I used to be a sugar junky. I was never someone who ate a lot of desserts. In fact, I rarely ate dessert because I didn’t, and still don’t, like sweet foods. Drinks, however, were another matter altogether. I used to drink Mountain Dew. A lot of Mountain Dew. Then I decided to give up caffeine and I think I slept for three weeks before I decided that a little caffeine wasn’t bad and started drinking a cup of tea in the mornings just to get me going. Then throughout the day I would only drink water. This is still the case. But in my tea I would put something like three or four tablespoons of sugar. And yes, you read that right. Tablespoons! Not teaspoons.

Once we started eating more and more Japanese food I noticed that my tea was tasting awfully sweet even though I was using the same amount of sugar I normally used. So I started to gradually decrease the amount I used over several months. I went from three of four tablespoons of sugar in a twelve ounce cup of tea, to two teaspoons. And honestly, I’m at the point where it’s starting to taste overly sweet again, so I’ll be reducing it a bit more.

After I started cutting back on sugar I started to notice how sweet things were. Food actually tastes better to me now.

There are several things, like avocados, that I wouldn’t eat a few years ago. Hubby has always loved them but every time I tried them they tasted like nothing. They have a very mild flavor but with all of the sugar I consumed throughout the day I wasn’t able to taste anything. So to me avocados were just a flavorless mushy texture. Now, I love avocados. We eat them at least three times a week on average.

American grocery stores are full of sugar-laden foods. Everything seems to have sugar or high fructose corn syrup in it these days. Or worse, some kind of sweetener that leaves a horrible aftertaste. I know the sugar is supposed to be worse for you, health wise, but, for me, the sweetener is definitely worse. The only sugar substitute I’ve found that I actually liked was the Monkfruit sweetener, but it’s ridiculously expensive and I’m too cheap. It’s easier to just use less sugar. 

In the beginning I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it, honestly. Just half a scoop less of sugar in my tea made it bland. But I stuck with it determined to cut back. After a week or so of drinking it with just a little less it began to taste sweet again. Once that happened I cut back just a little bit more. And I kept doing that over several months. I would just reduce it by a small amount and as soon as that amount started tasting sweet again I would add a bit less. There were always days in there were I was more or less choking down the cup because it just wasn’t sweet enough, but usually by day three of the reduced amount it was tolerable again. Usually it was a week or two before it started to taste sweet. I might allow myself a few days of that sweetness before I reduced it even more. When I was stepping it down I was meticulous about measuring the amount. It made it easier to step down, for one thing. Another was it gave me a sense of accomplishment when I no longer had to use the bigger measuring spoon. I think that also helped with the process.

I don’t plan on giving up sugar altogether. I don’t think that’s realistic. At least not for me. But I think less sugar is definitely a good thing.