Report on 40 days without sugar

As part of my goals for 2019, I (attempted to) quit added refined sugar for 40 days. The first two days I also stayed away from bread and potatoes, which I did not like (those foods are my staples!).

Since people typically write about how their life changed after quitting added sugar, I must say, I have less of an interesting story to tell. I just wanted to share my opinion because somebody has to frown at the unicorns and sparkledust.

So here’s what I learned:

It’s not that hard.
The only thing I really gave up was kombucha. I did eat bread, which has sugar in it for the process of rising flour, although I’ve been eating more sourdough bread than yeast-based bread (because of a new bakery nearby). I replaced soy milk from a bottle with homemade almond milk. Other than that, I actually don’t eat that many things with added sugar in it.

I didn’t feel that different.
Oh, sorry to rain on this parade… but since I learned I actually don’t eat that many things with sugar in the first place, leaving it out, didn’t make much of a difference. If I feel tired and fogy, it’s more related to toddler night waking than to sugar consumption.

I like the ritual of eating sweets.
I like to eat sweets in company: baking something for my family, taking my daughter to go have a hot chocolate and macaroons for her, and dark chocolate and espresso for me. I don’t add sugar to my tea or coffee (and don’t like sugar in my tea or coffee), and I don’t drink sodas or other sweetened beverages (except for kombucha), so the only time I eat something sweet, is when it’s a conscious choice.

So, all in all, this experiment was not that interesting at all. I think I already had a fine relationship with sugar, so there was no need for a drastic experiment here. I just learned to appreciate my cake a bit more than before.