My sugarless adventure: an unexpected journey

This is my sugarless adventure! An unexpected journey that started six weeks and three days ago! I stopped eating industrial sugar. No sweets, no chocolates, no cakes, no soft drinks, and no food that contains sugar traces. It might sound easy, but it’s harder than it looks! Going to the supermarket and reading all the labels on food products is a must if you want to make sure you’re not eating sugar unknowingly!

But, why did I decided to go Bilbo on this journey? Why would I cut all sugar from my life?

Very much like hobbits thinking about second breakfast, we do think about sugar products as one of the best things on earth. However, too much sugar can make our bodies go bananas! In fact, it’s a kind of addiction. Our brains are junkies for energy, and industrial sugar needs little to no processing, so our bodies are happy to have it endlessly. Fructose, however, is harder to process. So, if you have to choose between an apple or chocolate, you will provably end up choosing chocolate!

Six weeks ago, I decided to stop eating any type of industrial sugar and cut off all products that contained it. This is not going on a diet, this is just cutting an ingredient that many companies use into their products to make sure that you’ll love them! Sauces, bread and diet-related products, all have different types of industrial sugar. So, yeah, if you decide to do this, be aware that you’ll spend time in the supermarket at the beginning reading a bunch of labels!

Once you cut out all those products from your diet, prepare yourself to have a huge sugar-withdrawal syndrome. It does exist, and it’s not fun. The first week for me was hell. I was craving for sugary foods (chocolate in particular). My mood went down as serotonin levels felt to the ground. My insomnia rocketed as my stress started to be unbearable. I know, not a funny picture.

Craving for sugar is tough. Images of sweets pop up into you head at all times, and you do have a feeling for hunger. But it’s a funny one: you only have hunger for sugary foods. I felt no attraction to other type of food! Just the ones that contain great amounts of sugar!

Picture yourself with a very bad mood, craving constantly for something sweet, and being nervous for nothing. That’s what happened to me the first week. The second week was gloomy: I was sad, and it was hard for me to work. It’s like I lost all my strength. I still felt hunger for sugar, but my sadness was greater than the feeling of “I’m out of sugar.” This made me realize that I had been, indeed, a sugar junkie!

From the third week onwards things started to get better! I felt lighter, for some reason I started to feel happier, and fruit started to taste really good. (I’ve never been a huge fan of fruits…) From the fourth week I was feeling strangely good, and with no need of taking industrial sugar again! Yay!

So, within a month, my body started to get used in processing sugar that came from fruits and other foods. It got used to the fact that the cheap and easy-to-intake sugar was gone.

I’d say that it’s almost impossible to cut all the sugar from your life. However, taking control of how many spoons you take each day, directly and indirectly is paramount for your health. Unknowingly you might be taking more sugar than your body can handle. Add to it sweets, and the sugar/calorie daily intake might be very unhealthy!

I am very happy I cut sugar from my diet. I know it’s a pain to read all the labels and go for the hunt of sugarless products, but benefits are staggering! I lost the few kilos I’ve unable to lose in centuries. I tried diets, workouts, but nothing worked!! And now, only cutting sugar from the menu (and nothing else), those few bugging extra kilos have disappeared in a month!!! Doing nothing else!

I am extremely happy of what I’ve accomplished in 6 weeks, and I plan to keep on keeping my sugarless menu. Yes, this means that I drink my coffee without sugar. But that’s been something I’ve been doing for the last 11 years. So, coffee without sugar doesn’t really count for me. However, cutting all these extra sugars into my daily menu has been a blessing. I feel better, my insomnia is almost gone, and I feel happier! The first two weeks were hell, but now I feel like Wonder Woman.

If you want to try this, do it! But we aware that the first weeks are hell. Mood swings a lot, and if you have insomnia problems (like I do), they might be worse. If you don’t feel strong at the moment, ask a friend to do it with you. Share your story and say to your loved ones that you’re going to have some rough weeks (better to be on the safe side, and let them know what’s going on with your mood swings). Even if you don’t cut all sugar from your life, be aware of what products have it in them. It will help you in having a balanced diet.

I am so happy with my sugarless journey! And yes, I would do it again, despite the horror of the first weeks.