30 Days Without Sugar. How Did It Go?

As a kid growing up in America, I had the privilege of eating the most enticing, well-packaged foods of the 20th century. This included Pop-tarts, Oreos, Fruit by the Foot, Svenhard’s danish pastries, Gogurt and all the candies we typically see near the cash register.

It’s unhealthy, you might say, but during those times I wasn’t aware of the crap I was eating. In fact, no one around me — not even my parents — understood how bad sugar was (it was the saturated fats that everyone tried to avoid). So I continued to spread jam on my toast and eat ice cream daily, never bothering to ask myself, is this actually good for me?

Oddly enough, I felt that sweets was some sort of miracle drug; it gave me the energy to function properly, to feel good and to perform at my best, all of which seemed necessary for growth. So why avoid it?

But as the years droned on, things started to change.

Huge food companies, like General Mills and Post, began pumping more sugar into their products. People, who can’t exactly hold themselves back from a box of donuts or the junk food aisle, began to grow a bigger belly. It finally came to my awareness that our society was becoming more miserable and unfit. And from what?

From sugar!