{"id":33584,"date":"2020-01-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/?p=33584"},"modified":"2020-01-08T19:36:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T00:36:04","slug":"sugar-free-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/fitness\/sugar-free-diet\/","title":{"rendered":"I Went on A Sugar-Free Diet for a Week &#038; It Taught Me a Valuable Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">When I asked my Insta-friends for suggestions for my next challenge, after completing my 30-day meditation challenge, I didn&#8217;t anticipate them to be outright sadists. The first suggestion in my inbox turned out to be a sugar-free diet. I thought my friends liked me, but it turns out they actually hate my guts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, begrudgingly, I added the suggestion to the list. After meditating on it for about a week, and eating about 7000 calories (not exaggerating) worth of pastries over the holiday break, I decided that maybe it&#8217;d be good for me to step away from the sugar a bit. I had no idea where to even start with it though. Do I shun everything with sugar? Or just refined sugar? I can&#8217;t possibly avoid every type of sugar, otherwise, I risked a murderous rampage, so I decided to stick to cutting out added\/refined sugars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I turned to Google and found a <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"handy guide on a sugar detox (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleaneatingkitchen.com\/sugar-detox-tips-sugar-free\/ tips\" target=\"_blank\">handy guide on a sugar detox<\/a>, which essentially advised I stay away from refined sugar and refined carbs. I already eat a low-carb diet and focus on protein and healthy fats, so that shouldn&#8217;t be too difficult. The article suggested I stay away from diet soda, however, and I am not ready for that. I also drink my tea sweetened with Truvia, so I decided to continue doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I Gave Up Sugar &amp; This Is What Happened<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Day 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Started off the day great. Two hours in and absolutely no cravings. I made sure to eat a box of chocolates last night to front-load. I&#8217;m not sure if that&#8217;s how it works but we&#8217;ll see what the day brings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote twitter-tweet\"><p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Day 1 of No Sugar: This is so easy. I&#8217;ve been awake for 2 hours. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JaiJMv72iH\">pic.twitter.com\/JaiJMv72iH<\/a><\/p><p>\u2014 Style Tomes (@StyleTomes) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StyleTomes\/status\/1213132851698425857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 3, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>9:01 PM: I&#8217;ve been awake for nearly 12 hours and I would like to salt my chicken dinner with sugar at the moment. I decided to grab an organic apricot snack pack for the sweet craving. It did the trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>12:03 AM: I had another apricot snack pack and went to sleep. I only have one more snack pack left, so if I get a sweet craving, I&#8217;m doomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Day 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tracking weight isn&#8217;t my goal here, but I did miraculously lose 3 lbs overnight. Of course, that&#8217;s not really &#8220;weight&#8221; and it&#8217;s more a combination of water weight, healthy eating, and my period being over. I&#8217;m always amazed at how the smallest changes have the most drastic effects on the scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>10:50 AM: Having my coffee and no sugar cravings. I don&#8217;t typically crave anything in the mornings. I&#8217;m the night-time pantry raider type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3:00 PM: Went thrifting today with my husband and wound up at the Habitat for Humanity store. How did I never come here before?? Managed to snag a brand new marble top vanity for the bathroom from Restoration Hardware for $300! Original price? $2,650. Amazing! Anyway, after this amazing deal-high, he took me to a local discovery of his. Basically, a mom and pop dining shop\/establishment that reminded me way too much of Bob&#8217;s Burgers. Not much in the way of healthy dining, I opted for a tuna melt, so I ended up eating some white bread. Not exactly sugar but refined carbs are on my list to avoid. Can&#8217;t be completely perfect I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6:47 PM: Holy crap I am SO fatigued. Insane exhaustion hit me shortly after 4 PM today and I can&#8217;t seem to do anything. Everything is an enormous chore. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s due to not eating refined sugar for a day, because that would be insane. Maybe I got sick?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Day 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>10:48 AM: I slept nearly 10 hours last night! I woke up with an insane headache and feeling like I could sleep another 10. Maybe it&#8217;s because I didn&#8217;t drink a lot of soda yesterday. I typically drink a bottle of 20oz Diet Dr. Pepper every 2-3 hours. I know it&#8217;s a lot, but I start around 1 pm and don&#8217;t drink it past 8 PM. So, that&#8217;s roughly 3-4 bottles a day. Ok, it&#8217;s a lot. Anyway, although it wasn&#8217;t on my list to cut out, I ended up not consuming any yesterday. That might explain the intense fatigue and headache. That coupled with no refined sugar, maybe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Day 4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>9:47 PM: I absolutely thought about eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich tonight and pretending like I&#8217;m still sugar-free. What the hell is going on? I&#8217;m having this craving for sweets all of a sudden. Like, just a little piece of something good will hold me over and then I&#8217;ll be good, ok? I ended up making myself a cup of tea and eating a few whole wheat Triscuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Day 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>8:04 PM: I took out a snack pack (a &#8220;healthy&#8221; pop tart) my husband bought and was about to consume it with my tea but then I put it away after a back and forth tennis match in my head between &#8220;have it&#8221; and &#8220;put it away.&#8221; I chose to continue without sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I noticed is in the last five days, I was dead tired by 8 PM. Typically, I survive the day and then some, but a similar wave of exhaustion I experienced in day two hit me today again. This can&#8217;t be a coincidence. My husband said it&#8217;s probably because I&#8217;m running out of energy much sooner in the day because I&#8217;m not giving myself the small sugar bursts I get at night from my little treats with tea. That&#8217;s probably correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aside from the exhaustion, I&#8217;m not feeling any other effects of not consuming sugar. I&#8217;m tired earlier and fall asleep a bit faster at night. My skin isn&#8217;t looking any different, although I don&#8217;t feel bloated at all and I&#8217;m looking very lean every single day. My weight fluctuation isn&#8217;t as crazy as it is usually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Day 6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>12:46 PM: I&#8217;m sorry world, for I have sinned. Today, I consumed sugar. Lots of it. I made beignets with my husband as part of our date and consumed about 6 of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3:20 PM: I feel high. All that sugar hit me and I&#8217;m kind of buzzing. I vacuumed the house and felt a bit sick. I don&#8217;t think I like this feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6:31 PM: I hate myself right now. I&#8217;ve bloated to the size of a balloon and my stomach is SORE! I don&#8217;t want ANY food. I tried eating a bit of my zucchini noodle bolognese mix I made yesterday, and couldn&#8217;t even make a dent. I think this is the biggest sugar difference I&#8217;ve noticed so far aside from the dead exhaustion and then an intense sugar buzz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Case for a Sugar-Free Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although I didn&#8217;t enjoy the exhaustion, I would much rather not feel intense nausea and this sugar buzz. I notice more of a difference in consuming sugar after not eating any for a while. I would like to do this experiment for a month next time to see the long-term effects on my skin and energy levels. In the meantime, I think the best route is compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m looking forward to a small treat here and there, but not big sugar buzzes like this. I didn&#8217;t realize what a big effect the added sugar had! I wasn&#8217;t eating a lot to begin with, but I guess the treat here and there gave me a tolerance I didn&#8217;t notice. This little experiment made me very aware of the fact that I should stay conscious of the little treats. Instead of having a small one every day with my tea, I might start doing every other day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-background is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"background-color:#ecbcb7\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"735\" height=\"1102\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/gave-up-sugar-for-a-week-style-tomes-p.jpg\" alt=\"I didn't anticipate the effects sugar had on my body after only a short break on my sugar-free diet. Who knew 6 days could have such drastic effects! #sugarfree #diet\" class=\"wp-image-33588 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/gave-up-sugar-for-a-week-style-tomes-p.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/gave-up-sugar-for-a-week-style-tomes-p-450x675.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/gave-up-sugar-for-a-week-style-tomes-p-225x337.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/gave-up-sugar-for-a-week-style-tomes-p-20x30.jpg 20w, https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/gave-up-sugar-for-a-week-style-tomes-p-64x96.jpg 64w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">Pin it for later.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I didn&#8217;t anticipate the effects sugar had on my body after only a short break on my sugar-free diet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[871,165,75,724],"thb-sponsors":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v14.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I Went on A Sugar-Free Diet for a Week &amp; 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