I have not given it up, but I have cut way back. About 15 years ago, I noticed I was hitting the vending machine at work every afternoon - that craving would come on and I’d get a candy bar. It was a habit. I decided to try cutting that out, because a few hours later I was exhausted when I got home from work - you gotta start somewhere. Instead of buying a candy bar, I went outside and walked around the work campus. One lap turned into two, and eventually my habit became the afternoon walk and I no longer visited the vending machine.
As others are saying, once you cut back on sugar, you notice how sweet everything starts to become. Everything has sugar in it - the less you eat of it, the more you notice, and the less you like it. Anyway, I still eat things with sugar but I control it a lot better. For example I no longer eat packaged oatmeal - I prefer to sweeten plain oatmeal myself with a little brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc. but I get to control how much. I scrape the icing off cakes and cinnamon rolls, and can skip dessert without a problem. Just cutting back gives you power to control your sugar intake because, ISTM a lot of foods start to taste too sweet, and you feel better not consuming as much. Also, I do not drink sodas or foofy coffee drinks (I like my coffee black, like my soul). My advice is to start small and watch how unpleasantly sweet many unhealthy foods become.
It’s amazing how often that doesn’t motivate people. One of my aunts passed away 2 years ago, and she’d lost both legs to diabetes and didn’t change a thing. Last year, another aunt was diagnosed and same deal - she’s puttering along with the mantra that “if it happens, it happens.” WTF?
I’ve done a few sugarless stints in my life, and the toughest part is coffee and oatmeal. I don’t use a lot of sugar in either (a spoonful), but without sugar they’re off the menu. As I’ve aged, sweets have gotten to seem disgustingly sweet, so less of a challenge. I now totally get why foreigners wonder if we put sugar in everything.
After they hack off your first foot, the difference in when they hack off your second foot as between ice cream never and ice cream with every meal is like 3 weeks. Pass the Fudge sauce!!
As to your other Aunt …
Lotta folks choose a quasi-religious fatalism because the alternative, that this is their fault and their responsibility to control is just too terrifying.
“It is Allah’s / Fate’s / God’s will” is a phrase in every language and every faith for a reason. Humans hate to be responsible for their outcomes. Most of 'em anyway.
There are times in my day when I need to get my glucose up quickly. I find it very hard to ingest a glass of orange juice with two spoons of sugar. It’s just drinking syrup to me. I can manage sugar cubes. They melt away pretty fast.
I always have a head ache after. Could be from my numbers coming up fast. I blame sugar in my heart, well…cause I need to blame something, some days.
I used to have a sweet tooth as a kid. But as time went by, it just somehow went away.
After I was about 30 or so I found I simply didn’t crave sugar or carbohydrates any more.
Used to cause a bit of family friction: oh, come on, you must have a piece of cake, it’s Granma’s special recipe…
Eventually got it accepted that I Just Don’t Eat Dessert etc.
I realize I’m lucky here, I don’t have to exert willpower to avoid stuff that is probably not very healthy.
I don’t feel like I’m making that much of a dietary change, but maybe I have changed enough to feel it physically. I can point to three or four times today where I was going to ingest something sweet and then reminded myself I’m not doing that anymore.
I’m extremely tired. No amount of sleep feels like enough.
I was starting to worry I had long COVID but then I remembered I’ve been doing all this. I hope this is the reason.
Are you cutting back or eliminating sugar? Going cold turkey may not be ideal. You can allow yourself some bits - perhaps some fruit (fresh or dried) will take the edge off the feeling. Try chewing gum, or a cup of tea, or even a cough drop.