No, it’s OK, I’m just quitting sugar. Just quitting sugar, ha! This is one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I’ve tried some pretty wacky, faddish diets. The experiment is for 8 weeks and hopefully beyond; maybe forever.

I didn’t realise I was an Addict!

I can remember when the idea came to me, I’d had a large bowl of ice-cream, it seemed more sweet than usual and I felt a bit sick. In the past, before I met my hubby, I was never a huge sweet eater, preferring nuts and dried fruit as snacks. But as the decades went by, I was slowly converted to chocolate and puddings due to worrying about the nasties that nuts are sprayed with. Anyway, the past matters not, but I was so sure this gig would be easy as I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t addicted to sugar.

I checked on-line about what to expect, and read some stories, but experiencing these symptoms was a different matter!

So, six days into the experiment. Here’s the symptoms had:

• Muscle weakness.
• Headaches.
• Palpitations/anxiety in the morning.
• Low energy levels ( I could hardly wash-up by Day Three).
• Massive cravings for sugar – I mean so bad that you want to just pour sugar straight into your gob and dream of golden syrup chasers!
• Sleep disturbance. Anyone who knows me personally will agree that I sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, but I’ve had trouble getting to sleep for over three days
• Skin eruptions. I’m talking weird break-outs. Spots, blemishes, weird craters with multiple spots. This must due to detoxing.
• Foggy-headed.
• Irritable. On a short fuse.
• Small amounts of depression.

One benefit after 6 days:
No incontinence at all, before, I put the day and night leaks down to peri-menopausal symptoms or yet another urinary infection – 2 in one year). Incontinence can be due to the extra load on the kidneys (I drank a very sweet tea). This is a biggie for me, it’s so depressing to keep wearing pads or worrying that a cough will cause leakage. I know that the other horrid symptoms will disappear within a few weeks.

I don’t drink alcohol because I’m intolerant to it, I’m caffeine-free and I gave up smoking 24 years ago, so I guess this also helps with detoxing the body.

The experts say that during this time the following helps with cravings:

• Drink plenty of water (I drink water with two slices of lemon – alleviates cravings).
• Eat more protein when you feel exhausted and up the good fats – coconut oil, avocado, *nuts* (at own risk) etc.
• Eat little and often to stop energy crashes. Bananas are very good for sweet cravings.
• Be careful of increasing white carbs as these break down into sugar, eat more veg and fruit, pulses, eggs, cheese, natural yoghurt, leafy greens. I make vegetable soups with lentils, and have that as an in-between.

What others have noticed when finally living the sugar-free diet: Increased energy, skin is clearer, less wrinkles, less susceptible to colds/infection, clear thinking, weight-loss.

Avoid all sugar-free products – Aspartame, Acesulfame K, Sucralose, other ‘ose’s’ (Tagatose etc) Nutrasweet as they have dangerous side-effects; especially Aspartame.

Ironically, weight gain is a possibility when consuming products that contain artificial sweeteners causing a hypoglycaemic response due to disrupting the insulin signals in the body. Disruption of healthy gut bacteria is a recent finding. I have over 900+ reports of people experiencing side effects from consuming Aspartame; many of them serious and life changing such as mimicking serious diseases such as Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis.

I can’t wait to see the difference. I will post again in 3 weeks.

Update

I have the occasional lapse (a hot chocolate). But I feel better, able to get my words out (less confusion) more energy, noticeable weight loss, eating anything sweet can give me headaches, so I don’t want to eat them! It seems the urine leakage might have been due to eating spicy foods, apparently it can weaken the bladder lining as women get older, so I’ll leave a question mark on that. I make sure I eat beans on toast for breakfast, protein meal helps to stop the late morning sugar cravings, if I do crave sugar I have a few pitted dates which takes care of it. My skin is noticeably clearer – it was awful for a few weeks. I was told I looked better, much healthier.