OK ladies, here are the promised tips for quitting sugar -
Look at it not like a diet, or "another diet" but rather as a change you are doing purely for health reasons. Read up on the subject - how sugar is in everything, the political all reasons behind this, the harm, how addictive it is. This can really help to motivate you.
Decide why you want to do it and what you will cut out.
Plan your strategy - are you still going to eat things like honey or maple syrup? I only eat date syrup and stevia, as far as "sweeteners" go.
You will have to check all labels in the supermarket (like crackers, mayonnaise, sauces etc). So much stuff has sugar in it, so be prepared to take more time to do your shopping in the first few weeks.
My only allowance is bread, though mostly I bake my own in a bread maker (and then I use just under a tablespoon of coconut sugar per loaf).
Be prepared for it to be very hard in the first month, and especially in the evenings. After a few good weeks though you will kick the addiction and get used to a different kind of sweetness, and thus be able to satisfy you sweet tooth with a few dates or something like that.
Cut out all sweet drinks. Do not buy them anymore. You can still drink freshly made/ squeezed fruit juices and smoothies, but drink say orange juice from 2 oranges, not from seven, and only fresh.
You can flavor water with a slice of lemon or orange, or drink carbonated water (though not too often) and flavor it in the same way. Do not drink zero sugar coke and all that crap. That makes you lust for sugar even more as it confuses the brain. Google it, it's astounding!
Know and accept you will NEVER have desert again at restaurants or friends again... It's an addiction, so allowances and indulgences are dangerous!
Are you going to eat fruit? I personally think fruit is a very important part of a good balanced diet. If yes then limit it to what is logical. Don't eat, say , 1 kg of grapes to get the sugar kick, but eat a handful a couple of times a day, or one to two bananas a day. I love fruit and eat it every day.
Strategies for coping- what are you going to do when in crisis?
Always have smg in your bag - nuts, banana, a sugarless nut bar, raisins etc.
Take food to work etc... don't wait for the sugar dip to happen, preempt it and eat small snaks throughout the day.
Evening strategies - you will have to have one/ some of this stuff at home all the time, so you are not tempted - dates, dry fruit, raisins, chocolate 100% cocoa. Plan snacks like nut butter on rice cakes, yogurt w a teaspoon of date syrup and some nuts, dates...
Look up (or ask me ;) for a few recipes of cakes and cookies without sugar, so you are able to bake without it.
And you can even make your own chocolate!
Chocolate recipe -
60 gr coconut oil
60 ml Cocoa powder
30 ml date syrup
Coarse salt
Optional -Nuts, berries, seeds, Vanilla essence, Cinnamon.
Melt the oil, add the cocoa and date syrup - stir quickly, add rest of stuff and either pour into ice cube mound or form a thin slab with your hands on baking paper. Sprinkle with the salt. Work fast as it sets quickly!
Good luck and feel free to ask me anything!