30 Days of No Sugar was Harder Than I Thought

I've taken on some interesting month long streaks or challenges in my day. I've done a number of digital detoxes (blog link), removing social media for 30 days. I've lived entirely off dumpster diving (blog link), not having to pay for food for several months. I've done several month long microdosing regimens (blog link).

My craziest streak at the moment is I have not taken an indoor shower since mid-August 2019. As of today, December 12, 2020 I am on the cusp of 1 year, 4 months! Another blog to come on that whenever that finishes.

But I am here to write about sugar. This was my first 30 day sugar cleanse. Or at least no added sugar cleanse. Although it was tempting to remove all sugar I had an abundance of fruit due to dumpster diving and use them to make healthy smoothies, so giving it up didn't seem logical from both a health and availability perspective. Besides, the focus of this cleanse was to tame my addiction. From same said source, dumpster diving, I have access to way too much sugar.

Cookies are my number one weakness

Like most of us, I've had the longest, deepest relationship with this intoxicant; my sugar habit was programmed in me when I was a child. As a teenager I was extremely active and ate a lot in general, so I had no problem going through an entire package of PC Chocolate Chip Cookies in a few hours. Even today I am able to do this and not fall victim to sugar lows that a lot of people I know are vulnerable to. 

On the other side of my spiritual awakening, and also due to the simple process of aging, I have learned to eat healthy and live in moderation, vastly reducing consumption of almost every intoxicant in my life. I am proud of not being dependent on any substance, and in spite of having a spiritual relationship with psychedelics I believe myself to be more sober than the majority of society, counting coffee and alcohol in this discussion.

That being said, I believe sugar counts as a substance, and with this in mind this is the one intoxicant I still struggle and can have a destructive relationship with. The science speaks for itself: sugar is more addictive than cocaine according to a study where mice would almost always drink sugar laced water over cocaine laced water. Sugar has so many more detrimental effects to the body - it spikes the glycemic index, it creates gut dysbiosis, it's a neurotoxin affecting cognitive function, and promotes weight gain, and as such is linked with pathologies such as diabetes, IBS and heart disease. And yet sugar is probably the most prevalent food ingredient in the grocery store, snuck into so much food we eat.

This yummy pie we dumpster dived costs $30 in-store!

How did this calamity come to be? It's a long story that I'm sure the right documentary will lay out for you. All I will say here is that capitalism is at the root of so many issues and symptoms in our society - food corporations are the primary reason for misinformation and conflicting science to the point you have articles that both support and condemn a food type.

This New York Times article shows how the sugar lobby in the 1960s manipulated scientific studies to take the spotlight off sugar and wage a propaganda war against saturated fat, which more than a half century later to this day is still mistakenly vilified. This paved the way for the "low fat" craze where cheap plentiful and addictive sugar replaced fat for flavour and calories.

I also think our language is to blame in this particular issue. The word fat having the double meaning of a natural food component and a negative body adjective has exacerbated this negative association between saturated fat and obesity. Very ironic when science is also showing that excess sugar gets deposited in the body as fat, making it public enemy #1 for weight gain.

That first indulgent bite after 30 days!

But I digressed quite a bit there. I know way too much about sugar, and wanted to change my relationship with it which led to this cleanse. Despite all the various cleanses and challenges I've been through as mentioned at the top, this may have been the hardest one. I had to overcome deep childhood programming to fight a temptation that loomed everywhere. I dumpster dive with my roommates, so there was lots of sugar in plain sight around the house. And not just low brow stuff either; we dumpster dive only the best! $30 gourmet pies, $3 gourmet cookies, and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!

There were moments when I was feeling like having a snack, or spotted say a cookie, and felt a pang of regret of being on this cleanse. I would have thoughts of, "Well noone will notice if I take just one bite." There was also work in having to check the ingredients on a package to ensure it didn't have sugar, followed by surprise to find sugar snuck in there, such as in salad dressings, natural smoothies and yogourt, things we associate with being healthy!

In my last week of the cleanse I simply couldn't wait to get off. Every passing day my anticipation grew. I had daydreams of sugar benders! The end of the cleanse was actually quite anticlimactic though. I pigged out for sure! But after a few days of it I felt back to a new normal, one I created during the cleanse. I think this cleanse was definitely able to reduce my cravings and decondition some of my childhood programming, which I'm very happy about.

What's your sugar face? :S

I encourage everyone to go on a 30-day sugar cleanse to conquer your cravings and your health. Do it with a friend, partner or roommate so you can be accountable to eachother. You learn a lot about yourself, your relationship with food, and also how you fit into the modern food system.

I also encourage doing this with other heavily industrialized foods such as dairy and wheat. You never know what symptoms you might have been struggling with that may suddenly vanish, such as weight, acne, brain fog, energy levels, even depression. After all we manufacture the important neurotransmitter serotonin in our gut! The gut has taken centre stage in scientific research, being linked to a majority of modern pathologies not just physical, but mental and emotional.

This all points back to what we put in our body is central to the health of our mind, body and soul, something our ancestors knew intuitively, a knowledge that has been eroded by capitalist science, but that people are waking up and taking back.

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food!