My two weeks no sugar challenge ends today and I thought I'd make a note about my journey and my thoughts, although, if I want to be honest, this is going to be a long post and a brutally honest one, to the point where some of you might consider it offensive. So if you're sensitive, please don't read it.
Why?
This is the question I have to ask myself and answer it, several times a day and to others too around me, who are kinda surprised I'm doing this challenge. They don't understand why.
The whole thing started at the beginning of this year, when I had a chat with a trading psychologist about willpower, which you need a lot of, if you're in trading and he mentioned his two week no sugar challenge. He said, on the first day, he was experiencing withdrawal symptoms, like hand shaking, headache, mood swings and so on. I could fully understand him as I felt the same on the first day, when I decided to quit drinking coffee. Maybe even worse.
I could say this conversation came in the right time for me, and after six days of thinking about it, I was finally ready to start my journey.
There's a saying in Hungarian, according to which:
Everything that is delicious is either immoral or fattening.
Obviously this is a joke, but some of it is true.
One of my plans for this year is losing some weight and focusing on my health, so this challenge came in the right time as it fits my plans and today I can say, it helped me a lot.
The start day for me was Friday and really put me to the test because I had a fruit yogurt in the fridge. I made the decision midday, without eating all the sweets I had, previously. In the movies and reality shows you see people through the whole content of their fridge in the garbage bin, to have a bigger impact on people, but I don't like to throw away food. I adjust my shopping in a way to buy only as much as I need and never waste food, but this was a different case.
My first thought was to eat it and either lie about it, or delay the challenge with one day. But how would that made me feel, I asked myself? Who am I kidding here? The smartest option was to say NO to that damn yogurt, focus on the task in hand and that's exactly what I did. I gave the yogurt away and was really happy for being determined and not giving in, the very first day.
Lesson no 1. in every addiction challenge is, be truthful to yourself, in my opinion at least and I'll tell you why.
Self justification is a very powerful thing. In most of the cases, if you can convince yourself, or your conscience to be precise, that what you did or what you're doing is right and justified as well, you will never change your behavior. Let me give you an example.
My brother has a colleague who is eating a bar of chocolate every single day at work and telling everyone he needs it because his sugar level is dropping. He's not diabetic, he's perfectly healthy, but he's invoking this reason to justify his action in front of others and he's firmly convinced everyone believes him.
Now, have you ever seen anyone experiencing dropping sugar level? I have, and the person was already closing his eyes, as was close to losing consciousness. Do you know what to do in such cases? I do, and had to act fast as it was the only chance to save him. He was diabetic on two insulin shots per day.
Did the guy with his daily chocolate need come close to that? Oh please, he didn't even know what dropping sugar level feels like, let alone experience one. It was all a charade, to have his chocolate without feeling guilty. After some time, this can becomes a lifestyle and that's why this kind of thinking is dangerous.
I've been abusing drinking coffee for years, because my low blood pressure. At least that's what I was telling everyone, myself included of course, and I've been convinced I truly needed that damn black liquid and that I could not exist without it. The worst in this was that it was recommended to me by my GP, to balance out my low blood pressure and this is not a joke. She said she can't give me any medication because it's hard to get the right dose and sometimes you can get the opposite effect. But she recommended three tings to me: plenty of water every day, more salt than usual and 2 cups of coffee per day, if I like it. Plenty of water goes for everyone, so that was a no brainer. On the other hand, I knew from the start I'm not going to use more salt for the obvious reasons but coffee? Oh yes please! The strongest espresso possible and as much as I could have!
When I say low blood pressure, I mean sometimes dropping below 90/60, while normal is considered to be between 90/60 and 120/80. (I hope none of the doctors is going to read this :D.) Every time my blood pressure is taken by a doctor, I am asked if I'm feeling ok and told to sit down to avoid fainting. It's amusing already, but I got used to scenes like this over the years. I remember before having surgery, I asked the nurse about my blood pressure and she said 115/80 or so. Most of the people would have had their blood pressure up to the roof, due to fear. I wasn't calm either, but this is how my blood pressure works. This was quite high for me, they just didn't know that. They were happy my blood pressure was normal, by medical standards.
You can imagine when I decided to quit coffee, I knew it can affect my blood pressure a lot and that I had to deal with the symptoms somehow but here I am, five years later, living without coffee or any kind of blood pressure manipulation, and it's going well. The funny thing is, when people are telling me they need coffee as they have low blood pressure, I'm just smiling politely, not saying anything. I know what I know and that's enough for me. I don't want to convince anyone about anything. The only one I want to convince is myself.
Why am I telling you this? Because it serves me as a very good lesson as to why we're doing things. I think this was one of the most important lessons I've learned in life about addiction and self justification, and one of the hardest challenges I've faced in this regard, as all my strengths and willpower was put to the test, but the biggest win as well, because it taught me a lot. Now I know if I was capable of going through all the horrible withdrawal symptoms (shaking, dizziness, headaches, weakness) and resist, I can do a lot more. I can do this no sugar challenge easily and I did it.
Need And Want Are Two Different Things
Saturday was a bit more challenging than Friday. It was the second day and for me it is the day in which I make time to watch some Italian programs, if I'm not away or out. It's common behavior to eat something while watching TV and I'm not any different than the crowd in this regard. Because the programs I'm watching are after lunch, usually I have some snacks ready and it's always something sweet. Well, this time I didn't have anything and tried to train my brain to think that my black tea with lemon (no sugar) is all I can enjoy.
It's interesting how the human mind works. When you know you can't have something, your mind instantly tries to find alternatives, substitutes. I was trying to think what can I eat, that has no sugar, but it's still sweet or it gives me the sensation that I'm having something sweet. This is a dangerous thing if you don't put a stop to it in time, as usually this is how you replace one addiction with another. This is why I decided to not eat fruits in the firs week. Fruits contain both fructose and glucose and once you are not allowed to eat sugar, it's easy to exaggerate on fruit consumption, saying it is healthy. This is why I said NO!
The second weekend was way easier already because in one week you get used to it to some extent and the craving goes away, mostly. At least in my case that's what happened. However, starting from the second week, I allowed myself one fruit per day, which was either apple, or banana, but this was more like my afternoon snack as fruits are better on an empty stomach. How did it feel? The first apple felt a bit strange, but I can assure you, I didn't feel like having a second one. One was enough, which is good. It was already a huge win!
What I noticed during these two weeks is my shopping behavior. A couple of days ago I went shopping with a well defined shopping list, that contained only what I needed for cooking. While roaming around the isles, all of a sudden I thought let's buy some snacks as well. This was a spontaneous reaction to what I usually see in the supermarket and not a conscious thinking. The next second my conscience kicked in and realized I'm not allowed to do that. But other times I'd have bought both sweet and salty snacks, as that's what we usually do, right? I could have still bought salty snacks as I'm allowed to, but I asked myself Do I really need it? Or just want it? Well, you know the answer. I just wanted it, to reward myself. Reward myself, why? For what? I didn't do anything special that needed to be rewarded and besides, I'm not a dog to get a snack every time I do something special. So why reward myself? Because it feels good? Hell no!
And this is how you find the answers to your questions and learn why you do things. If you know why, you know how as well. You just need strength to continue.
Who?
The other major issue you're going to face with similar challenges is the outside influence and I'm not talking about temptation on every corner as soon as you leave the house, but people. Yes, you need to learn how to handle them and stick to your plan. Is it easy? Nope, it's actually just as difficult as saying no to a charming slice of black forest cake, but it's a must if you want to reach your end goal and be in peace with yourself.
When you deviate from a certain behavior, which is common and considered normal, you start to draw attention. Unfortunately most of it is unwanted attention, not pleasant and you can't avoid it either, so the only way is to deal with it in a proper manner.
I have two relatives, who find a way to politely insult me each time we meet. (When God was distributing manners to people, they were standing in another line, where most likely food was handed out.) Most of these polite insults happen when I don't want to do what they do, at their lunch table. When I say no to the stake, which is black, due to exaggerated ground pepper use, or I don't want to have two servings of everything, like they do. These conversations always end the same way, by them telling me, YOLO. Fine, I admit, you only live once, but the quality of the life you live depends heavily of how you treat yourself and the faster you understand that, the better for you. They are both extremely obese, with high blood pressure. One of them had a heart attack a couple of years ago, coded in the hospital and went into kidney failure. He's fine now, but fine has a different meaning in his case.
Would be nice if this would be an isolated case and I would be the only lucky one facing this kind of problems, but if you look around, I bet you can find similar people close to you, who would like to stuff you with food, even if you don't want to eat. Some cultures don't help either as saying no to food and drink you're offered is considered and offense. My culture included obviously, but I don't give a damn about who gets offended when I say NO! It's 2024, hospitality should be about making your guests feel good, not stuffing them to make yourself feel good! Or insulting them because they do something you don't. Sometimes I have 10 people at my lunch table and have to consider all the ingredients they are not allowed to eat or don't like, when preparing the menu and I'm more than happy to do that, as I want them to feel good.
So, it comes the question: Who? Either you or them. Meaning you need to choose between them and yourself, which is not easy to do, it comes at a price, but it gets easier in time as you become immune to what people say about you and they get used to you not doing what they want. It's more difficult for people pleasers and those who's happiness depends heavily on being appreciated by others. But it's the only way in my opinion.
What Now?
Today is the last day of the challenge, which means tomorrow I'm free to do whatever I want. These two weeks served me as a training to have a different mindset and I think I succeeded. I'm not planning on eating sugar anytime soon, like I used to. Most likely I'm going to have a small snack here and there, but my goal is to keep this balance for as long as I can.
No matter what justification you’re selling yourself, it doesn't mean it's true, it just makes you feel better, or less guilty. Now I know I can go without sugar if I want to, it depends exclusively on me! No one else! And if I can do without it, why exaggerate every day? I'm going to have one fruit each day, or a bit more when the fruit season comes, but yesterday for example I forgot to eat my fruit and only realized it this morning.
By the way, today I thanked the trading psychologist for mentioning his no sugar challenge and motivating me to try it out. I was really lucky to be in the right place the right time as I needed this. Life is full of challenges and sometime a lot of self control is needed. We deviate from the right path and abuse different things like alcohol, smoking, drugs, sugar, food in general and so on, but there's always a way back to the right path and it's never too late. You just need to make an effort.
I'm going to close it here as it's already a novel what I wrote. I should say If you got to the end, you're and idiot, but I'm not going to, rather say thank you for reading all this. I hope it helps.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
- Communities Explained - Newbie Guide
- Cross Posting And Reposting Explained, Using PeakD
- Hive Is Not For Me
- How To Pump Your Reputation Fast - Newbie Guide
- Tips And Tricks & Useful Hive Tools For Newbies
- More Useful Tools On Hive - Newbie Guide
- Community List And Why It Is Important To Post In The Right Community
- Witnesses And Proposals Explained - Newbie Guide
- To Stake, Or Not To Stake - Newbie Guide
- Tags And Tagging - Newbie Guide
- Newbie Expectations And Reality
- About Dust Vote And Hive Reward Pool, by libertycrypto27
I read to the end with much interest! Well done on successfully completing the challenge, I don't think you could have chosen a more rewarding one.
My hubby was a diabetic on insulin from the age of 8, so I also know all about those low sugars!
Sugar 'feeds' some cancers.
Oops... Edit... I was distracted and hit the send button!
...
I know that was not the subject matter, just saying.
Funny I wrote about my cravings today, not being able to have coffee and chocolate because it sets off my reflux, which in turn causes coughing spells. Recovering from abdominal surgery so definitely don't want to cough, but I can't wait for that cup of coffee.
A great outcome with your challenge!
Oh God, then you know what it means to have a diabetic close to you. Not fun at all and a huge responsibility. Reflux is a huge problem too. I don't have it, but know quite a lot about it and hope to avoid it.
Sorry to hear about your abdominal surgery. I wish you fast recovery and all the best dear @lizelle, thank you for the nice comment and have a nice weekend!
My hubby was amazing, never ever complained about having diabetes, it was just part of living, but those lows were scary!
The cool guys are like that 😎 and I'm glad he was one of them.
You're right, those lows are something you never want in life.
I agree, cancer cells loves sugars! It's their source of life.☺️
I'm not going to give myself a nickname because it doesn't go with me. But I have read your whole post and it really is something suggestive for a book for those who have no will of their own and not only not to eat sweets but everything that harms them. I congratulate you. But: in front of all those sweets so appetizing and beautiful how to restrain yourself not to eat them. You have to be strong. But you have succeeded. Take care of yourself. Nice vieres.🥰❤️--(remember no☕🍨🍧🥧🍦).
Thank you very much! It can be done easily if you want the result. Trust me, after two weeks, these photos have no effect on me, so this is a huge win! Thanks again for the nice comment and have a nice weekend 😘🤗
I clicked so fast seeing the title of this because I didn’t expect an update this early.
Anyway I didn’t even know there were horrible withdrawal symptoms. Honestly you did well, at least for two solid weeks you’ve been able to stick to the challenge.
And for those relatives, we all have some in our family. Mine “fake compliment” me for being too discipline when I choose not to follow their wrong ways.
My countenance also changed when I saw
Lol
Someway this helps in a personal decision I’m trying to make and it feels like this post came at the right time. Thank you.
It's been two weeks already, so now is the time for an update. And it's the first day after the challenge and I didn't have any sugar yer and not planning to have any :)
I guess you meet these people no matter where you are. The point is to listen to yourself and ignore them.
Thank you @abenad!
Yes,very important to listen to yourself.
You’re welcome.
Congratulations on making it through the two weeks. With all those great photos of the deserts, now I want some sugar. LOL
Many thanks @sunscape. Interesting, those photos had no effect on me. It's another day for me, and the day I can eat sugar and I wont 😁
I am going to have to get a lot more serious about eliminating sugar and high-carb foods from my diet. It is a whole different way of eating for me after 67 years. ;-)
Well done you, but oh my! all those puddings, the temptation would be to great!
I kinda get it, I used to drink tea with three sugars and now ( well for years actually). No sugar, if someone gets in wrong and puts sugar in I just can't drink it, yeuch! I guess it is all about brain training
But oh my! All those puddings .
Thank you @grindle! Same here, i can't drink my tea if it has sugar or honey. And I can give you those puddings gladly, as I don't like them 😁
LOL
Yummy scrummy in my tummy 😃
Guau! ¿Ya pasaron dos semanas desde el inicio del desafío? Me alegro que hayas podido ser sincera contigo misma en esta meta, nosotros somos solo pasajeros, pero es muy importante poder cumplir con lo que uno dice y se propone, me alegro que hayas llegado a este punto jajaja lo que has logrado con las imágenes es tentarme a ir a comprar helado, espero que ahora puedas controlarlo más y se consiente si el azúcar quiere volver a tomar el poder
Yup, it's been 2 weeks already and today it's the 15th day and nothing has changed. I think I'm going to continue and deviate from the plan here and there, but still stay between reasonable limits :)
So first of all, congratulations on successfully completing your two-week sugar-free challenge! Your honesty about the difficulties you encountered is very much appreciated. I really like this feedback.
In general this kind of challenge is not only a question of willpower, but also of a deep understanding of our own motivations and behaviors. With determination, we can really change our habits.
And oops... I'm an idiot haha!
@genesisledger thank you! I hope it helps in case you need some inspiration.
You're not wrong there. First comes the understanding and if you have it, you have the willpower as well.
😂
Wow I've never heard a GP say drink more coffee and use more salt. The water consumption yes.
I laugh to myself because I think we all have used excuses to undertake in drinks, food and other things for that matter. Than a lot of times people tell themselves what's one more time going to hurt. That mentality right there probably leads to health implications.
Yes I've seen YOLO come into the food world too. We should be more conscious of our health and not think everything has to be done or in this case tried and eaten get some more.
We can all learn better with food if we practice in moderation. A short challenge like the one you did is a good start to it. It's important we don't go crazy with a substitute as you touched on.
Time for me to practice as I'm guilty on more than one charge, haha. A good article friend to think and act about our behavior at the eating table. 😊
BTW There were some tempting photos you shared but I sit here and I'm not craving anything. So reading all this must have helped! 😄
That's human nature. If you can convince yourself that you really need it, you won't feel guilty. However, that doesn't mean you're right :) YOLO comes in whenever someone don't want to quit bad habits and want an excuse to continue.
Oooops 😁
Yes, those photos can be tempting, but trust me, I didn't feel a thing while selecting them and working on the post, which is a huge win! (Still planning on posting in your community, just need a bit of time as I don't feel like eating sugar at the time being 😆)
First and foremost, congratulations. Sugar addiction is one of the most common and overlooked addiction normalised in modern society. I'm sure it was nothing less than challenging, even beyond that of what you mentioned in the post. BTW, read the post once top to bottom but then again bottom to top. I feel like it was more brutally honest towards the end and sugarcoated (pun intended) towards the beginning. Quite a few golden nuggets in the post. Integrity, self-worth, discipline and much more. I couldn't let go of the thought of how much societal norms have shaped a lot of our behaviors and beliefs. A journey of shaping the self also means looking at these behavior and beliefs and understanding where they come from and if they are truly relevant and useful to us in any way or form. Thank for sharing your journey!
Thank you very much! You're right, sugar addiction is overlooked and I think the statistics would be shocking. I think most of the people are addicted to sugar and they don't even realize it, or just tend to ignore it.
😂 This is funny, but you're right. However, it wasn't quite intentional, it just happened. I need to be honest with myself and with the readers too, otherwise it's a waste of time. It served me a good lesson though and maybe to others too.
Thank you for sharing your opinion, you really gave me encouragement, you are absolutely right and I must train my mind to be stronger, I will read more of your publications I liked your content 🔥🔥
I hope you can do it too. It's not so difficult, you just have to commit yourself to the task.
So yes
🤣😂🤣
I too hate to throw away food but when I change my diet I usually eat/drink all the offending items in my fridge and THEN start the diet lol
Again the torture with all the pictures of gorgeous sweets 😊 I almost had to take a break in the middle of the post to go find a sweet snack.
Yes people! to stick with your addition discussion, first thing you learn as an addict is don't hang around with other addicts.
Thats normally Mom or maybe a grandma lol at least if you are a boy
The redemption story... nothing is more human than stories of redemption.
Uh oh I'm on the idiot list 😊
That's what I usually do but this was a spontaneous decision and I'm glad it happened that way as at least I could face my first challenge.
Yeah, in theory that's what people do but everyone is addicted to food, to some extent, so what so you do? I don't mind as if you can resist while you have the temptation in front of you, it's a huge win. And fighting them, makes you stronger in my opinion.
Lol, you too are on the idiot list? 😁
Que rico amiga 😍👏😋
Hello friend it is always very entertaining your writings, although this is the second longest post I read from you ... But I read them because I know I benefit from your writing language ... I congratulate you for achieving your goal of one week without sugar, you are very brave.... I am doing it but progressively, not all at once, I still can't get through the coffee without sugar. But for my health I have to keep trying.... Thanks for sharing your experience.
My God! What a delight!
If you can go 2 week without sugar, may as well keep going..or at least cut way way back.
As I mentioned in my posts, that's the plan.
Congratulations Erikah, two weeks sugar free!!!!
You know that will is power, now start your life with sugar control, because you want to, not because you need it or you are forced to, it is your decision.
Most of the time we human beings prefer to criticize than to respect another person's decision. Everyone is different, everyone acts as they want regarding their life and habits, we simply have to be empathetic and stop meddling in the lives of others.
I'm on a diet for health reasons, many people criticize me and even get upset because I refuse something they give me, even explaining my reasons, in short...human idiocy is infinite 😊.
Thanks for making us part of your challenge and success.
Happy weekend 🤗.
Thanks @mdrguez, you're right, I do this because I want to and not because I have to, or I am forced to. It's a huge difference.
Not me :) I never do that. I respect everyone's decision, it's their business and expect from them to do the same.
Have a nice weekend you too 🤗
Hi Erikah.
I wasn't referring to you XD.
I generalized because I believe that criticism is part of our behavior as human beings, not that it is wrong, as long as we do it in a constructive way and with the intention of helping others. I was referring in this case to the people who don't understand your decision, or simply don't want to understand because they don't share your criteria...those who multiply stupidity and incomprehension.
Hugs 🤗
Whoah, congratulations! I didn't know that the withdrawal symptoms include headaches and mood swings. So that's why I was twice as moody as I am back then when I was starting to lessen my sugar intake. Thanks for sharing your No Sugar Challenge journey. I've learned a lot.
Thank you @ayane-chan, I didn't know either as I have not experience them, but it seems it's true, depends on the level of addiction I suppose.
I can totally relate to your struggles with giving up sugar, but the benefits seem worth it. Thanks for sharing your experience
It worth it for sure, you just need to make an effort.
I admire your determination and courage 🙏💪, and a big congratulations to be able to complete you sugar free journey. It will be so hard for me to acquire such discipline, but reading how you are able to accomplish this challenge has given me lots of motivation to be able to do anything if my mind is set. I raise a glass 🥂🥂 to you.
Thanks! Trust me, it's not so difficult, you just have to want it. It's totally doable. If I did it, you can do it too, anyone can do it actually.
That's true
I agree about the "low sugar levels" oh man! I witnessed it from my mother-in-law first hand it is pretty scary. She kept chilling like her hands were shaking furiously, she was sweating a lot and she almost lost consciousness. It's really nerve wracking when you see one having low sugar levels.
Having no sugar is really very hard at first. During the pandemic my family ( my husband, my son and I) did the Low carb intermittent fasting or the LCIF way of eating. Like really no carbohydrates on our food because if you break down the carbs they are all sugar. We just use a bit of sweetener like stevia and erythritol whenever we crave for something on our drinks and whenever I bake our own low carb bread, pancakes etc. for our fruits we only eat berries, avocadoes and nuts the rest they all have natural sugars in them so they are not advised to be consumed. I went for the very strict low carb intermittent fast so I make sure I follow all the rules.
I think it's the best way to loose weight. My son who was the heaviest really lost a lot of pounds. When we started his waistline was 44 inches, yah he is a big kid then after five months he was down to 34, imagine right?!, well he did some biking as well which was a perfect combination.
My husband too lost a lot of weight in his tummy. From 38, after five months he became 34 then for a year it was 30 well given because he was celebrating his golden bday so loosing weight was not as fast compared to my son. Me, I was so happy because I really had a Mama's tummy already from eating anything that I want mostly carbs, sweets... Oooolala! My favorite in the whole wide world, okay okay it was thirty something.... Hehe. Let's just say I was able to fit In my old jeans 28 waitline!!! All these without even doing exercise!
We just deleted Sugar in our diet in our way of eating....
From our experience it's really a very good way of loosing weight. We were all so energetic specially me and my husband we don't get tired that easily and we always have lots of energy specially when We go hiking and trekking visiting our mango orchard on the highland part of our city which is really an uphill. We never stop we just kept on going unlike when we were so heavy we have to make 10-15 stops because we ran out of breath and we feel tired very fast.
If you haven't heard of the low carb intermittent fast way of eating you should check it out and give it a try.
Loosing weight without even exercise, well my thoughts were I was already tired of doing house works so I always set aside and always say tomorrow, tomorrow I will do some exercise but you know, tomorrow never comes!!.... Hahaha
I applaud you for not giving in to all the temptations around you the past two weeks! Yooohoooo! That is really an achievement!! You defeated Satan!!! Hahaha!
Cheers Ms. Erika!👋🥂🥂
😆
So, it's possible if I want to 😁