Ditching Sugar: My Journey So Far

You may remember that my Aunty and I declared April a "no sugar" month. Well I am now up to day 20 and I have to say that it hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be.

(image from Third Planet Food)

I had expected the first few days to be a bit rough and they were. I had the WORST headache, I felt sick and I was moodier than usual. While those symptoms have disappeared now, I still find myself wanting to eat sugar nearly every..single..day. That is something I wasn't expecting.

Perhaps naively, I had thought that the cravings would have disappeared by the second week and that I would be full of energy and ready to take on the world. That I would be able to easily walk past a coffee shop and not feel the need for a caramel cappuccino. Instead I find myself lethargic and perhaps even a little depressed.

So, how have I managed to stick to the whole 'no sugar' thing when I feel this way?

I think the key to sticking with it so far has been reiterating to myself daily why I am aiming for a sugar free life. For me, I want to be sugar free as a positive influence in my children's lives and to not feel like sugar has a hold over me. Everyone will have different reasons, so it is important to work out what your reason is.

I also have a good support system in place. While Matty still eats a lot of sugar, he is very supportive in my decision to try and ditch it. He doesn't tell me that "just one (biscuit/cake/lolly)" won't hurt. Instead he makes me think ahead and plan for situations where we know there will be a sugary spread for afternoon tea. I make sure I pack myself some nuts or vegetables or what ever else I think I might like to have instead and I take that with me.

There have also been a few things I have physically done to help me in staying sugar-free this month. Firstly, I threw out all of the food that had sugar in it. If it isn't there, then you can't eat it! I know some people have problems with throwing out food, but not me. If I don't want to eat it because of the effects I believe it has on my health, then why would I feed it to my family?

I have also created a list of fun things things to do. When I feel like sugar, I do one of the things on the list and usually the craving passes. This doesn't seem to work of a night though, when my cravings are so, so bad. So of a night, I simply give myself permission to eat whatever I want so long as it has no grains or sugar in it. Because I exercise regularly and am also breastfeeding, I find that the extra calories consumed don't really make a difference to my weight.

At this stage I am a little worried that come May I will find myself having some sugar since the self imposed ban will be off, so I am thinking that I might have to declare May another sugar-free month. I am guessing that years of consuming copious amounts of sugar will have taken its toll, so it is only to be expected that it might take a while for my body to repair itself.

So what about you? Do you think you could ditch sugar?