Sugar withdrawal how long

If it all becomes too much to bear, he recommends eating some fruit to take the edge off—some options are lower in sugar than others, so stock up on options that won't give you a glycemic spike. By the time your second week starts, your brain fog has probably lifted and you've likely got a lot of your energy back.

But your body might still be wondering where all the sucrose went. Smith explains. Prepare to be rewarded for your efforts. Week three is when you really start reaping the benefits of that low-sugar life.

Smith says. That's because excess sugar is stored in the body as fat —and when the surplus goes away, so does the weight gain. You may also find your taste buds are hyper-sensitized to anything sweet at this point, making cupcakes a lot easier to turn down when they cross your path. After a month, the game you're playing with glucose is more mental than physical. Now's the point in your detox when you might be hearing that sweet siren song in your head.

Turn down the volume by scouring nutrition labels for sneaky, hidden sources of sugar to ensure you're not inadvertently feeding your sweet tooth. Remember, these symptoms are only temporary! Stage 5. You can start to get 'hangry' and moody!

This can often be the effects of low blood sugar, and are the same symptoms as becoming very hungry, so make sure to keep yourself full with small, savoury snack at regular intervals. These snacks really can mean the difference between success and failure , so make sure that you have plenty to hand - things like savoury popcorn , baked crunchy chickpeas or nuts and seeds are all great. Keep on nibbling on these to fend off any hunger pangs. Also, drink plenty of water. Did I mention that already?

Stage 6. You made it! This is the best stage of course, it's the moment when you realise you've broken the back of your sugar addiction!

It's the moment when you realise that all of the mild discomfort you may have just gone through is all worth it and you are finally back in control of your eating habits.

So was it worth it? Of course it was, and remember, you may not even experience ANY of these symptoms, this is a worse case scenario , and even so, just remember what you are putting yourself through every day if you're eating too much sugar. Cold turkey or cut down slowly? By cutting out sugar completely you are likely to experience withdrawal symptoms more than by cutting sugar out of your diet gently.

But in my experience, cold turkey is the way to go. Like quitting cigarettes or alcohol, the best technique is to cut it out altogether, rather than drawing out the process - I've always been one for pulling off the plaster in one quick go rather than trying to peel it gently and drawing out the pain! But remember, when you do cut sugar out of your diet, and even though you might experience some mild withdrawal symptoms, you'll be doing your body a whole lot of good in the process!

So try to concentrate on long term goals like losing a dress size rather than the short term satisfaction of eating a cake!

Be prepared! Knowing when and what to expect can give you a real helping hand when you quit sugar. In my sugar detox program I explain how important it is to acknowledge your addiction to sugar and know when your cravings are likely to strike. And by being prepared ahead of your detox, you will know what to expect, when to expect it, and be fully ready, giving yourself the best chance of success.

And remember, this isn't forever. It really is worth riding the storm and dealing with the symptoms, they will be short lived This really isn't forever! The main reason to do a sugar detox is simply to reset your system and break the cycle of craving and addiction. So once you break your cycle of addiction , you can begin with a clean slate, deciding where and when you want any kind of sweet treat, rather than your body's craving making that decision for you.

Boredom can be bad for cravings. We often eat out of sheer boredom, and thinking about food can lead to a physical desire for it, so try to keep yourself occupied at times when you might normally succumb to a biscuit or piece of cake. Get a little help from your friends. By telling people what you are doing, they can expect the odd mood swing and hopefully support you throughout the process.

How to deal with sugar withdrawals and keep the cravings to a minimum. So now that you are fully up to speed with all of the different effects that may effect you on a sugar detox, lets look at some of the ways you can minimise any of the symptoms should they occur.

Drink it in! Hunger can be as dangerous an enemy as a sugar craving itself, and believe it or not, water can actually satisfy the feeling of hunger and make you feel full.

By allowing yourself to get hungry, you allow yourself to make poor food choices and decisions. In the past you might have just grabbed something sweet to satisfy that hungry feeling. Sometimes all it might take is a glass of cold water to kick those cravings to the curb. Pack in the protein. Not only is protein an essential part of our diet and it provides the building blocks for our muscles and tissues , but it also helps reduce feelings of hunger and sugar cravings.

Ghrelin is the hormone that triggers hunger, and a high protein diet cuts down the levels of Grehlin, making us feel less hungry. This is the exact opposite of fructose, which can trigger sensations of hunger the more you eat! Always have high protein snacks on standby for whenever those cravings kick in, eating a handful of almonds for example can really help you cope.

Fill up on fibre. Fibre is a fantastic regulator as it keeps us feeling full as well as keeping blood sugar levels normal. By eating a diet with plenty of fibre rich foods, you can prevent your blood sugars from dropping too much which should help stave off many of the sugar withdrawal symptoms.

High fibre foods include vegetables, nuts and seeds. Fit in some fats. Eating healthy fats can really help reduce cravings because fat is digested slowly into your system, making you feel fuller longer.

It does this by slowing down the digestion process when it enters the small intestine, decreasing appetite. Healthy fats come from things like eggs, tuna and salmon, avocados, nuts like almonds, pistachios and walnuts, seeds like sunflower and chia, plus olives and olive oil.

Swap sweet for savoury. Keeping savoury snacks at the ready can be a life saver if you are going through a sugar detox. Try things like spicy popcorn , crunchy roasted chickpeas or nuts and seeds and when it comes to your main meals, add in a bit of extra spice just to keep things interesting.

Run it out. Exercising and working out are some of the greatest ways you can overcome cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Exercise naturally reduces stress and releases hormones that will make you feel great too, so going for a run or a walk can be a great help. Sleep it off. Like any change to your body, be it strenuous excercise or getting a bug, the best thing you can do to recover is get plenty of zeds. Sleeping is our natural way of healing and recuperation, allowing our cells to rejuvinate, so try to give yourself the best possible chance by getting plenty of sleep.

Although a change in diet like removing sugar might initially affect your sleep patterns, you should soon settle back into your normal routine, and if anything, you should end up having much better sleep without fluctuating levels of sugar in your blood stream. Super supplements. It may also be worth taking a supplement like Chromium 50 - msg once or twice daily during your sugar detox. This is excellent at regulating blood sugar levels as it helps insulin work more effectively at removing sugar from your bloodstream whilst also nourishing cells, helping to minimise the effects of cravings.

Be kind to yourself, now Maybe plan your detox so that you have a quiet weekend to get over the initial symptoms, when you can read a good book, enjoy a glass of red wine, run yourself a bath and generally allow yourself time to get through it. And remember, you're doing this for both short and long term health benefits. So take time to be kind to the future you and suck up some mild discomfort now - you'll thank yourself later if you do!

In many cases, the symptoms can be barely noticeable , so it's certainly not worth putting off a sugar detox because of some mild discomfort.

I have created a complete 21 day sugar detox program with recipes and meal plans specifically designed to provide the right vitamins, nutrients and minerals along with protein, fibre and fats to ease you through the process with the absolute minimum symptoms.

The program also has daily emails, video tutorials and guided meditations to make sure you have the best possible chance of breaking the cycle of sugar addiction for good and regaining control of your food choices. Sugar actually reduces your ability to taste sweetness, so once you have detoxed, you will recalibrate your taste buds , and everything will naturally taste sweeter. By going on a sugar detox, you can completely reset your tolerance levels, break the cycle of addiction and put yourself back in control of your food choices.

And once you are back in control, you can treat yourself to sweet treats like the ones on my recipe pages. So why not give it a try, you have nothing to lose and so much to gain! Reward governs our behaviour — meaning we're driven to repeat the behaviours which cause dopamine to be released.

Dopamine can drive us to seek food , such as junk food. Experiments in both animals and people have shown how profoundly sugar activates these reward pathways. Intense sweetness surpasses even cocaine in terms of the internal reward it triggers. Sugar is able to activate these reward pathways in the brain whether it's tasted in the mouth or injected into the bloodstream, as shown in studies on mice.

This means its effects are independent of the sweet taste. In rats, there's strong evidence to suggest that sucrose consumption can actually change the structures in the brain that dopamine activates as well as altering emotional processing and modifying behaviour in both animals and humans.

It's obvious that sugar can have a powerful effect on us. So that's why it's not surprising to see negative effects when we eat less sugar or remove it from our diet completely. It's during this early "sugar withdrawal" stage that both mental and physical symptoms have been reported — including depression, anxiety, brain fog and cravings, alongside headaches, fatigue and dizziness. This means giving up sugar can feel unpleasant, both mentally and physically, which may make it difficult for some to stick with the diet change.

Although sugar is used in many of the foods we eat, consumption of sugar has been declining in the US and Europe Credit: Alamy. The basis for these symptoms has not been extensively studied, but it's likely they're also linked to the reward pathways in the brain. Although the idea of "sugar addiction" is controversial, evidence in rats has shown that like other addictive substances, sugar is able to induce bingeing, craving and withdrawal anxiety. Other research in animals has demonstrated that the effects of sugar addiction, withdrawal and relapse are similar to those of drugs.

But most of the research that exists in this area is on animals, so it's currently difficult to say whether it's the same for humans. The reward pathways in the human brain have remained unchanged by evolution — and it's likely many other organisms have similar reward pathways in their brains.

This means that the biological impacts of sugar withdrawal seen in animals are likely to occur to some degree in humans too because our brains have similar reward pathways.