Kicking the sugar habit

by Jessica Ashley (Subscribe to Jessica Ashley's posts)
Jun 5th 2007 9:27AM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

My husband and I are ready for a change in how much activity we're getting, how much sleep we're getting and most of all, in how we're eating. We've decided that this summer, we're going to drastically reduce the amount of sugar we consume.

We get into these phases -- you might recognize them in your own home or fridge or mouth -- where we have slip-up's from our normal healthy snacks and splurge on a few pints of ice-cream or bake up a few batches of brownies. With one simple binge in front of prime time TV, we seem to put ourselves right back on to daily desserts. All it takes is one little bag of Oreos and we're suddenly craving the sweet stuff every night.

Last fall during an intense Ayurvedic cleanse, I spent a month being free of sugar, yeast, caffeine animal products, alcohol and many, many other staples in my diet. I took note that my body felt a lot better during this break. While I am not ready to go cleanse-crazy again right now, I do think that eliminating sugar (at least for a while) will give me a reality check on how I am eating.

We've chosen to kick our sugar habit for the month of June. We've chosen to continue eating fruit and to allow honey. One of my weaknesses, sugar-free French vanilla creamer for my coffee, is still OK but otherwise, we are avoiding aspartame and other artificial sweeteners. Those are the rules, and as much as we can, we are sticking to them.

We are a few days in and it has been tough already. I signed up weeks ago to make brownies for a preschool potluck and my husband's proclaimed that as a wicked little temptation. Although we eat healthy cereals, we've had to ditch some of our old favorites since they (surprisingly) contain sugar. We've gotten frustrated at how many brands of yogurt contain (ugh) high fructose corn syrup and we've been caught halfway through a bottle of V8 Splash with the realization that it is chock-full of sugary stuff.

Our hope is we will feel the effects of sacrificing sugar and once this month is over, we will limit our sugar intake overall. The good news? One weekend down and no cake, no Hershey's kisses and not even one of those brownies cooling on the stove.

Any advice for our sugar-free summer days? I'd love to hear it!

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Comments (5)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Beth 6-05-2007 @ 9:47AM

Avoid high fructose sugar, it's the best thing you can do for your diet.

Lisa 6-05-2007 @ 11:28AM

We buy organic yogurt. It doesn't have any of the yucky stuff all of the others have. Stoneyfield and Horizon are good brands.

Beth 6-05-2007 @ 12:00PM

I eat stoneyfield low-fat, plain yogurt and add blueberries and/or granola to give it some flavor.

Connie 6-08-2007 @ 1:11AM

I have many pointers to offer you on how to kick your sugar habit since I used to be a sugar addict myself back in 1998 and I now specialize in helping people lick their habit. I'll quickly share 2 pointers:

When you're tempted by a cookie, chocolate, donut or some other so-called "goodie," just delay doing anything. You can have some fun and just challenge yourself. You're basically doing a fun form of creative procrastination. (You can find an article I wrote about this on my www.SugarShockBlog.com.)

Another valuable tactic is to just see yourself free of the habit. Imagine yourself easily, successfully walking by a bakery or ice cream store or happily saying no when offered desserts by a well-meaning friend of loved one.

You can find a whole bunch more helpful tips and tactics to kick your sugar habit at:
1) My website, www.SugarShock.com;
2) My blog, www.SugarShockBlog.com, and
3) In my book SUGAR SHOCK!

Hope this helps. Good luck to you.

All the best. Just remember that you can do it! And you'll feel better, too! The benefits of kicking sugar are just tremendous!

Connie
Author, SUGAR SHOCK!
www.SugarShock.com

Bonnie Spruin 6-09-2007 @ 1:15PM

Hi,

I am also having trouble giving up sugar. It is extremely hard (especially when you are addicted!). One tip I can give you (that I alway do) is to use stevia as a sweetener. (I never touch aspartame). It is a natural herb, and from everything I have read about it, no side effects. It is very strong, so you use just a little. When I have a cup of tea, I put in 3 or 4 drops (the size I buy comes with a dropper). It is "Herbal Select". Be care to buy stevia that is alcohol/ethanal free. It should say on the bottle. I pay about $10 per bottle. It is small, but it lasts me about a month. You can also get powdered stevia and can bake with it. It is a bit bitter, so I use mashed banana in my baking to help with that. I use stevia to help cut down on sugar for my kids (they like herbal teas and like them sweet, so they ask for stevia in it, or I put it it hot cocoa.).

I hope this helps. I also registered on "SugarShock.com" I look at it every day and I find it helps. I plan on reading the book too.

Good luck,

Bonnie Spruin