leo burghaus

For 4 months, I’ve had been eating sweet treats on a daily basis. For the last 3 weeks, I stopped that habit, with the plan to keep the restriction. It has been very good. It reminded me of some other time I quit. In anticipation of (hopefully not) another phase in which I might eat more sweets than I should, I’m writing about how it is now. That way, when my mind goes ‘oh, it’s fine’, I can be more aware that it isn’t.

It’s a tricky science, these habits. If you imagine your current situation on an axis of good to bad, it’s impossible to assign how much weight precisely one single habit has on it. You’re doing very well: but how much of that is due to you meditating daily? Or doing exercise? Or sleeping well? If you’re not doing well: how much of it is because you don’t go out in the sun enough? Or that you’re doomscrolling? Or because you’re not seeing enough people you like? And what about changing your situation: if you start eating whole foods, will your situation improve 15%? 25%? 1%?

You get the idea: we know about good and bad habits, but don’t know how good they are in relation to everything else you do or don’t do. It’s also why, when talking about habits, it looks rather like pseudoscience than science. Even if you could quantify everything, chances are that these numbers would change for other people. Doing 100 pushups daily would have a different overall impact on my wellbeing than to LeBron James.

But even if we can’t exactly quantify how much, there are some things where we can be certain about them having a big impact on our life. Quitting sugary products as a habit is, at least for me, one of them. I know I can’t quantify it, but I also know it does a lot because I have a clear comparison.

First and foremost, I feel way sharper. I can read during more time without feeling my mind drifting off. I can sit down to write without wanting to interrupt the process with some distraction. I connect more thoughts and concepts. I am faster when thinking in a conversation. It’s easier to understand the point the other person is trying to make. I can focus on a task a lot better. I have more ideas. I have more good ideas. I have less bad ideas.

Another big thing: I crave more vegetables and fruits. And I gravitate towards them naturally, and not because I want to replace something. It’s almost like sugar is a noise that doesn’t let your body talk to you in order to tell you what it needs. Once you get the sugar out, you start being in touch with your body again. And you’ll hear it tell you that an apple or some grapes would be good now. Or spinach, carrots or cucumber.

It has also been a trigger to work on other habits of my life that I had neglected. Quitting daily sweets motivated me to tackle stuff like phone addiction, organization (or non-organization), redoing my workout plan, or reading more challenging things. It’s almost as if sweets make you more complacent. It’s a strange interplay of making you feel good and drowning your motivation to improve other areas of your life. In less than 2 weeks, I felt a need to address other areas in my life I knew weren’t up to my standard.

I’m less hungry. I don’t have any necessity to snack during the afternoon, and I’m naturally back to eating in a rhythm that has always worked best for me (for me that is skipping most breakfasts, but that doesn’t mean it works for everyone). Occasionally my body will ask for more food outside usual hours because I’ve done more sport than normally or because my previous meals lacked some elements like vitamin or protein, but that’s fine. I’m very happy with my current situation considering that 4 weeks back I felt that I needed some type of chocolate bar, or other sweets, every couple hours.

I’m more energized, I don’t have peaks and crashes. I’m not tired during the day, and I don’t miss the short bursts of energy that came from sugar consumption. It was a very irregular energy pattern, that disappeared very soon after quitting the habit.

I also feel better about myself. That is very subjective and other factors in the last few weeks could play a big part in that too, I’m not emphasizing this point much. I do believe there is some correlation in a better overall mood, and studies suggest it does.

Now, this is what I think after nearly 4 weeks. Experiences will change depending on the person. People that have had longer periods of a sugar habit will struggle more to see good results, and will have a harder time at the beginning. Also, it’s not the first time I’m doing this, so the experience is not new for me or my body. What makes me go back to the habit, usually, is Christmastime. For you, it might be visiting your family, stressful times or periods where things are going well and you want a treat. Keep that in mind if your goal is to control it.

Note: Personally, the enemy is sweet treats. From time to time I’ll have dessert at a restaurant or at a social gathering. That is totally fine for me, I wouldn’t want to live without that. So is eating some honey. What I struggle with is when I get into a habit of eating sweet snacks on a daily basis. My body then gets used to it and I don’t notice how much it is affecting me. The real contrast comes once I stop and remember how life was without it.