How I stopped eating sugar

after a few decades of attempts

Several months ago I gave up eating sugar, a feat I thought could only be accomplished by some ideal self that was always in the future. So just in case I should relapse, I recorded how this habit finally clicked for me:

My inspiration came when I met two people who didn't eat sugar. I met the first at a friend's birthday party. When doling out the birthday cake, the host remarked: "Oh, she doesn't want cake. She doesn't eat sugar." Really, you can just... not have cake and people are fine with it? I didn't know that was an option.

So I was primed to be especially intrigued when I ran into another person, James, who informed me he didn't eat sugar. He also seemed especially fit and healthy. He described how he did it, and it seemed... not that hard? Inspired, I told him I was committing to not eating sugar for a month to see if I could replicate his magic.

Having that social commitment meant that I would have to tell him if I ate sugar. I find it easy to buy my own bullshit excuses ("I was stressed! There's no way I could make it out of that moment without a chocolate croissant!"), but having to make those sad excuses to James seemed too humiliating.

Sugar is actually physically addictive, so a lot of the addiction is just your body craving it. When I would say, "I could never give up sugar," a lot of that was me being on a drug and the drug speaking through me. The physical addiction passed in about three days, so after that point I was just faced with needing to reroute my habitual patterns.

Addiction wisdom advises that you should replace your vice with something that's similarly satisfying. So when I encountered situations where I was craving sugar, I figured out what I could eat that I wanted but wasn't sugar. One particularly challenging time I was in an airport. To me, being in an airport = chocolate croissant, and I also felt anxious about the trip, which cued my habitual pattern to use sugar to self-soothe. But I looked around and thought, "well, what is here that's not sugar?" There was... a Greek cheese pastry. Great! Totally satisfying. Is cheese pastry the healthiest thing? No, but I'm happy with making it out of that situation without queueing up additional sugar cravings.

People report that the benefits of not eating sugar are:

• more energy

• more stable mood

• more stable hunger

• feeling happier

• clearer skin

• better health

I have found all of those things to be true. Which is kinda crazy—that list is amazing! Who doesn't want more energy and happiness? But the #1 benefit for me is not craving sugar. To live without a constant jonesing for the sweet stuff is amazing.

I'll still get occasional cravings for sugar, especially if I happen to have eaten something with it. For example, the other day I ate a tomato sauce that was way too sweet, so I knew it was loaded with sugar. And the next day, low and behold, I craved sugar, because it was in my body. So I noticed it and ate something that felt satisfying. In this case I made myself a parfait of matcha, oat milk, chia seeds and protein powder, and then had an apple with hazelnut butter. It felt indulgent and sweet, but it kept me on track, as the next day I didn't have the craving.

After the initial month passed, I decided to commit to not eating sugar as a forever habit. I was luckily traveling with Jesse at that time, so again I had social accountability: I told him I don't eat sugar so he expected me to not eat sugar. We were in Turkey and every so often I'd eat a little bit in order to try something (after all, how could I be in Turkey without trying Turkish delight?). But the little bites didn't seem to set off the addictive pattern, and I was happy to not spend the trip shamefully ducking into baklava shops.

After not eating sugar for those few months, I got a bit loose about it. I ate some sugar that happened to be around after a party. I figured this was the inevitable fall back into my old way of being. But something happened that I didn't expect: I noticed that I didn't like the pull of the bottomless want that sugar does to me. Instead of perceiving that tug as irresistible, it felt unsatisfying to feel unsatisfied.

By that time I had also built up enough non-sugar habits to support me. If I was craving chocolate, I bought a 100% chocolate bar and dipped it into honey (honey doesn't trigger addictive behavior with me—for whatever reason, I'm able to have just a little).

My taste buds have also changed. I had a bite of my friend's dessert the other day. I could tell it was "good," but to me it tasted overly sweet and flat—not as flavorful as an orange. I felt satisfied having tried it and didn't want more.

In this way it seems the no sugar habit is self-sustainable because I'm now experiencing aversion to sugar as opposed to craving. This is good because sugar is inevitable in the world, and I'll likely end up eating it from time to time.

One of the strangest benefits that I've noticed is that I've also stopped craving alcohol. My theory is this may be because my microbiome has changed sans sugar. I still enjoy alcohol in social settings and as part of a celebratory meal, but I used to feel periodically compelled to drink a glass or two of wine. Now I don't, and it's easier for me to notice and dislike alcohol's dulling and depressive effect.

Anyway, that's my story. If you're also wanting to give up sugar but not sure that you can—I really believe that if I can give up sugar, so can you. :) A final word of advice: in the initial month that I was not eating sugar, I also was working out a lot. I often find it's much easier to make positive changes when building muscle. For whatever reason, muscle seems to equal willpower.

If you have experience not eating sugar or making other positive changes in your life, I'd love to hear about them!