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Sweet nothing: giving up sugar can change your life
Giving up sugar is hard, but the physical rewards can be great - and there's no need to beat yourself up over the odd glass of wine once in a while
Going on a health kick is all very well when you live on your own, as I do. You can fill your cupboards with kale chips, almond butter and buckwheat groats without anyone chastising you or expressing their faux revulsion at your unholy devotion to all things wholesome. No one’s going to bring home a bucket of Ben & Jerry’s when you’ve blitzed the freezer, or whip up a surprise mojito to greet you when you come in from work.
Two years ago I nixed sugar from my life almost completely. It was an unlikely move for me to make as I was a party girl, a bona fide sugar addict who would think nothing of eating a large bag of jelly babies on a car journey, or a big sweet popcorn at the cinema. But I was unhappy and – more to the point – unhealthy, so it had to go.
Of course it was tough, but I was determined. The results I saw – more than two stone weight-loss, better skin, uninterrupted sleep, zero cravings, no mood swings, more energy – spoke for themselves. And so I stuck at it. What started as a trial in June 2012 proved so rewarding that I just carried on. Now, in July 2014, it’s become my way of life.
But what soon became apparent was what’s easy in the confines of your home is less so elsewhere. Not only because of temptation, but often because of other people’s reactions. While I had no doubt about my iron will when left to my own devices, managing the expectations of some of my party-loving friends was tricky. After all, how can you socialise, date, dine out or hang out with friends when you’ve gone sweet nothing?
Whereas before I was the first person at the bar ordering white wine or a G&T, my new regime means I rarely drink. The old me would plunge headfirst (sometimes literally) into a dessert at the end of a meal, but the new me just orders a peppermint tea. Despite my personality having not changed, it’s easy to see how my healthy habits could be construed as being rather, well, dull.
The author (centre) during her partying days
While the vast majority of my pals were supportive at the beginning of my lifestyle overhaul, a few people – and I must stress it was a few – made their opinions on my new eating habits rather plain. They lambasted me for “being so restrictive” when we went out for dinner and I didn’t have a pudding. One told me that I wasn’t choosing what I “wanted to eat” but instead choosing what I “thought I should eat because it was more healthy” – as if I couldn’t want to choose something healthy for my own dinner.
A holiday in Spain with a longstanding female friend turned fraught when I constantly abstained from ice creams at the beach bar. And I came to blows with another at a wild three-day wedding when, for the second night in a row, I stopped drinking after two small glasses of red wine.
I was, however, only reaping what I’d sown. In years gone by I’d been the person moaning when a friend turned up at the bar and ordered a non-alcoholic drink when I wanted to let loose a bit. No matter how chilled the other person is, you feel as if you are being judged.
But things calmed down a few months in when those few problematic friends accepted that this was my new normal. Nowadays no one cares what I do or don’t put in my mouth. My worries about sober dating also proved unfounded. I met a handsome, amazing man who accepted my eating peccadillos 100 per cent – it helps that he also doesn’t drink. He supported me in everything I wanted to do – which is what you do when you love someone – often while ploughing through two chocolate brownies and vanilla ice cream washed down with an ultra-sweet homemade lemonade.
Friends now know that if they ask me out for drinks, I won’t be getting blotto. Dining out is never a problem (there are low-sugar choices on almost every menu), nor dinner parties (I eat what I’m given and don’t worry about it for the evening). If you’re a fellow sugar addict you should try it. I promise it’s the sweetest treat of all.