My Week Off Sugar – What I Learnt…
My Week Off Sugar
A week ago I embarked on a sugar detox. I removed all of the processed sugars from my diet – partly for health reasons, partly to put myself in the position of clients when I ask them to remove certain foods from their diets, but mostly to test the waters to see if I was addicted to sugar. So how was my week off sugar?
It was interesting…
The beginning of the year sees lots of birthdays and celebrations in my family. From Christmas to Easter we have numerous birthdays and of course the Christmas and New Year parties. All of these have one thing in common – too much food and drink.
Whilst holidaying in Italy, my girlfriend and I agreed that since December our sugar intake had been too high and we had to reduce it. Whilst we weren’t eating our way through 10 chocolate bars per night, we were having regular, small amounts. Over time these frequent doses add up, meaning the damage can still be done.
Knowing that sugar is very addictive, we wondered if our regular consumption had seen us hooked, thus making giving up a very difficult task.
It was with some trepidation we started our week off sugar on a Sunday – our coffee was to have no sugar, we weren’t going to eat desserts, no chocolate or ice cream in the house etc. It was on…
Sunday: We discover coffee without sugar isn’t anywhere near as appealing. In Italy we developed a taste for a sweeter coffee. I usually have 1 sugar in coffee, so this was a drag. Otherwise, no cravings.
Monday: Slight headaches started here. I read in Why We Get Fat: And What to Do about It by Gary Taubes that a way to cure this is to add salt to your diet. This trick worked and the headaches promptly left. No cravings really, but I was tired and suffered energy dips.
Tuesday: Headaches returned in the morning, but salt helped them disappear. Energy remained stable throughout the day and I noticed my sleep had been better the night before.
Wednesday: I decided that coffee without sugar isn’t particularly nice, so my consumption drops to 1-2 cups per day. I am starting to get rid of lots of water which must have been retained.
Thursday: Getting used to the no sugar thing! Still no cravings, finding the sugar avoidance quite easy. Still drinking hardly any coffee and lots more water. Headaches gone.
Friday: The first day where I miss sugar. I wouldn’t call it a craving, but I certainly wanted something sweet. Easy enough to ignore. No headaches.
Saturday: Similar to Friday – I wanted to eat something sweet but was able to resist. This was by far the toughest day as I spent much of the day surrounded by cakes at an Easter open day at the gym!
Sunday: A whole week off sugar complete!
I learnt a lot during the course of the experiment which I can take forward with me. The self-experiment is something I believe has turned me into a better personal trainer and gave me a better understanding of our relationship with food, both healthy and unhealthy. Here are the lessons I learnt from the week off sugar, complete with advice with how you can go about a similar detox…
- Cravings are mostly in the mind, so employ a ‘mindset shift’. To a vegetarian, eating meat doesn’t even enter their realm of possibility. I adopted the same with sugar – I didn’t even entertain the idea of eating sugar, as difficult as it was at times.
- Accept the side-effects. I went into the experiment expecting headaches, so their arrival was no surprise. Do your research before you embark on a dietary change – what can you expect from a dietary change? Be prepared.
- Have an accomplice. My girlfriend Rachel did the experiment with me, which made the whole thing easier. Sugar is a ‘treat’ food so is easy to be tempted by. An ally keeps you on the straight and narrow (assuming they are strong!)
- Don’t allow boredom. The day Rachel really struggled was Friday as she was home with our son who had chicken pox. Being in the house with very little distraction made her really crave sugar! Keep yourself busy – snacking and boredom are linked.
- Be prepared. If you are caught out without a sensible food choice it can lead to bad choices. Where possible, be prepared.
So what did the experiment teach me?
Mostly I learnt that no, I am not addicted to sugar, I just like it. An addiction in my mind is something that causes a symptom when it is removed, either physical or mental – not just something you really miss. Whether this is correct or not, I don’t know (or care).
I also learned that with a strong mind you can overcome your cravings. I can’t bear it when people tell me they couldn’t live without (insert food, usually bread or pasta, here). It is a sign of a weak mind and an unwillingness to do what they need in order to make a real, lasting difference to their health. You can live without crap food. In fact, you should.
A dessert is result of our conditioning. We are taught something sweet comes after a meal. This isn’t true, and it is remarkable how quickly the association will be broken. After a couple of days we didn’t even talk about dessert. Going forward it will be an occasional treat rather than a nightly thing.
So am I giving up sugar for good?
No. If you were going to live an A+ healthy life then of course it would have to go, but health is multi-faceted. Removing sugar from my diet would leave me miserable and really missing out, affecting mental health. Instead, a more suitable strategy is to make it an occasional addition to my diet.
How I will approach sugar consumption going forward….
- I prefer coffee with sugar, so will have two cups per day rather than 4 or 5.
- Coffee will be drunk after a meal – a coffee with one sugar is actually enough sweetness post meal.
- Desserts will only be eaten post-training and only in the evening.
- Mocha will not be used as a morning drink. Starting a day with sugar isn’t good.
- Dessert portion size will be reduced – there is no need for large desserts. The point of dessert is to provide sweetness for the palate. That doesn’t need to be much.
- Dark chocolate is lower carbohydrate than milk chocolate, so will use that more often than milk chocolate.
- I will do a sugar detox every 3 months to clear the system.
One final thing…
It is Easter, so we are ending our sugar detox in style…with Rachel’s homemade mocha cupcakes!
Enjoy sugar responsibly.
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Hey Steve,
really a nice article! Good to read and interesting. I guess the thought of writing about your sugar detox week also helped you to stay “in line”, doesn’t it? If you share your experiances with others it really helps to stay “hard” (at least it’s like that in my case). I totally agree with your findings!
Thanks Andi!
Writing about it certainly did help. It also helps me to reflect on how I felt at the time – by keeping (even tiny) updates in the blog comments I could recall each day as it happened!
I will repeat the experiment again soon!