Week 1: Raise Your Sugar Consciousness

During the first week, your goal is simply to become aware of your relationship to sugar-without changing your diet at all. By scanning ingredients lists and keeping a food diary, you'll discover where the added sugars are hiding in your diet and notice when you succumb to sugar-laden foods.

Search for sugars
Be aware that sugar has many guises-in fact, there are dozens of varieties of added sugar. While it's unlikely you'll remember all of them, you can keep some of the most common in mind (see the Sugar Glossary). Familiar sweeteners like cane sugar, honey, and molasses are easy enough to spot; other common sugars include dextrose, fructose, fruit-juice concentrates, maltose, and sucrose.
High-fructose corn syrup is especially abundant in processed foods-and especially problematic. Its use has directly paralleled the rise in obesity in America. Derived from corn and inexpensive to produce, high-fructose corn syrup is a very concentrated sweetener. Also, because fructose is metabolized through the liver, consuming high-fructose corn syrup strains the liver and has been linked to increased levels of triglycerides and total cholesterol.
In your hunt for sugars, don't search just in expected places; also check breads, cereals, sauces, soups, and yogurts- in short, anything with a label. Nutrition labels don't delineate added sugars-so it's hard to determine how much you're getting. Keep in mind, though, that ingredients are listed in order of quantity, so if any type of sugar is listed in the first few ingredients, the food is most likely high in added sugars.

Start a food diary
For the next three weeks, keep a food diary to track the foods and beverages you consume every day. Beside every meal, snack, or drink, record the time of day and your mood, and keep note of any impulsive eating behaviors and food cravings. For the first week, keep close track of all sugar-containing foods, without trying to cut down at all. Read labels, and don't forget the small servings-the teaspoon of sugar you add to your coffee or the mint you eat after lunch.
After a few days, you may notice a relationship between your eating patterns and your energy level-for example, an afternoon lull in energy followed by an intense craving for chocolate, or a sluggish feeling after eating sugary cereal for breakfast. Knowing your patterns will help you prepare for the weeks ahead.