66 days to cut down sugar: ‘I find myself enjoying the sweetness of my lip balm’

Not even a year ago, I would have called myself crazy for giving up sugar, even for 66 days. But the truth is I eat way too much of it and it can’t be good for me.

I’ve eaten cake for breakfast on more than one occasion and can easily finish a packet of biscuits in a day. I have a soft spot for baked goods, kindled by the many bakeries and cafes in my neighbourhood. If I go to bed without eating something sweet I feel as though something’s missing.

But for me there’s a serious reason to cut down on added sugar: I have a family history of type 2 diabetes and a diet high in sugar will increase my chances of getting the disease. I’m high risk.

The last time I had a blood test, in early 2023, my sugar levels were on the high side of healthy. I’ve been too scared to get it re-tested.

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So for 66 days I plan to avoid processed sugar. Rosemary Stanton, the public health nutritionist, advises me to avoid anything with ingredients “my grandma wouldn’t recognise”. When I’m craving sugar she recommends I eat fruit – “full of natural goodness” – but avoid fruit juice because the fibre which will help keep me full has been removed. I’ll also avoid artificial sugars as much as possible, which Stanton says will strengthen a preference for sweeter foods.

She also recommends giving something up gradually – “Anyone on a diet is doomed to fail.” Instead, she says people should aim to eat the least amount of sugar that is sustainable for them.

“Less doesn’t mean none, although ‘less’ needs to be genuine, and not used as an excuse whenever you come across something sweet,” Stanton says.

She stresses that it’s important to consider foods’ health benefits. For instance, if the only way a person can eat oatmeal is with a spoonful of sugar they should, because “there’s so much goodness in the rolled oats”.

“If you decide sugar is an enemy to be excised from your diet, you will find you just want it more,” she says.

Week one

I swap chocolate and biscuits for fruit, eating enough watermelon to feed a small family. I feel like the people in the primary school maths questions who buy 51 mangoes and 42 bananas.

I was expecting the worst and my expectations have been exceeded. I zone out of interviews, barely string sentences together and go to bed at nine so I won’t be tempted to raid my pantry. I stare at nutrition labels in the supermarket for far too long, before giving up and eating eggs, sandwiches, fruit and salad. I unfollow all food-related social media accounts and channel my inner grumpy old man, becoming irrationally annoyed by trivial things, like people walking too slowly. I think about how much happier I’d be if I had a biscuit (just one … and no one would have to know!) at least five times a day.

I find myself enjoying the sweetness of my lip balm.

Week two

As I complain about my no-sugar challenge to anyone who will listen, my grandma, who cut out sugar five years ago, puts me in my place. It’s easy, she says unhelpfully. “If you’re stressed, don’t be. Stop telling yourself it’s hard.”

By the end of the week many of last week’s symptoms – brain fog and low energy – have lifted. The cravings haven’t (though I have stopped thinking about sugar like an ex-boyfriend). My friends visiting from interstate invite me out for ice-cream. I don’t go.

Then something weird happens. I eat an apple and find it tastes too sweet. Even weirder, I wake up for my morning spin class, which I normally need to give myself a pep talk to get out of bed for, bounding with energy. Stanton told me my taste buds would adjust quickly but I didn’t think they would in just two weeks.

Week three

All good things must come to an end. I’m reminded of the one time I woke up early to exercise in high school, only to be struck down with the flu for the next week. In a similar fashion, my body retaliates to the two sugar-less weeks with strep throat, leaving me barely able to swallow (and therefore eat sugar, so I guess it’s not all that bad).

Pros = I don’t eat any sugar. Cons = everything else.

Week four

I have a university essay due this week that I’ve barely started. While this is hardly a novel experience, I don’t have the mountains of sugar that got me through the last three years of university. I buy sugar-free energy drinks, ignoring their long lists of artificial ingredients. To my dismay as a longtime energy drink fan, they taste disgustingly sweet.

At the end of the week I’m sick again.

Week five

I travel almost four hours to celebrate my friend’s birthday, only to not eat any cake or drink anything but water. But don’t find myself as upset as I thought I’d be.

The midway point of my challenge is bittersweet. I’ve got past the intense sugar cravings. My mum tells me she thinks they were making me depressed. I think she’s exaggerating but I read over what I wrote after the first week and realise she’s probably right.

Yet instead of feeling invigorated and as though I’ve reached peak healthiness, I feel flat and boring. On the flip side, I’m eating out of boredom a lot less and listening to my body’s hunger cues more.

Week six

For much of the challenge I’ve been certain that Halloween will be when I cave in but, to my surprise, I don’t (though it’s hard). I’m not even tempted when my brother, smiling, “accidentally” drops his sweets in my lap. “The end is in sight!” I tell myself, before writing a list of all the foods I’ll eat at the end of the 66 days.

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I’m finding it difficult to plan what to eat aside from salads and sandwiches, which are getting boring. I try vegetables I don’t usually eat and different cheeses. I also discover – quite late into the 66 days – that chilli oil, which I have started eating with everything, doesn’t have sugar.

Week seven

Repeat.

Week eight

If I was told my periods would be less painful I’d have reduced sugar a long time ago. Studies say evidence for a link between period pain and sugar is inconclusive at best and the link is instead ultra-processed foods. Quitting sugar has also meant quitting ultra-processed foods.

I often have next to no energy and painful cramps but now my cramps are barely noticeable and I even have enough energy to go to the gym.

Week nine

While I can’t say quitting sugar has changed my life, it has changed my taste buds. I no longer crave sugar and I don’t think I realised how dependent on it I was.

Though I won’t cut it out for good – my birthday and festivities are right around the corner – I will eat less of it.

One unexpected benefit is improved sleep. I’ve always been a light sleeper but I find I am falling asleep faster and waking up less through the night. Another is a renewed sense of confidence. I started the challenge thinking I’d give up halfway. But when the alternative is being outed on the internet it turns out nothing is impossible.