The Sugar-Detox

A couple of weeks ago I proclaimed my commitment to a sugar detox; no refined sugar, highly processed foods, soda or grains other than whole for two full weeks. For a sugar-lover, this seemed pretty daunting.

One thing I had not planned on – my kids came along for the adventure. I figured they would reap the benefits of not having as much candy and junk on hand but, to my surprise, they committed to going along with me.

A Few Bumps in the Road

The stomach flu made an appearance at our house during the first week of our detox, which definitely made it easier to avoid the sweet stuff. We did have a few minor setbacks: a treat from a teacher here, freshly baked cookie day at the bank there (what was I supposed to do, send it back?). But, yes, over all we consumed much less sugar and junky stuff than usual.

Let me throw in here that we are generally healthy eaters. But as you can probably relate, a holiday or weekend stuck inside can get the sugar snowball rolling pretty quickly.

The Benefits

The first 4 or 5 days I really did not notice much of a difference. I felt, looked, slept the same as when I was eating sugar on a daily basis. But after this point I noticed a huge change. My jeans fit better for starters. I slept sounder at night and woke up feeling more refreshed. My skin looked healthier, plumper and had more of a glow than usual (really!). And... I felt better.

I know, feeling better is such a general term, but I really had not taken time to notice how sugar was making me feel, beyond the satisfaction of caving in and having some. Just like they say, it gets you pumped up and then leaves you sapped and burnt out. My neck/head aches were also a non-issue.

The kids agreed with me and we vowed to take it easy on the sweet stuff after our two weeks were up.

The Bottom Line

Well, this is the week after our two week detox and though we are eating some sugar, we are also making better choices and limiting ourselves. It really has had a carry-over effect and not the “Oh my gosh, I’m goin’ for it!” result I had anticipated.

We truly think about the sugar we eat and plan for it. If we know we want to have something special that day, we don’t carelessly chuck in other junk before hand.

So, I guess the moral of the story here is, like we already knew, moderation is key. I thought that a no sugar diet would be a lot more difficult than it was and it really did help to eliminate unnecessary garbage from our diet, now and (hopefully) for the long term.

Image:  eli santana at Flickr.com, Creative Commons license.