Ever tried going sugar-free for a week?
It’s hell, isn’t it? The cravings, the longing, the sense of deprivation, the notion that life is well, a lot less fun. After all, no birthday cake at the office, no doughnuts at coffee break and no dessert to finish a fine meal. It doesn’t take long to wonder whether the beneficial health effects are worth the social loss.
So imagine doing it for a year. Eve Schaub took her family on a 12-month odyssey of sugar-free eating after seeing Dr. Robert Lustig’s video “Sugar: the Bitter Truth,” proclaiming sugar the source of all evil in the American food diet, responsible for everything from diabetes and obesity to joint pain and auto-immune disease.
The result is the book “Year of No Sugar,” which details the journey Schaub, her husband and two young daughters took through a year of no sweets and determined label reading to ferret out sugar hidden in every day products like ketchup and crackers.
They learned to bake with naturally sweet dates and bananas, to give up snacks that include sugar and to bypass the dessert table at community and holiday events, despite the pressure to partake.
Schaub concludes by saying she and her family received the benefits she had hoped for – her daughters missed fewer school days due to illness and she had greater energy and focus.
They ultimately allow sweets back in the house, but only for special occasions and in small amounts, which is why really, they’re called treats.
Do you ever think about the amount of sugar you consume? Tell us your thoughts on attempting to reduce sugar in your diet or the thought of trying to omit it from your diet for a year.
If interested in information on healthy alternative sweeteners, check out the GFP article Cooking with Sweeteners: Sugars and Substitutes
Source: Eliza Barclay, NPR
Pamela Hasterok