I’m now one month into this going sugar little journey where my goal is to get down from eating about 80g of sugars/day to around 25g of sugars/day, the American Heart Association’s recommended daily dosage. I picked the AHA’s guideline mainly because my family has a history of heart disease and 25g sounded like a doable number to me. So far, I know I have been consuming less sugar than I was before but I’m not sure exactly by how much because I haven’t measured the amount yet. I think I’ll do that at week #6.
I’m slowly weaning off the sugar versus going cold turkey because frankly I think cold turkey only tastes good on a sandwich and that kind of change is just too severe. As a small example, while in SF on a day out with pal @dianev, we were just ordering drinks at Blue Bottle Coffee and I really wanted a vegan mocha, but opted for a vegan latte instead because it has far less sugar. I literally started getting the shakes. Now you would think that would be the caffeine shakes but oh no! No, in this case, it was sugar withdrawal shakes, and for that brief moment I could feel my addiction to sugar.
If I went cold turkey, my Inner Resistance Monster would have a field day, and just crank up the sugar cravings even more intensely because I’ve learned with my psyche that the second I tell it any form of, “You can’t have… or No {insert food} allowed,” a battle of the wills starts to rage and I end up caving in and not only succumbing but more often binging on the forbidden food.
By doing a slow wean, I can make tiny changes without pushing too far out the comfort zone crossing into deprivation territory. I think too that maybe it’s just the inner rebel in me that just doesn’t like to feel constrained in any way, so that part of me will start to lash out and go, “Oh no, we’ll show you who the boss of you is missy!”
So far, in 4 weeks, here are some things I’ve learned about my relationship with sugar:
- My sugar cravings are worse after 7pm. In the morning, I have no desire for sugar at all. In fact, the idea of sugary cereals or syrupy waffles makes me a bit cringey. BUT, I can easily have a bowl of frosted corn flakes for dinner. Although, I’ve been trying out this organic fruit, nut, and seeds muesli by Dorset Cereals that has no added sugars. The only sugars are from the raisins and sultanas.
- To me, emotionally, sugar = love. That is my emotional attachment to sugar because I equate it with sweetness whether it be in life or in a tasty danish.
- Gawking at beautiful pictures of desserts online like at Food Gawker, in a magazine, or even standing in front of the counter at the Whole Foods bakery actually helps curb my inclination to get something for real.
My guess is that on some level the brain can’t tell the difference between reality and a visual, so by allowing myself to gawk endlessly at the sugary goodness, my psyche feels like it’s getting satisfied. I could be completely off base, but all I know is that one of the tactics that works for me for not buying an actual chocolate chip cookie is to just go stare at a bunch of beautiful cookies like the Cookie-of-the-day at Martha Stewart.
- It is pointless to fight my cravings when they do come because what happens every time is that I suffer and end up eating way more sugar than had I originally just found a compromise. So now, when the cravings come, instead of depriving myself, I negotiate. Like the other day, when instead of getting a vegan donut with my latte, I got a small slice of vegan chorizo pizza.
So that was my week with the sugar wean. How was your week?