Quitting Sugar: Two Month Update

That’s it. I’m a believer.

It’s been two months—wow, time flies—since I decided to cut sugar from my diet, and I’m never going back. At least I hope not to.

I haven’t cut out sugar completely (for a recap of how this all started and what I cut first, read this post), but I’ve cut out most sugar-filled foods like cereal, candy, soda, processed foods and baked goods, except for the occasional treat, and I feel good.

I’ve had some setbacks—a.k.a. the entire holiday season, which I’ll talk about in a minute—but first I want to share the positive changes I’ve experienced from dramatically reducing my sugar intake.

I’m less anxious.

When I started this sugar cleanse, I was ball of nerves. Most days I felt anxious as soon as I woke up in the morning. It wasn’t that there was anything in particular I was worried about. Well, there were a lot of things I was worried about, but nothing that warranted such panic-inducing thoughts. I truly had the feeling that my body was telling me, ‘something is off.’

Since cutting sugar I feel a lot less anxious on a day-to-day basis. I still worry and I still get stressed, of course, but I don’t have that “something bad is about to happen” feeling nearly as frequently as I used to. Yes, part of me feels a little crazy attributing that to sugar, but I’ve done some research and it turns out there are actually studies that support a link between sugar and anxiety. Nuts.

I have more energy.

The biggest thing that prompted me to start looking more closely at sugar in my diet was the afternoon slump I was feeling nearly every day. It was like once 2 p.m. hit, I turned into a lifeless human-shaped dummy, Weekend At Bernie’s style. I’d be dying for a nap.

I’ve always loved napping, but at this point I felt like without one, my mind was a big jello mold with my thoughts  suspended in a hazy goop. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t have any other noticeable health problems. I had a sneaking suspicion my diet was the culprit. I noticed a difference in my energy levels almost immediately after quitting sugar, once the headaches I had during the first week wore off.

I’d had no idea how many of my daily calories I was getting from sugar, and when I cut it from my diet I needed to make up for those calories with other options like protein and healthy fats. At first, I had to get used to the idea of eating more (obviously in healthier calories) to compensate for the sugar calories I was missing. Some of the things I’ve swapped in for my old sweet snacks have been hard-boiled eggs, cheese cubes, almonds, avocado on crackers, and hummus on basically anything.

My mind is clearer.

This kind of runs parallel to the anxiety thing, but I feel like my brain is less foggy and I can make decisions with more clarity. I don’t feel as mentally overwhelmed with my to-do list.

I feel healthier.

Or should I say, I feel like being healthier.

I think this is purely mental, part of the morale boost that comes with making a positive change to your routine, but cutting back on sugar has made me feel more motivated to make healthier choices in other areas, like getting up early to do yoga or ordering a salad instead of a burger. Of course I still eat burgers and probably always will, but I have found salads sneaking their way into my rotation more than usual.

One thing that has a been a challenge as the weeks go on has been cravings. Right off the bat it was easy to avoid sugary foods because saying ‘no’ to them was so new. It would be a cop-out to give in so easily.

But now that I’ve been (generally) good for a couple months, the little devil on my shoulder is telling me a couple Reese’s cups won’t hurt. And they won’t! ‘Everything in moderation’ is basically my life motto. I just don’t want to fall back into the habit of eating candy after literally every meal like I was before.

Which brings me to the holidays.

Between my husband’s mid-December birthday and Christmas, I pretty much went balls-to-the-wall and ate anything I wanted, mountains of sugar included. Let me tell you, if I had any uncertainties about the impact of sugar on the way I feel, they were totally cleared up during this time.

I went right back to feeling like crap. That 2 p.m. need-a-nap-to-survive feeling came barreling back. My anxiety ratcheted up. I could basically hear my body yelling, ‘nooooooo!’ But all of the cookies and cupcakes did taste pretty good at the time.

We got back from our Christmas vacation last week, and since then I’ve gotten back in the saddle and hope to stay here in the new year.

So, what do you think: can I keep up my low-sugar ways in 2019? If you know me and my sweet tooth, you know how crazy of a feat this is, but the positive effects I’ve experienced have been so worth it.