Picking your sugars

One thing you’ll have to think about as you remove sugars from your diet is: what type of sweeteners do I want to stop eating?

There are the straight up sugars: corn syrup, cane sugar, evaporated cane juice (don’t be fooled by the “j-word”), and molasses, for starters.

There are also sugar replacements like aspartame, saccharin, or stevia.

And then there’s the stuff that feels most natural: fructose, fruit juice concentrates, maple syrup, and honey.

I found 23 types of sugars listed on a Harvard Public Health website – check them out here. This might help you think about what you want to try not eating.

For me, I cut it all out at first last year, then J started making the seaweed snacks and some of the more natural sweeteners snuck back in. And then the regular old sugars snuck back in, because who can resist Olallieberry Pie with Strauss Vanilla ice cream? Obviously not me.

For others who also did the no-sugar thing, they still treated themselves to a cold diet soda after a summer day working in the garden, or one of those stevia-sweetened sodas with lunch.

But me, I’ve never much had a taste for fake sweeteners. Besides, I do much better with the all or nothing route.

So, if you’re joining me on the 21 Days of No Sugars, or if you’re just in for two or three, what will you remove from your diet?