Have you ever thought about giving up sugar?
And I don’t mean just sugar.
I mean anything that acts like a sugar in your body, or anything masquerading as sugar in the products you buy.
I’ve actually done it before.
Cold turkey.
I was 16.
And weird.
But I was on to something, I just didn’t know it.
Natural News reports just some of the negative effects of sugar:
- Sugar feeds cancer
- Sugar causes food allergies
- Sugar contributes to diabetes
- Sugar can contribute to eczema in children
- Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease
- Sugar can impair the structure of DNA
- Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children
- Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases)
And sugar is in everything these days disguised as other things.
I didn’t stick with my sugar boycott as a teen and although I eat very minimal processed foods, I still found sugars creeping into my diet.
So I decided to try The 21 Day Sugar Detox book and see if I noticed a difference.
The video below is long. The lighting is terrible. The camera goes in and out of focus. But it marks the beginning of this for me and I wanted to keep it mostly in it’s original form for my own reference. I talk about our current diet and why I decided to challenge myself for the next 21 days. I also sing, but don’t worry that part is very short.
Joining me in this challenge is Kelly from A Girl Worth Saving. You can get a sneak peak of one of the recipes from the book in her first post: Lemon Vanilla Meltaways and my 21 Day Sugar Detox.
Stick around if you are interested in following my experience. I don’t have a goal necessarily aside from surviving the whole 21 days without messing up, but fat loss would certainly be a welcome bonus. Time will tell!
How much sugar is in your diet?
Would you consider giving it up?
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Nope, never. I don’t think I could give up sugar. I don’t want to, either. I have a wicked sweet tooth and it needs to be satisfied 🙂
LOL I used to but as I began to cut back it actually has become easier. I still like my Justin’s organic Peanut Butter cups though!
I eat too much sugar since I’m always baking up something sweet for my site. I’m really looking forward to the break and also trying to figure out what foods are causing a skin issue I’m dealing with on my hands.
You just need a “tester” so you can continue to make the sweets LOL
You are so right. As soon as diet is changed you feel amazing. I noticed the stomach issues were gone almost immediately, no bloating, no gas, no nothing. Like you, I have cut out most bad things, sure I still eat with my family when we go out, but I make better choices. The only sugars I get are those from fresh fruits and vegetables and whatever may be in the other foods I eat which I know are hidden everywhere. But I do not eat foods that have sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maltitol, dextrose etc in the ingredient labels. I focus on quality protein, good carbs and healthy fats in my diet. My diet is very low in fat and sugar:) Good luck Kim, excited to watch your journey!
Thanks Nichol!
I find it hard to explain to people how good you feel. It’s almost like you need to experience it to believe it.
Kim, you’d probably have a stroke if you knew how much sugar I consume. Let’s just say my day starts with a cup of coffee with 3 tablespoons of sugar … it gets majorly worse from there.
The recommended amount of sugar for a healthy adult is not more than 6 tsps I think, for a day. The problem for many people is the hidden sugars in processed foods. Soups, crackers, breads, dressings, sauces, etc. All have sugar. When you add it all up, it’s scary. Not to mention the stuff we eat that we KNOW has sugar.
I’m not pointing fingers at you Cat, it’s just that it’s become such an epidemic and the food companies replace healthy fats with sugar alcohols and stuff in order to lower calories. People just don’t realize the extent of it.
Deliberate intake is one thing – ie, sugar in your coffee, baking a cake from scratch with sugar. A big part of the problem though is the stuff we just don’t realize.
I knew I recognized that author’s name! I need to get back to reading my Paleo book. I don’t know if I could handle the detox. Maybe I’ll give it a try after I’m settled in with baby girl.
Good luck to you and Kelly! I’ll follow along. 🙂
She does have a section in there for pregnant moms :). On level 1 you can have some rice. The sugar detox is not as extreme as Paleo. It CAN be but the 3 levels make it approachable for everyone.