Lips like sugar - I can easily give up sugar, can't I?

"Lips like sugar" is an Echo and The Bunnymen song I really like. That song came into my mind when I started to think about sugar in our food. You can listen to it here.

Hallo meine Lieben,

so here is the deal: I have read countless times about the health benefits of cutting out sugar from your diet. Looks like the average person consumes 150 pounds of sugar a year and that can't be healthy. Too much sugar messes up your metabolism which gives you an elevated risk for developing high bad cholesterol numbers, high blood pressure and diabetes. I already have high blood pressure because of my kidney disease so I thought it can't hurt to give this whole thing a try. So this is not a sugar cleanse, it is just me trying to eat healthier. 

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My plan is to cut out refined sugar for 5 days and then see how I feel. I am not saying that I will never eat sugar again but I am curious to see what effects it has on my body. I don't want to lose weight, it is just about doing the best for my body. I am not an expert, I am just trying to find a way that works for me. So I am sorry that I can't give you any health advice. 

I have to admit that I did not plan this at all. I have read about it last night and decided to start this morning. Probably not the best way to do and I expect that there will be lots of struggles but we will see how it goes.

Here are the first problems I had.

Problem #1. 

There is sugar in pretty much everything you can buy. 
I already eat mostly fresh stuff like veggies and salad etc. But there are still some packages products I usually buy and now I have to make sure to read all the ingredients even more carefully. I guess I am already an expert here because I am a vegan and used to reading the ingredients before I buy something. But I am still shocked that there is sugar where I did not expect it.

Problem #2. 

There is sugar in my plain soy yogurt. 
I eat a bowl of fruits with plain yogurt, walnuts, raisins and coconut flakes every single day. Last night I checked my plain yogurt and it has sugar in it. I did not expect this at all to be honest. I thought that my plain yogurt would be fine but now I need to go and search for a yogurt without sugar in it. I already went to the supermarket but they did not have any vegan yogurt without sugar. I will have to go to the health foods store tomorrow. I also realized that my "milk" has sugar in it but I found some rice milk without sugar in the supermarket. So I can still enjoy my coffee. 

Problem #3. 

I love sugar in my tea.
Yes, I know. It is not the healthiest thing but I do love my tea as sweet as possible. But yeah, I decided to do this cleanse so I have to drink my tea plain. So this morning I made my usual peppermint tea and expected the worst....but: it was actually pretty good. (Yes David, I know, you told me so.) So I guess this won't cause any problems anymore. I did not expect it to be so easy to give up the sugar in my tea. 

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Problem #4.

Is there sugar in my bread?
I am a German so I do love my bread. Every morning. I eat it either with veggie meat or vegan cheese (both sugar free, thankfully!) but what about the bread. Since there is sugar in everything I expected to be sugar in my bread too. So I had to go and ask the woman in the bakery for the ingredient list and hey, no sugar in my bread. Life isn't so bad after all!
And yes, I am aware of the fact that bread means carbohydrate and that carbohydrate means sugar. But I don't want to cut out carbohydrates from my diet. That is not what this is about. I want to eat less sugar and that is why I am cutting out the refined sugar. Nothing more, nothing less. I need my pasta and bread. 

Well, so far I don't have any sugary cravings but I am sure that I can't avoid them. I expect them to bother me tonight. 
I will keep you updated.


Have you ever cut out sugar from your diet? How did it work?