How I Quit Sugar
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 freaking 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. I was also not 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 to my housemates!) 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. My friends have known for a while that I have wanted to quit sugar and as a result have been cutting it out of my morning tea or food for a year or so now. I didn't even know this! At first I thought they were just really bad 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!)
