quitting sugar

I’ve tried to write this post several times, but I can’t get it right. So I’m just going to cut it right back and go for it.

I am taking steps to remove sugar from my diet.

I’ve done some reading and I’m getting a clearer understanding of the chemistry behind what happens when we eat sugar. Some people claim that the fructose part of what we call “sugar” is incredibly bad for us to the extent that they believe sugar is poisoning us. Others think that view is completely over the top and that there is no need to cut out sugar at all.

From what I’ve read, a lot of what the sugar-is-poison crowd says makes sense. But that doesn’t make it right, so I’m keeping an open mind about it all.

What I know for sure is that sugar is in a lot of processed foods, and one of my 100 things to do this year is to further reduce my consumption of those products, so a reduction in sugar will naturally follow.

But I’m also interested to know if total sugar withdrawal will make any difference to my health, my weight and generally how I feel. Some people say it has significantly improved their health, whereas others have said it’s had little effect.

So with that in mind, I’m setting myself a goal to cut out sugar (the sugar in question being fructose) as completely as is reasonably possible. I’m not sure how far I’ll get. I’m just trying it to see what happens. I’m sort of following an 8 week program that was recommended to me called I Quit Sugar. It recommends the try-it-and-see approach to start with.

This week I’m tackling a really obvious source of sugar: the afternoon lolly and/or cake break. Regardless of your views on sugar, I don’t think anyone would seriously argue that regular snacking on lollies (or peppermint slices) is good for me. And in my quest to cut back on processed foods, it’s something I would have got round to doing anyway. I’m just going to start now. No time like the present.

I intend to do a blog post once a week on how it’s all going and will probably spend a lot of time on Twitter complaining about how badly I want chocolate bullets. So if you want up to the minute news, follow me @realsleepydwarf.

And I can report that Day 1 was a total success. 

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