So, the thing is this. When I started on this #onelessthing journey, I looked at the entire year and planned out what things I would cut out. I felt like I was being pretty methodical with choosing something that was challenging but also not completely disruptive. Somehow in this planning, I completely missed that I would do two separate food challenges right in a row. If you recall, last month I gave up Grains. Although it wasn’t too difficult to do, I was just so ready for a delicious Blueberry Tart from Fox in the Snow when the month concluded. TURNS OUT, the next item on the list would prohibit me from doing that…
Challenge: No Sugar!
Rules: Ok armchair dieticians, here’s the deal. I understand that there is sugar in everything and that not all glucose is bad. Even vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes and tomatoes have sugar in it. This is NOT a complete sugar detox. The goal was to cut out added sugars, which meant no candy, desserts, or heavily processed foods. A COMPLETE sugar detox would pretty much be a Whole30 or keto diet and to be perfectly honest, I just don’t have the time or money to commit to that right now. I also wanted to craft a monthly routine that anyone could easily follow, and when you are spending hours a week making broth from scratch, it’s not highly accessible to most people.
Why I cut it out: When I grew up, I had the biggest sweet tooth. My parents were always very healthy growing up and as a result, we had the most boring pantry of snacks. My friend joked that my kitchen was just condiments. Every lunch from grade 3-12 consisted of the same thing: a sandwich, a Capri Sun, and a Nutrigrain bar. I never got to trade my snacks for cooler snacks like Gushers or Hoe-Hoes or Snow-Balls. It seemed like a good idea in terms of raising kids that weren’t totally addicted to sugar but it actually had the adverse effect. My siblings and I would go HARD at the candy store with whatever spare cash we had. Warheads, Sour Patch Kids, Ring Pops, Twix bars, you name it. Any opportunity for candy or sugar was taken advantage of. I have the dental work to prove it.
Looking back at the different stages of health in my life, it’s truly amazing how long I spent not having ANY idea the correlation between sugar and weight gain. Or illness. Or chronic fatigue. Or anxiety. Or depression. Or concentration. For more insight on exactly how damaging sugar can be to your body, I asked my friend, certified nutrition coach, and all around badass Susan Perry to give me an explanation:
“Consistently high blood sugar has a huge ripple effect on our health. Playing the sugar roller coaster game causes systemic inflammation throughout the body and remember all diseases start with inflammation. Cancer, dementia, Parkinsons, diabetes, autoimmunity love to feed off this inflammation.”
The first time I got pregnant, I really started to feel really connected with what I was eating and how it was making me feel. This went into hyperdrive as I started breastfeeding. Not only could I see the impact that food was having on me, but I could see how it impacted my baby as well. I was also feeling like I needed to get in better shape. When he was about 6 months old, my husband and I decided to do the Whole30. The rules around sugar are very strict. You basically have to prepare all of your meals from scratch because you can have NO added sugar. Beyond that, you can’t even have any sugar substitutes that get added to foods like processed citric acid, dextrose, fructose, corn syrup, maple, agave, and even Stevia. Even vegetables with sugar like Sweet Potatoes were only allowed in small portions. Only one handful of fruit a day and it was really just supposed to be blue or blackberries. Going about this diet while working full-time and with a newborn was a HUGE challenge and it required a ton of meal prep and money for the expensive stuff. In that month alone, I lost 14lbs and kept about 9 off for a long time.
I couldn’t believe how good I felt without all of that crap in my system. But, old habits die hard, and so do old diets. I went from taking coffee black (LIKE MY SOUL) to adding stevia to going straight back to sugar. Where my freezer was once free of ice cream, Tolenti’s soon became plentiful. As our children started requiring more and more snacks, our standards started slipping from healthy and organic to quick and easy.
For the past 2 years, I’ve been working out more than ever AND IT SHOWS (JK but not really). I pack most of my lunches and try to make our dinners from scratch. But as I started getting more stressed and anxious, late night snacks became a huge comfort for me. I’d crush it all day and then as soon as the kids were asleep and I could finally relax, I’d go straight for the dark chocolate. Or ice cream. Or cookies. Or anything that had sugar. I’d wake up the morning feeling so sluggish and grossed out. I’d try to make it up by working out harder but it wasn’t addressing that I was actually addicted to sugar. So when it came time to make this list, I knew I had to cut it out again.
“Wait, what did you eat then”: Let me re-iterate that this was not a 100% sugar detox. I made about 80% of my meals from scratch and mostly with fresh foods, but I am only human. After not having any grains for a month, I really craved toast. I would try to stick to sprouted bread like Ezekiel’s or brands that didn’t add sugar (which is hard to find). I also made a delicious beef Ragu sauce from scratch that didn’t have any sugar but ate that with some pasta which definitely had sugar in it. Though I tried to not get too crazy with the condiments, I couldn’t help but have ketchup with my fries and lets face it; ketchup is just tomato sugar water.
I already don’t drink soda other than La Croix so that wasn’t hard but I didn’t have any juice either. “But fruit is good for you!” you say, to which Susan will reply:
“PET scans can be used to explore how cancer has spread and you know what radioactive drug they use to find the tumors…….medical grade glucose because cancer cells have a party when there’s sugar around, its cancer cells food of choice. Just think of that before you down that 8 oz glass of freshly squeezed orange juice which contains roughly 20 g of sugar, or 5 teaspoons”
So, you can drink juice, but only if you want to get cancer and die. In all seriousness, this is a great point. You wouldn’t eat 10 oranges in a row. Why consume them in liquid form?
Other than that, I went back to drinking black coffee, making most of my own sauces and marinades, and doing my best to stay away from processed foods.
The Results: Let me tell you: if you are preparing to cut out sugar or even do a full detox, I would suggest starting on a Saturday when you don’t have anything to do. You will definitely have withdrawal symptoms. I felt hungover on day 1. My head was pounding, I was completely lethargic and even felt nauseated. I could have gone to bed at 8PM that night. It probably took me a solid 2 days to feel normal again. On top of that, this challenge correlated with day one of my shameful lady times so the cravings for chocolate were so real. But, I pushed through and by day 3, I was feeling really good.
For a challenge like this, you have to be prepared. Even though I tried to stay away from snacking, I made sure that I had almonds/mixed nuts at my desk if I was feeling hungry between meals. Here’s the interesting thing: the longer I went without sugar, the fewer my food cravings were. This is because the meals I was eating were actually nutritious, my body was actually feeling satiated. As I mentioned before, this meant cutting out a lot of grains. Why? TAKE IT AWAY, SUSAN!
“If your blood sugar goes up, and it will if you eat carbs, insulin comes on the scene to pull the sugar out. This excess sugar travels to your liver and comes out as a triglyceride on your cholesterol report. Once insulin is being called upon, you are storing and not burning fat. Insulin is a fat storing hormone, and it is really difficult to lose weight when insulin is telling your body store, store, store!”
While it wasn’t my intent, I DID lose weight! About 7lbs in fact. I didn’t even change my workout routine. Actually, my schedule got really hectic and I wasn’t even able to work out as much as I normally do. So, don’t ever forget that a good body is made in the kitchen, people!
I’d love to tell you that I held out the entire month but there were definitely some slip-ups. While I didn’t have any sugar outright, I could have been more mindful. Our company went out to celebrate an award and I had a few Old Fashions, entirely forgetting that they add sugar to it. I felt AWFUL the next day. I also got a little too lenient with the grains. I started out strong with multi-grain sprouted bread but by the end of the month, English Muffins were slipping in on the regular. Finally, I concluded the week by giving into the tin of popcorn in our breakroom and having some caramel covered popcorn. I regretted it so quickly as all of my withdrawal symptoms return in full form. Now that the poison was out of my body, any time I had it, my body treated it as such.
“So what did you learn?”: All things in moderation. By the end of March, my candy consumption was out of control. I’m definitely an emotional eater and I was clearly getting endorphins from the sugar rush but feeling just awful hours later. Being off sugar, I definitely felt less stress, slept a lot better, and had fewer bouts of anxiety/feelings of depression. In terms of fitness, I definitely could tell that not only was I losing weight but specifically burning fat. After two babies and a decade of beer drinking behind me, my belly has always been my biggest insecurity. This month, I finally felt like I was completely comfortable in my skin and it’s a huge motivator to keep my sugar consumption to a minimum. The next step is weening my kids off of it so they will stop being baby terrorists that drive mommy to drink.
Ok, now that I have done 3 different food and drink challenges, it’s time to mix it up. But I won’t be re-mixing it up because, in May, I will be abstaining from… MUSIC!
Stay tuned…
DailyDebs 