For those of you who know me personally, you know that I love loved sugar. Yup that’s right, about two months ago, I quit the white stuff. I am still eating fruits from time to time but no refined sugar whatsoever. Two days ago at an event, I had 2 mini cupcakes because well it was a major event and afterwards I felt like I was drunk. In short, it was awful.
I am really proud to say that now I don’t even crave sugary treats and would rather opt for vegetables or water.
How did this come to be you ask? Well my friends you are in luck because I am about to share some helpful tips to quit sugar for good (I hope). These tips will not be things like, “oh consume f***ing stevia” because YUCKS!
- It is all about the Why
Yes, the why is so very important. I have tried to quit sugar several times before this but every single time I tried to do so, the main reason used to be the fact that I wanted to lose weight and fit in a dress. I would quit sugar for a few weeks, then go back to it as soon as I fit in a dress and the event where I had to wear it was over.
This time, however, things were different.
I quit because I wanted to live healthier. I have recently found out that almost all of my grandparents had diabetes and that it skips a generation. That in itself was enough for me to want to be healthier.
So let your why be a healthier lifestyle. It is fine to have weight loss as one of your goals, tweak it a little and make it “MUST LOSE WEIGHT TO BE HEALTHIER!” and see wonders happen. - Reward yourself
Yes, I said it. You have to reward yourself but not with sugary stuff! Instead choose a different reward system. In my case, I am an avid book reader, so all the money I used to spend on candy, chocolates, drinks and other stuff now goes towards buying books.
How I derived the magical number to spend on books? Mostly it is an estimate but I know that I used to consume chocolate bars, condensed milk and sweet treats from Starbucks every single day so the number comes up to roughly 60 dollars a week.
I usually get my books from used book stores so $60 is enough for at least 3-5 books a week and it helps me nourish my mind!
Also, I don’t buy 3-5 books a week so I am actually saving some money. - Don’t go to places that serve sugary treats (at least for the first few weeks)
Admittedly the first few weeks of quitting sugar are really rough. I had the shakes and could not sleep well, which to be honest scared me a little because I felt overly reliant on sugar.
I found it incredibly hard to resist the urge to pick up snacks if I was looking at them, so I stopped going to places that served sugary treats, which included cafes and restaurants. C was also doing most of our grocery shopping so I did not have to worry about facing chocolates and other cakey goodness in person. (Thank you so much C!)
When I did go for grocery shopping, we called the sugary aisle “The Aisle of Doom” and avoided it all together. - Don’t talk about quitting sugar when you are trying to attempt it
Quitting sugar is like being in fight club, we don’t talk about fight club. In the past, every time I had tried to quit sugar, I would tell everyone about it and everyone would praise me. As a result, I would get so much satisfaction from the fact that I was getting praised that I would not actually end up doing it.
This time though, I only talked about it after a few weeks of trying to decrease my sugar intake and since I was already on the path, it was much easier to keep going on it. - Do it with friends
I am not refuting point number 4. What I am saying is that tell one friend about it and have them help you. C has known for a while that I have wanted to quit sugar and as a result has been cutting it out of my morning tea for a year or so now. I didn’t even know this!
At first I thought C just really sucked at making tea :p but then when I found out, I was actually really happy because now when I actually did quit it, at least my tea in the morning tastes normal! And that my friends is a blessing! - Don’t overthink it
There is tons of stuff out there talking about how sugar is bad for you and causes a ton of diseases. I found that reading all that made me depressed and made me crave sugar more. So I would suggest not to overthink it.
I hope this helps you in quitting whatever you are trying to quit. I would love to hear your tips and tricks on how you have quit something. Let me know!
Image from Fit Girl Secrets (It has some tips on quitting sugar too!)
