“My brain didn’t notice the difference.” How I’ve changed in 8 months without sugar

Why did I give up sugar and where did it lead me?

The idea of not eating sugar periodically crossed my mind, but I couldn’t believe I could do it, as cakes, ice cream, milkshakes, chocolates, candies and all sorts of cheesecakes, cheesecakes and puddings were my favorite foods.

I could easily replace a full meal with a coffee and a bun. And I didn’t feel guilty about it. Sugar was not deposited in extra pounds thanks to an active lifestyle: exercise equipment, yoga, swimming pool, walking. The only thing that bothered me was acne and stress.

That’s how I came to the topic of healthy lifestyle and got involved in holistic health (an integrated approach to treatment). I started reading different sources and even took a training course where I learned a lot of interesting things.

For example, that sugar triggers stress in the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract), after which we again eat negative feelings with sweets. We get a vicious cycle: sugar – stress – sugar.

Walking around at 40 with stress and acne was not something I wanted to do. So I decided to give up sugar, replacing it with stevia, topinambour syrup and fructose to trick my brain: the sweet taste is there, but the sugar is not.

I decided to give up sugar completely and completely and started reading the composition of all products. Thanks to this I learned that the substance is almost everywhere: in canned food, juice, ketchup, bread, dumplings, vinaigrette, almond and banana milk and even in vegetarian borscht.

I had to say no to cooking, cafe breakfasts and ready-made foods that I loved so much to buy in supermarkets. And say yes to fruit, the diabetic sections at the store, vegan desserts and smoothies.

I went into the sugar detox in early April, not thinking that my birthday was coming up in the middle of the month. The first week was easy: my brain didn’t notice any difference between a dessert with stevia and one with sugar. Sweet and sugary.

The second week was filled with congratulations, meeting friends and sitting in cafes. Celebrating my big day with a coconut matcha and a fruit and nut bar instead of cake seemed a little sad at first.

But since it was my choice, I was able to resist the temptation of one day. My brain was coming up with ways to back out, “It’s a special day, have a slice! Don’t you love yourself? How can you do without cake?”

I found the answer to the tempting arguments: I love myself and so I won’t eat sugar. I choose healthy and beautiful skin. And a stress-free life!

My friends and girlfriends are already used to my experiments, so they did not impose a birthday cake on me, but only asked me to tell them about the results of the detox.

Instead of chocolate candy, they gave me sugar-free marshmallows, fruit and nut candies, and kerob. It was fun discovering new flavors and living a healthy lifestyle.

I noticed the first results after three weeks – I got on the scale and found out that I had gained two kilograms. Stevia and topinambour syrup have a much less sweet taste than white sugar. So I started eating more as I didn’t feel satiated. My brain thought I was eating something healthy and therefore it was okay to eat more.

Strangely enough, I did not start to psych myself out because of the gained kilograms, but just looked at myself in the mirror and said:

And so beautiful too!

The lack of internal stress and acceptance of myself in all my facial expressions was an additional result after giving up sugar.

All inflammation finally disappeared from my skin. I stopped using multiple layers of foundation. And acquaintances began to ask the phone number of the beautician to whom I go.

I noticed that I had more energy in my body and I could easily get up at 7:00. Stopped hanging out in space throughout the day. Instead, I have a clean and clear mind.

The most interesting thing happened five months later. I went to a cafe, looked at the beautiful cakes and perceived them as decorative objects rather than something edible. I didn’t want to taste them at all. Instead, I searched the menu for smoothies and freeshes on automatic.

The brain gets used to everything: tastes, flavors, food habits, and just repetitive actions. If it’s shown that a smoothie is a dessert, it will be. Just like fueling your body with healthy foods.

After eight months, I decided to try sugar and see how I reacted. The choice was pistachio ice cream, which I once loved dearly. “Why is it so sugary? It’s impossible to eat!” – was my reaction to the sugar flavor.

I gave myself permission to go back to my normal life. But I realized I didn’t want to go back there at all. I like life without sugar better.

Názor odborníka na výživu

REX healthy food brand expert, nutritionist, nutritionist with more than 15 years of experience.

Giving up added sugar, honey and other types of quick sugars is a good decision. The fact is that fast sugars are not physiologic for our bodies. Historically, people had very limited access to them. Sugar began to appear en masse in foods only with the development of industry.

Of course, the sweet taste is very attractive to the body, primarily because it is a source of quick energy for the brain. At the same time, fast sugars cause a whole cascade of negative reactions in the body.

These include an increase in blood sugar levels, insulin spikes that lead to acne, changes in blood vessels and glycation (combining sugars with proteins), which leads to premature skin aging. In addition, the substance significantly increases the caloric content of the diet, which leads to weight gain.

Many people, trying to remove the usual white sugar from their diet, replace it with fructose. It is digested differently than sucrose, but it also contributes to weight gain and fat deposition in the liver no less than other types of fast sugars.

If you decide to give up sugar, added fructose is also best avoided. It is better to consume it in the form of fruits, choosing less sweet variants. In case you crave sweetness, you can use special protein desserts.

Such products do not contain sugar, but are rich in protein. Sweetness in them is achieved due to sweeteners – stevia, isomalt, oligosaccharides, etc. Some of them also have probiotic properties, which is beneficial for the GI tract.