WANT to look younger, feel more energetic, lose some belly fat and improve your health? Of course you do! But you don’t have to buy any expensive “magic” potions or book into a swanky health farm – just give up sugar for a month and you’ll notice some great changes to the way you feel and the way you look.
As this is Sugar Awareness Week I thought you might like to find out the benefits to you if you quit sugar. I don’t just mean the spoonful you add to your tea or coffee, by the way.
I mean being totally aware of the hidden sugar in everyday food and drink and steering clear of it.
You can find out more about hidden sugar in some of my earlier blog posts.
More sugar in ready meals than in Coke
Think you’re eating healthily? Think again
Jamie Oliver’s shock food video
But just take a look at some of the scientifically-proven benefits of a life without sugar.
Quit sugar for younger-looking skin
Research suggests that high blood sugar hinders the repair of your skin’s collagen. So a poor diet can make your skin less elastic and bring on premature wrinkles. Studies show that if you quit it can help reduce visible signs of ageing.
Quit sugar and lose that belly fat
Cakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks pile on the pounds around your middle. This is because high blood sugar levels release a flood of insulin through your body and over time make fat build up around your belly. This is especially dangerous because these abdominal fat cells release hormones that bring on the kind of inflammation that can cause heart disease and cancer.
Quit sugar and keep diabetes at bay
For greater protection against type 2 diabetes, you should quit sugar (or at the very least cut down on it). When you eat a lot of sweet carbohydrate the pancreas releases huge amounts of sugar to cope. Repeat this day after day at every mean – and between meals with snacks – and the cells which produce insulin can get tired and stop working, eventually leading to diabetes.
Quit sugar and protect your heart
A research project shows that people who get between 17 and 21 per cent of their daily calories from food packed with sugar had a 38 per cent higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who kept their added sugar intake to below eight per cent. So stay away from ready meals, junk food, pizza, sauces and all processed food in tins and jars. Their sugar content is huge.
One man in Holland who quit sugar and alcohol for a month for a TV documentary lost 8lbs, saw his blood pressure fall from 135 to 125 and got his cholesterol level to drop by eight per cent.
But going “cold turkey” wasn’t easy. He felt “cranky” and was constantly hungry. This is because sugar is like alcohol – it makes you feel tired, dehydrates you and sucks the vitamins out of your body.
The Dutch guinea pig said he felt much fitter at the end of his month being forced to live on fruit, yoghurt and salads. But it took three weeks for the sugar cravings to finally disappear.
What really grabbed my attention was when I discovered what happened when he started eating sugar again. “I got arrhythmia [irregular heartbeat] twice,” he said. “I also had trouble sleeping. I couldn’t fall asleep before 3am or 4am. My body wasn’t used to sugar any more and it came in like a drug.”
That’s precisely the problem we face in our sugar-laden world today. Sugar is like an addictive drug – and it’s hugely powerful.
Is sugar a problem in your life? Could you challenge yourself to quit sugar for 21 days? Please leave a comment below – I read them all with great interest and they really help me to help others.
13 thoughts on “Quit sugar and this is why you’ll look younger and feel better”
Hi Sandra!
I loved this article! I was surprise how sugar is bad for me.
However, I couldn’t open the first link, it is going for an error page.
I hope this is sorted out.
Thanks
It isn’t necessary to be cranky and go cold turkey coming off sugar – Dr Kathleen des Maisons has done a lot of work in this area; try reading “The Sugar Addict’s Total Recovery Programne. Along with my Slimpod, this works very well for me
I think I will give it a go & see how well I can do my thyroid is slow though & I’m not medicated so it’s a struggle
Went cold Turkey and gave up sugar from day one 3 weeks ago . I Lost 7ilbs in the first week not lost anything since but determined to keep it up . One thing I have noticed is I’m not feeling the cold so much
I dont use a lot of sugar but I eat ready meals the odd cake and Biscuit but No more I am going to check my food more carefully my weight has Yo yo for years and still tends to do this at times one must change ones life I think
I am quitting sugar this month. I experienced very bad headaches the first 3 days. But then again, I’m not craving it and my headaches have subsided. I’m drinking more water to keep hunger at bay. I want to stop this addiction I think sugar is worse than drugs.
I want to but really struggle to quit sugar.
Any top tips?4
I gave up sugar just over 3 weeks ago.. I feel amazing,, ten years younger.
The diet is satisfying and I hardly ever crave bread which was my biggest problem. The arthritic pain has almost completely gone,just a little knee pain if I walk too much. I sleep better. Skin is much improved. My taste has returned and everything tastes much stronger, like when I was a chikd.
Also in three weeks I lost 11 lbs. I did this diet for pain relief and irs worked better than I could ever have imagined.
I am on week 3 of no sugar, (although I have accidentally eaten food not realising it had sugar content. ) I cannot beleive how good I feel. I have lost 7lb and feel loads lighter, more energy and sleeping more deeply. I no longer have unbearable cravings that I couldn’t ignore.
I realised I was addicted to sugar, I could do a stretch without and then I would binge eat whatever I could lay .y hand on, mostly in secret and hide the packaging even though I live on my own, but may get a visitor who would catch me out.
All of the .mental torture has gone and I no longer have the negative internal dialog.
I simply feel great . ?
Such an interesting read about the negative and harmful effects of sugar.
I started detox 2 days ago, I follow a very healthy diet but struggled with sweet things !
I’m desperate for help to quit sugar!
I’d say that 80% of my daily diet is sugar. I crave it like a drug and when I don’t get it I’m beyond grumpy!
I have very little added sugar as I avoid processes foods due to a dairy and gluten allergy. I do however enjoy vegan chocolate and home made cakes and would love to find a suitable alternative to caster sugar that can be used in baking. Thanks.
My daughter told me that if horses eat grass at the wrong time ie when it’s very sweet it affects their joints so as I have painful joints I have decided to give it a go to minimise my sugar intake