CANDY CRUSH
Are you addicted to sugar? Beauty commentator, Mamta Mody shares how she controlled her craving.
I’ve been known to eat ice-cream for dinner. I’m a sucker for sweet stuff and I’ve had the cavities as proof. Two years ago I went on a crazy sugar-fuelled bender. I ate something sweet every two hours, whether it was a piece of candy or a box of mini cupcakes. After three months of junk food and dizzying bouts of sugar crash I decided to get a hold on my cravings. Sugar is basically linked to every bad thing that could ever happen, from poor concentration to skin that looks like crocodile leather. While I feel fit on the outside, my daily fix was making me seriously sick and fat inside. Going on a sugar-free diet is virtually impossible, especially when you work in a magazine office, which is practically one big binge fest.
There are cookies and donuts and grilled Nutella sandwiches on stressful days. It would start off as one mini Snickers after lunch and by 6pm there would be a heap of empty wrappers on my desk. No one warns you that when you break this delicious cycle you should be prepared for massive withdrawals. Week one ended with throbbing headaches and spells of weakness. I dialed nutritionist and fitness consultant Suman Agarwal for some words of wisdom. “Everyone responds to sugar differently. Your sugar levels spike and then drop lower than normal, making you crave more of the sweet stuff. Sugar addiction is like any other addiction – your body will crave for it. But when you give up on all sweets you will finally look forward to your meals.” Really? How would l look forward to a meal without the promise of a tasty treat at the end? I didn’t become a green juice advocate overnight, neither did I crow on about agave. But for the first few days I did become the crazy person to read food labels. Suman warned me about the hidden sugars that lurked in ketchup, the dash of soy sauce in my lunch of stir-fry vegetables, my morning bowl of cornflakes, readily available salad dressing and even some breads. Week two I was more prepared.
After reigning in the sugar monster, I didn’t go delirious at the sight of a tub of salted caramel cookies that landed on my desk (yes, it’s been two years and sometimes I still imagine what they would have tasted like). When you stop eating sugar, even a fruit salad tastes too sweet. I switched the two tablespoons of chocolate syrup for a dash of cinnamon in my cup of morning milk – it tastes great and is known to be a blood sugar stabiliser. On tough days, a few cloyingly sweet dates helped satiate my 4pm cravings. Warning: Don’t even bother with the sugar-free stuff. Its just not satisfying enough, and instead of eating one coconut sugar cookie, you’ll eat the entire packet. The biggest challenge was going out for drinks with my friends. I avoided mentioning my sugar-free plight because no one wants to hear about the dangers of sugar while sipping on a (syrupy) martini.
My usual sugar-loaded vodka and tonic didn’t make the cut and soda water had to be the mixer of choice. This abstinence only lasted one drink — a girl needs her treat. For the next month I was in maintenance mode and didn’t even think of rewarding myself with a sugary treat after I met a tough deadline. My meals did become more satisfying (shocking!) and I didn’t wake up in the morning with a sickly after taste of having eaten too much dessert the night before. My skin felt just the slightest bit better, and two years later (maybe it’s my imagination) but that hyphen-like fine line on my forehead has disappeared. Sometimes I so wake up with a few chocolate wrappers on by my bed and I am yet to find a replacement for cocktails, but there’s no way I’m getting on the deathly dance of sugar again.
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