I made it. I had no desserts or processed sugar for a whole month. I wasn’t insane about it. I’m sure there was some sugar in salad dressings that came on a salad when I went out to eat (but I asked to see ingredients and shunned anything with highfructose corn syrup). For five weeks I didn’t have any dessert or sweet snacks–no exceptions. Every other week I cut our carbs entirely.
The hardest week was the last one, but I only found going without carbs to be difficult. Right now, I honestly feel like I could give up dessert for another month. I just don’t want to, but I’m not craving it the way I expected to. That shocked me.
Overall, I was disappointed to discover that I didn’t have that much energy. I thought I’d feel more energetic. I lost a couple pounds, but that, I think, is more in relation to the reduced carbs and when I start eating them again, I think that will adjust itself.
What I did notice was a new appreciation for foods. I ate fruit in moderation (or with yogurt in attempt to counteract the sugars with acidophilus). Even in the middle of winter every fruit tasted like it had been newly plucked from the tree or bush. Many foods tasted sweeter than I’d noticed before. Pecans, for example, tasted like they were infused with brown sugar. When I got a little sweet tooth, I’d grab a handful of pecans.
Gum got me through. I chewed a lot of sugarless gum.
My goal would for how this will alter my behavior will be to try and consider my carb intake. Perhaps try to eat carbs at only one meal a day. I’d also like to try to eat dessert once a week on a regular basis. Ultimately, I hope that I don’t purge today and eat every sweet thing that I see.
