Yum Yucky and Steph, two bloggers I love, have made verbal commitments on their blogs to cut out sugar.
Yum Yucky did her sugar black-out for a week (but even now, days later, is not craving it), and Steph has been at her sugar wean for several months now. Both have had wonderful success and feel better without sugar.
For me, sugar has been my crutch, my go-to “drug” of choice. Some people crave salt and fried things … not me. For me, it’s sugar. SUGAR.
And it has to stop.
(OK, side-note: Though oddly Sunday night at the airport I wanted nothing more than Wendy’s french fries — odd only because I haven’t eaten a fry in years, except maybe the occasional snagged fry on my husband’s plate… and I’ve certainly not ordered my own since joining WW in 2004. I think it was because they smelled amazing and “bad” … but even so, I couldn’t stomach the thought of grease and nastiness before boarding a plane, so I just got a bag of PopChips instead, which are delicious but not.the. same!)
Anyhoo … I’ve been doing well with my ditching Diet Coke efforts … when I wanted something other than water or unsweetened iced tea this weekend at my brother’s welcome home party, I just sipped Diet Sierra Mist — which still has fake sugar, but I didn’t drink it in copious amounts, so I felt comfortable with the choice.
I’m hoping that experimenting with a sugar wean will help me lose my sweet-tooth.
Truly, I do think tastes can change. For example, over the past year, I’ve taken a love to Fage 2% plain yogurt. I never would have thought I could do it — eat unflavored yogurt and love it! — but I usually eat it plain (though if it’s eaten at breakfast I will sprinkle some Kashi GoLean Crunch or Kashi Heart-to-Heart on it for crunch).
Likewise, I can’t eat regular (non-Greek) yogurt anymore … it’s too sweet and lacks the nutrient punch of Greek yogurt.
I don’t have specific goals like Yum Yucky did (no added sugar for a week unless it came from Chobani yogurt) or Steph (no more than 25 grams of added sugar) … but I am going to spend the next few weeks really trying to wean myself off the drug … going “sugar-lite” as Steph said.
Eventually, I would like to get to the American Heart Association’s recommendation of 25 grams or less a day like Steph is aiming for … I just have never kept track of sugar grams before, so I’d like to give a day or two to journal and see where I stand before making an actual commitment. (Stay tuned!)
The truth is, added sugar is found in so much of what we eat … hell, even the honey-wheat pretzels I was snacking on when I wasn’t feeling so hot last week — they have 3 grams of sugar a serving and they’re a salty treat!
As someone who could certainly benefit from losing a few pounds, my bigger focus is on the future and wanting to be fueling my body in the best possible way I can. My addiction to sugar is bad for my teeth, my heart, and my brain … and it isn’t helping me any.
That said, a life without chocolate would suck. So I’m thinking of buying a bag of Dove Dark Chocolate Promises to keep on hand when the urge strikes. And who knows … maybe in a few days or weeks, I won’t even want them?!?!
How about you? Did you ever try to quit sugar cold turkey or wean yourself off? How did you feel after? Do you still monitor your sugar intake?
Let There Be Light 
I am anti-sugar! LOL. No, not that bad but almost! I try to keep my grams under 15 per day, but usually hit somewhere between 15 and 20 per day. Some days I do really well and only have like 4 to 6 grams, but that’s rare. I also try to eat more all natural foods. For instance, I know Fritos are high in fat but they don’t have any sugar and they only have 3 ingredients. They are one of my new favorite snacks! I also found some coconut milk ice cream which has 10 grams of sugar, but it’s all natural. Much much better for you than any of that other crap you can’t pronounce. Also stay away from high fructose corn syrup! BAAAAD stuff!!! Oh and drinking one diet soda here or there isn’t too bad. I do it when there are no other options. But, try to keep a limit on those. Those chemicals aren’t good for you either.
I’m here to cheer you on! Let me know how it goes!
I hope you just mean you cut down on *added* sugars … because even an apple has 15 grams of sugar or more 😉
Good luck! I cut way back on sugar a few years ago. I do have my daily square of dark chocolate (80% cacao) and once a week or so I have a really good dessert (cookie, ice cream etc) but day to day I have very little sugar, just the chocolate and maybe one serving of fruit. I dont buy anything else that has added sugars.
Thanks Lara! Dark chocolate … yum!
WOW! You are brave to do Fage 2% plain. Whew! Except for when I do Taste Tests (almost any kind of food is game), I am still sugarless. My next step it to indulge in Greek plain yogurt ONLY. No fruit added except for the fresh stuff I put in myself.
Lissa, I hope we get to catch up in person again once day. )
I LOVE Fage 2% plain now; believe me, I never thought I’d see the day!!! But even that has 8 grams of sugar!! And it is unsweetened — guess the dairy??
YES I hope we do!! 🙂 🙂 Kudos on your achievement!
You always come up with thought-provoking ideas. Sugar has been of the banes of my existence, both in granulated form and the kind that hides in soft drinks (what I also call “liquid candy”). Both have plagued me my entire life.
From the time I was a wee tyke I have memories of sugar in my cereal bowl. We’d eat our “soggies” and there remaining in the bowl would be a sugary paste. It’s sick to think about it now looking back. I don’t know what my parents were doing to allow such a thing!
I used to drink Pepsi for breakfast and could easily drink 64 ounces a day (or more). When I was a professional driver it seems like I always had a Big Gulp in the rig with me.
These days I’m completely off soda in ALL varieties (including diet). I don’t care for artificial sweetners. I’d rather go without.
I still put 2-3 heaping teaspoons in my tea and coffee, though, which is the biggest sugar threat I currently face. I just don’t find either to be very palatable when unsweetened.
It’s an ongoing battle…
I should probably do this.
Since re-committing I’ve lost 4 pounds in 2 months (with a WI tomorrow) and it’s difficult this time around for me. I think the yo-yo-ing is working against me but it’s also WHAT I eat. It’s so easy not to eat the right things (or the right things for your particular body) and processed food with added sugar is a huge part of that. I’ve done much better lately with watching my refined carbs by seeing those day to day. WW allowed me to eat the points and forget about the nutrients for a long time, unfortunately.
Do you still use SparkPeople? I think you can track sugar grams on there.