My sugar deprivation month

One day I read a very long article in National Geographic about refined sugar. This was the day that made me think – wait, all those cookies I eat every day, are they bad for me?

Cakes and candies have saved me in so many life situations that for 29 years I could not believe they were not good. And even during my raw vegan month I was regularly eating honey with nuts and bananas, my sugar high raw dessert.

This June, however, I decided not to eat any sweets one morning. I went to a coffee shop the same day and could not stop from ordering a tiramisu. This gave me a lot of pleasure and then made me so angry that the next day I stopped eating any kind of refined sugar.

NO REFINED SUGAR FOR A MONTH

I continued eating fruit and bread, but avoided anything I knew for sure refined sugar was added, such as cakes, cookies, candies, yoghurts, cereals, sweet carbonated drinks, etc.

I noticed that my body, craving for sensory satisfaction, got addicted to coffee and now I was waiting for my afternoon coffee as if it were sugar. I did notice some change of behaviour though – it was rewarding to know I could control myself away from this “drug”. I stopped craving desserts after lunch. My head became lighter and I felt more free.

Apparently, our bodies love sugar because back in the day when people found some good source of carbs, their bodies were grateful. They say, sugar pleasure center in your brain is close to cocaine pleasure center (I am not suggesting you to replace one white powder with another though), and our brain is greatly rewarding us for sugar intakes.

The sugar high can easily turn into a sugar low, and the hyperactive jumping child into a grumpy angry one. When I became aware of this, I noticed the bad mood that came 2 hours after eating an ice cream, and the unhealthy craving for a cake when I simply needed water. I would say that all candies need to have “Handle with caution” sign on them. Nowadays, about 80% of food we eat has hidden sugar, and even yoghurts, cereal and fresh fruit juice, which are promoted as healthy foods, may not be as healthy as we think. You can watch such documentaries as That Sugar film and Fed up to learn more about it.

This is my face eating chocolate cake when I started eating sugar again. Should I quit forever? Maybe one day, but I guess when handled with caution, sugar can be a nice toy.

Have you tried living without refined sugar?