Sugar Hiatus

At the beginning of last month, if you've been keeping up, I said I was cutting out all added sugar for an entire month.

I was curious what changes I might notice if I cut out all added sweeteners. I also limited zero calorie sweeteners to almost none.

I still ate fruits and carbs. A true "no sugar" diet would cut out ALL sources of sugar and that's just unnecessary, in my opinion.

Well, the month long stint is over and here is what I learned:

• I felt the same not eating added sugar as I did eating added sugar

I somewhat expected to notice some sort of mental or physical difference. Unfortunately, there was no increased mental clarity, no improved skin complexion, no improved performance in the gym.

I celebrated a month of no added sugar with Pop-Tarts and some homemade chocolate peanut butter cups I stashed away in the freezer all month, ha!

There still has not been any noticeable change going from no added sugar to eating sweets again.

Maybe if I went a longer period I would notice a difference. Even then, I speculate that any changes I might experience would be insignificant.

This was my own personal experience. Someone else may have a completely different experience.

• Cutting out foods from your diet impacts the social aspect of eating.

I am all about enjoying food and having a good relationship with what you eat. Food is a gift to be enjoyed, after all.

Cutting out sugar meant I wasn't able to enjoy the experience of eating certain foods with family and friends, and that's half the fun!

Just something to consider before cutting out foods from your diet.

• I craved sugar less

I realized I craved sweets and junk food less and less the longer I went without them. This was the most significant thing I noticed.

I've always thought sugar had some addictive qualities when consumer frequently. This experience affirmed my thinking.

I may have lost a pound or two over the course of the month. Not because I cut out sugar, but because I eliminated unnecessary calories.

• Sugar is not inherently bad

A month without sugar also confirmed, for me at least, that there is nothing wrong with sugar itself.

The food and fitness industries always have something to demonize and point a finger at.

Remember when fat was bad?

Now we know dietary fats (yes, even saturated fats) are very beneficial to the body and are not directly linked to increased blood triglyceride levels. Long-term studies have not found any compelling evidence to suggest an association.

But back to the point...

We don't have a sugar problem. We have an overeating problem.

---

In conclusion, there was nothing ground breaking I took away from this little experiment. But I wanted to share the little tidbits I picked up along the way.

Was this post at all interesting to you? Shoot me an email letting me know what you think. Any feedback is good feedback.

Email your thoughts and suggestions to thomaszkry@gmail.com and I will reply.

And if you haven't already, subscribe to the email list to receive updates and new posts. Thanks!