Challenge II: Quit the Sugar Addiction

Get ready Fabulous Traveler,

This week you’re up against millions of years of evolution, decades of corruption, billions of dollars of propaganda, and a lifetime of habits.

You’ll be facing a challenge that will require constant vigilance, dedicated planning, and zero tolerance for failure.

Today, Public Enemy #1 is Added Sugars.

If you review the science on the subject, you’ll realize that all sweet treats come with a sour truth. Long-term overconsumption can lead to Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, heart failure, high blood pressure, and can even make you age faster.

Unleash the Flood

Would you drink a glass of water with 9 teaspoons of sugar in it? Probably not, but that’s what you’re doing every time you drink a can of soda. This is even more startling when you realize that the American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons a day for women and 9 for men.

Naturally occurring sugar, however, isn’t as dangerous. When you eat fruit, sugar is slowly absorbed alongside other nutrients like fiber, but whenever it’s processed it hits the bloodstream almost instantly.

This flood of sweetness causes a huge spike in your blood sugar which lights up the same receptors in your brain as cocaine. You feel a burst of energy and then a sugar crash, leaving you lethargic and craving more.

Over time, you build up a tolerance to these added sugars and require more of it to satisfy your sweet tooth.

A study by researchers at University of California found that large doses of sugar, like alcohol, wreak havoc on your liver. Furthermore, any overload leaves your body no choice but to turn the sugar directly into fat and store it around your vital organs leading to ailments such as fatty liver disease in as little as 2 weeks.

Last summer, in light of all this data, I began a 14 day “No Sugar” challenge.

By the end, not only had I cured my addiction to the substance, but I found myself avoiding it by choice. I could no longer stand sugar in my coffee and I stopped drinking sodas and other sugary drinks altogether.

In 2 weeks I had acquired a healthy habit that would last a lifetime.

Tasty Toxin

Why then, if sugar is so bad for us, does it taste so good? Why do we find what is essentially poison in almost all of our foods?

Sugar is only naturally produced in fruits and vegetables, which are healthy. Because of this, our bodies evolved to treat all sweet foods as safe. Nowadays, sugar is found in all kinds of dangerous man-made foods. In fact, it’s in more than half of the products you find in grocery stores.

Only recently did a California scientist discover how the omnipresence of the toxin came to be. According to a some recently discovered historical documents, in the 1960’s sugar executives paid Harvard scientists to publish papers that played down the deadly attributes of sugar. Food manufacturers suddenly had an excuse to put it in everything.

“They were able to derail the discussion about sugar for decades,” said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at University of California.

Your Moment of Truth

If you do your shopping at grocery stores, it’s likely that you are severely addicted to sugar. While a little bit of sugar is ok, you need to kick the addiction as quickly as possible, and the only way to do that is to go cold turkey.

After 2 weeks you’ll be back at a baseline and won’t crave sugar anymore. At this point, you’ll be able to stop scrutinizing everything you eat. Your will naturally shy away from overly sweet foods.

It’s much harder to try and limit yourself than to just say no. I’m not asking you to quit sugar forever, just long enough to reset what your brain considers normal. Once you kill the cravings, you’ll notice how much better real food tastes.

Let go of the addiction, and a simple apple will become a delicacy. You’ll discover a new spectrum of flavors once you open your mind to tastes other than sweet.

This Week’s Plan

One Time Action

Find some free time and go to your kitchen and hide or throw out everything with added sugars. Your family will be mortified, but you’re doing them, and yourself, a huge service.

Scrutinize all of your breads, yogurts, sauces, and anything in a box. Check the nutrition label and if it has any sugar, scan the ingredient list for artificial sources.

Look for words that end in -ose such as fructose, sucrose, or glucose. Some sneakier companies use words such as nectar, fruit juice, syrup, honey, or even organic cane juice.

Next time you go to the grocery store, buy some healthy replacements. Instead of sugary cereal, go for plain oatmeal with low-fat plain greek yogurt and some chia seeds and blueberries. Replace cookies with Honeycrisp apples. Chuck the white sandwich bread and get some delicious sourdough.

If you want to further ensure your success, add a custom habit to your morning routine to confirm your resolve and practice a new performance statement that you can create right now.

Your Goal

For the next 14 days, you will cultivate a zero tolerance for added sugars. You will reset your palate and experience a world of new flavors.

This No Sugar Challenge is not something you’ll maintain forever, it’s a reset button.

This challenge will have 2 parts.

First, you’ll need to add a new custom habit to your Morning Ritual named something along the lines of “Commit to a Sugar Free day”, during which you’ll practice all your new Self-Discipline techniques.

Your performance statement will come in handy whenever you are tempted by sweets: “I don’t need sugar, I’m just having a craving right now”. Don't forget all the other tools you have up your sleeve as well.

You can clench your fists when you are offered a cookie,  visualize yourself checking the nutrition labels at the grocery store every morning, and order your sugar craving off the mindbus as well.

The second part is a new habit we’ve added to your evening ritual, and upon lasting the entire day devoid of sugars, you should mark it as complete. Since this is a reset, you need to go cold turkey for the full 14 days to succeed. One cookie could revive your addiction, so be extra careful not to miss a day.

Take a moment and make a solemn promise to yourself to stick to this challenge. Then tap Accept below.

Quitting sugar is an excellent medium to train your new techniques. Take this opportunity to sharpen your skills and learn how to quit even the most addictive habits.

You’ll enjoy a healthier body, higher energy levels, improved focus and concentration, and the pride of knowing you quit one of the hardest addictions out there.

You’re ready for this Fabulous Traveler, now go show sugar what you’re made of.