sugar-free week-long challenge to help you balance your hormones
This sugar-free week will help you balance your hormones, increase energy, improve your mood, decrease cravings, and feel better through the holidays. Below you will find an overview of what this week will entail. This round of the challenge begins Monday, December 5th!
1. Let's start with discussing the why behind going sugar-free for a week:
The point of this week is not to say you should never have sugar in your diet, but rather to bring attention to how much sugar you regularly consume, often without even realizing it. It will also help to shed light on how much of a dependency you have on sugar when you are regularly consuming it - it really is addictive, and many studies have proven this. Because of this, if you regularly eat a lot of sugar, I'm not going to lie and say it's going to be a piece of cake to cut it out of your diet (literally, there will be no cake!). Rather, think of this as a learning opportunity as well as a chance to shift your diet for the better and really notice how you feel.
Most people are aware that sugar isn't healthy, so I'll just provide a few bullet points on what excess sugar does to your body:
Dysregulates hormones
Causes blood sugar imbalances
Contributes to insulin resistance
Increases inflammation
Increases risk of diabetes
Provides excess calories devoid of nutrients, causing weight gain and increasing the risk of developing obesity
Causes teeth decay
Increases risk of heart disease
Taxes the liver, increasing the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Increases risk of cancer
Creates an addictive response
2. What will you feel or notice?
Once you take out added sugars from the diet you will start to notice how real, whole foods are actually very sweet. Our taste buds do readjust, and the hyper-palatable processed food that people consume is chemically altered in labs to purposely make us addicted to it. Once we take out processed foods and added sweeteners, our body can "reset" and will start to notice the natural sweetness in whole foods.
You may experience cravings during this week, and that's TOTALLY okay! Eventually, your cravings will subside, but it's always a challenge before that happens. That's the whole purpose of this - to bring awareness and mindfulness to how our bodies feel. I'll share some tips and tricks below to help you get through your week as pain-free as possible! Just remember this is really for you, and even though we are doing this as a group challenge, that doesn't mean if other people have an easier time with it there's something wrong with you!
I encourage you to really notice how your body feels during this week. Do you have more energy? Do you not get that 3 pm energy crash anymore? Are you sleeping better? Do you naturally gravitate towards healthier foods? Keep this in mind as you move through your week, and maybe even consider journaling about it to check in with yourself and keep track of how you feel throughout the week.
3. What are the details of what you can and can't eat?
You will get out of this week what you want to get out of it! The guidelines for the week are exactly that - just suggestions, not strict rules. I don't think excessive rigidity in one's diet is necessarily healthy, but for a specific challenge like this, it can be a fun and engaging way to try something new while having a little bit of accountability from the rest of the group. You can follow all of the guidelines, or just pick and choose which ones work for you and which you might want to modify. That's 100% okay!
Sugar-Free Week Guidelines:
No added sugars. This includes table sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, agave, honey, maple syrup, high fructose corn syrup, anything that ends in -ose (e.g. dextrose), brown rice syrup, dextrin, simple syrup, molasses, nectars, corn syrup, refiner's syrup, coconut sugar, fruit juice concentrate, date sugar, cane juice, palm sugar, evaporated corn sweetener, crystal dextrose, and fruit nectar.
No "natural" sweeteners. This includes stevia and monk fruit extract.
No artificial sweeteners. This includes aspartame, cyclamate, neotame, saccharin, and sucralose.
No alcohol: Alcohol disrupts blood sugar, and can lead to major sugar cravings. Leave it out this week!
Avoid dried fruit, like dates and raisins. Yes, it’s just fruit, but dried fruit is much more concentrated in sugar content than fresh fruit, and is easy to overeat.
Limit fresh fruit to 0-3 servings/day, preferably low-glycemic fruit. Fruit is a wonderful addition to a healthy diet, and offers an abundance of nutrients and antioxidants, but it also contains sugar. Though it is much healthier to eat whole, fresh fruit than it is to eat added sugar due to the fiber and nutrients in whole fruit, for this particular challenge it's really about lowering all sugar, so try to stick to no more than 1-3 servings a day of low-glycemic fruit (meaning lower in sugar and less likely to spike your blood sugar). Some examples are raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapefruit, pears, and kiwis.
No sweetened drinks! Much of the excess calories and sugar people consume comes from beverages, whether that's fruit juice, soda, or a mocha caramel frappuccino. Be cautious of brands like Vitamin Water and Odwalla, which advertise themselves as "healthy" but are loaded with sugar. Avoid fruit juice, as this spikes blood sugar due to the high amount of sugar and lack of fiber. Be cautious of non-dairy drinks and creamers, as these often have sugar added.
Extra Bonus: No refined carbohydrates. In your body, these basically act the same way that table sugar does, so try to avoid these as well. This includes processed food such as pasta, cereal, bagels, granola bars, crackers, waffles, etc.
4. Tips and Tricks to Make This Easy!
Here's the fun part - talking about what we CAN eat! If what you've read so far is completely daunting, please don't lose hope - I promise there is SO much you can do to help make this process easier.
LIMIT or AVOID processed foods - e.g. anything that comes in a package or box. Focus on fresh, whole foods. If you do eat something in a package or box, you'll have to carefully read the ingredient lists and make sure there isn't sugar added in. Marketers have gotten very sneaky about this because they know most people are realizing that added sugar isn't very healthy, so be careful to scrutinize the ingredients list!
Limit the meals you eat out. Most restaurants and cafes add way more sugar to foods that you wouldn't even think would have sugar in them (tomato sauce, salad dressing, ketchup, sauces, dairy-free milk, bread, etc.). In order to avoid not knowing if sugar is added to something, it's best to either ask the people working there what has no sugar in it, or avoid the situation entirely for a week. Not only will this be simpler (and you'll be sure you're not accidentally eating added sugar), but you'll save money too!
Try meal prepping! As many of you probably already know, I am a HUGE fan of meal prep. It makes it so easy to have quick, easy, healthy meals for the whole week. Even if you've never done meal prep before this is a great opportunity to try it and see how you like it. If you have a fridge full of nutritious and delicious food when you are hungry and a sugar craving strikes you'll surely have a way to subside the cravings with nutrient-dense food that you've already cooked. As part of this challenge, you’re getting a week-long meal plan with all of the recipes included to make this as easy as possible for you. You can follow all, some, or none of the plan - totally up to you!
Increase your intake of healthy fats and clean sources of protein. Fats and protein help you feel satiated and will help reduce cravings. Healthy fats include grass-fed butter and ghee, extra virgin olive oil, avocados, olives, coconut oil, nuts, and wild-caught salmon. Clean proteins include pasture-raised eggs, chicken, and turkey, wild-caught fish & seafood, and grass-fed beef, lamb, and bison. Feel free to include legumes if your body can tolerate them (lentils, black beans, chickpeas), and organic non-GMO soy products.
Increase your fiber. I am a HUGE fan of fiber, and its many benefits include making you feel full and satiated and also feeding your gut microbiome. Load up on veggies this week! I also recommend incorporating root vegetables for your primary carbohydrate source for the week (sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets), which are naturally higher in sugar and will taste like a candy bar once you cut out all other sugar and want something sweet!
Drink water, coffee, and tea, as long as it is unsweetened. Do you usually add sugar to your coffee in the morning? Try substituting some healthy fat instead, and add some cinnamon, which can give you a “sweet” taste without the sugar (it’s also great for blood sugar!). Did you know that often when we think we're hungry or are having cravings we are actually thirsty? If you're feeling this way try to drink some water and then see how you feel. A fun way I like to spice up my water is to infuse it with fresh herbs or fruit, like mint and cucumber.
Start your day strong! I have found that starting the day with something sweet and high in carbs leaves people craving sugar and carbs all day. Try to start your day with a filling, savory breakfast to set the tone for the day. Having a good source of protein and fat at breakfast will help stabilize your hormones and blood sugar. This will help you make smart, healthy choices all day long.
Analyze where your sugar cravings are really coming from. Your emotions play a huge role in your eating habits. Are you craving treats because you're bored? Stressed? Anxious? Try to pinpoint if your cravings are coming from an emotional place rather than true hunger. We all struggle with this, so don't feel bad if you feel this way! It's a natural part of being human and living in our society in this day and age. Just notice and recognize it!
So there you have it - why we're doing this, what the guidelines are, and some tips and tricks to help get you through your sugar-free week-long challenge. I hope that in completing this challenge you'll be more discerning about the sugar you include in your diet (the quantity and quality), as well as notice the effects on your body when you avoid added sugar. I believe in intuitive eating, and that our bodies really do know what is best for us, but that is often clouded by the excess sugar and processed food that is so prevalent in the average diet today.
Make sure to check your inbox for daily encouragement, and tune into Grace Functional Nutrition live streams to ask questions, get support from our group, and get motivation and support to stick with it!
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to reach out! DM me on Instagram, or shoot me an email at Leah@gracefunctionalnutrition.com - I'm here to help and am so looking forward to this week together!
PS - Make sure you’re signed up here to get the meal plan, recipes, and details about live streams sent directly to your inbox! And feel free to share this challenge with a friend who might want to join - the more the merrier!
If you’re interested in working together one-on-one to balance your hormones, increase your energy, improve your gut health, and feel better in your body you can schedule a FREE strategy call with me so we can make you a game plan to get you feeling better. You can schedule that free strategy call here. Please feel free to reach out with any questions!