So the Westfield Health Marketing Team set itself the challenge to become sugar free in five weeks, but how did we get on? I think that it’s fair to say that results were mixed.
You may wonder why we needed to take on this challenge in the first place. After all, we’re all sweet enough. But following our research into levels of sugar consumption, we became acutely aware of the alarming amount of sugar there is hidden in the food we eat on a regular basis.
They say that it takes 21 days for a change in activity to become a habit, and things started well, with everyone cutting back on the sweet treats, trying out new recipes at home and even bringing in food to share with our colleagues. Amazing brownies and flapjacks – all free from processed sugar.
I, for one, have not had a chocolate bar for well over a month – quite a feat for me – although I did treat myself to a hot chocolate after a particularly cold 10 mile run.
However, as time has gone by, the bad habits have crept back in, not helped by the number of cakes brought in by colleagues for their birthdays. It’s clear that the fact that Marketers are the most prolific snackers in industry certainly rings true for us.
It’s not all bad news though. Awareness of sugar consumption has certainly increased, and I think that we’ve all changed our diets in some way. We’ve discovered some new recipes that we wouldn’t have encountered otherwise, and we’ve made adjustments to meal planning.
We’ve also found that reducing sugar in our diets isn’t actually that difficult. I don’t think that any of us have particularly suffered from withdrawal symptoms or encountered cravings for sugar. It’s just that we’ve not been able to resist the occasional tasty treat.
Are we sugar free? Well, no. But we’ve certainly been educated.