If you're giving up sugar for Lent, which starts today, you have plenty of company. It's an increasingly popular choice for people who make sacrifices during the six-week period of penance and reflection leading up to Easter.
But if you're used to eating lots of sugar, like most Americans are, don't expect your body to be happy about the change. Expect it to protest like a teen asked to mop the floor and take out the trash.
“I’m not going to lie. It was hard, all caps. But as each day went on that I didn’t have it, my cravings went down. Not only did I not want sugar, but I really surprised that I didn’t have the urge to snack,” said Melissa King, a Dallas blogger and natural-food advocate who gave up sugar cold-turkey more than four years ago and has advice for anyone trying it for a short time.
Of people who make sacrifices during the six weeks preceding Easter, more than a quarter forsake sugar or sweets, and nearly a third deny themselves chocolate, according to surveys by The Barna Group.
For many Americans, it’s a lot to give up. The average U.S. citizen consumes twice the sugar of Europeans, and excessive intake is at least partially responsible for the country’s obesity epidemic as well as a plethora of life-shortening conditions, including diabetes, kidney failure and heart and liver disease.
In its dietary guidelines, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been pleading for Americans to reduce their sugar intake for years with little success. Some scientists believe people can be addicted to sugar, just like cigarettes or drugs. Dr. Mark Hyman, an author affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic, says sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine.
Others say sugar’s pull is more psychological, but even then, giving up sugar may be more challenging than quitting Facebook or television.
King said her cravings didn’t subside for a couple of weeks, which means Lent may be half over before living sugar-free gets easier. The somber period of reflection and penance observed by Catholics and many other Christians begins this week and ends Easter, March 27. For Orthodox Christians, it begins and ends a week later.
But Ohio dietician Deborah Murray said people shouldn't be discouraged if cravings persist, and she believes quitting during Lent is a good practice that could result in people eating more healthy even after Easter.
“Bring it on,” she said. “As long as you have normal blood sugar levels, there are a lot of health benefits. Research is showing that refined sugar really does a number on us, and (abstaining from sugar temporarily) may serve to shift behavior in a better direction.”
FRUIT AS A CRUTCH
Although The Barna Group, a California research firm focusing on faith and culture, reports that 6 out of 10 people who observe Lent are Roman Catholic, an increasing number of Protestants have adopted the tradition in recent years. There are even atheists horning in on Lenten practices, believing that religious rituals contribute to the good life, if not God.
In the early years of the Christian church, people fasted for the 40 days of Lent, but over time, the rules were gradually relaxed and now Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only days Catholics are required to fast. However, they are encouraged to make sacrifices of pleasure instead.
As sweets are not essential to a diet, sugar should be an easy thing to give up, and it would have been in centuries past when it was hard to come by, and desserts were only occasional treats. A 2012 analysis by neurobiologist Stephan Guyenet showed that in 1822, the average American consumed an average of 6.3 pounds of sugar each year. The number had risen to 107.7 pounds in 1999.
“Wrap your brain around this: In 1822, we ate the amount of added sugar in one 12-ounce can of soda every five days, while today we eat that much sugar every seven hours,” Guyenet wrote.
Hyman, director of the Cleveland Center Clinic for Functional Medicine, advocates a 10-day, cold-turkey detox in his books, and calls sugar cravings a "biological disorder" that leads to uncontrolled eating.
"This is not a limited phenomenon. It’s the reason nearly 70 percent of Americans and 40 percent of kids are overweight," Hyman writes. "In one study, Harvard scientists found that a high-sugar milkshake (compared to a low-sugar one) not only spiked blood sugar and insulin and led to sugar cravings, but it caused huge changes in the brain. The sugar lit up the addiction center in the brain like the sky on the Fourth of July."
The prevalence of sugar in the American diet makes giving it up a daunting task, but a worthwhile one, according to King, who blogs at mywholefoodlife.com. When she quit sugar, she experienced headaches and cravings; others report fatigue and irritability. Research on rats suggests sugar withdrawal can result in depression, anxiety and impulsivity.
King's advice for those who determined to go six weeks sugar-free: replace sugar with spices, and don’t be tempted to slip even a little in your morning coffee. While the first few days may be difficult, it helps to not start the day with that early fix, and the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables will soon be all that you need.
“When I quit having sugar in my morning coffee, I was surprised at how much sweeter everything else tasted that day. I could taste the sugar in catsup and things like that. That was mind-blowing,” King said
King recommends that people eat fresh fruit like grapes, pineapple or mango to help manage cravings at first: “The fruit will help you like a crutch,” she said, and so will brushing your teeth often.
THERE'S ALWAYS SUNDAY
While King does not use artificial sweeteners, Murray, a licensed dietician and associate lecturer in the School of Applied Health Sciences and Wellness at Ohio University, said they can be beneficial in helping to ease the transition, and in the effect on the body, using them is not cheating.
“The molecules are very different; they have been changed in the lab. They are definitely not sugar, and the body can’t break it down,” she said.
Murray also recommends that people give themselves “some latitude to fail.”
“We as humans don’t do great with the all-or-nothing mentality,” she said. “Normally, when people are doing a dietary change, I encourage a slow transition.”
For people who struggle to keep it up for six weeks, there’s a little-known loophole: Technically, Sundays don’t count. The Catholic Church considers them a feast day, exempt from the ordinary church calendar, which is why Lent is 40 days, not 46.
For many people, however, taking advantage of the loophole runs counter to the point of Lent.
“The idea is not that we want to get in better physical shape, although that could be a good result. The idea is to get in better spiritual shape,” said the Rev. John Murray, a priest in the Diocese of Fall River in southeastern Massachusetts. “When we give up things for Lent, this helps us realize there are things we can and perhaps should live without.”
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