I LOVE dessert.

I would have it every day of my life if I could.

Most nights after dinner I want a little something sweet just to “finish off” my day. I seriously crave it. When I saw Further Food doing a 7-Day Sugar Detox Challenge, I was so in.

To give you the low-down on the 7-Day Sugar Detox, here’s an infographic from FurtherFood that describes what you can and can’t have:

[via FurtherFood]

Here’s what I learned from going seven days without sugar!

1. There’s sugar in everything

I already read ingredient labels fairly often, but this time around I was scanning for 0g sugar and no sugar or substitutes in the ingredients. Let me tell y’all, it’s everywhere. My favorite yogurt had 10g of sugar in each serving (that’s about 2.5 tsp!). The thing I was most sad about missing out on was sriracha and honey.

Other food thoughts:

• It’s really hard to make oatmeal taste good with no added sweeteners.
• Bananas were my bff since they are naturally sweet.
•  I wanted Naked brand fruit juices and kombucha, and every single one I looked at had tons of sugar.
• Eating out at restaurants was also just about impossible.
• Black coffee isn’t fun, but it’s doable. (yep, no creamer allowed!)
• I ate a lot more fruit.

2. I didn’t feel bloated and my skin was clearer

One thing I noticed during the first week without sugars was I didn’t feel bloated at all. It’s likely due to the cutting out of alcohol and dessert, but my stomach didn’t have that uncomfortable feeling that you get after you eat too much. My skin looked better, too! I don’t think I broke out at all during the 7 days.

3. I was HUNGRY

Finding alternatives to my usual foods was pretty tough. I have a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack each day, so I had to find replacements for those since I couldn’t have trail mix or yogurt (weekly staples). The first two days, I was starving. I tried to focus on adding in more protein to my diet, which really helped. I know overall I don’t get enough, so I tried to get at least 20g of protein at breakfast, and included protein-rich snacks.

I found a sugar-free trail mix at Trader Joe’s and whipped up these chocolate banana protein muffins (sweetened naturally with the bananas).

4. I experimented with spices and seasonings

Since I couldn’t use any sugars, dressings, or marinades, I had to get creative when seasoning meat and vegetables. I never realized how much I use honey in marinades and sauces, so that had to be changed. For most veggies, I’m a big fan of just olive oil, salt and pepper. It lets the true flavor of the vegetable shine through.

I always have the 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe’s on hand and put that on vegetables all the time. Here are my other Trader Joe’s faves.

5. Diets are Impossible

The BIGGEST thing I learned from this detox, is that diets are impossible to stick to.

No wonder people try them and fail time after time.

Restricting yourself 100% from foods you want flat out stinks. My birthday fell on the 4th day of the challenge, and I’ll admit I had some jelly on my English muffin and a margarita with my tacos at dinner. But the other days, not being able to put some sriracha on my eggs and not being able to put some honey or agave in my oatmeal wasn’t fun at all.

Now more than ever I’m a full supporter of enjoying the foods you love, even if it’s in moderation. Living any other way is just impossible. Not practical. Not fun. If you have too much sugar or alcohol in your diet, try limiting drinks to one or two nights a week, or try cutting back on the number of days you have dessert. You can still have it (and you should!) but not every day.

Where to go from here: I really would like to continue the dessert part of the detox, because I really don’t think I kicked my sweet tooth. I’m definitely more conscious about how much sugar is in the foods I eat after doing this challenge, but I don’t think it’s practical to do this as a lifestyle (just my opinion!) Have y’all tried anything like this before? I’m curious about how it went for you!

Thanks for reading,