It's been four weeks since I started my no sugar challenge and I'd like to write about my experience one last time and cover the last two weeks, since my challenge ended. For those of you who missed my previous posts, you can scroll back and check why I started this challenge and how I survived one week, then two weeks, without refined sugar.
It's possible that this phase, I mean the last two weeks, after the initial challenge ended, is more important than the challenge itself and you'll see why.
The first two weeks served to see if I can live without refined sugar, meaning I can resist temptation. Most likely a journey like this is different for everyone but I was thinking this first two weeks might be easier as you tell people about your challenge, which makes you want to keep your word because you don't want them to say you're a quitter or a failure. This helps you resist temptation, besides, you know it's just for two weeks. But what about when the challenge ends? You're on your own and you're also free to eat sweets. What do you do? That's when the true challenge begins in my opinion.
My challenge ended on a Friday, two weeks ago and I had no intention to eat any refined sugar, even if the challenge ended. However, on Sunday I bought strudel, which is a type of layered pastry filled with apple but it is more sour than sweet. I had mixed feelings about eating it because I didn't want to get back to my old habits, but also wanted to see how I feel when eating it, or after. The first couple of bites tasted so good, but after that, I did not enjoy it at all and could only eat half of it. Usually this is when you eat the whole thing as you don't want to waste food, but I didn't.
When I started the challenge, a friend of mine told me that after 2 weeks either sugar will be the sweetest thing I've ever tasted or I'll absolutely hate it. Seemed funny at the time, but he's a doctor, he knows what he's talking about, so I had no reason to doubt his words, but you know how it is. There's always the 1%, the exception from the rule and who knows in which pot I land. In the 1% or the 99%? Well, after eating the strudel, I felt like I'm in the 99% pot and it didn't bother me at all. I was happy that I had that half strudel and did not like it, because it helped me a lot after and proved my point below.
Today I am firmly convinced that is your mindset you have to work on as your body sure doesn't need processed sugar to function. Processed sugar is not like vitamin C or D, without which you can experience severe health issues. You only crave sugar in form of sweets because it makes you feel good. When I say it makes you feel good, I'm not referring to better performance in any field in life, but pure pleasure.
After the strudel incident I was still longing for something sweet from time to time, but as soon as the craving appeared, I remembered I didn't like the strudel and sure as hell I didn't want that bad feeling again. However, I was thinking what could I eat, that it is not sweet and tastes nice. These thoughts appeared one after another, in a matter of seconds and made me realize, these cravings were purely to reward myself, like having something extra. Realizing this helped me a lot, no matter how strange it sounds.
Mindset
A few years ago I had plastic surgery and on my way home, something happened that got burnt into my memory. I had a terrible headache, caused by the anesthetics, the type of headache you don't ever want in life. So I went to the grocery store to buy myself something but it wasn't groceries but stacks. I remember I bought a pack of hazelnuts in Wasabi coat and a bar of Turkish delight. Hazelnuts are not recommended in my case for health reasons and Turkish delight is a killer as well as it's full of sugar, but I bought them anyway. Why? Because I wanted to reward myself for the pain I was enduring. I clearly remember where I was standing in the grocery store, when I realized what I was doing and knew right away that was a very dangerous path, but I bought them anyway and ate them.
This type of behavior is very common actually, more common than you think. If you look deep into yourself, you most likely are going to realize you're doing it too. Maybe with other things like coffee, food, cigarettes or other substances, which can be even worse.
For the past month, I've been thinking of how I do things in life and why. In this case it's important to find answers to your questions as that's the only way of changing your behavior and your life too, as changing your life is your end goal after all. But you can only do that, if you really want to. It's very difficult to get to that stage and requires a lot of self discipline. I'd like to believe I'm at that stage with refined sugar now, but only time will tell. I would also like to be at that stage with other things in life, but I'm not there yet.
Funny how your brain works. So many times I felt like eating something after lunch. These instantaneous thoughts appear and most of the time you go and grab a snack, something sweet usually. But in my case my brain realized right away that I'm not allowed to eat sweets, or I don't want to. Then my next thought was, what can I eat, that is not sweet. And this is when you realize that this type of eating, that comes after lunch or dinner is purely for rewarding yourself.
This realization made me circle back to the thoughts I had before and after quitting coffee. At first I asked myself why I drink coffee and what coffee means to me. The answer I got was not a good one, but it was the truth. Basically I used coffee for everything. For sleepiness, for fatigue, for headaches, for boredom or for no reason at all. And this is how I ended up drinking coffee all day, every day, even late at night and got to a point where coffee had no effect on me anymore.
Most likely alcoholics do the same too. They drink when they are sad, when they are happy, when they need courage, when they meet someone, when there is a reason to celebrate and at the end of the day, they don't need a reason as they drink anyway.
I'm not an emotional eater, on the contrary. When I'm stressed, I can't eat anything and need to make sure to compensate the lack of food with lots of liquids to be able to get through the day. It's not good, but better than being an emotional eater and eating all kind of garbage because you can't control yourself. However, lately I had to realize in some situations, even if I could not eat, still had something sweet and that was sure processed sugar. Again, a very dangerous path, not the one you want to follow.
Doing this self analysis made me realize how beneficial it is and how it connects to trading. In both games you need a lot of self discipline and your success depends on it heavily. The better you know yourself, the better the results.
Be Ready To Face The Music
Yes, there's another kind of challenge that you will have to face. Although you know you've done nothing wrong, you will still have to face the music and answer uncomfortable questions, or even get ready to be bullied.
When you start your two weeks journey, or whatever length you want to go with it, people will think it's just a new craze that won't last because of temptation and you'll end up back in the old habits, just like them. As you evolve with your challenge and maybe extend it to a longer period or even manage to adopt it as a new lifestyle, it will create a discrepancy between your lifestyle and theirs. That wouldn't be a problem for me as I tend to mind my own business and not judge others for their choices but others don't think like me. There will be people that will not tolerate the idea of you doing something healthy for yourself and will hurt you intentionally. This is where your mental strength and willpower will be put to the test, and you have to choose.
I've learnt my lesson years ago and at this stage of my life I don't care who I have to say no to, or cut ties with, when it comes to my well being. If they are toxic and you've done everything you could and there's still no chance to stop them, better shut that door and never open it again. If they don't have the will to understand your decision, or at least respect it, then they are not your friends. Family is the worst as you can't just simply kick them out of your life and it hurts the most because they should be the ones supporting you, but if you let them rule your life, you lose. There's always a way to deal with such situations, you just have to find it, be strong and persistent. After some time, if they see you have no intention to give up, they will accept your decision. It's your life after all. And if they don't, it's their loss.
Snacks?
Yes, snacks but it's not what you think.
At the beginning of the week I went shopping and even though it was 3 weeks without processed sugar, old habits die hard and the instinct is still there, unfortunately. There were these yummy biscuits at a very good price and when I saw them, my eyes started to shine, but in the next second I realized that's a big no for me. Just look at the package. Other times I would have bought a pack or two and taste one of each, which would have meant at least 7 or 8 different biscuits. Then maybe another round? And this is how you overeat and eat processed sugar, that your body doesn't need.
What you see on the photo above could be called my guilty pleasure. Raisins in chocolate. I love them and could eat the whole pack, even though it is of 200g. The whole pack means 910 kcal, which is shocking. I took the photo for the post, said goodbye and put the pack back.
There's always a way and there are healthy snacks too and I opted for this one.
It's dried apple slices and it is heavenly good. It's sour and better and I love sour a lot. I know, it's better to eat raw apples, but I eat one every day, so that's not a problem.
As you can see, the pack is just 50g and the 74.7g sugar is not refined sugar. Plus you don't eat the whole pack.
Another healthy option is nuts. It is recommended to have them, but obviously not the whole pack as it can send your calorie intake to the roof instantly. Just a few each day.
Oh, I almost forgot. After the strudel (or half of strudel), the next day, I had a biscuit, to see if I have the same reaction to sweets. The biscuit was of a normal size, as you can see, it's slightly bigger than a Trezor. I ate it, but it was more than enough and I can't say I was thrilled. Then yesterday I had another one, the one you see on the photo and had the same reaction. It was fine but I didn't feel like eating another one.
To be honest, it was the easiest challenge I've ever done, regarding my health. I've never imagined I could do this, but it's done, 4 weeks with almost no sugar.
My plan is to keep this going for as long as I can. Most likely there will be exceptions and will have a small slice of cake or an ice cream every now and then, although I don't know how I'm going to react to these. We shall see. The good thing is I lost some weight and that means a lot.
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