Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of July 12, 2010

This week’s challenge requires you to partner with someone—preferably someone who is close to you like a spouse, partner or coworker.

The challenge: make a bet with someone and go the week without eating sugar. Whoever eats sugar loses the bet.

Make sure the consequences of the bet are not enjoyable. So, if you’re betting with your spouse, the loser should not give the winner a massage. The loser should lose money, have to run a mile, or do something that is unpleasant in every regard.

If you don’t have someone to bet with (they’re not into it, nobody wants to play, whatever) then bet yourself. We’ve all played games like this before. We say stuff like, “If this _______ happens I promise I’ll __________.” Bet yourself that you can make it a whole week without sweets. And if you don’t, publicly admit your shame, run a mile, give $100 to a stranger, volunteer for jury duty or some such craziness.

How Long Does It Take To Quit Sugar?

The most common question that people ask me is, “How log does it take to quit sugar?” To which I answer, “How long does it take to become good at chess?”

Here’s the thing. Quitting sugar is not like quitting smoking. When you quit smoking the idea is that you will never again smoke a cigarette. That’s a very possible thing to do. How one gets there is up to the individual. Some folks quit cold turkey in one day based on a whim or a gut feeling. Others take years to get off the smokes. The key is that you have to want to do it.

Quitting sugar, on the other hand, is darn near impossible. There are many foods that contain sugar or turn into sugar. Where do you draw the line? Bread? Fruit? Carrots? Thinking that you’ll just up and quit one day is like trying to be a great chess player THIS WEEK—it’s not going to happen. You have to practice. You have to lose a lot. You will win as well, but you certainly will lose. That’s part of the process. Getting off sugar is a process and staying off sugar is a skill.

How long does it take to stop being sweet? It takes one year. The Stop Being Sweet eBook explains the process for creating sustainable abstinence programs in a step by step manor. It also warns you about the pitfalls you will encounter along the way, what you should expect during the detox time, and more.

Related Posts:

Want to Quit Sugar?
Is it impossible to go completely sugar free?
Quitting Sugar is Not ALL or NOTHING!

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of July 5, 2010

I hope you had a happy 4th of July weekend! How did you do with last week’s sugar challenge?

This week’s sugar challenge is to only eat one sweet thing per day and only after lunch. It could be a candy bar or an ice cream sundae, but only have one and only after lunch. After lunch implies that you ate something unsweetened for lunch. Your sweet thing is dessert to a healthy lunch.

Avoid sweets the rest of the day and night. Don’t put sugar in your coffee. Do not consume sweetened drinks (no soda, no diet soda) and stay away from sugary snacks beyond your once-a-day lunchtime dessert.

Stick it out for the entire week!

Happy 4th of July!

Free & Clear Fructose Video

This video explains the effects of fructose on the body.