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How to Do a Sugar Detox: Easy 21 Day Sugar Detox Plan

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How to Go on a Sugar Detox

Have you been considering going on a sugar detox? A sugar detox can be a great way to rid yourself of your sugar cravings and start a healthier lifestyle. This 21 day sugar detox plan is exactly what you need so learn how to remove excess sugar from your diet long term. This post will set you up to begin a sugar detox the right way!

**This post probably contains affiliate links to items I adore and am confident will benefit you immensely. Please read full disclosure here.**

 

Why you should consider a sugar detox?

These days, especially in a typical American diet, our foods are absolutely inundated with sugars. Sugar is added in to almost every prepackaged food. If you eat out, there is no telling how much sugar is in each of the items your order. And the worst part?

Sugar is highly addictive.

When most people think of eating too much sugar they think of chomping down on too much candy, guzzling soda every day, and indulging in lots of baked treats.

But you could have a diet void of those items and still easily be consuming far more than the recommended daily amount of sugar.

 

How much sugar should you eat daily?

The AHA suggests an added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for most women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men. 

That is teaspoons guys, NOT tablespoons. 

To put that into perspective:

  • A 12 oz. regular Coke contains 46 grams of sugar.
  • A # pack of Oreos contains 14 grams of sugar.
  • 2 Tablespoons of French Vanilla Coffee Mate creamer has 10 grams of sugar.

And this is just the things you think of when it comes to sugar in your diet. There are tons of sneaky ways that food companies add more sugar into their processed foods that you might not even be aware of.

 

Do you need to remove all sugar from your diet to do a sugar detox?

We all know that sugar is bad for us, I mean it is called the white killer, white death, and white poisin for a reason right?

Processed bleached sugar is basically horrible for you. But it’s important to note that not all sugar is created equal so when removing sugar from your diet no that is not essential to remove all sugars.

White processed cane sugar has been directly linked to many negative health effect0 according to Healthline such as:

  • Excess weight gain
  • Increasing your risk of heart disease
  • Causing Acne
  • Increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes
  • increasing a risk of cancer
  • Increasing risk of depression
  • Causing premature aging of the skin
  • Increasing cellular aging
  • Draining your energy
  • Leading to fatty liver
  • Increased risk of kidney disease
  • Numerous dental problems
  • Increased risk of developing gout
  • Accelerated cognitive decline

Basically, it is imperative to your health that you break your sugar addiction now with an effective sugar detox. It’s vital to maintaining health to get our sugar consumption in check.

How do types of sugar vary?

You do not need to have a completely sugar free diet in order to best avoid the negative effects of sugar previously mentioned. Eating something that is loaded in heavily processed cane sugar it’s going to be far different than eating something naturally sweetened with a fructose it directly derived from fruits, from eating fruits themselves, or even from sweetening something with a bit of raw unfiltered honey some sugar in the raw.

What would be important is to really eliminate all processed sugar from your diet. That’s what this powerful 21 day  sugar detox is about. It’s about reducing the amount of added sugars that you eat.

There are lots of tricks and tips that can help you to be successful in eating less sugar. For instance, learning alternatives that are still sweet and will still help hit those cravings can make a huge difference in making your sugar detox a sustainable habit.

The more sugar you eat, the more sugar you are conditioned to eat, and the more sugar you will crave.

If you start off your day with a sugary meal you will also crave more sugar. Starting your morning in that way, as many of us do with sweetened cereal or donuts or a granola bar sets your day up for a roller coaster for your blood sugar and your energy levels as a result.

 

How to Go on a Sugar Detox

There are some important things to be aware of and steps to take before you begin a sugar detox.

 

First, how to find hidden sugars on your ingredient labels.

Food companies are sneaky. Yes a lot of items that you think of as sweet are going to have sugar very high up on the ingredients list, but even if you don’t see that does not mean there is not sugar in that item (and I’m referring to processed sugars).

There are a myriad of different names that sugar can take the form of being your ingredients list. in fact many food companies will put in multiple types of sugar so that they can then push that ingredient further down into the list of ingredients which would show that there is less of that in the food.

As stated by Healthy Eating from the SF Gate:

  • “According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, added sugars show up on food and drink labels under the following names: Anhydrous dextrose, brown sugar, cane crystals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, crystal dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose sweetener, fruit juice concentrates, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, liquid fructose, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, pancake syrup, raw sugar, sugar, syrup and white sugar.
  • Other types of sugar you might commonly see on ingredient lists are fructose, lactose and maltose. Fructose is sugar derived from fruit and vegetables; lactose is milk sugar; and maltose is sugar that comes from grain.
  • The HHS list of sugar names is by no means exhaustive. According to the nonprofit Food Label Movement, there are almost 100 different names for sugar and sugar alcohols on ingredient lists. Some of the less apparent sugar names include carbitol, concentrated fruit juice, corn sweetener, diglycerides, disaccharides, evaporated cane juice, erythritol, Florida crystals, fructooligosaccharides, galactose, glucitol, glucoamine, hexitol, inversol, isomalt, maltodextrin, malted barley, malts, mannitol, nectars, pentose, raisin syrup, ribose rice syrup, rice malt, rice syrup solids, sorbitol, sorghum, sucanat, sucanet, xylitol and zylose.”

 

Next, learn which foods have tons of hidden sugars.

The next thing that you need to be aware of is some foods that you wouldn’t think contain sugar that almost always contain high amounts of processed sugar! According to WebMD the most surprising foods with high sugar contents  are as follows:

  1. pasta sauces
  2. granola bars
  3. yogurt
  4. instant oatmeal
  5. salad dressing
  6. breakfast cereals
  7. energy drinks
  8. packaged fruits
  9. cole slaw
  10. tea
  11. dried fruit
  12. ketchup

So even if you think you are making a sugar-wise choice by picking an iced tea over soda or munching on dried fruit instead of candy, you might be consuming nearly the same amount of added sugars. Even frozen pizza is high in sugar. 

The important step to take to begin your sugar detox is to read all packaged food labels. You might be surprised by what you learn and where you find added sugars! Especially if reading those tiny food labels will be a new habit for you.

 

How to Start Your Sugar Detox

When you’re considering removing sugar from your diet there are two main ways to go about it.

Some people work best cold turkey, I am one of them. Just simply telling yourself that sugar (I’m talking added sugar and processed sugars because remember, not all sugars are nearly created equal) is now off limits. But this route can be extremely difficult for most people.

It’s not only difficult mentally but it can be strenuous physically as well. Sugar is absolutely an addictive substance and it triggers the same pleasure centers in the brain that drugs do. It’s no wonder that we always want more and more.

That being said, there is absolutely a period of sugar detox when removing sugar from your diet, especially if you do it cold turkey. There will be probably up to a week definitely 5 days which you will not feel well. According to Medical New Today you might feel these symptoms when you first reduce the amount of sugar you eat or remove added sugar completely:

  • cravings for sweet or high calorie foods
  • headaches
  • lack of energy
  • muscle aches
  • nausea
  • bloating
  • stomach cramps
  • irritability or anxiety
  • feeling down or depressed

Overall you may feel a bit of malaise. I assure you if you continue to keep sugar out of your diet this feeling will pass but it is very important to be aware of.

The second and gentler way to do a sugar detox is by doing it slowly. Removing one item like sugary desserts before moving on to removing sugars from your breakfast, before moving on to removing sugar from your drinks for instance.

If you consume a lot of sugar this type of sugar detox plan can still leave you feeling some of those symptoms listed above but it is much less prevalent and you might even skate by without feeling any at all.

 

How to Prepare Your Home for Your Sugar Detox

When starting a sugar detox it is important to first take note of your own triggers. For instance I don’t drink soda, it’s not something that’s going to bother me to see or have in the house. Ice cream is a completely different story.

You need to take note of your personal weaknesses and triggers in regards to sugar and remove them from your temptation (like your pantry and your kitchen) as much as possible.

If there’s other people in your household that love sugary things too, like your kids or maybe your husband, detoxing from sugar can be a lot more difficult.

I would suggest reducing their sugar intake as well, but you’re the one doing a sugar detox, it doesn’t absolutely have to be eliminated from their diet for you to succeed. However it’s important to use the out of sight out of mind principle in that case. Having a designated cabinet that you don’t go into frequently to be a hiding place for sweets can work wonders for helping you stick to your sugar detox plan.

sugar cleanse added sugar detox plan

Supplements that Can Make Sugar Detox Easier

After taking note of your triggers and your weaknesses and removing them as much as possible you’re ready to begin a sugar detox. This is when you might want to consider some additional help.

Some of us crave sugar because of nutritional imbalances, so being sure that you have enough magnesium and glutamine (which is an amino acid) can help you fight those cravings.

A magnesium supplement can be a powerful tool to sticking with your sugar detox. Magnesium is best absorbed if not taken within 2 hours of anything containing calcium and if not taken with a high amount of zinc. Minerals such as these compete for absorption and you want to be sure that you’re getting the most of your magnesium.

It is theorized that L-glutamine helps with sugar cravings because it is a protein building block. It helps you feels full for longer and also helps to lower your blood sugar levels. Taking a glutamine supplement may help to keep your sugar cravings more in check.

The last extra help that you’ll want to be sure that you are including in your diet is enough healthy fats. This refers to things like avocados, avocado oil, coconut oil, olives, olive oil and even butter. If you do not consume enough fat in your diet, you will directly crave sugar. Healthy fats help you to feel full longer.

 

 

If you attempt to remove too much healthy fat from your diet you will absolutely crave sugar. It can be a good idea to incorporate healthy desserts that are loaded with fat as you might see on a keto diet when attempting to remove processed sugar. A little bit of fat bomb can go a long way to helping curb your sugar cravings during your sugar detox.

 

How Long Should My Sugar Detox Be

It is a great idea to set up in your mind how long you want to do a sugar detox for. You can see amazing results by removing added sugar from your diet for only a week.

That will help curb your desire to eat sugar all the time. But if you would prefer a more gradual approach to a sugar detox that would be more sustainable for the long term, 21 days might be a great idea to set as a goal.

This allows you time two more slowly remove your added sugars from your diet. It gives your body more time to adapt, and it also helps to create a new habit. It takes 3 weeks to establish a lifestyle change or a new habit. So while a week without sugar is a great sugar cleanse and will detox you somewhat, it isn’t setting up a sustainable lifestyle change.

 

The Best 21 Day Sugar Detox Plan

Doing a sugar detox for one week is amazing and it will still get you really good results, but if you are looking for more of a lifestyle shift and wanting to do something along term to benefit your health consider a 21 day sugar detox.

My 21 day sugar detox plan is going to provide you absolutely everything you need. You’re going to get great notes as to exactly how to approach your sugar detox each day. You can speed it up if you feel physically and mentally prepared, you can slow it down if you need to as well.

There were all so be some amazing printables that are going to set you up for success you can get my 21 day sugar detox plan now for only $13. and really make a drastic improvement to your health that is sustainable and can be life-altering.

 

Wrapping Up How to Do a Sugar Detox

I’ve shared some of my most powerful tips and tricks to get your sugar detox off to the right start. It is important to remember to read your nutrition labels, know how to locate hidden sugars, and to remember some of the most common names that food companies use to hide sugars in their products.

It’s important to set yourself up for success by removing your trigger foods.

And it is vital to decide how long you intend to do your sugar detox. Is it for only a week? Would you like to set a goal for 21 days? Or is removing added sugar from your diet something that you want to keep up long term to truly reap all the health benefits.

My 21 day sugar detox plan will give you a lot more tips and tricks to ensure your success, as well as exactly how to approach your sugar detox for the best results!

 

 

How to Go on a Sugar Detox

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5 Comments

    1. Judy, thank you so much for reaching out! You found the article before I even promoted it! I will email you directly as I’ll be releasing the 21 day sugar detox plan officially in a couple days.

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