps though the night soon for you. Sending good thoughts not hat for sure your way 🙂
I think you are right about transferring one addiction for another. When I stopped eating sweets at work I switched to salt. We have a popcorn machine here at work and I would have a daily bag doused in salt. I recently read too much salt causes kidney stones, so I’ve been using every ounce of willpower not to eat the popcorn.
Unfortunately I did have two slices of pumpkin cake someone put in the lunch room. I guess I have to restart my sugar detox. I was doing pretty good.
Good luck with your sugar-free diet. I know how hard it is.
Well done! It is amazing the impact that sugar can have on our system. Sunday morning I woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a truck – super groggy and miserable. I finally realized that it was because of the frozen yogurt smothered in sweet toppings that I’d had the night before. Lesson learned! But I’m with you. Salty snacks are more my vice of choice. And, of course, wine!
Good luck with the sleeping through the night thing! I promise, it will happen!
I should try that book – I’ve eliminated tons of added sugar from my diet on a daily basis but have a kick for baking lately and sorry but regular sugar is my happiness.. I hate that stevia nonsense, HATE IT! It’s so gross – Bah just thinking of the after taste is disturbing. Ha – there’s always rooms for alcohol and I try to stick to more dry red wines and straight liquor with splash of club soda and lime. So far so good 😉 Have a great one Catherine and kudos for kicking the addiction! -Iva
That’s awesome, Catherine – congrats! When I did a short sugar detox, I drank peppermint tea after dinner – it seemed to have a bit of the sweetness I was missing. And right now I’m drinking pumpkin tea. While not sweet, the cloves and cinnamon are pretty satisfying.
Good for you!! I am so addicted to sugar. I really should give it up too but I’m waiting until I can at least have some wine and caffeine! Seriously, that is amazing!
Well done, you! 🙂
Awesome!! People don’t believe that it’s possible but it’s true. I used to eat and crave candy every day and now it’s only every now and then. Sometimes I wonder if eating it will open up the flood gates but so far that is not the case. For now I think it’s good you forgo it only when offered but maybe eventually you will get to a point where just this once is actually just this once and can indulge every now and then without restarting the addiction.
OMG, that’s awesome! Way to go on curbing the sugar (I have a hard time with that myself), but I think that’s a good idea to stop splurging on it but to allow yourself the occasional indulgence 🙂 Something I have found that has helped me is to drink flavored teas (ever try chocolate tea??) when I’m in the mood for a sweet fix. Much healthier (as long as I don’t add sugar to it). I’ve missed you–hope you are loving mommyhood and that the little one soon sleeps through the night 🙂 XOXO
In due time about the baby!
I always read about sugar addictions and I always think that giving it up isn’t for me. My willpower isn’t very strong about it. There are truly other treats out there but I’d have to probably do a once a week treat/coffee type of thing. I couldn’t go cold turkey!
If anyone needs an incentive to cut down on sugar, I recommend you watch a documentary called FED UP (made by the people who did Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth). It’s not my usual field but I saw it recently and I was so disturbed by it that I ended up writing a blog post about it (“Sugar Rush” if you’re interested: I won’t post a link here because I don’t want to be spammy).
The takeaways are:
+ sugar makes you fat
+ obesity and diabetes are killing us
+ 80% of the food on our supermarket shelves now contains added sugar
+ 95% of Americans are expected to be overweight or obese in the next 20 years
+ ours is the first generation which is expected to have a shorter life-span than our parents
I am so jealous! I’ve tried a few times to “quit” sugar, but it’s in absolutely EVERYTHING! Plus, my husband and kids don’t have to give it up just because I want to, and I can’t handle the temptation of their sweet snacks in the house. Maybe after baby 4 is here and I’ve survived a few months back at work (read: I can’t drink coffee without sugar! 😉 I’ll give it a real, for-sure effort. Props to you, giving up sugar is one tough thing to accomplish!
When you initially set out on your sugar detox, you and your post inspired me. I am a cookie monster! I joined you on your “no sugar diet” for 21 days. I’m proud to say that sugar–well, cookies–is no longer my vice. Very proud. Thanks for the inspiration!