I learned more from 5 days without sugar than in 20 years of dieting

[USAF-Larry]

This is a very interesting article about cutting sugar intake for 5 days, and what she experienced. It would be a very difficult challenge for most people.

When my friend challenged me and others to consume no more than 25g of sugar each day for 5 consecutive days, I knew I wanted to give it a shot.

There were a few more rules though. Those 25 grams needed to come from natural sources like fruits and vegetables and we couldn't use artificial sweeteners.

What seemed like an easy task became quite challenging when I realized one apple contains half the daily sugar allowance. According to the American Heart Association, 25-30g of sugar is the daily recommendation, not just some number pulled out of the air. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I thought, it’s just five days. How hard could it be?

Read full article here: I learned more from 5 days without sugar than in 20 years of dieting

[WendyB]

Yep I agree. Sugar can cause a lot of cravings for things you dont really want.

[Malme84]

@USAF-Larry

I think many people would be surprised at how much of the food they eat actually contains added sugar. My wife and I cut out added sugar from our diets about a year ago (best thing we ever did), and I found that we pretty much had to stick with minimally processed foods, and make a lot of things ourselves in order to control what was in it (e.g. pasta sauce). No regrets, but it definitely was a challenge and an eye opener.

[USAF-Larry]

You are right about the chellenges, @Malme84.  You would not believe how many products are put back on the shelf in the grocery store because the ingredients includes High Fructose Corn Syrup or some ingredient ending in "itol" (sugar alcohols) - we simply don't buy them.  There is a Cargill plant near us that converts locally raised corn into HFCS, and I don't even like the smell of that plant.

[liz-C128]

Can wait to read your article since the Cardiologist wants me to reduce/restrict my sugar intake... since I log all my food already, I thought this would be another excellent benefit of my fitbit.  Imagine my disappointment to find I'd have to upgrade to premium to access it... not cool. Had to go with another app...