365 Days Sugar-Free

Today’s the day. A year ago today I decided on a whim to see what would happen if I stopped eating sugar. Just for seven days. That was the original goal. Out of sheer curiosity. Nothing more.

To help me get through the first 4 days of shaking and rage, which made me feel like a junkie, I read about metabolisms. I learned how damaging sugar and refined carbs truly are for our bodies and I realised that I had a sick liver. For the first time in years, I also understood that becoming a diabetic was not inevitable, as I had thought before.

I went Keto to allow my liver to heal itself as fast as possible. This time, the goal was three months, which turned into six because I felt awesome! While processed foods and sugar are off the menu forever, keto eventually turned into low-carb, which is currently turning into just unprocessed foods, including healthy carbs. Being healthy was my only goal from the start and eating healthy carbs makes me feel good.

So 365 days! When I started out, I naturally assumed a few things would change. I had no idea though the big difference this simple, frankly, half-arsed decision would make in my life. But it did. And here’s how.

Zero cravings

I used to feel intense cravings for food. By cravings I don’t mean hunger. I still get hungry, of course, because hunger is just my body’s way of telling me it needs fuel. But I don’t get that urgent need to stuff food down my throat, especially carbs. Now I just enjoy my food whenever I’m hungry.

I used to shake if I didn’t eat for more than 3 hours. That’s why I assumed I was pre-diabetic. Because a few family members have diabetes, I actually thought this was my future too. But all of those fears disappeared together with the cravings.

I feel healthy

What do I mean by that? Before I stopped eating sugar, I thought I felt healthy too. But this is an entirely different level. I am stronger. My body moves more easily. I have more energy and the afternoon low that had me convinced my brain was useless after 3pm is completely gone.

I easily exercise for 2 hours every single day and occasionally more if I go on a hike. Not because I think I should but because I want to. Exercise feels fantastic for my body now. One morning a couple of months ago, I just wanted to start running again. Now, I run twice a week for an hour. Not because that’s a fitness goal. Never had those, never will. But because moving just feels right.

I used to get headaches a lot. In the past 365 days I had literally two headaches. One was from too much sun and the other from too much wind. My period pain is laughably mild these days! (Full disclosure: I am not currently on the pill.) My anxiety went from low manageable levels to almost zero. I even had a panic attack a few weeks ago, but my physical reaction was so mild that my brain just changed the subject.

I need less sleep. Like all the other changes, this happened gradually and naturally. I never force myself into anything. For some reason though, I only need 6 hours of sleep these days instead of 7-8. Joy and happiness come easily now. I am laughing typing this because I just feel so exhilarated, and that’s not a word I use lightly.

New old body

Yes, I’ve lost body mass. I haven’t weighed myself in a decade because there’s no actual reason to do so unless you need to take medication and dosage depends on body weight. I have no idea how much I lost in weight, but I went from pants size 42 to 36 so I’m assuming it’s quite a bit.

What’s more important to me, though, is that I gained a new body awareness. The first part of my body that changed was my middle. Liver fat is fat our liver produces when it’s bombarded with way more carbs, sugar and fructose the cells can metabolise. So the liver turns them into liver fat which is stored around the belly and around organs.

Once the liver fat was gone, I could feel my entire body. This is really difficult to describe and you might not get it at all, but I’ll try anyway. It felt like I’d taken off a thick coat I didn’t even remember putting on. I’d gotten so used to wearing the additional layer that it seemed like an extension of my body. When it was gone, though, I could suddenly feel every part of me.

What’s also interesting is that I’m back to the clothes and bra size I had in my late teens. Cutting out sugar and processed foods basically hit the reset button on my body.

Food is fun

I enjoy food very much. Eating well has become a priority in my life. I make time to go to the market, I cook and/or bake almost every day. When I started out, I learned keto recipes, then low-carb and now I’m learning healthy carb recipes.

Experimenting with food is one of my new interests. I’m having a lot of fun turning recipes healthy by replacing the sugar with bananas and the highly processed white flour with nut and seed flours. I’ve even started to come up with my own recipes.

I love my new life and not just because I eat dessert three times a day. Although that definitely helps!

Oh, so yummy!

One big change is that my sense of taste has shifted. I was pretty freaked out about my liver so when I went keto, I cut out sugar completely. That included almost all fruit, honey and maple syrup. I didn’t use artificial sweeteners either.

After the first 3 months everything else I ate tasted much sweeter. Some fruits went back on the menu because they were delicious now, but the really remarkable and unexpected change was that foods no longer taste bitter to me.

I had tried to eat celery in the past but didn’t like the bitter taste. That’s completely gone now. I get cranky when the supermarket is out of celery because I miss its crunchy deliciousness. I can add ridiculous amounts of cocoa to my desserts. Even salad stalks I used to trim generously now just get washed. Not even a hint of bitterness left.

When I decided to cut out sugar completely, I thought some foods would be off the menu forever. Yes, I was definitely sad about that for a few days. Then I tried to make my own sugar-free desserts and cakes. Because my sense of taste has changed so much, it was easy!

Chocolate bars went straight back on the menu! As did, cakes, cookies, and chocolate pudding. Two days ago, I even tried hot chocolate. Just milk and cocoa. A lot of cocoa. The milk-sugar in the milk is so sweet for me now that it’s delicious!