Why and How I Ditched Sugar Despite a Lifelong Sweet Tooth - and What I Eat Instead

Letting go of sugar gave rise to some super interesting discoveries, like yacon syrup: A natural sweetener that does not behave like a sweetener at all. Also note: No devil on the other shoulder :) Once you reset your gut and your taste buds, sugar cravings naturally disappear, without any discipline or “trying hard”. So….this blog is starting out to expand a bit! After a few years of strictly adult ballet technique and mindset topics, “Late-to-the-Party Ballet” is transforming into “Balletic Strength”. The Balletic Strength blog is a reflection of the fact that adult ballet progress is by far not made in the studio alone, and certainly not from mindless repetitions of ever more specialized exercises. The athletic and artistic skill is a result of a holistic approach to physical health, unobstructed movement abilities, consistent daily energy, a thriving mind, a soulful connection with your Self, and a well-performing brain. Training in the studio, in class, at home, in the gym will still be an important part, but will be complemented by fascinating knowledge about eating and other everyday habits that influence human physiology and psychology. Balletic Strength also recognizes that not everybody wants or needs to start ballet but still may want to benefit and thrive on principles inspired by balletic training and movement patterns. I hope you will enjoy the new scope of this adult life adventure! Today will kick of a new category of articles where it is my goal to demystify the conflicting and overwhelming information about eating, weight loss (or gain), health conditions that can be tackled with food, and the crucial difference between “dieting” and “restoring nutritious eating for the rest of your life” (often refered to as “lifestyle change”). I hope you’ll find it as mind-blowing and fascinating as I do and will savor your experiences!-Patricia, Founder of Balletic StrengthI considered myself a healthy eater, pretty much all my life. I mean, yes, there were some guilty pleasures, even though I didn’t feel that guilty about them: Sweet treats. I’ve had a sweet tooth all my life. I remember as a child, my parents restricted sweets at home, so I would secretely buy candy and eat them when I was alone at home. (Note to parents: If you think you can control how much candy your child eats, forget it. But giving up and letting them fall prey to candy, cheerios, and Nutella doesn’t have to be the only other option. There is a way to slowly build healthy cravings in kids, with a wholesome eating approach that makes sugar less interesting over time.)It’s not that I was binging. I was very well capable of eating some and then stop, especially the older I got. So on the outside, it looked like a quite normal sweets-eating habit that was balanced out by lots of other healthy eating habits.But still, there was something about sweet treats that made me want them. It was a very subtle kind of addiction. That kind of addiction where you don’t feel a sharp pain when not having your stuff, it’s more that you need certain soothing comforters during the day. They help keep your mood up and let you get through a day - because you have this little thing(s) to look forward to. The coffee break with a delicious cookie. The desert after dinner. The banana in the morning. And that kind of “controlled consumption” is widely acknowledged and accepted. Today’s lifestyle culture has this “give yourself a break”-type of reassurance and celebrates these cute little “harmless” enjoyments as an antidote to our hard work and all the fires we’re putting out every day. The messages are: “It’s ok to reward yourself.” “It won’t hurt you”. “It’s soulfood”. But there was something about these innocent habits that always bugged me a bit. Mostly, I guess it was the fact that if they were really that innocent and small and acceptable, why was it so hard to go through the day or a few days without them? And I guess it was this reliance or even dependence on the comfort and gratification of sweets that felt like a trap: I t felt odd that foods that my body did not need at all, that were technically hurting it, would have such a grip on me. Especially since the downside of eating them (negative health effects) was so much higher than the upside (short-term gratification).There was also something else about that dependence that started subtly nagging at me. Eating sweets had a slightly numbing effect on me. Like a bandaid, eating sugar gave me little reliefs here and there, got me through the day with little things to look forward to, when maybe, I should have felt the discomfort of emptiness and all the questions around the purpose of my life. Were all the things I was busy with every day actually making me happy? Getting me to where I wanted to go? Where did I want to go? Was I contributing to this world in a way that tapped into my strengths and desires? Who needs to worry about all these questions when you can have a piece of delicious cake.I was never too obsessed with food in general, I didn’t glorify the food culture and in fact have always been a quite simple and at-home cook/eater. I had done some changes to my diet before, though - the first big one was after a severe pneumonia and aggressive doses of antibiotics several years ago, when a naturopath doctor educated me about gut health and the connection to immune strength for the first time. The second big change came roughly two years ago when I read a bok about lectin-free eating, the Plant Paradox. I never had any interest in following diets or eating protocols and eliminate foods, but something about this book struck a deep chord for the first time in my life. I originally discovered it in the context of my interest in brain development and neuroplasticity, and I was deeply intrigued by the intimate connection of eating, immune system, and brain health. Back then, I was not ready to follow the Plant Paradox in its totality. It is not only a lectin-free (lectins are plant proteins found in most grains, nightshades, legumes, and certain fruits) protocol, but a largely dairy-free (goat/sheep cheeses/yogurts are ok, and to some extend A2 milk for baking and cooking), and sugar-free (yes, that includes fructose in fruits, except in small amounts in season)) as well, plus a general avoidance of toxins in foods, water, and cosmetics. The underlying theory/model made intuitive sense to me. But it felt too overwhelming and stressful to implement it 100%. So I went about 70-80%, and was deeply impressed by the results.Then, towards the end of last year, I started having abdominal symptoms. Digestive issues together with muscle tightness around the waist and hip, and at some point severe UTIs (where the first was quickly followed by a second). It wasn’t debilitating, there was no pain; I was still able to go about my day, train ballet, and function normally in all respects. But I didn’t feel like myself. The discomfort felt alienating from my body, it was as if I wasn’t at home in that vessel that had supported me faithfully and reliably all my life. Doctors couldn’t find anything. There was nothing wrong organically. It was one of those Covid-19/lockdown collateral damages I think - the stress of it all exposes our weak links and vulnerabilities, and invites us to question, learn, and explore. And question I definitely had to: Because I actually felt I was doing everything “right” - I was eating well, moving well, meditating, spending time outside and in nature, connecting with friends, and in general living life with aspirations but also without excessive obsession. Of course not everything was perfect, and I had areas of conflict and confusion. But no one particular thing felt like it could be the main culprit of my physical issues. So after a bit of consideration, I realized that from all the areas that I could explore and play with, eating was the most direct path to digestion, and from my previous experiences, also a powerful vehicle of self-discovery and transformation. I decided to give it a shot, and follow the Plant Paradox program 100%. This would mean eliminate A LOT of foods from my diet (bread, pasta, tomatoes, potatoes to name a few), and among them sugar and all the sweet treats. What I liked about it though that for all the foods eliminated, there was a huge selection of foods to explore - a lot of them that I hadn’t used in my cooking so far, and that except for animal protein and resistant starches, I could eat as much as I wanted. So it’s important to note that I didn’t just set out to eliminate sugar - I changed my whole, daily food portfolio so to say. The rationale for it was to re-set the composition of my gut bacteria, get rid of inflammations, and change my metabolism - and because of that, change what my body would habitually crave. The Plant Pardox protocol started with a 3-day cleanse, during which I ate almost no carbohydrates, very little protein, and instead lots of healthy fats and high-fibre vegetables. This short period is important, because it kickstarts the gut bacterial and metabolic changes. It wasn’t easy, but it was very powerful in reducing sugar cravings very early on. This first phase is usually followed by a 6-8 week phase of somewhat more liberty - still not too much animal protein, but re-introducing carbohydrates mainly in the form of resistant starches (like sweet potatoes, cassava roots etc), a few lectin-free grains (millet, sorghum, and teff), and very importantly, some wine is allowed.So I said bye to any kind of sugar-containing treats, like my beloved baked goods and cakes, fruit yogurts, the usual chocolate, my banana-quinoa mix for breakfast, and the occasional ice cream. I told myself that Ithis would be temporary, but already this thought showed me how much anxiety I had around giving up sugar and how casually addictive it was. As expected, the first days and few weeks were not easy - but also not as hard as I expected. That inital time really drove home for me how much of that sugar-eating habit was mental, and not a physical necessity at all. But as we know, mental is super tricky, because you can tell yourself so many good sugar-justifying stories: Maybe it’s not THAT important to give up sugar? Maybe it’s taking healthy eating too far and not really worth the discomfort and effort? Am I maybe trying to be too perfect, too hard on myself? We all know these stories.So how did I wean myself off the sweet stuff on a very practical level?My initial strategy consisted of replacing treats with new treats that were compliant with the new way of eating. Of course I couldn’t buy these things anywhere (although here and there some bakeries carrying keto-compliant goods were an option). But because I have never been much into baking, I decided that now was finally the time to catch up on that gap.The Plant Paradox protocol does allow for certain sweeteners (like monkfruit, erythritol, stevia, yacon, xylitol) and there are a lot of non-grain flours, plus millet, sorghum, and teff flowers (those are lectin-free). So I started playing with baking, and discovered a whole new world of tastes, consistencies, and post-treat feelings in my body. These new, much higher quality treats felt completely different in my digestive system, and they induced less of a reward sensation but instead of a more whole-body-mind satisfaction and nourishment. In order to not spend excessive time in the kitchen, I would often double a recipe and freeze/store the leftovers for the following days. The Plant Paradox also allows for dark chocolate, at least 72%, in reasonable amounts. I have never been a huge dark chocolate fan (I was always more the opposite, like a white-chocolate person), but within a no-sugar eating approach, the taste of dark chocolate was completely reset. I now actually prefer at least 85%, lightly sweetened or almost not, depending what I can get. It’s not an everyday kind of thing for me, but I enjoy it whenever I feel like it.While all this required some effort on my side (learning to bake, eliminating the old treats, deliberately opening up to new tastes), there is a huge element of self-perpetuation in the Plant Paradox eating approach: The change of cravings. This is such an important point, and it is probably the biggest reason why people defer eating better or fall off the bandwagon early on: We think that we can’t possibly maintain the discipline of saying no to certain foods and we are afraid of the feeling of deprivation. But the truth is, once you start eating in a way that restores a healthy bacterial balance in the gut and give yourself a bit of time for your endocrine system and brain to catch up with the changes, your cravings completely change. It’s something that we have a hard time imagining - that we can actually get to a state where we don’t crave ice cream, or potato chips anymore and it’s no big effort to say no. And last, I gave myself a bit of leeway: A bagel once, half of a plain donut a few times, and I sprinkled some compliant baked goods with a bit of mapley syrup here and there. Sometimes it was due to circumstances (being on the go somewhere and donuts were the only option), or in the case of maple syrup, I think that it’s such a treasure of my immediate environment/nature and a somewhat ancient food, so I think there can be a benefit if you keep it at low quantities. Same goes for example for raw honey (which is actually Plant Paradox compliant in small amounts). I think the important thing is to do these exceptions with an honest mindfulness - you need a good sense of how much is enough. I am now about 10 weeks into my super-close-to-100% Plant Paradox and sugar-free life, and my symptoms have almost completely disappeared. In fact, eliminating foods has allowed me to figure out how my body responds to specific foods. The whole approach feels so good that I have no intention to make any changes for now. I still enjoy the taste of “sweet”. But it’s not running my day or my eating choices. I am using less and less sweeteners, I bake more bread-like goods and less sweet treats these days. I even stopped using cream in my coffee, which was a MUST for me ever since I started drinking coffee like 30 years ago. I wasn’t actively trying to eliminate it - it was more that I started caring for it less and less. Once you stop eating sugar, you realize how sweet cream and milk actually taste and it starts distracting you from the coffee :)So let’s loop back to the beginning….and all the subtle stories and excuses around sugar.I think the challenge is that in certain “enlightened” or body-advocating circles there is a certain resistance against conscious eating choices. I see people referring to eliminating foods as “disordered eating”. Claiming that “following rules” when it comes to eating is wrong and unnatural, and that you should instead just enjoy life. This can be quite confusing and discouraging to people who feel that something is off with their sugar consumption, but then think that it would be “bad” to give it up.But I’d argue that our “normal” eating behavior is disordered in many ways. One of them: The amount of sugar we consume not just in sweet treats, candy etc but everyday products like sausages, sauces, bread, and beverages has increased tremendously over the past decades, and with it our sensation of “sweet” has desensitized. Our thresholds for we perceive as sweet has increased - meaning we need more sugar in order to perceive “sweet”. Our metabolism has adapted to large amounts of sugars. What we consider as “not a lot” - actually is. The addiction is real. The challenge is that there is a paradox: The idea of giving up sugar seems like imprisonment - it may feel as if we would limit our choices and would need to say “no” when we actually feel like “yes”. The paradox is that it’s actually the consuming of sugar that is the prison - because we can’t go without. The real freedom lies in letting go of it - so that it doesn’t run the show. Once you settle into it, living without treats is easy, because the cravings disappear. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that an isolated elimination of sugar will not be sustainable - for cravings to change, the body has to undergo an wholesome overhaul of eating habits. The huge reward is that there is way more to that freedom. It’s a completely new world of taste, nuances, and more consistent energy. It’s the ability to go about your day without obsessing about “treats”, but instead finding “sweetness” in your everyday life, your work, in human connections. Sometimes that sweetness means to take the time to pause, and feel, and sit with whatever is there, even if it’s emptiness, or an intense desire for things to be different and more engaging. When you can hang in there in these moments - life becomes incredibly sweet.