I must admit, knowing how much sugar I consume on a day-to-day basis meant that I was a little nervous about going cold turkey. But luckily for me, it was almost as though Sarah Wilson knew that approach wouldn’t work (thank you, Sarah!) so Week 1 was all about easing off the sugar.
Easing off really just means cutting back on both sugar and refined carbs (dear god! all the things I love!). Doughnuts, white flour, white bread etc were all no-go along with other obvious things like chocolate and ice-cream. It’s so funny how as soon as you know that you can’t have something, it’s the only thing that you want and nothing else will do. Oh how I craved ice-cream! But, I’m determined, so I resisted. At the movies I allowed myself some popcorn (watching Marcus eat a choc-top was excruciating).
I’ll be honest though – at times all I could think about was sugar and I did cave on one occasion – I was out with Marcus and some of our friends at Monopole Restaurant in Sydney’s Potts Point. Everyone wanted to share a few desserts and I couldn’t resist. Knowing, however, that the whole point of Week 1 was to just pare back stopped me from feeling like a failure and throwing in the towel. At the end of the week, I am feeling a little lighter in the tummy and also flatter (bonus!) plus my digestive system seems to be running a touch smoother but it’s early days and I’m not sure what’s to come yet, so stay tuned!
The one thing I have noticed is that my green smoothies are helping. Regular swiish readers will know that I recently started drinking vegie smoothies for brekkie. I have noticed that on the days that I don’t have them, I crave sugar more and need to consciously stop myself from reaching for a quick sugar fix. By contrast, the days I drink my vegie smoothie, I find it substantially easier – so that’s my tip for Week 1!
If you’re on the quitting sugar journey, please share any tips and tricks that might help me (and other swiish readers) along the way…. I have a feeling I’m going to need it!
If you want to join me in quitting sugar, you can buy the IQS books here:
Below are a few snaps of the meals that got me through the week – truth be told, they taste as good as they look!
