7-Day Sugar Cleanse: Beat Your Addiction with Tasty, Easy-to-Make Recipes that Nourish and Help You Resist Cravings

By Leisa Maloney Cockayne

One Week to a Healthier, Sugar-Free You

Do you constantly crave simple carbohydrates like breads, desserts or sugary drinks? Do you treat yourself to “one cookie” that quickly spirals into eating the whole box? Have you tried to cut back on your sugar consumption before, but ultimately caved to your cravings? You aren’t alone! Stop being controlled by your sugar addiction once and for all by following this simple, achievable one-week sugar cleanse, designed by integrative nutrition health coach and www.makemesugarfree.com founder Leisa Maloney Cockayne.

This quick and achievable cleanse is made up of seven days of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes that are flavorful and satisfying enough to help you quit sugar cold turkey, without feeling like you’re missing out on enjoying your meals. Choose from tasty options like:

- Quinoa and Goat Cheese Burgers
- Bo-ho-llandaise Poached Eggs
- Coconut Chicken Dippers
- Coconut and Vanilla Overnight Oats
- Sage Pork Cutlets
- Parma Ham and Arugula Cauli Pizza

Leisa includes a bonus chapter of healthy meals to enjoy post-cleanse, to help you continue being conscientious and keep you from sliding back into unhealthy, sugar-laden habits. She also shares lower-sugar versions of your favorite desserts—because breaking your sugar addiction doesn’t mean never eating the sweets you love again! Instead, it’s all about enjoying sugar in moderation, without being controlled by urges and cravings.

A former sugar addict herself, Leisa will guide you step-by- step through successfully breaking your addiction and start reaping the benefits of your new sugar-free life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Oct 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781645673354

Book preview

Getting Started

SUGAR ADDICTION: WHAT IT IS, WHY IT’S BAD FOR YOU AND HOW TO BREAK IT!

WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE ADDICTED TO SUGAR?

First off, sugar is a highly addictive substance. When we eat anything sweet-tasting, it triggers the release of dopamine, which is also known as the happy hormone. This is the same hormone that creates addictions to nicotine, alcohol, drugs and gambling. It makes us feel good when we eat sugar, so we begin to crave that sensation.

And it’s not just that sugar is an addictive substance; there’s also an evolutionary biological glitch that keeps us hooked. All sugars are made up of roughly 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose, and fructose is one of the only foods on earth that doesn’t trigger a feeling of being satisfied. In other words, we can eat and eat it to the point of feeling sick without feeling full. How many times have you sat down to relax and watch a movie with your sweet treats, having convinced yourself that you’ll only have a few? Halfway through the pack, you’re already feeling fit to burst, but on you plow. Your belly’s groaning because you’ve eaten so much, but the craving seems to override all common sense, and so on you plunder.

You see, thousands of years ago, food was scarcer, so when humans came across a tree full of fruit or a bush full of berries, it was in our interest to eat as many as we could before they rotted, and then to store that sugar as energy to be used later. Back then, any form of sugar was seldom come by. But, unfortunately for us, it’s everywhere now. Our bodies simply haven’t caught up with and evolved as quickly as the food industry.

We still physically respond to sugar—fructose—as we did all those years back, because we simply haven’t developed a stop button to tell us to stop eating it. For many people, it takes them feeling physically sick before they can stop. When was the last time you ate so much fish or broccoli you felt sick? It’s nearly impossible to eat that much, because our body signals when we’ve had enough.

For the longest time, I felt so much shame around my eating habits, and I thought I must have just lacked willpower. I’d make light work of devouring a family-size chocolate bar that I fooled myself into thinking I’d only eat a square of. Or, I’d gorge on a full packet of cookies. My sugar-free journey has proven to me that it’s not our lack of willpower, it’s the way our bodies respond to sugar that makes it so difficult to refuse when we’re gripped with cravings. Plus, the onslaught of multimillion dollar ad campaigns at every turn encourages our sugar consumption.

Sugar and sweet foods have become psychologically associated with treats. Cakes, chocolate and ice cream are all foods that we eat to make ourselves feel good, or to reward ourselves. This is the message perpetuated in most advertising that can be seen on TV, online, on billboards and in magazines. And, unlike our hunter-gatherer predecessors, we don’t have to wait to happen upon a berry bush to get a fructose hit. No, we’re greeted with wall-to-wall confectionery pretty much anywhere we go: from the corner store to the gas station, hardware store or supermarket. Sugar is everywhere, so it’s hardly surprising that so many people are eating too