Do you crave chocolate or sugary treats? Do you have energy slumps or need caffeine to get you going in the morning or get you through the day? Are you addicted to sugar?
The thing about sugar is that it is everywhere, we can get our hands on it any time of day or night. We feed it to our children yet scientists have proven that sugar is addictive and stimulates the same pleasure centres in the brain as cocaine or heroin. We wouldn’t dream of giving our kids hard drugs then why do we give them so much sugar encouraging a habit that can form a dependency and lead to greater health problems such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease?
In Ireland, we are number 4 in the world in terms of sugar consumption and eat a whopping 96g per day which is the equivalent of 24 teaspoons per person. The WHO recommends no more than 6 teaspoons per day for a person of average weight. Clearly, we have a sugar problem.
In 2014, a Californian study asked 20 people to cut out all added sugar and artificial sweeteners for 2 weeks. Initially, participants craved sugar but after giving it up:
- 53% reporting cravings went after 3 days sugar free
- 86% reported craving went after 6 days sugar free
In addition, after the 2-week challenge:
- 95% of participants reported finding sweet foods and drink tasted sweeter or too sweet
- 75% found that healthy foods such as baby carrots, apples or crackers tasted sweeter
- 95% said they would use less or no sugar moving forward
- 35% of the group lost weight
So quitting sugar for 2 weeks it adequate to reset the taste buds. While reducing your sugar intake to match the WHO recommendation can give you some real health advantages going forward.
If you are interested in boosting your wellbeing while freeing yourself from having a dependency on sugar, click here to check out my FREE eBook Quit Sugar to Look and Feel Great guide here
References: Does Consuming Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners Change Taste Preferences? Carole Barlotto Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake Avena, Rado, Hoebel May 2018
