I have the biggest sweet tooth! And I know I’m not alone. It’s so easy to be attracted to sugary treats. As much as I love cookies and cakes, I’ve come to point where I simply want to have better over all health. Eating too much sugar has many harmful effects on metabolism and contribute to all sorts of diseases.
So about a month ago, I decided to make a it a goal to cut down on eating sugar. I’ll still never turn down dessert for a celebration! But my goal was to take most of the unnecessary sugar and bad carbs out of my diet on a day to day basis. So here’s my four week plan on how to stop sugar cravings and how I felt while I was doing it.
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| Credit: http://yesmissy.com |
How to stop sugar cravings in 4 steps
Week 1 – Cutting down on the portion of sugar I eat
For the first week, I planned to still allow myself to eat whatever goodies I wanted, but I would restrict myself to a single serving portion amount. So instead of eating 10 cookies, I would eat just 1 or 2. Also, I made sure I had 3-4 good meals a day. Making sure I had my solid meals would keep me full throughout the day and prevented me from wanting to snack on sugary treats.
How I felt about week 1:
This week was certainly good practice for my self control. A few times, I did eat an extra cookie, but I didn’t let myself over indulge either. Learning self control was much more difficult than I thought, but it was a good lesson to learn and put into practice.
Week 2 – Stop eating sweet treats
During the second week, I planned to start cutting out obvious sugar culprits such as cookies, pop, candy etc. from my diet. If I was having a bad sugar craving, the plan was to eat fruit instead, so at least I would get the sensation of something sweet and still benefit from eating something that would actually be healthy for me. Like the first week, keeping a regular schedule 3-4 solid meals a day is important.
How I felt about week 2:
I felt pretty good this week. I really didn’t have any cravings for junk food at all to be honest. It felt really good to be eating solid meals and snacking on fruits.
Week 3 – Cutting down on hidden sugars
Now that I’ve already cut out obvious sugar culprits, the next step is to cut out the hidden sugars. Sugar and bad carbohydrates are hiding in so many foods such a cereals, pastas, breads, and even many foods that we believe to be healthy, such as juices, dried fruit, granola bars, and fruit yogurt. This week the plan was to cut down and try avoid all these items as well.
How I felt about week 3:
This week had been a busy one for me, and I didn’t have a chance to plan out my 3 meals properly. This created a big downfall for me. I felt hungry and grumpy, and I was craving candy and junk food, and though I didn’t have too much of it, I certainly felt a little unhappy to be trying to be eating well.
Week 4 – Eating less sugar in the long term
This week I planned to continue to eat with minimal sugar in my diet, but also try to find the right balance to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Whether that be pasta once a week, or candies only for a special movie night, I think finding the right balance is important so you can enjoy your life and be healthy as well.
How I felt about week 4:
I found Week 4 was a lot better than the previous week. I was back on top of my 3 meals a day, and I had gone to the market to stock up on fresh fruit. So this week, it was pretty easy for me to stick to the program and eat well. I came to realize that a big part of eating well, is being able to plan what you’ll be eating. I felt when I didn’t plan my meals, I was tempted just to got for convenient foods that tended to be sugary or unhealthy.
Overall review of my 4 weeks taking sugar out of my diet:
I actually feel really great about eating less sugar in my regular diet. It makes me feel better about my health and in the process I learned a lot about eating well, and the nutrients in food. I would suggest everyone give it try. It never hurts to eat healthier or take better care of your body.
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