"We all have a deep-seated resistance to giving up sweets, growing up with an emotional and physical attachment to sugar, panicking at the thought of not eating anything sweet when we're happy or celebrating something or when we feel bad or tired. " That's what Sarah Wilson says – and she knows exactly what she's talking about. The Australian journalist and travel blogger ate up to about 25 teaspoons of sugar per day until three years ago: "In today's diet, sugar is omnipresent, a cereal bar may contain more sugar than a bar of chocolate, a standard barbecue sauce more than a chocolate icing to do the right thing, and finds that a low-fat fruit yoghurt contains more sugar than an ice cream. " Sarah Wilson was tired of it. She did not want to be addicted anymore – and she did not want to let the food industry sell her stupid anymore. New Year's Eve, three and a half years ago, she started her experiment. Their worst finding: "Do not even try to escape the sugar in a health food store – even organic food stores are caves with foods full of fructose, which are disguised as healthy." Wilson has now summarized all her experiences, tips and recipes into a book.

Health Coach Sarah Wilson interviewed dozens of experts for her book and put together easily made recipes. "Goodbye Zucker", published by Goldmann, € 12.99. "Get started …"

SEARCH ENTRY.

Studies show that it can take up to 66 days to get rid of sugar intake – a pretty long time, one thinks at first. But addictions are hard to get rid of. In the next eight weeks, you can not eat any sugar – no sweets, no fruit, no fruit juice, no honey, no agave syrup – that's important to overcome dependence and rebalance the body. (An alcoholic or a nicotine addict are not allowed even half a glass of cigarettes or three cigarettes a day if he wants to finally get rid of his addiction.) Also try to be aware of your diet: no inferior bread, no mountains of noodles in the evening , Cook well and simply, eat consciously – take time to feed the body with good foods. If you can not drink coffee without sugar, then pour in a mini-shot of milk instead, or better still, skip it altogether. Ideal food from now on: lots of vegetables, cut to size for the cravings in between, steamed as a main meal with fish or meat. Also eggs in all variations. If you like cheese, use Halloumi or other low-fat varieties.

"Keep up!"

FATS AND PROTEINS.

If you've done the start week without gummi bears, cookies & Co., then the first hurdle is done. From now on, look for healthy fats and proteins. These quench the craving for "goodies". You will notice that greed for sweetness subsides. For us women, it is essential to reduce or, at best, to omit sugar altogether. Sugar upsets our hormone balance. Through complex mechanisms, sugar leads to cravings and deficiency symptoms. So sugar keeps setting the cycle of over-eating going again and again. And: sugar can promote cancer. Cancer cells feed on sugar, which is why cancer patients are advised to switch to a sugar-free diet. If you have a low, feeling lethargic or unhappy, you have some good – and healthier – alternatives to sugar: drink white tea, go for a big round, eat a few nuts or a small handful of oatmeal with milk, a hard-boiled one Egg, make yourself a Tsatsiki (greek yoghurt, cucumber, mint, garlic), read exciting books, distract you, call your best friend, sleep for half an hour. And when you're in the office, distract yourself with work and a huge glass of water with lemon. "Conversion"

A NEW CHAPTER IN LIFE STARTS.

If you've done the 8 weeks, your hard drive is set to reset. You start with it in a new life that will largely get by without sugar, but at least without this greed for sweets. Here and there half a rib of dark chocolate, a handful of berries or even a piece of birthday cake … your body simply does not need more sugar.

Self-experiment of a "sugar addict"

WOMAN editor-in-chief Euke Frank talks about her first two weeks without sugar.
I am sugar addicted. For real! When my son (14) eats five gummy bears, I stuff the remaining 35 out of the packaging into my mouth. If colleagues baked cookies, I have to taste. If I have a little fatigue attack in the afternoon, then I need a sugar boost. I do not eat basically unhealthy, no, but I just can not do without sugar. When Gesund boss Pia Kruckenhauser forgave the topic, I loudest "Hier!" called. Because: I do not want to be sugar addicted anymore. I am just on day 28. The first days I often had a headache. And then sometimes you ask yourself: Hey, what do I do now with the time I used to have a snack? I feel more alert now, more agile. I miss a lot of fruit, in between an apple would be great – but I think these eight weeks through. For sure – in the next issue of WOMAN you will find my detailed history of suffering in the Gesund-Ressort :-).

WOMAN editor-in-chief Euke Frank