There are sentences that I never thought I would ever write. One: I haven’t eaten industrial sugar for over eight weeks. Two: My teeth hurt when I think about the amount of sugar I used to eat.
But before I tell you about my experience giving up sugar, I need to confess: For 32 years, I have had what can only be described as a sugar addiction. I ate sweets every day, multiple times a day. I always had something sweet in my car or in my handbag; I ate sweets while driving, working, watching Netflix, and even during walks. I’d literally get angry if I was dining with someone who refused dessert. I mean, there’s always crème brûlée! Or, so I thought.
I’m not proud to admit that I’d even eat sweets immediately after working out. I would pop into the supermarket near my gym and buy a pack of gummy bears—preferably sour—and devour them all on the short journey home. Then I would have a “healthy” meal, followed by dessert. I would also snack on sweet things all day and even after dinner before going to bed.
Healthy lifestyle vs. sugar addiction
The weird thing is, I’ve been passionate about health and wellness since I was a teenager. Naturally, you’d assume that sugar would be at odds with my preferred diet—and, in many ways, it was. I’d eat “healthy” meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner… and then eat sugar all day in between. I was on a slippery slope paved with cane sugar and corn syrup.
A few months ago, however, I realized I was out of control. My otherwise very conscientious lifestyle wasn’t cutting it and my overall health was beginning to suffer as a result. I had headaches and my mind felt cloudy and sluggish. My mood was swinging all over the place. I was always hungry.
This was no way to live, so I decided to radically break up with sugar. It wasn’t easy, but now that I’m “clean,” I can see how tightly sugar had a hold on me.
What’s a sugar addiction?
A sugar addiction is like other addictions—it can compel you to act out of control. “It feels as if we are driven; as if we can no longer freely choose or control our cravings,” explains nutritionist Heike Niemeier.
Living with a sugar addiction means you can’t just stop at a single handful of jelly beans; you always want more, more, more. It doesn’t feel good. “People with a sugar addiction are aware of their relentless cravings, and they have a bad feeling about it,” Niemeier says. “A crucial point is that people suffer from their addictions.” That was fully me before I quit.
What happens when you stop eating sugar?
The first day without sugar showed me the extent of my habit. Several times while I was working, I thought about getting up to grab something sweet. It was an intense urge; a compulsion. Where are my candies?!
For the next three days, it took a lot of effort to fight my desires. (I can’t tell you how difficult it was to wave off a slice of gooey chocolate cake while having coffee at a café with my colleagues.) However, the feeling gradually subsided. I began to swap my usual cake habit for a second coffee with unsweetened almond milk or a matcha latte. I found ways to distract myself. Sometimes, I’d take a lot of deep breaths.
Of course, my thoughts still revolved around sweets and the taste I so badly missed. But after about a week, I suddenly felt fabulous. I could concentrate for longer while writing and I jumped out of bed without hitting snooze a gazillion times in the morning. In general, my head was clearer and my body was lighter. I was feeling good.
Finding alternatives to sugar
I’m proud to report that I’ve stuck to my sugar-free diet since November. The positive effects have not dwindled: Each day I still notice how much more focused I am and how much fitter I feel. Now that my body is not constantly processing highly-processed sugar bombs, I have more energy for other, more important things. And though my goal was never to lose weight, I have even dropped a few pounds. This just goes to show how much of my daily caloric intake was from cookies, candy, cakes, ice cream, and other sweet treats.
In the meantime, I have found alternatives. I only gave up industrial sugar, so I have still been eating naturally sweet foods like fruit. I’ve swapped baked goods for yogurt with berries or an apple with almond butter. And my new favorite trade comes courtesy of TikTok: A date with a little butter and a walnut. The fat from the butter and the protein from the walnut ensures that my blood sugar stays steady—and best of all, it tastes like cookie dough.
I also feel more energetic—and thus, have started working out more. This, it turns out, is also a good swap: Because sugar repeatedly triggers dopamine surges, Niemeier says that exercise can is a helpful replacement. “Sugar triggers a good feeling in us. Working out also does that—but with fewer side effects,” she explains.
How much sugar is healthy?
That said, I will probably eat foods prepared with industrial sugar again at some point. However, I will be sure to keep it to a healthy amount this time around. But what is a healthy amount of sugar per day? Isn’t it healthier just to cut it out of the diet completely?
“The World Health Organization recommends 25 grams or two tablespoons of industrial sugar per day as an appropriate amount,” says Niemeier. But, she notes it’s important to think about insulin resistance, as that can be a deciding factor in the amount of sugar that is harmful to an individual. “The vast majority of people with type 2 diabetes have insulin resistance,” says Niemeier. “In this case, it’s important to eat as little sugar as possible.”
However, scientists do not generally advise that people give up sugar all together—especially since this is unrealistic and could result in unhealthy binges or equally troublesome replacements. “Sugar is not evil in itself, per se. Yes, less is better, but giving it up is not the goal, because many people just switch to something else,” says Niemeier.
The healthiest way to deal with sugar then? Moderation and a relaxed attitude. “It’s better to enjoy an occasional piece of cake with friends in the sunshine instead of constantly snacking while working or on the sofa,” emphasizes Niemeier.
While some people may find it easy to simply cut back on their sugar consumption, that wasn’t an option for me—I needed to make a clean and drastic break. I went cold turkey on industrial sugar, and even though it was just a short detox, it definitely helped me reestablish a healthy relationship with the sweet stuff. Today, I’m back in control.
How sugar cravings develop
According to Niemeier, the constant craving for sweets is usually sparked by insufficient protein intake. If you don’t include enough protein in your daily diet, you quickly get a sugar craving. “This can be explained quite simply: When there is a protein deficiency, the body doesn’t feel satiated and the feeling of hunger arises. This can be quickly satisfied with sugar, but the body still doesn’t get what it actually needs from this either, which is protein.” This causes a vicious cycle—more hunger and more quick sugar fixes. “If you want to avoid sugar, increase your protein intake,” advises Niemeier.
Do you have to give up fruit during a sugar detox?
I didn’t give up fruit. In fact, I continue to eat fruit in small quantities with yogurt or after meals now. During a sugar detox, however, some people do give up fruit because fructose—the sugar in fruit—can have a similar effect on the body as industrial sugar.
“Fructose from fruit is fine if you don’t eat more than two portions of fruit a day,” Niemeier says, adding that the most important thing is to chew the fruit well and not consume it in the form of juice. Fructose in the concentrated form found in drinks such as juices and smoothies has been shown to lead to fatty liver, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
“There is definitely too much sugar in a smoothie, especially if it contains fruit such as mango and banana, which make the drink creamy,” Niemeier says. “Sugar from drinks is like a sugar tsunami for the liver, which makes it fatty more easily and can make it increasingly difficult for us to digest sugar,”
In other words, if you want to eat fruit, it’s better to eat it in its whole form (not juiced) and stick to a maximum of two portions, ideally with other food or after a meal so that your blood sugar levels don’t spike. To be extra careful, try sticking to fruits that are low in sugar, like berries.
For how long should you give up sugar?
After giving up sugar, the first positive effects usually appear after two to three days. “The negative effects, such as the feeling that you are missing something, on the other hand, can occur after just a few hours or a day,” Niemeier says. “But from day two or three, you start to feel better—deeper sleep, greater relaxation.” So, be patient and push through!
During a sugar detox, it’s important to have good alternatives handy: If you know you need something sweet after every meal, be prepared with a healthy alternative so that you don’t reach for a sweet full of industrial sugar out of habit. That could be Greek yogurt with berries, or, as I’m doing today, dates with a nut. “A date with a walnut is also a sweet, but a natural one that you can enjoy,” ensures Niemeier.
Speaking of dates: Growing up in a Persian family has definitely intensified my love of sweets, as the food culture constantly shifts between healing foods and sugar-drowned treats. I’ve realized now that it’s all about balance. That’s certainly my focus for the future.