And by quit, I don't mean forever. I'm actually a huge fan of sugar and the whole YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE mentality. Have your cake and eat it too? Why not! That said, I tend to be someone who works hard and pulls a lot of late nights which can lead to hitting all the caffeine and sugar to keep going. And that just doesn't work long term. A year ago I decided to really watch those habits and be more conscious about sugar and it's made a huge difference. Sometimes we associate sugar with that rush, but I actually find I am way more energetic when I'm not consuming sugar.
I'm certainly not a health expert or anything, but I thought I'd share some of the easy steps (well some of them might be harder than others ha) I took to cut out sugar and feel better about my diet.
DRINK CLEAN
I'm lucky in that I've never been a girl who likes soda or sugary drinks so this was pretty easy for me. Some of my go to drinks are iced tea, sparkling water, fresh pressed juices, and lots and lots of water. Coffee or hot tea with honey. Coconut or cactus water if I'm craving something sweet or super need to hydrate.
JUST SAY NO TO SWEETS
I'm a big believer in everything in moderation. So you will absolutely see me enjoying a cupcake topped with copious amounts of candy at my kid's birthday party. But the rest of the time, it's just a firm no. Save the sweets for special occasions and then really enjoy them. I now find that when I do indulge in sugar I absolutely don't want to eat much of it as I used to. Your body gets used to a new cleaner way of living and it just feels so good.
PROCESSED FOODS
Processed foods are such a sneaky way to be eating sugar without realizing it. Bread, tomato sauce, yogurt, a lot of it has sugar. I'm really minimal in what processed foods I eat and tend to buy fresh food or things with only a couple of ingredients. Read the labels on everything and pick the options with no or very little sugar. Focus on whole foods!
ALTERNATIVE SWEETENERS
Cutting out sugar doesn't necessarily mean you can't have anything sweet! I definitely watch my sugar intake but still eat natural sugars in things like fruit or fresh pressed juices or honey and maple syrup. Again with everything in moderation. There are a lot of sweet things you can enjoy that don't involve refined sugar and the benefit of that is not feel sluggish later coming off your sugar rush.
DETOX
I definitely found it helpful to have a sugar detox phase, and just completely cut out sugar for a couple weeks. It's hard at first (hello headaches) but by filling up my time with other things that make me feel good like working out and enjoying great, healthy meals, I missed sugar less. Drink lots of water and find naturally sweet things to enjoy instead!
