give up sugar

After a few days of trying, I’ve found giving up sugar is incredibly difficult to do. Just living in America makes it hard. There’s sugar in almost any finished product you buy.

It’s not just desserts you have to give up – it’s almost anything besides raw, unprocessed foods.

Pizza? Sugar added to the sauce.
Cereal (even “healthy” cereal)? More sugar than you think.
Ketchup? Granola/granola bars? Trail mix/dried fruit? Yogurt? Salad dressing? Any sort of sauce/gravy? Crackers? Juice? All have sugar added.

So, I’m going to try to take control of the situation by, as much as possible, buying my own ingredients and making my own food – extra sugar not necessary. (Of course, fruits, vegetables, and grains will have some slight amount of sugar in them naturally, but it’s really refined sugar that I want to eliminate.)

So right now I’ve stocked up on:
Fresh fruits and vegetables
Grains – oats, wheat germ, pasta, rice, flax
Nuts and seeds
Meat – beef, chicken, fish, seafood
Dairy – milk
Tofu
Legumes – beans and lentils

My hope is that after one or two weeks of this diet, which involves less processing of foods and much less sugar (the milk and fruits have lots of sugar, but not sucrose), I’ll feel more energetic, recover more quickly from my workouts, and maybe come to appreciate my food more, rather than mindlessly stuffing it down my throat.

One last effect of all this is it’ll be cheaper. I get produce from the Mexican market a couple blocks away for $1-$2/lb, and whole grains are also in this price range, while nuts are $4-$5/lb, but more nutrient-dense. So all told this diet costs something like $8/day, whereas a couple of TV dinners will cost you that much just in themselves.

The problems I can see running into are:
going out to eat: almost any restaurant dish will have a sauce or flavoring, and it will probably use sugar
social gatherings: friends bake cookies and you don’t want to be rude, everyone else is drinking the fruit punch, etc
weak willpower: just ONE chocolate chip cookie won’t hurt!

I’ll update again in a week, and we’ll see then how I’m doing. My guess is that the first couple of weeks will be the hardest, and after that it will become more natural. Let’s hope it’s true.

I’ve had this goal listed among my “things” for almost a year, but I haven’t given it any serious effort yet. Sometimes I skip dessert one day, but the next day my brain goes fuzzy, I lose track of the reasons for wanting to give up sugar or forget that I want to do it at all.

One reason for wanting to give up sugar is the obvious health reason – refined sugars are just plain bad. I’ve never heard a dietitian or doctor recommend them, except a modest amount of sugar immediately following exercise. So I hope that by giving up sugar I’ll have more physical energy and feel mentally clearer, as well as avoid health risks like diabetes.

Also, sugar as a flavoring will tend to dull your taste sensitivity, so by skipping sugar and other junk foods, real food should begin to taste better. So I hope.

Finally, giving up sugar is a test of willpower and self-control. Even if it didn’t have health benefits, having the knowledge that I was able to give up at will would be a proof for me of my own ability to steer the course and direction of my life, and for me, believing that I have control of the direction I’m headed is a prerequisite for a happy life.

I’ve been sugar-free for four hours now…