Imagine: you go to a restaurant and have an enormous dinner. You finished with your main course and the waiter asks the golden question: "would you like the dessert menu?" Is your answer "no thanks, I'm too full" or "yes please?" Regardless how full I am...the answer is always the same. "I'll have a look." That's basically a lie; I won't have a look to the menu, I'll have a look to the melty chocolate soufflé right in front of my eyes before I dig in. I need dessert and I need to stop.
Balancing is key; if you want to lose weight and eat healthy long-term, don't starve yourself. Instead, treat your sweet-side from time to time. My favorite treat is definitely chocolate. I AM IN LOVE WITH THE CHOCO. Exactly like any other too intense relationship, this one needs a break. I want to want sweets, not need them. Ya feel? So I set out on a quest to curb my cravings by eliminating sugar from my diet—including fruit.
STAGE 1: FEAR
Before I started Wednesday morning, I treated myself with a nice marmalade doughnut on Tuesday. It was in my kitchen and I couldn't resist. The doughnut was too good, which brought me into Stage 1 of my no-sugar experiment: Fear. The fear of not making it and giving up on day 1.
STAGE 2: MISSING AND REGRET
Day one was tough. It was really, really tough. The horror started in the morning; I couldn't drink my daily matcha latte with almond milk (I checked, almond milk contains sugar). But my day only went downhill from there. Not only did I miss the honey to my afternoon tea made with ginger and lemon, but I went out for dinner with a friend. We went to a sushi restaurant and surprise surprise...I couldn't eat sushi. The rice is often sweetened with sugar and asian sauces include more sugar than you think. I had a nice grilled salmon fillet with some broccoli on the side. No soy sauce. The saddest moment was to watch my friend enjoy a matcha ice cream and chocolate lava fondant. I went to bed with thoughts of regret and heartbreak.
STAGE 3: CHEATING THOUGHTS
During day 2 and 3 I was still craving for some sweet treats. I started thinking of possibilities to have something sweet without sugar. Is a diet coke okay? Can I bake some pancakes with stevia? I read some articles and soon decided not to "cheat" with fake sugar products. Most of my research found that anything that tastes sweet makes your body think you consume some sort of sugar. Insulin levels rise in your blood to process the "sugar," but because there is no actual sugar to process, the insulin stays in the blood and causes cravings for more food and more sweets. No thanks.
STAGE 4: ACCEPTANCE
Not thinking about sugar consumption became easier and easier during after day 4. I still haven't touched fruit or bread. I am not a huge fruit lover anyways (I prefer vegetables,) so that definitely has made it easier. The only thing that still annoyed me was not being able to eat carrots or to have a green juice with apple in it. I avoided white bread, pasta with tomato sauce, balsamic dressing and ketchup. I realized by looking at the ingredients: more things contain sugar than I thought and even more sugar than you can taste. I learned that most sauces, even asian soy sauces, baked beans and pre-made soup contain processed sugar. It made me realize how much sugar we consume without knowing—on top of eating extra sugar as a dessert or snack (if you are like me.)
FINAL STAGE: FEELING PROUD
Day 7 arrived and I felt more energized than the mornings before. I don't know if it was because of the sunny weather or my healthier and less-sugary diet. I researched the effects that sugar has on our body and many nutritionists stated that sugar can make you tired and actually more hungry. I carried on with my no-sugar diet for 3 extra days. I felt that my digestion worked better, and, even though the food portions were the same size and even slightly bigger than my diet before, I lost 3 pounds. I didn't have the urge to have something sweet after lunch or dinner...and didn't mind seeing people having chocolate in front of me.
After day 10 I finally had my matcha latte back and pasta with tomato sauce for lunch. I felt super proud of myself for being so consequent and not even cheating once. I'm sure tiny bits of sugar snuck into my body, but not on purpose.
RESULTS - 2 Months later
Surprisingly, I decreased my fruit consumption by far more than I expected; I still consider a mango as a sweet treat and try not to eat more than three bananas a week. Fruits contain a lot of vitamins, but too much fruit sugar is once again too much sugar. My digestion feels better by eating less fruits than I did before. Besides fruits, I no longer gravitate towards sauces and ready-to-go foods. I won't lie, not every day has been a no-sugar day. I've had my fair share of chocolate, Nutella and ice cream—probably 10 people's worth but whose counting. My 10-day-sugar-ban helped curb my sugar obsession. I still eat sugar though, but in moderation. The more sugar I consume, the more my body needs it. The experiment was worth doing and taught me to be consistent; for a long-term result I have to plan days ahead where where I avoid as much sugar as possible.
My approach to sugar definitely changed. Two months later and I still find it easy to say "no thanks" when the waiter offers a dessert menu—but a sweet sin from time to time will keep you sane.