A week with No Sugar

Wednesday, Nov. 9

            Sugar is a very big part in college kid’s life. Weather it’s just eating it, drinking it, etc.  A lot of young adults in college use sugar as a way for them to stay awake and function throughout the day.  This leads to a sort of addiction, a need to constantly intake sugar snacks.  I myself am a victim of these sugars and this brings be to the point of my week long experiment.  I will be cutting out sugar from my diet for a week and writing my findings down every night.  Recently, my father became diabetic and I discovered that it runs in my family.  So by doing this experiment, I am benefitting my personal health.  I also hope to explore how it is to eat healthy as a poor college student. 

Thursday, Nov. 10

            Today is the beginning of seven with no sugar.  I woke up feeling normal today of course and was faced with a very busy day so I ended up sadly cheating and having a soda.  This shows that this experiment will indeed be a struggle.  I don’t know what will happen during this experiment but I am hopeful to see positive results in ways of health and mental ability.  I chose this experiment for the fact that I eat a lot of sugars on my day to day schedule and I would like to limit my intake of it.  Hopefully, by the end of this week, I won’t have a craving for sugar and instead I will feel healthier and more active than before.  Possibly, cutting out sugars will improve my sleep and make it so I am less gloomy in the morning. 

            I feel like the biggest challenge will be to eat around my roommates.  Often times they go out to places and invite me to tag along.  Usually we would aim for cheap food because of the lack of change in our pockets.  But, cheap in America often times means unhealthy.  Hopefully I will get a new view point of what it’s like to eat healthy in college during this process. 

Friday, Nov. 11

Today I woke up and went to grab a quick breakfast only to realize there was nothing for me to eat in my room.  Being that I only have 10 meals a week, I would typically grab a granola bar or a pop tart and head off to class but today I just did not eat.  So far this week seems to throw the challenge of figuring out what to eat.  So after classes I went back and went to lunch. There, I got a salad with carrots, cucumbers, corn, and other stuff.  It was tempting to go grab a cup and get a soda as I would typically do when eating at the student dining hall, but instead I just had water out of my water bottle. This was the same process with dinner, except I had protein with my salad.

So far I do not feel any different with my sleep schedule.  I woke up as my drowsy self and dragged myself to my classes.  I am still faced with the challenge of not walking to my rooms kitchen and eating all the sweets it has to offer.  Instead, I stand there and a pout whilst looking at them. 

Saturday, Nov. 12

            Day three with no sugar and I am still going strong.  The main difference about today is the fact that I feel a lack of energy.  This I assume is from the withdrawal of sweets that my body craves.  Online I read that one can drink water in substitution to snacking and I am trying that technique to staying away from sweets.  So far, the hardest thing has been the temptations.  You turn the corner and they offer you a pastry or a piece of candy.  It’s funny how they never offer teenagers healthy snacks.  For example, on wescoe beach, there are never people selling fruit or “Good for you” food.  It’s always a doughnut or a cookie.  Eating healthy has opened my eyes to this obsession that teenagers have with unhealthy food.

Today I went home and asked my mom to make a healthy dish and she was shocked.  After telling her about this project, she explained to me the tricks to cutting sugar out of your diet (as she did last year).  I think the biggest step is to cut out the soda.  Young Americans are addicted to soda. When you don’t drink it for a while as I have been doing, you end up noticing the fact that you have a craving for it.  Being at home as shown to be easier in terms of eating because I am around my health freak mom. 

Sunday, Nov 13

Today I feel even more tired than yesterday.  This might be for the fact I am cutting out sugar but might also be for the fact that I was up late last night.  When I got back to KU, I went to the studio and got a turkey wrap. It came with a soft drink but I had to decline it of course.  Essentially, today I just studied and slept.  Really did not do anything.  My study habits were the exact same, I didn’t have more motivation to do anything more.  But, I can say I don’t really crave a sugary snack!

Monday, Nov 14

Monday is always the worst part of the week. It’s the day of getting back into your schedule and having a lot of homework.  This is typically a day someone would promote the freshman 15 by stress eating because of tests.  Another typical college method is late night study sessions with monster energy drinks.  Did you know that every dorm on the hill offers a monster energy drink machine to its residents?  This backs up the fact that our buildings do not support healthy eating.

After classes I went to The dining hall with my friends.  There, I had a sugar free meal and water to drink.  After that I did my homework and went to bed.

Tuesday, Nov 15

Today my roommates went to hot box and brought cookies back to the room.  I told them they were evil and I almost cheated and had one.  Something I’ve noticed in relation to drinking a lot more water is the fact that I’ve had healthier skin since then.  This might also have to do with the fact that I cut out sugar from my diet.  Most likely it’s a combination of both.  I still really want a cookie and I can’t wait till this projects done and I can pig out on sweets. 

Wednesday, Nov 16

Being the last day of my week with no sugar, I went to the store and bought a lot of candy for tomorrow.  At the beginning I wanted to think by the time this experiment was over I’d be done with sweets, but that I think is not the case.  Though this was the first type of cleanse/diet I’ve ever been on, I do believe it takes more time and dedication to cut out something as big as sugar from your diet.  Throughout the days I’ve found that it was hard to blog about this everyday do to the fact that It was so repetitive and uneventful.  Yes, the challenge was hard, but I wouldn’t say it was interesting.  Overall I can’t wait for tomorrow when I can eat candy. 

Thursday, Nov 16

            The week of no sugar has ended and I cannot be happier.  This was a challenging week and I do not intend on going through this process again.  Many times I found myself craving foods and feeling helpless because of the fact that I couldn’t have them.  I cheated on the first day because of this.  After a while the process got easier and I ended up realizing the lack of healthy options there are to college students.  There should be places a college kid can go and get good, non sugary food for a good price. 

           Along the way, I found certain websites helpful such as:  http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2014/10/29/healthy-sugar-free-snacks/

These show you healthy options to snacking.

            I believe that the freshman 15 myth is true for the amount of bad foods college freshman consume.  Yes, I myself am guilty of eating this way but the past week has opened my eyes to how big sugar is in our daily lives.  For now on when I see someone that’s diabetic for say, I will have a new found understanding of what they go through in their lives.  Almost everything has sugars and it probably is very difficult to live a life where you constantly have to watch what you eat. 

            Over time I can see how things would eventually get easier for someone who can’t have sugar or simply is cutting it out.  But the hardest struggle these people go through is figuring out what they can eat. 

            I feel like overall I learned a lot in this past week.  Maybe I will do another week without something for you find that this process truly teaches you a lesson and shows you what your life could be like under circumstances.  Lastly, I would like to mention that I am still paying attention to my sugar intake.  After doing a week without is, I’ve discovered that there are other drinks/snacks to consume that aren’t as sugary as the ones I have been consuming.