How to Survive a Month of No Sugar

I’ll cut to the chase: the best way I’ve found to stick to the no-sugar rule is to adopt a low-sugar rule. So practically speaking, I don’t throw out my peanut butter with 2 grams of sugar, but I do restrain myself from re-stocking my snack supply with pumpkin spice coated almonds from the bulk bin at Sprouts. Giving them up hurts a little inside, which is exactly why I have to do it. Once I find myself mindlessly grabbing donuts for breakfast at work and scavenging for something sweet every two hours like it’s my job, I know it’s detox time.

I also know when things like this happen…

Sad but true story: Back in December, a very thoughtful patient delivered a dozen giant bags of gourmet popcorn to our clinic, which ended up near my desk. And let’s just say, what started out as a small cup of snickerdoodle popcorn with my morning coffee turned in to an 8 hour sugar binge fest. I felt guilty for eating the first cup (red flag), which led to skipping my oatmeal and then my salad for lunch as I tried to limit my calorie intake, which only led to more popcorn cups. I felt compelled to try every flavor – red velvet, zebra, cinnamon toast – hoping no one would notice as I snuck in to the break room for more. I knew I’d had too much, but I was strapped in to a sugar roller coaster that had spun out of control. Despite feeling sick, I even took some home with me for later. (Hi I’m Ashley, and I am a sugar-holic). I arrived at my sweet boyfriend’s later that day in a total shame spiral, fueled by thousands of crashing calories, and proceeded to burst in to tears and yell at him when I didn’t like the way he said “hello” to me. We laugh about it now, but it was far from funny then, and he’s been nervous around me ever since if I so much as pick up a cookie.

I’m sharing this story because I’m guessing you’ve been there on some level. And most of us already know the science-y reasons to avoid processed sugar – weight gain, organ damage, fatty liver, insulin resistance, the dreaded cavity – but if you’re anything like me, unless something appeals to me emotionally, I’m probably not changing my behavior. Even then, things usually have to reach crisis status, re: above story. Maybe you have more anti-sugar willpower than I do (let’s hope so), but the fact that it has the ability to hijack hormones and turn people into crazy monsters is just that: a fact. I’ve learned to follow a pretty strict avoidance policy with the refined white stuff, since it throws me so off balance. And there are few things I’ve worked harder on in my life than cultivating inner peace and balance. There’s no flavor of popcorn worth losing that over. Not even you, cinnamon toast.

I first got the inspiration for a sugar detox from one of my favorite wellness sites, and what began as a 7 day challenge stretched in to a month once I realized how much better I felt. It wasn’t just a subtle difference, every cell in my body basically rose to a standing ovation. I felt that unmistakable energetic lift that comes from a clear mind and squeaky clean system. But eventually, motivation began to wane as it so often does, leaving me vulnerable to temptation. Luckily, I figured out some staple foods, craving hacks, and magical truths to keep me going strong.

Sugar detox kitchen staples:

• Nut butters like peanut, almond, cashew, and coconut butter. These guys are life savers. It’s easy to find natural brands without any added sugar, but I’ll admit, that 1-2 grams of sugar per serving is just enough to make it feel like a satisfying treat, and honestly keeps me from craving more sugar. Justified? I think so. My favorites: Earth Balance Peanut Coconut Spread, Artisana Raw Coconut Butter, MaraNatha Almond Butter
• Strong dark chocolate, at least 75%. The higher that percentage, the less sugar it has, and the less it will take to satisfy you. My personal favorite is Chocolove 88% Extreme Dark Chocolate. Each ounce has less than 4 grams of sugar, and amazingly 4 grams of fiber. I break up the little squares (which are way less than an ounce) and keep them in the fridge. One usually does the trick.
• Healthy fats like avocados, raw cashews, ghee, avocado and coconut oil, and cans of full fat coconut milk. I used to shy away from these foods, fearing the high calorie content, but I had it all wrong. Now I include them regularly and find myself snacking and craving less, therefore taking in fewer calories during the day.

Craving hacks:

• In the morning, I blend 1/4 cup cashews into my coffee, a genius idea I got from another favorite site. It’s like a creamy, filling treat, and makes the donuts at work far less attractive.
• 1 piece of extreme dark chocolate after meals, or anytime I notice myself eyeing the naughty granola. I keep my chocolate cold, which slows it down and adds to the amazingness for me.
• I always add about a tablespoon each of peanut butter and coconut butter to my morning oatmeal. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Just, yum.
• At least once a week I try to make a coconut curry sauce – on roasted veggies, cauliflower rice, tofu, any excuse will do. It’s filling, delicious, and easy to make enough for meal prep later. Coconut milk and curry have the power of sweetness without any sugar. I don’t understand it, I’m just grateful.

Magical truths:

• It’s your mind that thinks you want sugar, not your body. Learn to tell the difference, and you will win this game every time. It takes listening to yourself, your true self, not the “I’m going to die if I don’t get peanut m&ms” self – and that takes practice.
• Fat will not make you fat, sugar will. Why? There’s no nutritional value in sugar, it’s not nourishing. We may be taking in calories, but the body isn’t fooled. A chocolate chip cookie from Starbucks the size of your face only fills you up for 5 minutes because we still need nutrients. Not that there’s anything wrong with a cookie sometimes, just don’t substitute it for your lunch or you risk over-eating later. Speaking from lots of sugar-binging experience here.
• Once you detox from processed sugar, taste buds become more sensitive. Suddenly that Starbucks cookie is sickeningly sweet, and fresh blueberries are more than enough to get the job done. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

Ok, here’s the science-y stuff:

The American Heart Association tells us we should consume no more than 6-9 tsp per day, or 24 – 36 grams. Think we listen? Hardly. The average person eats more like 22 tsp (that’s 88 grams) in a day. It’s not hard to do, which is unfortunate considering what excessive sugar intake does. Cavities and weight gain aside, too much for too long leads to kidney, pancreas and liver damage from insulin resistance and fat storage. I see patients with fatty liver disease, uncontrolled diabetes and kidney failure every day in my practice and trust me, it’s all bad news. Eating processed sugar is also like pouring gasoline on a fire for inflammatory conditions like arthritis and IBS. Inflammation thrives on sugar while healing is suppressed, setting us up for chronic illness.

And just to clarify, we are only talking about detoxing from added sugar, as opposed to the naturally occurring sugar found in carbohydrate-containing foods like fruit, vegetables, dairy and grains. Whole foods with natural sugar come packaged with fiber, protein, minerals and other essential nutrients that slow down absorption and offer a steady supply of energy to cells. Added sugar – the stuff that’s been extracted, refined, stripped of all nutrients and concentrated to it’s purest form (you know, kind of how drugs are made) – is the bad stuff. All brakes are off, causing rapid acceleration into the body. Dopamine surges in the brain and cells get a lightning burst of energy. Exhilarating, but unstable and incredibly short-lived. The only way down is to crash, causing most people some level of anxiety, fatigue and ironically, hunger. How unfair.

To kickstart your own detox, decide how strict you want to be. I’ve tried 2 ways: 1) A ZERO added sugar detox, in which I avoided anything with the tiniest hint of agave, honey, cane sugar, brown rice sugar, etc… there are over 50 names for added sugar. It’s sneaky and it hides everywhere. You have to read the label. I felt amazing, but it was hard for me to maintain. 2) Allow a LITTLE added sugar, which is more my speed. It means I don’t have to sweat over a couple grams here and there in salsa, almond butter, or dark chocolate. I try to keep it under 2-3 grams per serving, which seems low enough to control my addictive tendencies, but just enough to keep me sane.

Bottom line: the sugar struggle is real and you’re not alone. I hope you find some of these tips helpful – I’d love to hear what works for you as well.