I pride myself on being comfortable with full transparency, especially as a nutritionist and health professional, it is what permits for a deeper connectedness with clients. I am a real human, living life and I have the same vices and habits as any other person. So, in keeping with full transparency, this is me admitting that from the end of January into the beginning of February, I was going pretty hard on sugary foods. I would stroll through the kitchen and whilst I was leisurely walking around, I would stop and grab a dark chocolate (or two…or three). I was justifying the dark chocolate by saying there are antioxidants in it, which is true, but I was having a harder time justifying the other sugary num nums I was indulging in. Then I hosted a Galentine’s Day (so fun!) which led to more sweets. Well after about two weeks or so of consistently reaching for sweets, I realized…I needed an intervention.

You might be thinking…girl, a little sugar never hurt anyone, have those nightly sweets, YOLO (is it time for this saying to make a comeback? slide into my DM’S with your answers). As much as I’d like to YOLO it up with mass amounts of sugars every day, there are actually some pretty unfortunate side effects of over consuming sugar.

First, I do not want you to be scared to eat sugar. I think there has been enough fear mongering around sugar consumption. In fact, I have a whole section dedicated to “sugar” in my online program, The Plant-Powered Approach, because I want people to understand sugar versus being scared of the substance. It is true that sugar has been integrated entirely too much into our foods and drinks, and this has caused sugar to earn quite the reputation of being “bad” for us, it has become a villain in the nutrition world. However, in our household, we like to talk about villains in children’s books and movies, as being ‘misunderstood’ and that is exactly how I’ll describe sugar. A little misunderstood. But make sure you read the next sentence.

SUGAR IS COMPLETELY OKAY TO EAT…IN MODERATION…

It is very important to understand that there are natural sugars and added sugars. Natural sugars are found in foods like fruits, vegetables and dairy. Foods with natural sugar are typically accompanied with health benefits such as fiber, minerals, and vitamins. Then there are added sugars. Added sugars are found in an incredible amount of the foods and beverages we consume and do not pack a whole lot of nutritional value. I mean you guys, it is crazy how much sugar is added to foods and drinks. Foods like cereal, granola bars, salsa, breads, protein powders, candy, yogurt, this list could go on for miles. But you get the idea. Natural sugars already exist in the food…naturall, and added sugars are… added, in the form of: cane sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, maple syrup, glucose, corn syrup, cane juice, dextrose, fructose, raw sugar, sucrose, etc.

Alright, how much sugar is too much? According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, if you are older than 2 years old, your daily calorie intake of sugar should be 10% (or less) of your total calories for the day. This means if you ate 2,000 calories in a day, the amount of sugar acceptable for that day, would be 200 calories or less. It is not even recommended that children under 2 consume added sugars. According to me: the less added sugar you consume the better, you do not need to eliminate added sugar if you do not want to, but less is best.

Why all the fuss around sugar when, by golly, it tastes so good? Well eating too much can lead to a host of issues. Sugars contain calories, and by consuming too many calories from sugary foods and drinks could lead to: weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, higher blood pressure and heart disease. Not to mention, consuming excess sugar can increase inflammation in your body causing  joint  and muscle aches. Sugar also attracts bacteria to your teeth. And to top it off, sugar can cause oil to build up in your skin causing acne breakouts.

Like I said, sugar is totally fine to eat, just be aware of how much you are consuming and if it is natural sugar or added.

Any way, I recognized the negative behavior pattern I had created and decided I needed to do a “No Sugar Added” week to kick that habit to the curb.

I gave myself these parameters for the “No Sugar Added” week:

Check nutrition labels

Do not eat anything with “added sugar” on the label

Do not add honey or other sugars to my oatmeal, toast, baked goods (this lead to me making some barely edible muffins, my husband wouldn’t even eat them LOL), etc.

All whole foods were good to go, including fruit since those foods, if they contained sugar, would be a natural sugar

Processed or store bought foods were acceptable if the nutrition label did not contain any added sugar

That was basically it!

My experience:

You’d think because I am a plant-based nutritionist that this would be an easy challenge. Well it was and it wasn’t. Food standards in America are….if I was going to grade the food industry they would get a “needs improvement” and that’s me being generous. But I’ll save that rant for a separate post.

The week was easy in the sense that because I make all of our meals at home, I did not have to consider ingredients in restaurant or take out foods. The challenge for me was snacks: I should have prepped more snacks that were naturally sweet, my bad. Luckily, I found these bars and these tasty dried apples at Target and they were the perfect snacks for me. Naturally sweet, nutritious and plant-based.

Overall, the most tedious obstacle throughout the week was constantly checking nutrition labels. And the funny thing is, I let my guard down for one second and the food that ended up taking me briefly off course was salsa! The kind I was eating actually had sugar in the ingredient list. I did not even think to check salsa! And I would say the most interesting result coming out of the week was coming to the conclusion that I might have to do more shopping in the toddler food section at grocery stores to avoid added sugars in snack foods, which I am totally cool with.

The “No Added Sugar” week was absolutely necessary for me. I was eating more mindfully, putting more thought towards the foods and beverages I was consuming all while giving my body a much needed break from added sugars. I highly recommend everyone give it a try! You might be surprised at the positive side effects. Your joints might feel better, maybe you will experience some mental clarity, you might even end up trying new foods!

The moral of the “No Sugar Added” challenge week story is: yes, sugar is delicious and yes, it can be challenging to avoid added sugars but it is very important for our overall health to be conscious of how much added sugar we are consuming. Try choosing foods with natural sugar instead of added sugars. Whether or not you choose to participate in your own “No Added Sugar” week or you are simply aiming to lessen your sugar intake…CHECK THE NUTRITION LABEL AND INGREDIENT LIST.

If you would like to do your own “No Added Sugar” week and you don’t know where to start, reach out! I’m happy to help!

If you enjoyed this post, check out more from Caitlin on her socials or the Plant-Powered Wellness website!