Ok, so this was my first week back to being allowed to eat sugar.

Here is what I learnt not eating artificial sugars for a month, only eating natural sugars in my diet.

1 – I was able to eat fruit more easily and often, as it was a natural substitute for my sweet tooth cravings. At first it felt like a poor substitute, but now I feel  like I can’t get enough of fruit, it makes me feel clean and gives me loads of energy, especially as my mid morning snack!

2- The clarity in being able to think is fantastic, also I have a lot less negative thoughts and feelings, once you get past the cravings stage in the first week.

3- NOT waking up exhausted. I used to wake up so tired it was unbelievable, if felt like I had not slept for a week. Now of course I am still no morning person, but I feel able to tackle the day when I wake up, and it’s not a process having to convince myself to leave the bed.

4- I have completely kicked the habit of needing a 3pm coffee to get me through my afternoon. I used to rely on it so heavily, and even then I was still a little tired when I had it, but it helped me through the afternoon. It was funny, because I didn’t set out ti stop having that afternoon coffee, but I realised about a week and a half into no sugar that I had stopped craving it and the thought no longer crossed my mind! 

5- Cellulite, ok so I am still fat, and that is probably due to the fact I eat too much, but I no longer really have the cellulite I used to have, never saw that coming, it’s more of an even kind of fat, not that that really helps but hey it was a nice surprise!

6- You don’t really realise how hidden sugar is, in everything, the thing I missed the most – Sauces!

7 – I get more full now with what I eat, I am trying to start listening to my body now, and not just eat what I am used to eating portion wise. 

8- the fourth week was the hardest, it was crazy, I knew I had one week to go, and I knew I had done 3 weeks not to badly with any cravings, but I had a real bad case of cravings on the fourth week, I was noticing signs for sweets and pastries in windows EVERYWHERE!

9- When I finally did have something sweet again, it just didn’t taste as good and as satisfying as it used to, and I don’t just mean the first thing I tried, that went for the second and the third thing too. I feel like I don’t need to have as sweets really anymore, there is no persistent craving. I feel like now that I know I can, I just feel like that’s great but I don’t want to anymore or as much.

10 – It has motivated me to now try and really focus better on my eating habits more now than ever before, especially now that I have felt what the before and after effect can feel like after being really conscious about what I eat.