I used to crave sugar constantly, but now most store bought things are too sweet for me. It took a painful month to lower sugar, but it was so worth it.
I admit, the scariest thing that made me decrease sugar was reading about the blackouts, how it can damage your liver and even the eyes. As a painter giving up most of sugar for my eyes was a no brainer. (I've got a floater thing that definitely scared me, but doctor said those get common with age D:)
This post is just my personal experience, I'm not a professional and I recommend doing additional research. :)
I quit "most" sugar almost 2 years ago, but then the unfortunate event happened and I was back on it. I believe sugar is as much of an addictive drug as coffee and unfortunately as kids many of us don't learn how bad it is. I'm horrified to think of how many sweets I constantly ate as a kid (it probably would have been worse if we ate current sweets). I was lucky my family did lots of incredible homemade sweets which weren't all sugar. Too many sweets are dirt cheap now and the companies are constantly looking how to min max ingredients at the consumer's expense. Unfortunately reading the ingredients regularly is the only way to combat this. I don't check everything at the shop, usually I read the ingredients at home while waiting for my tea to brew or waiting for some food to cook. Making it a habit helps, I'm too curious not to check what I'm eating.
I think this video reminded me why I stopped consuming so much sugar (when I was eating a lot again).
Moreover, enough sleep and good nutrition helps curb cravings. When I don't get enough sleep I definitely crave sugar (and feel moody). I have days when I eat more sweets but at least those are the exceptions now and not the norm. I eat other carbs like bread regularly, but I try to keep it balanced.
I always keep some fruits around and eat those first, and drink frozen fruit smoothies in winter. Apparently some companies sweeten the frozen fruits, so again, check the ingredients.
Cronometer.com
This is great to calculate your nutrients and calories. I don't use it regularly, but after a week I saw the patterns. Moreover, eating the rainbow foods seems to actually help. Way easier to remember than actual nutrients of each fruit and veggie.
Recommended maximum intake of added sugars
Men: 150 calories per day (37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons)
Women: 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19704096/
My average used to be around 13tsp if I remember right. Now I'm around 6tsp average, I hope less, but there are always hidden sugars to consider. I eat one small sweet every day and since I buy less I can afford better quality sweets. It's hard to go back now, most Milkas taste gross to me, only Noisette is still good. Also it's surprising how many things have more sugar than you'd expect. I prefer homemade baked goods (when I feel like baking), so I can control the sugar in those.
Most sodas have 4tsp of sugar per cup D: Luckily I prefer quality teas.
I recommend lose leaf teas over bagged ones, you get better quality and way more of it. You just need to invest into one filter and there are many affordable ones. I love making my own mixes as well and I hope to grow my own teas some day.
Lowering the sugar in the tea was the hardest part. For a month I drank it with a grimace, but now I can't imagine adding more than a teaspoon and most of the time no sugar at all. Now I can actually taste the tea instead of sugar. 100% stevia helped the transition, but I don't really like the taste. Also most cheap stevias include fake sweeteners, so check the ingredients.
This is an old photo, and my tea collection is less impressive now, trying to finish all before buying more which is pretty hard. Tea loses quality with time and it's best to keep it in the dark. I don't have dark containers so I keep them in a drawer I don't open too often. The tea I'm trying to finish faster I keep on the counter. I prefer strong black tea over coffee, but I drink coffee if I need a stronger jolt.
This is a form of meditation where you focus on what you're eating and to take your time to actually appreciate it. This alone has helped me not overeat sweets as much. I notice much sooner when I'm satiated and once I'm done I don't wonder how the chocolate disappeared so fast :D I take my time just to enjoy the sweet and not do anything else. Try this at least once and I'd love to know what you think _
Edit: I just remembered, 2 years ago I got my teeth fixed (after 5y no dentist), around 10 of them D: I fixed them without anesthesia, since they weren't too bad and I'm scared of needles. However, it definitely wasn't a pleasant experience and then I looked into sugars and then worked on reducing. I knew some things, but I actually thought I wasn't eating that much sugar back then, I was so wrong.
The cover image is my original oil painting art from 2014 I believe, it was a gift. Unfortunately back then I didn't take process pictures and even my final pictures were quite blurry. Blogging certainly helped me improve my art presentation.
