Well, I was going to do weekly posts on how the sugar detox was going for me, and I haven’t. Here’s my confession: Out of this six-phase program, I stopped reading halfway through phase four. And phase five was the actual whole-hog detox phase. So I didn’t even do the full detox, and I don’t know what it’s like. Oops.
But I don’t feel guilty.
One could say that I didn’t get the full value that I was paying for out of the program. I can’t really argue with that, it’s true. But here’s the thing: I got what I was looking for out of the program. And I still think it was worthwhile. I did make some serious changes to the way I eat this month. Here are my takeaways from this program.
I am an abstainer for specific foods. I would like to be a moderator… a person who can have just a little bite or two of a sweet treat and be satisfied, and then not have any more. But I cannot be a moderator with specific trigger foods – I have to abstain totally or I will eat unreasonable quantities in a single sitting. I already knew that ice cream, fruit pie and cookies were in the no-fly zone. But since trying to avoid sugary foods, I’ve learned that this problem extends to any food that I consider a tasty snack.
To avoid unnecessary sugar, I need to plan out my food much better, and snacks especially. Snacks are my weakness when it comes to sweets! And half the time, it’s not even due to a craving, it’s just poor planning. If I’m at work, it’s 10 am, I’m hungry and I don’t have any snacks? Guess I’m having a cookie or a muffin from the coffee shop. Having healthy food on hand is key.
There are some really great sugar-free snack options. My favourite go-to snacks now are bananas, pistachio nuts, apple slices dipped in natural almond butter, veggies with hummus, and sliced strawberries mixed with plain yogurt (never thought I’d see the day that I’d enjoy plain yogurt over a sweetened type, but see the next point…)
Your tastebuds & cravings change when they’re less accustomed to a flavour. Now that I’ve become less used to sugar in everything that I eat, I don’t need as much of it to enjoy a food. And I have been genuinely enjoying plain yogurt with fruit instead of the sweetened vanilla kind, which now tastes cloyingly sweet to me. And today? I found myself craving OLIVES. This is WEIRD. But I’ll take it!
And the big reason I wasn’t really on board with the full detox… I become exceedingly sensitive to sugar if I’m not accustomed to it even in small quantities in my diet. In a bad way. I ate the least sugar for the first week on the detox. I was very proud of myself and my choices. But then when I did have a bit of sugar, BOOM. Debilitating headache, fatigue and dizziness. I am not okay with this.
I want to keep eating some sugar to keep my tolerance reasonable, but not indulge every day. I definitely have successfully kicked the cravings. But I don’t believe in avoiding fruit or natural sugars, and I think they’re necessary to keep my body accustomed to processing sugar without sidelining me with negative side effects. That way I can still indulge in actual treats like birthday cake or gelato on a date in the summer, without eating real sweets every day.
A Little Coffee 
Love the attitude of gaining what YOU need from a challenge instead of just blindly following the group! It’s your body, you know it best!
I was wondering if you had to cut out fruits and natural sugars for this challenge? My mum and I were talking about that while she was here and she had read a few people recommending cutting out sugar because of the fructose but I pointed out that fruit is full of fibre which helps negate the insulin spike traditionally caused by sugars.; Anyway, i was just curious how hardcore this challenge was!
It’s crazy how your body gets used to less sugar, now when I indulge too much (like several pieces of cake!), I feel nauseous. Doesn’t always stop me though!
Hey Julia! Yes, I agree with you about natural sugars. After all the education I got about sugar, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m far more concerned about added sugars than natural sugars. For the extra hardcore 5 day detox phase, the rules were no natural sugars either (meaning no fruit etc), but I didn’t do that part and I have no interest in cutting out fruit. The purpose behind it is good though – it’s not intended as a permanent change, but as a way to see how your body reacts as you slowly re-introduce different types of natural sugars and take careful notes. That way you may discover that you’re fine with fruit but have trouble with dairy or wheat or whatever. It’s hard to tell if you feel generally okay but not great, and you’re eating all of those things!
I haven’t done the detox (yet?), either, but I’m feeling much the same – that I still learned a lot out of this experience & am taking away plenty from it. Today I got dirt-tasting green juice from Starbucks instead of a croissant or pastry or something for lunch/snack. WHO AM I?! I’m seeing a lot of small changes in my eating habits that I hope will lead up to big ones in the long run.
Good on ya girl!! It’s tough! I fell off the train completely last week eating cake for my sister’s birthday, but back on it today. I cooked dinner from scratch at 8pm when I was tempted to just pick up a pizza. YESSSSSS.
Sounds like a reasonable compromise! I don’t see the point of banishing things completely out of your diet, especially if it will prevent you from being able to enjoy yourself or eat out.