Consuming less or no sugar: Is There More to it Than Only Eating the Right Food?
A few factors for you to consider before you do anything
You've decided that you want to either stop consuming sugar or drastically cut down on your intake. That’s great! But where to start?
With all the information floating around on the internet on how to do it, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed about the best way forward for you. What I’ve found is that most of the advice encourages you to launch straight into it. I also find that most of the content usually focuses solely on what to eat or not eat.
Although jumping straight into it and only focusing on what you do or don’t eat isn’t a bad thing, it doesn’t always lead to long-term success.
What if you prepared yourself thoroughly? How would that affect your results?
Although I believe that you can figure it out and get to where you want to be without having to follow any kind of rules or plan, I’m sharing the following to give you some other factors to consider. They’re not set-in-stone steps whereby if you don’t follow them you’re guaranteed to fail. They simply get you to look beyond food to help you see whether there’s something extra you believe will help massively.
Let me make one thing clear before I continue: I’m not going to try to convince you to give up sugar or reduce your intake by a specific amount because that’s not what I’m about. You’re an adult, and once you have the information you need, I’m pretty certain that you’ll be able to reach a decision by yourself on the best path to take that works for you.
The three different types of sugar-free
When I decided to go sugar-free, I knew exactly what that meant for me, and I didn’t even realise that you could do it any other way. As I started to take more notice of what others were doing, I eventually identified three different types of sugar-free and categorised them into three groups.
If you’ve been thinking that you have to go ‘all the way’ to derive any benefits but have also been thinking that it’s too extreme for you and that your diet would be far too limited, you might be pleasantly surprised.
The first category is the extreme version. Maybe this is what you have in mind. Anyone who’s in this category won’t only stop consuming refined and added sugars and highly processed foods; they’ll also avoid whole grains, most carbs, beans and legumes, and high-sugar fruit and veg.
Yes, it can seem incredibly limited.
The second category is where I belong because I avoid refined and added sugars and highly processed foods, but I eat all fruit and veg, beans and legumes, and whole grains.
The last category is for those who tend to avoid refined sugar and highly processed foods, but they still may use added sugars, like honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
Some people may argue that there’s only one way to go when it comes to sugar and that if you don’t do it their way, you’re fooling yourself. But I’m not here to judge and try to suggest that everyone who isn’t in my category is wrong. All that matters is whether you’re happy with your decision.
Which category should you choose?
That is entirely your choice, but one thing I will say is that the only time you might not be able to be in the category you want is if you have a severe addiction. If you want to be in category three, keeping even the so-called healthy sugars in your diet will be problematic for you, so it would definitely be a no-no.
It might even be that someone who’s highly addicted would fare better in the first category simply to give their body a reset, and then over time they could eventually move into the second category. You may also have a health condition that dictates what you ultimately do. Some YouTube experts will tell you that if you have x condition, then you shouldn’t consume sugar. Your doctor may say something different, so it would be up to you to decide whom to listen to.
It comes down to three things:
Educating yourself as much as you can because it can be challenging to know what to do when you hear so many conflicting views.
Experimenting to figure out which category works the best for you.
Following the advice of a health professional.
What’s your why?
Some people have their important reasons for going down this path, and some may not give it much thought and simply launch straight into it, or at least they try to because they’ve watched a few videos and are acting out of fear.
You may have already guessed that I recommend being a part of the first group. Remember, when it comes to making significant changes to you’re sugar consumption, you’re looking to stack as many odds as possible in your favour to support your decision. A why is, therefore, a great place to start because if, after starting your newly reformed diet, you ever happen to find yourself falling back into your old eating habits, or if you find yourself tempted to head in that direction, your why will be there ready and waiting to catch you, turn you around, and push you straight back in the right direction.
So, what’s your why?
It’s usually related to health. After all, this isn’t something people do just for the fun of it, so I’m going to presume that you’re also doing it for health reasons. But whatever reason you come up with, try to make it feel as powerful as you can. For example, you might be doing it to lose weight, which can be a great reason for some. Not to say that everyone will lose weight. But it’s very likely that there’s a reason why you want to lose weight.
Instead of saying, ‘I want to do it because I need to lose weight,’ go beyond that because it may be a good reason, but there’s a good chance that it’s not the real reason. Go deeper to ensure that you reach a why that you don’t want to let go of.
Cold turkey or gradual?
When it comes to removing sugar from your diet completely, should you go cold turkey or should you take the gradual approach?
Search around long enough online and you’ll come across plenty of people who say that cold turkey is the only way to go. But if you keep searching, you’ll also come across those who are adamant that a gradual reduction is the right approach to take. But there’s no need to get confused about what to do because you’ll always find people who disagree about a subject, and cutting out sugar from your diet is no exception.
Which side is right? Both sides.
You might decide to go cold turkey because you simply want to go for it and not waste time, or you might choose to go slowly because you’ve still got to go to work and do a good job. But going cold turkey might cause you to lose focus, and the last thing you need is to get in trouble at work just because you’ve decided to go sugar-free and therefore keep getting distracted due to uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.
What matters the most is that you take what you feel is the right approach for you or what makes the most sense for you and your circumstances because you probably already know which is the best for you. Trust yourself and go with that and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing or what they say you should do.
What are you going to eat?
Choosing to eliminate or reduce your sugar intake may not only concern what you eat, but it does still matter, so it makes little sense to ignore this aspect.
I recommend initially creating a meal plan (if you have the time, of course) so that you can stay focused on eating the right foods. Without guidance on what to eat, you might end up being tempted to go back to what you usually eat because you’ve run out of ideas. A useful place to start is by deciding what kinds of foods you will be including in your diet and then creating your meals based on those foods.
What’s included in your meal plan will differ from the next person because everyone’s diet and therefore food preferences vary. It also depends on what category you’re in.
Let’s take a look at an example of what someone might eat on any given day according to their chosen category.
CATEGORY 1
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with seasoned avocado or an avocado salad
Lunch: Chicken with roasted low-carb veg + salad
Dinner: Butter-fried fish with low-carb roasted veg
Snack: Berries with coconut milk
CATEGORY 2
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with oatcakes plus fruit
Lunch: Chicken quinoa salad bowl
Dinner: Butter-fried fish with sweet potato and salad
Snack: Nuts and/or fruit
CATEGORY 3
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with wholegrain toast and a smoothie
Lunch: Chicken quinoa salad bowl
Dinner: Butter-fried fish with sweet potato and salad
Snack: Granola bar
Of course, the above is simply an example. The main thing is to try to have some idea of what you’re going to eat throughout the week so that you don’t get caught off guard.
Get support
Getting support isn't necessary, but it will make a vast difference to your ability to keep going and not give in, especially if the process is going to be extremely difficult for you. If you share your goal with at least one person, you'll have someone to check in on you to ensure that you're sticking with it, and that person will no doubt ask you from time to time how things are going.
It’s not about having someone around who will try to make you feel bad or guilty if you have off days or even if you slip up. It’s about being held accountable to your decision, but it’s not supposed to be a negative experience.
The support you receive is supposed to help you to feel OK no matter what happens. So, it’s important that you choose the right person to act as your support buddy or accountability partner. If not, you could find yourself unwittingly being steered off course.
Be kind to yourself
I think it’s fair to say that we’ve all said harsh things to ourselves at one point or another. I’ll guess that you probably have too.
Put your hand up if talking harshly to yourself has ever helped you to feel good and as though you can make things happen
It’s not possible because no one ever feels good after giving themselves a mental beating. So, as you can imagine, there’s definitely no place for beating yourself up when you go sugar-free or try to reduce your intake. If going completely sugar-free alone is difficult, trying to do it while you’re talking to yourself as though you’re your own enemy is bound to make you feel like a failure before you’ve even barely started.
This is more likely to happen if you have wobbly moments where you feel as though you’re about to cave. It might also happen if you get withdrawal symptoms, like headaches, nausea, and fatigue, or even if you feel like the world is coming to an end, all because you’re missing eating certain foods.
You may feel like your own enemy at times, but that doesn’t make it OK to talk down to yourself.
In the same way that getting support is beneficial, having your own back is also beneficial because you can’t always rely solely on someone else to get you through any tough days. So it’s important for you to make the decision, even before you start your new way of eating, to be there for yourself no matter what.
Give yourself permission to go through whatever you need to go through so that you can come out the other side more in control of your diet (without becoming obsessive!).
Change how you talk
When most people think about not consuming sugar, their minds automatically turn to ditching sugar-filled foods and eating all the right foods, and we already know that is a big part of it. But barely anyone ever considers how what they say to themselves affects their level of success.
If you spend a lot of time saying things that contradict what you've set out to do, you're creating a barrier that you now have to overcome to ensure that you don't give in to any sugar cravings that may lead to you regularly overconsuming.
The act alone of being sugar-free or not eating as much is a big enough challenge by itself, so if you create even one barrier by speaking in a way that doesn't support your decision, you're taking yourself one step closer to giving in. An example of this is if you went out for dinner with your family or friends.
Let's say that they've decided to have dessert. You’ve decided to be in category two, but all of the desserts contain sugar, so you choose not to eat any. As someone is getting stuck into their dessert, they turn to you and say, "This is so good. You should've ordered some. You're missing out!
Your response is, ‘yeah, I know.’
How would you feel knowing that you're missing out? Not great. And if it's a dessert that you would normally enjoy, you'll likely feel ten times worse.
If you don’t wish to eat the dessert no matter what, the way to turn this around is by changing your response to something that doesn't leave you feeling bad. For example, you might say, ‘l can make my own any time.’ By doing this, you're putting yourself in the position of being more in control rather than allowing the idea of not being able to eat something get to you and dominate your thoughts to the point of you eventually thinking that your new way of eating is pointless.
So, every time you open your mouth to say anything about sugar or foods that contain sugar, ask yourself: Am I creating a barrier to successfully sticking with my desired way of eating?
How to stick with it long term
Staying successfully sugar-free or greatly reducing your consumption long term can seem daunting when you're just starting out, but if you make the effort to set yourself up for success and stay in the right frame of mind, you'll be able to achieve your aim.
So, alongside keeping the above in mind, there's something else you'll need to do from the outset, and that is to commit. If this is what you really want to do for yourself, make a commitment to the process. Without commitment, you're more likely to throw in the towel.
The next thing is to ensure that you eat lots of nutrition-dense food as always feeling unsatisfied after meals will only lead you in one direction: Back to the foods you no longer wish to eat.
Last, find ways to inject some fun into your everyday diet instead of letting it become some humdrum experience from which you can't wait to escape.