Sugar is a tricky thing. It’s in everything. It’s addicting. It tastes so damn yummy.
I also have WAY too much of it. Deep down I know my whole family does. It’s just. So. Hard.
I have been reading a few books that have given me some motivation to cut sugar. I will probably never be 100% sugar-free. Not happening. But I would love to reduce added sugar as much as possible and save the sweets for special occasions. The trouble with special occasions is there is always something special. Maybe we are exceptionally special people? Every time I turn around we are on a road trip, at a softball game (concession stand!) birthday party, wedding, date night, holiday, cookout, or bonfire… You get the idea.
Turns out I’m not the only one. I have read different statistics but they are all staggering. Americans recommended consumption is 25-40 grams of sugar per day (about 6 tablespoons) However most consume about 82 grams a day – double to triple what we should be consuming! One USDA statistic reported that Americans consume between 150 and 170 pounds of refined sugar in one year. *Hop back to the 1700’s. You had to be wealthy to eat sugar & even then you only got around 4 pounds per year. By 1900 it was around 90 pounds a year.
So – long story short, as time goes on, sugar consumption increases.
If you read labels to look for sugar, you better expand your vocab. There are a lot of names for sugar!

• Most things ending in “ose” (Glucose, Fructose, Maltose, Sucrose)
• Syrup (corn syrup, carbo syrup, malt syrup, rice syrup)
• The more obvious – things labeled sugar (Date sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar)

You get the idea. It may not always be easy to spot. I look at sugar on the nutritional label – check for regular and added sugar and check serving size. Sometimes it looks like there are 10g of sugar, but that is per serving and there are 2 servings in the package.
Now that I’ve gotten a little wiser, I have decided to eliminate as much added sugar as possible and avoid sweets for 7 days. One week. Should be a piece of…cake.
I found an app to help me. I had to pay for it but at this point I am weak and sugar is strong. It’s called Sugar Stop. You set your goal to what type of sugar you want to avoid, you choose the length of your challenge, and you invite friends to join you on this uphill journey. They have a diary, water tracking, and a FB support group. They also have hypnosis sessions to help you out. My favorite part is the Panic button. If you get desperate, hit the panic button and you can choose between a 10 min hypnosis on crushing your cravings, read about things you could eat instead and ways to distract yourself, or refresh with a glass of water. Because of course downing a good ole’ glass of H2O will surely make you not want that deliciously enticing, mouth-watering chocolate chip cookie. Hold please, let me wipe my drool.
So day 1 starts now. Wish me luck. I will be back after the 7 days to let you know how I did. Since I’m putting this in writing, I really don’t want to fail!
*Kolp Institute