Love Yourself Enough This Year to Say Goodbye to Refined Sugar!

In 2015 I am quitting refined sugar. Here is what I learned in the process of detoxing my body from “poison.”

In 2014, I noticed that I could not fall asleep or even head toward the bedroom without putting a piece of chocolate or something sweet in my mouth. In fact, it got so bad that I had a box of chocolate next to my bed. I could reach for it anytime, and I did.

At some point after falling asleep with a half-melted chocolate truffle in my mouth, I woke up thinking: this can’t be good. That day I decided to learn more about refined sugar and how bad it really is.

It is “poison” according to the Global Healing Center and pretty much any other source I found. In fact, back in 1957, Dr. William Coda Martin was the first to label refined sugar as “poison” for the body. He did this because sugar is not only an empty substance, meaning it adds no nutrients, minerals or vitamins to the body, it actually depletes the body of these important substances, slowly breaking it down. It also makes the body highly acidic, which is the perfect feeding ground for bacteria.

As I conducted further research, I came across all sorts of resources, studies and articles. All warned against refined sugar. But I had to wonder, other than my chocolate, what is actually considered refined sugar? The search “refined sugar food list” turned out hundreds of results and listed hundreds, if not thousands, of products that are refined sugar or contain refined sugar. It was overwhelming. So I decided, to keep it simple: anything that is not natural fruit sugar or honey is refined sugar and we should all stay away from it.

So here I am, ready to quit refined sugar for good. It has not been easy, everything I reach for at the grocery store, almost every label, contains refined sugar, including pasta and bread, my favorite go to “fill me up so good” foods. But I am determined and I am slowly but surely cutting refined sugar out of my life.

I also found out that I am not alone. Millions of people are jumping on the bandwagon and the various online forums have been helpful. In fact, even physicians, surgeons and dieticians have rolled out “quit sugar this year” motivational pieces to keep us on track as we take on this rather difficult but oh so rewarding and self-loving new year’s resolution.

I found this one infographic particularly humorous, motivating and helpful. It not only educated me on the various nutritional facts of all my favorite desserts, but also demonstrated what refined sugar and sweets will do to my body. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to deplete my body of its nutrients, minerals and vitamins, especially at this day and age when such substances are already hard to come by unless you are eating all organic all the time.

You can download and share this infographic with your friends and family here.

If there is anything self-loving you wish to do this year, I recommend you consider quitting refined sugar or at least cutting back.