Breaking up with Sugar

I knew quitting sugar was going to be a challenge but for the past two days my issue has been the realisation that if I can’t have sugar, then what is left for me to have? Ignorance is bliss. That means the cheese; the olives; the dressings I slather on my salads; I quite literally mean everything savoury that comes in a jar or a packet sitting in my cupboard or fridge right now has sugar in it.

Sarah Wilson’s ‘I quit sugar’ book has ignited the fire. This is not a ‘willy-nilly’ challenge, I make informed decisions about quitting sugar.

It’s been ten days and I am feeling like I’m on top of the world. Perhaps it could be all the benefits that I am starting to see after such a short period of time. Here’s some of the changes I am experiencing: glowing skin, shinier hair, a surplus of energy, increased focus and mental clarity, no headaches, weightloss, suppressed appetite, mood stability, I eat more nutritious food and drink more water, better quality of sleep, no cravings, saved money.

According to Sarah Wilson’s IQS book we’re designed to eat between 5-9 teaspoons of sugar a day. It’s no major revelation really. We know too much sugar isn’t a good thing. What astounded me, however, was the emphasis Sarah placed on fructose in her book. It suprised me at first to learn about the correlation between fructose and appetite hormones which don’t switch off when we eat too much fruit. But it made sense when Sarah explained how we can drink as much fruit juice to fill a bath in comparison to drinking yoghurt when our bodies would let us know ‘enough’. Lucky for me, I’ve never been much of a juice drinker. . .

Coming from a fruit-in-everything-all-the-time-lover, I found it so difficult to face the truth about fruit. But the answer is yes, we can eat too much fruit and in more ways than one it can be even more detrimental than glucose. Though our bodies don’t break down very much glucose, at least our cells use it. On the contrary, fructose converts directly to fat.

All learning aside, my alternatives on the odd occasions have been to use rice malt syrup and stevia where necessary. I wanted to let go of all the fruit this month too, but I have a confession to make. Sunday, I made a sugar-free cheesecake concoction with berries. . . and it was amaaaazing!