(Added-)Sugar-Free for January

According to the World Health Organization, the average adult should limit sugar consumption to under 50 grams per day, with an additional benefit—and therefore, a strongly recommended target—of less than 25 grams per day, the equivalent of 6 teaspoons.

When we consider the modern Western diet, or more specifically, the modern American diet I grew up eating, we think of sodas, fast food, desserts, and candies full of sugar. Even breakfast cereals and the “healthy” options, such as fruit juice, energy bars, etc. contain surprising amounts of sugar that could push you, unknowingly, well beyond this threshold.

In 2015, the Washington Post published an article showing the average adult American was consuming 126.4 grams of sugar per day, based on data from market research firm Euromonitor. That is more than two and a half times the suggested limit of 50 grams per day and still over five times the target of 25 grams.

Eliminating Added Sugar from My Diet

As a child, I survived on a diet consisting primarily of sugar:

• Energy drinks (the one I regularly drank contains 54 grams of sugar)
• Sweetened teas (teas I drank contain an average of 40 grams of sugar)
• Sugary coffees (33 grams of sugar)
• Sodas (41 grams of sugar)
• Fast Foods
• Candy
• Holiday desserts

Since moving out on my own, I have been unintentionally taking steps towards eliminating sugar from my diet:

1. I stopped drinking sodas, energy drinks, regular fruit juices, and sweetened coffee and teas.
2. I stopped purchasing desserts/sweet snacks to have around the house.
3. I started eating more fruits.
4. I started making more of my own foods.
5. I started learning what was in the foods I was eating.

However, for the past two weeks, I have been traveling around California, visiting cities I used to live in, friends I used to see on a regular basis, and habits I thought I had long left behind. In the wake of the holidays, I found myself consuming more sugar than I have in several years. But this was not just about being in California. This started several weeks before my trip.

The amount of sugar I consumed over the past month has triggered some old, yet common, physical symptoms relating to eating sugar. I have been lethargic, grumpy, constantly hungry, craving sweet things, nauseous, and not sleeping regular intervals.

As a result, I chose to eliminate added sugar from my diet for the month of January to see how my body feels after a reset.

What is Added Sugar?

According to MyPlate, the USDA Guidance System, added sugars are defined as sugars and syrups added to consumable products during processing or preparation as opposed to occurring naturally in foods like fruits and vegetables.

However, rather than clearly indicating the sugar content in a product, some nutrition labels break it down into smaller amounts. Here is a list of common names for sugar from the Harvard School of Public Health’s website:

How to Eliminate Added Sugar from My Diet

The biggest obstacle I find with “restrictive” diets is, frankly, the restriction. I hate being told what not to do about much as I hate being told what to do. So rather than focus on what I cannot do, eat sugary foods, I tend to focus on the different foods I can eat, finding new ways to enjoy them, as well as the health benefits I will experience from the positive life change I am making. In order to make it through the month, I will need to make several lifestyle adjustments.

Cooking More Food at Home

For as long as I can remember, I have found ordering takeout to be a practical option for dinner after a long day. During the work week, in particular, when I come home, I am often too tired or too lazy to cook. Now, because I do not know the exact amount of sugar added to foods prepared in restaurants, and because I have committed to eating primarily plant-based meals for the month of January, eating at home will allow for me to eat the kinds of food I want, while avoiding added sugar, on a normal budget, since buying plant-based meals while out can be expensive.

Meal Planning

I am not a planner. I rely on a certain amount of flexibility in my day/life which makes planning an unnecessary, time-wasting task because I will change my mind and end up winging it in the end. This is intensified when it comes to food because rather than think rationally about what food is available and practical I want to eat based on how I am feeling and what I am craving at the time (which probably speaks to a number of other things more than it does to my ability to plan), but this is something I will need to address and tame over the next couple of weeks.

Batch Cooking

Batch cooking is something I have had some difficulty with recently. In the past, I could make a large amount of one dish then eat it or adapt it over the next couple of days for different meals. Now, Jesse requires at least twice the amount of food I do, meaning if I want to cook one meal that will last us two days, I have to create six times the amount I would need for one meal which is a little more than our kitchen can handle.

Potential Challenges for Eliminating Added Sugar

I expect that this process will be particularly challenging. When I was living on my own and responsible only for mine and Igneous’ food choices and lived somewhere where nearly every restaurant or bar I went to had healthy options, maintaining a healthy diet that did not harm my body was easier. There are several reasons not consuming sugar will be a challenge over the next month:

1. Getting My Husband Onboard

Sugar is Jesse’s primary food group. In the morning, like a typical European, he enjoys breakfasts consisting of muesli, pastries, or what he calls biscuits but are really just cookies. For every other meal of the day, he would be happy with eating pasta.

He has been awesome about supporting (nearly) all of my food experiments. He even agreed to give up pasta and sugar a year ago for an entire month. Although, neither of us managed to make it through that month without pasta because it is a challenging goal when living in Italy where just about all social gatherings serve pasta in some form. That being said, he has already told me he would not do it again. Getting him onboard with me not eating sugar this month includes:

• Eating Primarily Plant-Based Meals When We Eat Together
• Not Adding Sugar to Anything He Makes for Me to Eat
• Accepting that My Eating Habits will Limit our Social Lives

2. Additional Time for Meal Preparation

Preparing a meal using ingredients in their whole, unprocessed form requires additional preparation time. For example, instead of dumping a can of black beans into a pan to heat them, I have to check them for stones, soak the, overnight, then cook them for one to two hours. By the time I have finished preparing the whole meal, three hours could have gone by.

Over the past couple of years, I have learned to appreciate cooking, and I have experienced the satisfaction that comes with enjoying a meal that took time and thought to create far more than any quick microwaveable meal I would have made ten to fifteen years ago. But by being the person doing most, if not all the cooking in our house for the next couple weeks, I will be spending a lot more time in the kitchen than I am used to, which means giving up time to do other things.

3. The Temptation of “Easy” Meals

At the end of a long day, whether it be a workday or weekend full of errands and activities, the last thing even I want to do is prepare a full meal with all the proper ingredients I would like to stick to. More often than not, Jesse feels the same way or doesn’t want to wait an hour for me to cook something so we end up eating pasta.

Throughout this process, I will need to make sure to plan not only our meal schedules throughout the week but also what time we need to be home in order for me to prepare a meal before one of us gets too hungry to wait.

5. Complications with Social events

In the US, when I was eating little to no added sugar, I was living a very different kind of life where I was living on my own, with only myself and a dog to feed, and I had limited social relationships/obligations. When I was more… isolated, I had fewer occasions and reasons rationalizations for eating added sugar. In my new life, enriched by all the new people and events in it, I find I have more and more occasions where eating sweets, drinking sweetened drinks, or even having mild amounts of added sugar in a main dish is not only necessary but something I want to do. Even with the support of the people around me, I know it will be challenging to deal with the social implications of removing added sugar from my diet.

Concerned about Making Social Situations Awkward

Just about everyone has encountered a scenario where food is provided for guests and someone in attendance is unable to eat due to a dietary restriction. I have found that hosts often feel badly in these situations because they were not able to provide for everyone. In some cases, I have even been the person who was unable to consume the provided food.

• Some people navigate this by providing their dietary restrictions up front.
• Some people go to the event, certain they will find a way to make the options available work for them.
• Some people bring their own food or eat beforehand.

Over the next couple weeks, I need to figure out the best way to handle these scenarios.

What Eliminating Sugar Means to Me

Sharing food, or eating together, is a common social ritual. We often have meals with friends, coworkers, and family. By adding in a new dietary restriction, I am limiting my ability to share in common social rituals.

As someone raised in Western society where sugar is a primary ingredient in a number of culturally consumed foods, I recognize I am sacrificing the ability to participate in these social rituals. I know the next couple of weeks will be particularly challenging and that there will be significant lifestyle adjustments I will need to make along the way to get through the month without consuming added sugar.

At the end of the day, I know this change will improve my health and overall wellbeing that will make the challenges and discomfort worth it.