Six Months ago today I started something that I honestly wasn’t sure I could complete. I decided to join a program that would help me cut sugar out of my diet and more importantly, help me free myself from what could only be called a sugar addiction.
When I think about how I got here, it can all be traced back to December of 2013. As you know, I was a ridiculous diet coke fanatic. I’d been drinking two cans a day for at least a decade. Here’s proof of my addiction from October of 2009, the day our food shipment arrived.
Well, it seemed that my 33-year-old body was turning on me because instead of that refreshing acidic finish that I described in the blog post I linked to above, I now just felt sick to my stomach. And yet I kept drinking it (hello, addiction!) until one day Mr. Nicholas challenged me to give it up. Cold turkey. That day. And by some miracle, I did. I’ve never had a sip since. Who knew I had such willpower?!
Wouldn’t you know it, I started feeling better immediately. No more sick-to-my-stomach feeling, no more mid-day energy dips and better sleep. I results were so dramatic, in fact, that six months later I decided to do away with caffeine too. Another addiction nipped in the bud.
These two changes gave me the confidence to believe that I could continue making large scale diet changes successfully. And so I just sat back and listened to my body. And I knew the next thing that had to go was sugar. I resisted a LONG time. No way was I giving up my daily bowl of ice cream. The thing that finally pushed me to do it was my friend Nona’s status on Facebook talking about her experience giving up sugar and the program she’d joined that enabled her to be successful.
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love a good program with support and accountability and I felt like this was a sign. And so just like that, I signed up for Jacqueline Smith’s Go Sugar Free program, a 67 day course with daily lessons, group support, individual calls with Jacqueline and a recipe library with over 1000 sugar-free recipes. [Update: Unfortunately Jacqueline no longer runs her program but I bet there’s something similar out there.]
This is Jacqueline, our fearless leader, who underwent this journey herself four years ago. Jacqueline’s passion for this topic is genuine and is backed by her educational background (a Master’s in Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Education). I was awed by how much access I had to her one-on-one (emails, phone calls, quick responses in Facebook) and could feel how committed she was to each one of us finding the version of sugar free that would be sustainable to us.
What do I mean by “our version of sugar free”? Well, on day one of the course, with Jacqueline’s help, we determined what our version of sugar free would look like. The key here is sustainability, because we’re looking to make a lasting lifestyle change, not just complete a seven-day fast or three-week weight-loss program. These changes are meant to be for good. For example, I chose to keep one square of dark chocolate a day (70% cacao or higher) and sauces with a limited amount of sugar. I opted to eliminate things like honey, sugar alcohols (like those found in sugar-free products), sugar (brown, white, powdered), and artificial sweeteners. Also, all naturally-occurring sugars are allowed in the program, so fruit, unsweetened yogurt, wine and beer were all a-ok.
The reason it’s critical to remove all sweet things in addition to just sugar is that our sugar set-point is artificially high from all the added sugar that’s put into processed food (I just read a stat that 70% of processed food in the grocery store has added sugars). What that means is we’ve gotten used to sweet being the norm. By removing all sweet things for a period, it helps us reset our “sweetness meter” so that the sugary treats we loved before now taste sickeningly sweet.
I just noticed that this post is getting really long, so I’ll continue with part two tomorrow and tell you about the challenges I experienced as well as the results I had! Stay tuned…
Wow, Sarah!! This is so educational and inspirational! I’m looking forward to your second post!
Thanks Christen! :) I’ve held off a long time talking about it, but I’m so glad I found it and want to share.
Hi Sarah,
I also gave up diet coke about 2 months ago. I was so addicted to the stuff. Maybe drinking upto a liter a day. I decided to just give up one day and i am glad i did. My husband is also a diplomat(South African) and we are based in Belgium. Imagine this, in the land of chocolate, beers,waffles ….. here comes a woman who is addicted to coke. haha. I can now concentrate on my love of chocolate.
Good for you! I know how hard that can be!