21 Days of No Added Sugars

I stopped eating sugar a little over a year ago, and persisted with this no-added sugars diet for some six or nine months before I was corrupted by traveling in Australia (where any backpacker travel buddy is inevitably broke and only eating cheap food, i.e. ramen noodles and sweet chili oil on everything). I took the sugars out of the diet again, for awhile, but China corrupted that one (as did my love for Chinese treats with red bean paste), and finally, Thanksgiving.

Maybe you too are exhausted by holiday chocolates, or over-pumpkined, or out-pied by the Thanksgiving meal(s).

If so, come play along with me on 21 Days of No Added Sugars.

Usually I do these things quietly, but since I’ve talked to so many of you about sugars, caffeine, wheat, and the myriad other ways we tweak our diets to help tweak ourselves, I thought I’d document the sugar detox here.

Besides, if I’m not out writing about the wide, wide world, I can still write about something closer to home (i.e. the kitchen).

How do I stop eating sugar?

It’s simple really: just read the ingredients on your food and don’t eat it if it has evaporated cane juice, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, agave, stevia, or the myriad other artificial or concentrated sweeteners out there.

(Better yet, stop eating food with that many ingredients and start making your own foods out of whole foods!)

And of course, say yes to fruits!

Seriously, consider it. It’ll be a nice interlude between Thanksgiving and Christmas. You can even just try for one day, and if it suits you well, try for one more. If you make it more than three days, I bet you can make it all the way.

When my mother did it, she said she felt lighter. When I did it last, I felt energetically even – no three or four cups of coffee needed just to get through the day.

Day One

To get us started, here’s the green smoothie I make every morning:

Green Smoothie Recipe

A spoonful of almond butter (salted or unsalted) or a small handful of almonds (unsalted!)

A pinch of salt, but only if you used unsalted almond butter or unsalted almonds

A banana or a pear

Half a medjool date

Several leaves of lacinato kale – the more the greener!

Add water as needed – start with a little and put more in if it’s too chunky

Add in a bit of spirulina, VitaMineral Greens, or whatever other green powders you have

Blend