I’ve been on a mission to get healthy in a sustainable way.
I’ve always been “anti-diet”. But like many women, I have fallen prey to popular diet fads at different times in my life.
So, in the past couple of years, I’ve started to pay attention to the way different foods make my body feel.
My “no added sugar” challenge.
When my friend recently challenged me and others to go without added sugars or artificial sweeteners for five consecutive days, I knew I wanted to give it a shot.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I thought, it’s just five days, how hard could it be? Here’s what I learnt along the way…
I stopped feeling hungry.
This was by and large the biggest light-bulb moment of the week. I prepared my meals. I ate my meals. I was satisfied with my meals.
My brain finally understood the difference between hunger and habit.
There were several days when I wasn’t even hungry for the snack I’d prepared in advance. I realised that without my normal cravings, my brain finally understood the difference between hunger and habit.
I had a lot more energy.
I’ve cut calories before, which often left me exhausted. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t get to the gym during the challenge, but it’s not for a lack of energy. I just wanted to focus on one thing at a time.
I got a nice productivity boost.
My challenge fell during a particularly trying and busy work week. I found that when there were fires to put out, I was able to focus on the task at hand and get it done more efficiently. I was also quicker to make decisions.
Sugar is added to a LOT of products.
I already have a habit of reading labels, but never really paid attention to sugar. For the challenge, I switched to using unsweetened almond milk in my coffee and that was probably the biggest adjustment for me.
Cereal bars and granola bars were the other processed sugar giants that I used to lean on. They may be low in calories, but they are LOADED with sugar along with other foods like pasta sauces and salad dressing.
I like eating real food.
Cutting sugar does not mean eating diet food. In fact, it’s more expensive to buy prepackaged program bars or special breads than to eat real whole foods that are in season.
Cutting sugar does not mean eating diet food.
The bottom line is eating less sugar was not only sustainable, it was actually enjoyable! It didn’t take long at all for my taste buds to adjust and I felt much better with less sugar in my system.
Eating less sugar was not only sustainable, it was actually enjoyable!
So I am passing on the challenge. If you haven’t tried the 5-day no added sugar challenge, right now is as great a time as ever to start. I mean, it’s only five days…
How hard could it be?
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