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It's raining outside and the wind is whistling an audible song about how it's cosiest at home today. What's more, it's Sunday and we're cosying up on the couch with the kids. We've just tucked into a hearty raclette dinner and our bodies don't really need anything more. Actually. In reality, we grab a pack of children's bars from the fridge because our trained taste buds are craving dessert. Today I'm getting weak. I bite into the chocolate with relish. I haven't eaten sugar for 7 weeks.

No honey or maple syrup either. Why? It was a very spontaneous action. On our Detox retreat on Mallorca last year, I learnt about the power of nutrition and its influence on my well-being and appearance. After such an impressive week, you don't just go back to your old eating habits. I ate a lot less sweets and gluten last year. But I didn't think it was feasible to stop completely.

I sleep like a baby (a baby with beautiful skin ?)

In mid-January, I came across a documentary on YouTube about sugar. I was still quite saturated from Christmas, we all know that apres-Christmas feeling - three kilos more on the scales and a slow metabolism. When I saw the documentary, I just felt like it. A desire to avoid the white poison for a while. If you just do a little research into how much sugar we actually consume, what it does to our bodies and why we think it's harmless in everyday life, it actually goes away all by itself.

The effect of giving up sugar that surprised me the most was that I slept really well. I always thought that I didn't tolerate coffee well, but suddenly it didn't matter if it was a little stronger, I slept like a baby. I generally like to experiment with my diet more often, but hardly anything in this area has such an impact on my skin as cutting out sugar. And since Lent has just started and people are inclined to give up sugar for the sake of their health, I thought I'd write an article about giving up sugar.

What does sugar do to your skin?

Sugar causes inflammation

Sugar consumption leads to inflammatory reactions in the body. On the one hand, this means that we probably have a lot of hidden inflammation in our bodies, which, as we now know, can lead to serious illnesses such as diabetes or Alzheimer's disease. On the other hand, we also see these inflammations on our skin in the form of spots and acne. Sugar causes skin blemishes that improve immediately when you stop eating sugar.

Sugar eats away collagen and elastin

Sugar consumption breaks down collagen and elastin - the very enzymes that are responsible for the elasticity and firmness of the skin. This makes the skin sag and causes wrinkles to appear more quickly. The skin cells are generally weakened and susceptible to environmental influences such as sun damage. Sugar causes the skin to age prematurely.

Sugar destroys the intestinal flora

Sugar disrupts the intestinal flora and has similar harmful effects to antibiotics. Disturbed intestinal flora and inflammation in the intestines lead to reduced nutrient absorption in the body, but also to a dull complexion, skin blemishes and rosacea.

Dark spots and hair where they shouldn't be

The insulin resistance caused by high sugar consumption leads to some unpleasant side effects: dark spots and stimulated hair growth in places where we don't want it: Upper lip, sideburns and chin.

Sugar upsets the hormones

Sugar leads to cardiovascular disease and fatty liver

It's almost common knowledge that sugar leads to insulin resistance. But did you know that there are now studies showing that it can lead to cardiovascular disease and a fatty liver?

Sugar robs the body of vitamins

Sugar is a robber of vitamins and minerals. It is obvious that this is not good for the skin either.

In one study, people who don't normally drink soft drinks had to drink a soft drink, A can of cola a day for three weeks drink. The result: Their skin appearance deteriorated by 87 per cent.

How I feel without sugar

I can definitely say that after two weeks small blemishes have disappeared and my teeth have become wonderfully white. The quality of my sleep has improved significantly and that's not all. We were invited to dinner once and there were about ten of us at the table. Of course, I didn't have dessert, while everyone else had a slice of cake and a coffee. I didn't have any coffee and yet I was the only lively one at the table after the meal. Everyone else hung there sleepily and yawned.

I then realised that I no longer have an afternoon slump since I stopped eating sugar. That's one of the wonderful side effects of giving up sugar - you get through the day full of energy and sleep like a baby at night.

Why so radical?

Now you're probably wondering how you can manage to give up sugar completely. And why so radical, why not a dessert baked with honey or a maple syrup pudding every now and then? I opted for this radical approach because I have often learnt that sugar is a drug. That's why I find the recommendation to eat sugar only in moderation very cynical. After all, we are dealing with a substance that causes the same kind of addiction as cocaine.

Try taking just a little cocaine. It is in the nature of addiction that the body craves higher and higher doses. It starts with a little bit of honey cake and you quickly feel like you can nibble a little bit here and a little bit there of the natural sweetness. In no time at all, you've eaten more sugar than you wanted. And hand on heart - we tend to gloss over the amount of sugar we eat.

So I never had to think about whether to treat myself to this or that - no sugar, full stop.

What helped me to make it

1. be well nourished. I always made sure I ate my fill. I wanted to avoid the feeling that I was missing something. So I cooked things that I particularly liked and ate a lot until I was full to bursting. I made sure I had enough healthy fats in my food. They provide more valuable energy than sugar and make you feel full.

2. pay attention to mental balance. Sugar was always a small reward or consolation for me and now I was challenged to look my life in the face. I asked myself the question "What do I really need?". This led me to go for walks more often, do yoga or write in my diary. I was surprised to realise that I used to shove a chocolate bar in my mouth instead of these little indulgences. Without sugar, you live mercilessly consciously.

3. eye-opening documentaries. There is a system behind the epidemic spread of sugar consumption. I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, but you can take a realistic look at the power of corporations. Sugar is not as harmless as it seems and as it is memorised in our minds. In our subconscious, sugar stands for love and if you want to give it up, you need new images for your subconscious. Just enter "sugar documentary" on YouTube - it's healing food for your brain. The film "Voll verzuckert - der Sugar-Film" also provides the necessary motivation.

4. it is also a good motivation to look at before and after photos on the internet to see how your skin changes when you give up sugar. The change wasn't that serious for me as I already had good skin before. But these photos really show the effects of sugar. You have to imagine that we eat what affects our bodies in this way every day.

My sugar-free snacks

Little by little, I found small snacks that were sugar-free and healthy and made sure I always had something to hand. Almonds and nuts have become extremely important to me. Sugar-free liquorice* has a wonderfully intense flavour. Water, almond butter, dried blueberries and a third of banana mixed together taste like a kind of fruit milk. Really delicious.

Every now and then I try out a sugar-free recipe from the Internet. Also the wonderful book "Sugar-free for working people" is very inspiring and easy to implement. It helps me to avoid the feeling that I'm going without or that I'm missing something.

Caution with fruit

As I only eat fruit sparingly due to its high fructose content, it's easy for me to find something that tastes sweet. The other day we were eating oven vegetables and I said to my husband "I'm really struggling to find something that doesn't taste sweet". All the vegetables tasted really sweet to me. And when I make sweet potatoes, it's like a piece of cake.

Well, and yesterday I got weak. I wish I could tell you that I didn't like the chocolate at all, but I really enjoyed it. I was briefly tempted to say, okay, you've detoxed in the 7 weeks and now just eat sugar again. But I don't want to. What I've seen and heard in the various documentaries has really sunk in. I simply feel too good without sugar.

How can you tell if you have a "sugar face"?

You can tell from people's faces that they eat too much sugar. The skin is full of impurities, adorned with wrinkles and deep furrows on the forehead. It looks tired and sunken, bags under the eyes are difficult to get rid of. The complexion looks sallow, rather grey and the skin thin.

You can also simply try to give up sugar for a while and see what happens. If your skin looks better, you can assume that sugar consumption doesn't help your appearance very much. But for me, it's not just about appearance. I think the skin is just a reflection of what's going on in our bodies. If sugar puts so much strain on the skin, which is basically the last link in the chain, how much strain do you think it puts on the internal organs?

Every day counts

I have no idea how long I can hold out and in what form. I don't want to put any pressure on myself, otherwise something inside me will rebel. I stick to Alcoholics Anonymous with their motto "Every day counts". I think to myself, I can do it today and I'll see tomorrow. That's what I did for the 7 weeks.

When we eat sugar, many things change in the body. Digestion, concentration, energy levels, well-being, menstruation and sleep are all affected. Experienced healers claim that 80% healing happens by leaving things out - in other words, by leaving out what is a burden. Sugar is definitely one of them.

More and more people are giving up sugar

At the moment, I'm helped by the thought that next week our next Retreat on Mallorca takes place, very much. It fits in perfectly with Lent and I've never had the feeling that I'm missing anything in Ursula's cooking. It is nutritious, varied and flavoursome. Good cooking is a real art. Giving up sugar helps me to remember that. There is simply a difference between food and nutrition, between filler for the stomach and real nourishment for the body.

There are more and more people who are consciously giving up sugar in some form or another - some, like me, completely, others on refined sugar. You no longer feel like a freak when you do this. There are whole blogs, films and books. I always think about them when people around me look at me funny because I don't have dessert. Maybe one day everything will normalise, just like we've seen with cigarettes. Nobody could have imagined smoke-free pubs 20 years ago.

Sugar affects everything - our body, our mind and our soul. It keeps us on a tight leash, confuses our taste buds, makes us hoard chocolate like slaves and search through all the boxes in the hope of discovering something sweet. Sugar is not just a food, sugar is a drug that comes in a harmless package. Of course I know the feeling of "now I'm going to treat myself, I'm going to do something good" while unwrapping a chocolate bar. I only experienced it yesterday.

I try to associate these phrases with something else. I look at my skin in the evening, I think about the fact that I got through the day without an energy slump and say "another day where I treated myself to something good". I hope it continues to help. Every day counts.

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