As good as it tastes, sugar is probably one of the worst things out there that you can eat. Full of empty calories and known to cause inflammation, which leads to premature aging, sugar is also the culprit for midday slumps and sugar crashes. Every day, thousands of us try to kiss it goodbye, which is pretty hard, but there are so many benefits to avoiding sugar. But just how soon after you cut it out will you notice the effects of being sugar-free? New research says you can see a difference in just nine days.
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According to a recently published article in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, once your diet is void of sugar—notably high-fructose corn syrup—you can start to see an increase in your metabolism in less than two weeks. “Fructose provides no nutritional value and isn’t metabolized in the brain,” says Tyree Winters, one of the researchers. “Your body converts it to fat, but doesn’t recognize that you’ve eaten, so the hunger doesn’t go away.”
Getting through the first few days is the hardest because it’s common to experience headaches, irritability and even a lack of energy. But after you make it over the hump and start to see a change in your body, your cravings for sweets will dwindle, too. And, the longer you go, the less you’ll want sugar—your body may even reject it when you eat it. All of that combined will make it easier than you ever thought to pass up on that piece of chocolate cake.
