One Month Without: chocolate, alcohol and sugar
/Hola everybody and welcome to this week’s very exciting blog post. As I write this, I have just returned from a quick vacation in Valencia, Spain that gave me the perfect dose of sea and sun I was looking for. From the title of this blog you may think that a vacation without the things listed above would be near impossible but I’m happy to report that I survived :) In this post, I’d like to lay out why I decided to cut these things from my diet, how I felt, what changes I noticed, and why I may keep some of them up. I hope you all enjoy and take something valuable away as well :)
The idea to cut back on sweets and alcohol came to me after a particularly glutinous Easter weekend. Having indulged heavily in chocolate bunnies, Slivovice (a Czech liquor made from plums), and too many slices of babovka (another Czech sweet) to count, I decided it may be nice to take a little time off from the treats. While I’m not one to follow fad diets or cut out major food groups, I thought that my body (and mind) could benefit from focusing on more whole foods for a month and, boy, was I right. That being said, I do consider myself a serious chocoholic so the first few days were quite tough. In fact, the month can be broken down into a few different phases of change that I will elaborate more on down below. And while I’m not saying that you should throw out all of the junk food in your house, I do believe it’s a good idea once in a while to focus on wholesome foods and limit the consumption of highly processed foods. If you’d like to learn more about the effects of a highly processed diet/ alcohol consumption have on the body, I’ll post two articles here: processed food effects and alcohol effects.
So, let’s get into the changes I experienced during the month. As I said above, the month can be broken down into phases so I will categorize the changes accordingly:
Withdrawal. This was the first thing I experienced when cutting out chocolate and processed sugar. The withdrawal symptoms only lasted about 2-3 days but included mild pains in my arms and legs, intense sugar cravings and fatigue. I was surprised to see how much my body reacted to cutting these things out because I didn’t think that I would miss them much. My will power had to be stronger than the habit of consuming these things daily, at least for the first few days.
Sugar replacements. This trend continued for about the first week because my body wanted something to replace the sugar it had been deprived in the chocolate and other processed sweets. I solved this one by snacking on foods that contain natural sugars (e.g. berries, raisins, apple with peanut butter) and it worked brilliantly. Gradually, the sugar cravings became less intense and I felt satisfied after having a few handfuls of fruit or nuts.
Energy levels. With the exception of the first two days, my energy levels throughout the month were fabulously consistent. As my diet consisted of entirely whole foods, I didn’t have the dreaded low that so often accompanies a sugar rush. I still got hungry but it seemed manageable (i.e. no headaches, fatigue, overall weakness), meaning there was time to find something healthy to enjoy rather than reaching for the first thing that would fill me up and spike my blood sugar.
Physical appearance. This is one effect that I did anticipate but is always nice to see :) Over the course of the month I noticed a few changes in my physical appearance that I quite enjoyed. With much of the inflammation gone, my muscles became more defined, my belly stayed flat and my skin was almost completely clear. All of these side effects have been linked to a clean diet (limited chocolate, sugar and alcohol) but it was a joy to experience them first hand.
Will power. As I mentioned in the first bullet point, there was a period of withdrawal which tested the strength of my will power. However, once the first few days had passed, I found it quite easy to avoid sweets and alcohol. In my mind I had decided that I would commit to this month as best as I could and this promise to myself was enough to keep me from caving. There were still the ever-present temptations (freshly baked nutella-filled croissants and red wine are two that come to mind from Valencia) but they became easier to refuse as the cravings subsided.
So, my takeaway from the past month? That reducing or cutting out sugar and alcohol completely has some amazing effects on the body. While I probably won’t continue this trend (I love my daily chocolate indulgences), I may reserve alcohol and big treats for special social gatherings. There’s something about indulging while in the company of loved ones that seems good for the soul :)
What do you all think about this? Could you see yourself trying out something similar? I’d be really curious to know what you would choose to cut out for a month so let me know in the comments below or on Instagram :)
Thank you all for reading and until next week!
Xoxo,
Alexandra