Our experiment: how I lived without sugar for a month

Tell

It turns out that if you give up sugar for at least a day, your body will thank you. What thanks? For example, you will feel a forgotten surge of vigor. But at the same time you will fall asleep easier in the evening. But if you don’t eat sweets for at least a month, your body will change dramatically. And your health will improve significantly - now we’ll tell you everything!

Sugar addiction is no different from smoking or alcoholism. Yes, the harm is not so obvious, but still the principle is the same, and giving up sugar is oh so difficult. At the same time, it has long been proven that sugar not only contributes to cell aging (and therefore your aging in general), but also disrupts brain function, eats up your strength and even affects your ability to have offspring! But the common myth that sugar causes diabetes is not true. Diabetes of the first type is an autoimmune disease, and the second type of this disease is associated, in principle, with excess body weight (and it can be acquired in various ways, not only by consuming too much sweets).

Let’s make a reservation right away: our body needs glucose. Therefore, in this case we do not classify fruits—bananas, for example—as sugar. We are now talking about white sugar, a common food product. But if you now imagine granulated sugar or refined sugar, this is not only it. Remember that many products contain hidden sugar: confectionery, various sauces, juices, canned foods, sweet dairy products. Be sure to read the ingredients of the products!

So how will cutting out sugar affect you?

Motivation

Since childhood, sweets have been forbidden for many of us: something that is only possible after a “serious” meal, something that will “ruin your teeth” and “make your butt stick together.” But when faced with restrictions, children's desires only grow stronger. And so, when you become an adult and can decide for yourself when and what you eat, it seems that the time for happiness has finally come. But this is not acceptable for everyone.

Girls and women who always have to watch their figure suddenly realize: “This cake will lie like an even layer of fat on my stomach.” And then all that remains is to make a choice. Many people try to eliminate absolutely all sweets from their diet in order to prevent breakdowns. But here the question arises: how effective is this?

Some nutrition experts advise not to eat sweets at all, others - to categorically remove carbohydrates from your diet after 5 pm, and still others - to allow yourself something sweet every morning. And for those who play sports, a new loophole appears - the protein-carbohydrate window, which seems to be supposed to open immediately after training: you can throw “coals” into it, which will burn without a trace. Oh yes, there is another good excuse: “I work (study) a lot, my brain needs sugar.” So who is right in the end?

Rules of the game

I decided to test from my own experience what happens to a person who completely gives up sugar. For a month, my only joy was one fruit a day - and absolutely nothing sweet or sugary. At the same time, I work and study every day, and also play sports on average 10 hours a week, that is, I lead a full-fledged active lifestyle. I also do not welcome sweeteners and fructose as a replacement for regular sugar and do not intend to engage in cheating. No sweets means no!

By the way, I love sweets very much. Not a day usually goes by without drinking yoghurt and curds. A special kind of pleasure is ice cream, which, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t refuse.

Starting the experiment, I decided to weigh myself and measure the volumes in order to evaluate the results later. Just in case, I took hormone tests and measured my blood sugar levels. After all, not only the tangible result is important, but also the impact of dietary changes on my health.

Initial weight: 58 kg Blood sugar level: 3.8 Volumes: 86 – 64 – 92 Sweet cravings: huge Hormonal levels: normal

Forget about candidiasis

Thrush, white coating on the tongue, stomach problems - all this is the Candida fungus, which has given a benefit in your body. All smart gynecologists, by the way, when identifying a bacterial infection in patients - such as thrush - not only prescribe medications, but also advise them to give up sugar. Because Candida loves him very much. There is even a saying: “It’s not you who wants sweets, but candida.” This is especially true for those people who sometimes want candy until their legs tremble. If you notice this in yourself, get tested for candidiasis, it won’t get any worse.

Start

On the first day, the task seemed simpler than a steamed turnip. Well, just think, a month without sweets, what nonsense. Moreover, my suffering will be consoled by fruits every day. In reality, everything turned out to be much more complicated.

So you understand, I don’t live alone, and my favorite sweets are somehow always present in the refrigerator and on the table. And my forced relationship with sugar doesn’t end there. I have never been a supporter of making my man suffer because of my own diets and figure problems. Therefore, the morning begins with preparing a cottage cheese pie - naturally, with sugar and sweet filling, everything as it should be. A satisfied man eats a pie, I have cottage cheese with banana for breakfast - also not bad.

Do you want to sleep well at night and be more alert during the day? We tell you what to do in the “Everyone at Home” public pages on Instagram and Telegram.

At work, it is not customary for us to drink tea and carry bags of cookies and sweets to this task. But for some reason, it was on the first day of the experiment that they offered me my favorite dark chocolate. I courageously refuse: it is not in my interests to flog the experiment from the start.

On the way to the university, I pass a pastry shop, from where I can smell the pleasant smell of fresh baked goods. I wouldn’t say that I have a weakness for rolls, but for some reason my body begins to scream how incredibly it wants a still warm croissant right now. Indeed, the forbidden fruit is sweeter than ever. I gather my will and don’t go into this nasty place.

Tips for those who want to give up sugar

When I tell people that I live without added sugar, they react differently. Some ridicule the idea itself: what nonsense, the brain needs sugar. Most respond with great interest and respect and say: “Oh, I would like that too/I would like to, but I can’t.” And they also ask you to teach us how to get rid of excess sugar. Because of requests like these, I created a Facebook group dedicated to sugar-free living. Here are some tips that sum up the experience.

Start giving up sugar with yourself.
I am often approached by parents who want to help their child eat less sweets, and I have made a separate program for them. But it turned out that it is only useful for those parents who gave up sugar and explored their food addictions. If a parent is confident that he has a healthy relationship with food, but only the child has problems, the work is useless. He will receive beautiful knowledge on how to help a child, but will not be able to apply it. So the transformation needs to start with yourself.
Don't rush yourself.
Sometimes it takes a long time between the desire to give up sugar and the action - and this is normal. This is not how it happens: now I’ll read a book about the dangers of sugar and immediately give it up. The people who are truly addicted to sugar are the ones who take a long time to prepare. For example, it took me three years to get used to this idea.
Give up gradually.
I did the opposite and I don’t regret it: it was an important lesson. But now, when I conduct my classes with people, I see from their example: the key to successfully giving up sugar is gradualism, and an abrupt transition is a guarantee of failure for the majority. First, make a list of what is sugar, hang it on the refrigerator and look at it for a week. This is something that has to be abandoned. When we simply run our eyes over the list, we give our brain a message: soon we will gradually give up this. After a week, start reading labels and get used to it. There is no need to change anything in your diet yet: this is only cognitive, preparatory work. Only then, after a couple of weeks, start removing things that contain sugar from the grocery basket.
Find substitutes for your favorite foods.
When you suddenly realize that the nth part of foods contains sugar, you don’t know what to eat. At this stage, it is important to find an adequate replacement for products without which it is easy to fail. For example, in Israel, where I live, any store-bought bread contains sugar; you simply cannot find another. At first my mother helped me: she took fruits, fermented them, made sourdough and baked bread with this sourdough. The children ate this bread and were happy. Then I myself began to experiment with low-carb bread replacement and learned to bake buns and bread with flaxseed, coconut and almond flour without sugar or sweeteners.
Set up the “Not a penny for sugar” challenge.
When I first started teaching classes for people who want to give up sugar, I came up with a challenge: in the month that I’m helping them, I won’t spend a penny on buying products with sugar. Even for families: children, parents, guests. Almost everything that was packaged, crunchy and beautifully presented has disappeared from the house. And also products that proudly say “healthy food”: when you see them, you can safely put them back on the supermarket shelf; they definitely contain sugar in the form of some kind of syrup. The challenge dragged on, and the family slowly but surely began to get used to the authentic tastes of the products.
Explore your relationship with food.
Many people think that giving up sugar is just a change in diet. What to eat and what not to eat is the most basic level and a temporary solution, purely dietary. In fact, most of the work on yourself is the psychology of quitting sugar: getting to know the deep reasons for your addiction. Try, for example, making a list of memories of those events and episodes when you “concluded a contract” with sweets. Those very turning points when sweets began to compensate for suffering. Think about an environment where you are unable to resist sweets. Imagine what information about you and the world will come out as soon as you put aside your usual sweet armor. Sweets are synonymous with a kind attitude towards us from adults in childhood. Ask yourself: on whose kind attitude do I still depend? And most importantly: what stronger sides of myself can I rely on in life without “sweet crutches”? Write a list, hang it in front of your eyes and add to it all the time. Remember that bouts of eating sweets are a form of psychological defense. Ask yourself what projects and actions you are willing to focus your energy on instead of quietly waiting out life.

Snack problem

The biggest challenge to eating well while living an active lifestyle is eating out normally. Especially when you're in a hurry. The university cannot offer me anything more harmless than sweet yoghurts. There are no stalls in the passages or small neighborhood shops, there’s nothing to even look at. But you don’t always have time to go to the hypermarket for bread or fruit.

We have to focus on this and think through everything in advance. It turned out that all this is also a force of habit. Throwing a small snack into your bag is not that difficult and takes very little time.

The hunt begins

They say that the human body can get used to anything, so over time it should become easier and less craving for sweets. At least that's what I consoled myself with. But in reality, the difficulty in cutting out sugar isn't just about having iron willpower.

Going to the grocery store now felt less like a regular grocery shopping and more like a hunt. Reading labels is, of course, interesting, but quite tedious and ultimately leads you to yet another disappointment.

Yogurts, curds, curd desserts and juices, muesli and “quick” cereals... In general, much of the food that is positioned as healthy food, that which has the words “fitness” on it, is immediately blacklisted. With the same success, you can pour sugar into kefir and say: well, it’s kefir! A standard half-liter drinking yogurt, for example, contains about 5 tablespoons of sugar.

Of course, everything is not limited to “healthy” products. Seemingly harmless bread, ketchup, soy sauce, as well as mayonnaise, sausage, canned vegetables and fruits - even baby food - all contain sugar. Obviously, the entire sweets department, as well as chips, crackers and dried seafood, is no exception.

As a result, I had to stop looking for a loophole and buy something that certainly couldn’t contain sugar: fresh and frozen vegetables, cottage cheese, fruits, oatmeal. Leaving the store, I sadly looked around at my purchases and tried to figure out how to prepare all this now, so as not to choke and wince.

Why giving up sweets requires a clear plan

In fact, nothing is impossible for a person, and it only seems that excluding the usual and so beloved sweets, chocolates and cakes from the diet is incredibly difficult, but whatever, it’s almost impossible.

In fact, switching to a new diet and breaking the habit of constantly snacking on something sweet will not take much time and will not be so difficult if you follow some rules and do not deviate from the action plan:

It is quite possible to change your diet on your own. However, if you have complex diseases that require special diets, it is better to consult a doctor. A sudden change in your eating habits can have a negative impact on your health, especially for those who are obese or have eating problems. In this case, what is output must be compensated. That is, when giving up sweets, you need to control the caloric content of your diet so that the necessary energy is fully ensured.

It is best to reduce the amount of sweets gradually, starting with small ones.

. This could be minus one spoon of sugar in tea, minus sweet cookies for tea. And then, when this “minus” becomes habitual, you can remove the following, gradually identifying replacements for sugar-containing products.

Studying the composition of products is especially useful; sugar-free products are varied and no less tasty

. It is worth paying attention to the fact that sugar is found not only in sweet desserts, it is present in bread, sauces and even boiled sausage. You can learn to bake the same bread yourself, and bake meat instead of delicacies.

It is important to properly balance your daily diet, the main thing is that the body can receive the required amount of complex carbohydrates

, which saturate it with energy. They are rich in vegetables and fruits, whole grain cereals and bread. And if you want something sweet, it’s better to indulge in dark chocolate.

It is worth considering that alcoholic drinks also contain sucrose.

If you are determined to give up sweets, get ready for a long and sometimes painful process. There will be breakdowns, especially at first.

. They are provoked by several reasons:

the decision made is unconscious, not volitional, but as a result of pressure from doctors or the situation;
panic of the body as a protest that it was deprived of pleasure;
an incorrectly selected diet that does not take into account all the body’s needs.

Changes

Eliminating sugar forces you to specifically reconsider your diet. As a result, whatever one may say, it turns out not as appetizing and varied as before. Especially when at first you don’t know how to turn all this healthy food into something more or less tasty.

Curd desserts have to be replaced with regular cottage cheese, yoghurts with fermented baked milk and kefir, sauces with oriental seasonings, desserts with coffee with milk, muesli with oatmeal without additives, bread with diet bread (with the correct composition, of course), Nesquik cocoa with Belarusian 99% "Kommunarka".

Of course, at first all food seems somehow bland. But over time, when the body gets used to the sugar bombardment, even low-fat cottage cheese acquires taste. And if you also learn how to cook vegetables, then the problem of dietary diversity disappears by itself. The only sad conclusion I made for myself is that you shouldn’t cook the same thing as usual, only without the usual ingredients.

I once tried to bake a classic cottage cheese casserole, only without sugar and other sweeteners. The result is not that I spat, but after two spoons I no longer wanted to eat this same pastry.

Sports and sugar

Those who exercise at least 3-4 times a week usually adjust their nutrition to the needs of the body, which spends much more energy. Personally, I am always hungry the next day after training. And most often you want carbohydrates. Considering that I have sports on my schedule five days a week, it becomes a vicious circle of exercise and the subsequent desire to eat.

According to the rules of my marathon, I can only allow myself one piece of simple carbohydrates. I decided that it would be better to take it two hours before training, as a snack to provide the body with energy. Upon returning home after training, have cottage cheese and a protein shake. They saved, of course, poorly. But, as they say, in any incomprehensible situation the main thing is to go to bed.

The next morning, my desire to “throw in” something carbohydrate was completely satisfied by a good portion of oatmeal. And if during the day my body screamed furiously that it didn’t have enough calories, I simply ate an extra pack of cottage cheese. Protein, as it turns out, solves this problem very well.

Sugar free family

My husband watched my experiments with interest, but said that he himself does not depend on sugar and will not give it up. I did not insist: this does not work by force, a person must himself come to the desire to change. However, with the start of my challenge, there was automatically less sweets at home. If earlier I baked cookies, made cakes and ice cream - a whole production of sweets, then at first I began to make the usual sweets without sugar, but with sweeteners. The family did not particularly like them, and gradually the amount of sweets was reduced. The kids still sometimes asked for ice cream, and the husband still asked for cookies, but much less often than before.

And when the basic amount of sugar decreased, the husband suddenly noticed that he became less tired and had more energy, although the amount of food eaten was significantly less. This is the most amazing effect: when sugar consumption decreases, you want to eat less - because sugar stimulates appetite, you want to eat all the time and it’s difficult to get enough. Then I suggested that my husband try switching to a diet low in sugar and carbohydrates as an experiment. Since he was ready both psychologically and physically, the transition was easy. He couldn't even understand why he hadn't decided to do this earlier.

Helping children turned out to be more difficult. First of all, because modern children are growing up in a world that does not teach them how to control their impulses. The conventional adult, who was born thirty or forty years ago, has received an upbringing that allows him to postpone the realization of his desires. For example, sending a letter and waiting weeks for a response, or watching an episode and waiting until 8 pm the next day to find out what happens next in the series. The nervous system of such an adult is trained to wait. The entire culture of today, on the contrary, is focused not even on the instant gratification of desires, but on their anticipation. The distance between desire and its realization has disappeared, and the ability to withstand the dissatisfaction of desire is minimal. My children did not have the opportunity to train their nervous systems to delay gratification. And this is one of the challenges of our time that our children will have to cope with. Sugar, which affects the pleasure centers of the brain, is just one example of such challenges in modern culture.

Getting kids to overcome sugar cravings required a quiet revolution: The whole family worked to recognize the needs behind those cravings, and once they recognized them, find a way to meet them. We discovered the following difficulty with our son: he did not feel worthy from the point of view of his classmates. The youngest in the family, he felt infantile and unhappy because he allegedly did not read or play on the computer well enough. We were looking for a way that would help him develop competencies and get rid of the feeling of “not good enough.” My son signed up for various clubs, we supported his every step. Every time he completed a task, our whole family rejoiced with him. Constantly feeling support, my son became more confident, and his need for sugar dropped. When there are no sweets in the house, he no longer looks for them.

For my son, sweets compensated for the feeling that he was “not good enough.” My daughter’s case is different: there are a lot of background fears and anxiety, and she went to a psychotherapist. My husband and I are psychotherapists ourselves, but as parents we cannot provide therapy with our child, so we provided her with outside support in addition to our love and attention. Gradually, the level of anxiety decreased, and along with it, the need to calm myself down with sweets. So a strong craving for sugar is a symptom that indicates different but important problems to different people. As long as we continue to eat sugar, we drown out these problems and are unable to recognize what this symptom is talking about.

Social traditions

We get most of the calories from fast food and sweets for company. We go to enjoy the movie with a huge box of popcorn and soda; we always associate all traditional holidays with a large table of hearty dishes; when getting together with friends in the evening, we take alcohol and plenty of snacks, and even a cup of tea in the office during a break between work must be accompanied by something tasty - otherwise what’s the point?

In fact, social traditions are the main enemy of proper nutrition. We eat not because we want, but because we are accustomed to doing so since childhood.

So, it turned out that the height of the experiment with a month without sweets fell exactly on my birthday. Half the way was completed, and I was not going to give up. Of course, I was given chocolate, which I had to wait until better times. The party in honor of the holiday was held according to the standard: with branded burgers, cake and other delights.

The guests were happy, and all I had to do was eat fruit, which I allowed myself in unlimited quantities in honor of my birthday. The conditions were violated, but not catastrophically. Did I feel depressed and inferior? No. I had a great time in good company and did not suffer at all because everyone was eating cake and I wasn’t.

Finish line

It turned out that a simple scheme works with sugar: the less you eat, the less you want. Over time, I figured it out and clearly knew what I could do and what I couldn’t. The desire disappeared on a psychological level, and along with it the physical craving disappeared. Plus, within a month, my habits had changed. Now it was oatmeal in the morning, fruit before training, cottage cheese in the evening.

A big plus in giving up sweets is simple savings. Just count how much per month you spend on “something for tea,” on cheesecakes and cakes in a cafe, on ice cream in a shopping center and other delights.

Does giving up sweets prevent you from fully working, studying and training? I don't think so. It seems to me that many people use “tasty food” as a reward after a hard day, painstaking work and grueling training in the gym. But the main pleasure, in fact, is the result itself, and not the chocolate. And the first can easily be done without the second.

Stunning result: what will happen to your body if you give up sweets for a year?

Since childhood, we have been warned about the dangers of using alcohol and drugs. However, everyone is silent about the dangers posed by foods high in sugar. The word “addiction” can also be applied to the consumption of sugar. This is not an exaggeration. According to a 2013 British study, sugar is truly addictive. Thus, the more you eat, the more you want it.

Most of us are familiar with the immediate consequences of consuming sugar. A “brutal” appetite appears, and we also suffer from mood swings. However, over time, overuse of such products can lead to skin problems, diabetes and even heart disease. However, even if you give up sweets for a day, this will entail positive changes.

What happens if you give up sweets for half an hour?

If you wait a critical period of 20-30 minutes after the first dose of sweets, then you most likely will not want the second portion. According to a study from St. Luke's University in Kansas City, limiting your intake of sweets can reduce your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by three times. The fact is that sugar sharply increases insulin levels, which subsequently increases blood pressure, as well as heart rate.

What happens if you give up sweets for a day?

According to nutritionist Lee O'Connor, you can get rid of sugar cravings by replacing them with healthy nutrients. These include healthy fats and fiber. They help you stay alert and productive all day long. So, if you go a day without sweets, then most likely you will find a pleasant alternative. For example, vegetables and protein stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent mood swings. As a result, you will be less likely to crave sweets.

What happens if you give up sweets for a week?

A week after giving up sweets, your mood will improve. You will also have a lot more energy in your body. You will feel lethargic. Also pay attention to the condition of your skin. Due to the fact that sugar is the strongest activator of inflammatory processes, if you give it up, you will reduce the risk of acne by 87%.

What happens if you give up sweets for a month?

In just a month, you will no longer have the desire to order dessert in a cafe or add sugar to your coffee. In addition, your memory will improve significantly. According to a study by Californian scientists, sugar disrupts communication between brain cells. As a result, sugar has a positive effect on our ability to retain information for a long time, as well as learning.

What happens if you give up sweets for a year?

The results of giving up sugar for a year can be stunning. Your health will improve significantly. Your body will no longer store sugar to store fat. This is why you are likely to lose significant weight. By the way, after a year of giving up sweets, you can allow yourself to eat them in small quantities without fear of relapse. The most important thing is that the percentage of healthy food is at least 80%. Therefore, once or twice a week you can make sweet exceptions for yourself.

photo: foodandmood.com.ua

Subscribe to us on Telegram

Happy ending? Not so...

In theory, now my experiment should have had a happy ending and delights like “you can easily give up sugar”, “quit the habit of eating sweets and fit into that very dress,” but in reality everything turned out to be completely different.

Having completed my marathon, I quickly ran to measure my blood sugar and get on the scale. The result didn’t really surprise me – it was just nothing.

Final weight: 59 kg Blood sugar level: 4 Volumes: 86 – 63 – 91 Sweet cravings: none

So it turns out that everything is in vain? However, this is not the end yet. Well, I think I’ll finally eat some chocolate, since I’m such a good guy, I lasted a whole month. And this was a fatal mistake. The next day, my face and body were covered with red spots, which, fortunately, went away quickly.

But my facial skin still remained in an unstable state: if before everything was perfect without a layer of foundation, now every mistake in nutrition turned into rashes and pimples for me, which were difficult to treat and disguise.

After the first “step to the left,” I began to crave sweets incredibly. And not just harmless fruit or one piece of candy, but a cake, a pack of cookies, a richer pastry. And it was very difficult to fight this desire. The weight slowly began to gain, even despite all my exercise and efforts to eat less. As soon as something sweet slipped through, it was immediately sent to the butt and stomach, “in reserve.”

Of course, this state of affairs did not suit me. I turned to a weight management program specialist and explained the situation. Her opinion was predictable: the body was completely unaccustomed to sugar and, as soon as it received an unusual product, it began to protest. It turned out to be something like diathesis in children - hence the skin reaction.

When I asked what to do next, the specialist answered that we should no longer rush to extremes, gradually introduce sugar-containing foods into the diet and try to eat them no later than 4 hours before bedtime. It turned out that completely giving up sugar is not only practically impossible, but also makes no sense.

But it’s still worth limiting yourself. Among sweets, it is best to give preference to fruits, dried fruits, honey and marshmallows. Cakes, cookies, chocolate are trans fats, which are dangerous not only because of their high sugar content, but also because of the combination that is detrimental to your figure: fats + fast carbohydrates. It is also better to give up sweet yoghurts, because they are actually no healthier than the same sweets.

I was advised to fight the desire to eat sweets with the help of... No, not diets, hunger strikes or strict regimes. It turned out that strong cravings for sweets arise due to a lack of protein in the diet. Roughly speaking: if you want candy, eat a couple of spoons of cottage cheese or a piece of boiled chicken.

What now? Of course, I'm going to go to a nutritionist, get my hormones tested and get my nutrition back on track. No matter how banal it may be, it turned out that the phrase “everything is good in moderation” works here too. I didn’t make any supernova conclusions or discoveries, but the experience was useful.

Week one: sugar withdrawal

The first three days were hard. The brain did not understand what was happening and demanded sweets. The addiction was making itself felt.

During the day, my mood constantly changed: the morning seemed gray and joyless, and after lunch I became irritable and nervous. “This is called hypoglycemia, when the blood sugar level drops and a state of inability appears, the main thing is to endure,” a friend encouraged on Instagram.

Colleagues did not miss the opportunity to remind: “you can’t”, “you don’t eat sweets”. I felt strong support from friends: “In order not to get lost, remember why you are doing this,” “Hold on! Life is beautiful without sweets!” And I held on.

Healthy snacks have replaced unhealthy snacks - nuts and fruits. I tried to drink more water, although I used to like tea at work and at home. I started doing exercises in the morning (but this succeeds with varying degrees of success).

I created a new route around the supermarket, and grocery shopping began to take less time. I now stop at the following points: vegetables/fruits, dairy products, meat/fish and cereals. Beyond my interests were shelves with alcohol and juices, cookies and candies, sweet yoghurts and curds. Previously, I always bought something sweet, not consciously, out of habit, I took it to lift my mood.

The results of the first week were great motivation. I lost 3.3 kilograms in a week. The weight dropped to 72.1 kilograms. The volumes decreased: three centimeters were lost in the hips, five centimeters in the waist, a centimeter in the chest. The body became toned and the stomach became flatter.

The mood swings passed, and along with them lethargy, drowsiness, weakness and inattention. The first week benefited the body: vigor appeared, performance and overall activity increased.