Hey everybody! This post is all about my experience doing the 21-day sugar detox. For more info about exactly what the sugar detox is and the pros and cons, keep reading!

Okay so first of all let me say that traditionally this detox is supposed to be 21 days, or three weeks. I decided to extend mine to 28 days because I did it during the month of February (which is only 28 days anyway), and I was up for the challenge.

What is it?

The 21-Day Sugar Detox is a "clear-cut, effective, whole-foods-based nutrition action plan that will reset your body and your habits" developed by Diane Sanfilippo. I found out about the detox thru someone I follow in Instagram who was doing the detox about once every three weeks. I chose to do level 2 of the 3 levels. The yes/no/limit foods list is to the right. The idea is to stick to the grams of sugar you're supposed to have in a day and no more (25 for women, 35 for men).

Why did I do it?

Anyone who knows me knows that my sweet tooth is the bane of my weight loss/maintenance goals. I can eat clean all day every day, until it comes time for dessert. So this sugar detox was initially appealing to me just based on it's sugar-craving-busting claims. Anyone who knows me also knows that every month or two I'm looking for something new to help me avoid plateauing and/or to build discipline. I had been experiencing some plateauing (getting stuck at one weight after consistently losing weight) so I decided to give this a go.

I was initially a little afraid of this detox because sugar has the same effect on our bodies as drugs when it comes to addiction and the dopamine that is released in our brains. I had read reviews of people having intensified cravings, chronic headaches, difficulty sleeping at night, grogginess, inability to focus, and a host of other things that I just didn't have time for. And given my history with sweets, I just knew I'd be in the same boat. But the saying goes if your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough, right? So I put every ounce of discipline I had to work and started my 28-day journey to sugar deliverance.

First Impression

Day 1 came and went. Day 2 came and went. Day 3 and 4, too. And I was fine. By this point, I'm looking at all these reviews about these crazy withdrawals like

Why haven't I experienced any of them?! Did they somehow miss me? I found myself double and triple checking the Yes/No list daily to make sure I hadn't messed up anything. Long story short, I never experienced any of those withdrawal symptoms. and the only thing I can think to attribute it to is my clean eating. I may suck at self-control when it comes to dessert, but my breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner game is A1.

Overall Experience

Each day, the challenge got easier and I actually didn't have to drastically change much of what I was doing to begin with. I just made lots of minor changes. Instead of eating a fuji apple in the morning, I switched to Granny Smith apples, which are much lower in sugar. Instead of buying balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing which is packed with sugar, I looked up recipes and made my own that was completely sugar free. Instead of using marinades on my meat or fish, I stuck with lemon, salt, pepper, and herbs for taste. I also put my pre-existing meal prep skills to work and meal prepped the heck out of each day to avoid falling off. I'm talking breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner prepping (yes, I eat five times per day). I knew that if I failed to plan, I planned to fail. Before I knew it, day 21 had arrived and that was really the first time I struggled. Had I thought about sweets before day 21? Yepp. Did I have to pray while walking thru the bakery of the grocery store every week to avoid indulging before day 21? Absolutely. But day 21 was different. I wanted some chocolate soooo badly, and I honestly think it was psychological. I knew that I had forced a 21-day detox to become a 28-day one, and my mind was playing games with me. My solution? Drink water and go to sleep. I woke up the next day with no chocolate cravings, powered thru the last 6 days, and completed my 28-day detox!

DISCLAIMER: I did start easing myself back into foods with more sugar like cantaloupe and bread during the last week because from experience, I know that my body does not like abrupt changes. But aside from that last week, I stuck with the list above 100% of the time.

Pros

I was proud of myself! I woke up on March 1 like

So one pro was that I actually did something that I said I would do. That may seem like a little thing, but the little things are the big things to me. This discipline was not built overnight! It was built little by little with things like this. I went from "get to Friday and you can have ice cream" to "get past day 28 and you can have more sugary fruit" lol. So I had to pat my self on the back. Two, I think it's safe to say that my sugar addiction has been broken! When I started the detox, Granny Smith apples were so terribly sour to me. Now, Granny Smith apples are sweet to me and the Fuji apples I used to love are too sweet. Before the detox I craved chocolate chip cookies on a daily basis. Now I have one or two a week. I used to drink an entire large, cookies and cream milkshake from Chick-Fil-A. I got one the other day and couldn't even finish half. It's amazing what reseting your body and sticking to natural sugars can do. Although I still indulge in artificial sugars or more than 25g per day every now and then, the satisfaction of eating the wrong things is not the same. Which was the whole point of doing this in the first place. Lastly, I broke my plateau! I lost 7 pounds during the first week, and have managed to keep it off and lose a little more since then (I'm now almost 3 weeks post detox).

Cons

My only con is that there was no cheat meal. I usually operate on a very simple system: eat 5 small, clean meals per day and have one cheat meal once per week, and my weekly cheat meal is mandatory. Why, you might ask? When you reward yourself or give yourself a break on a regular basis, it makes you more likely to stay on track. So skipping four cheat meals in a row was very foreign to me. But aside from that, this detox was amazing.

Would I do it again?

Absolutely. This was one of the few challenges/detoxes I've done that actually worked or served the purpose I wanted it to serve. That's more than enough reason for me to do it again.

That's it! If you've done this detox or are interested in trying it some time soon, let me know what you think! It's all mind over matter, and you can do anything you put your mind to.

Thanks for journeying with me.

21-Day Sugar Detox Experience