ADDICTED TO SUGAR…

Confession from an ex- VOGUE TopModel.

(I personally almost never eat sugar)

She wrote: I love sugar: the dark, oozing richness of a hot chocolate pudding; the cloud-like frosting on a perfect carrot cake; the delectable sweetness of a spoonful of muscovado at the bottom of a mojito… Yet, last year, I became concerned about what my sweet tooth was doing to my 33- year-old skin (not to mention my waistline). According to a clutch of studies, sugar is not only contributing to our rising levels of obesity, it ages us, too. With a stressful job, an expensive skincare dependency and an ever-growing collection of fine lines accumulating daily, I decided to give it up.

The decision was spurred by other changes in my life. I’d recently come out of a six-month relationship with a 6ft 5in bon viveur who thought nothing of ordering several puddings each time we dined out, and had encouraged me to share a bottle of wine – or two – over lengthy Sunday lunches. He, a rugby- and cricket-playing sportsman who didn’t look a day over 32 (he was 38), seemed to be able to pull off this decidedly unbalanced diet. I, however, couldn’t. I’d started having trouble with my sleep, lying awake for hours before dozing off fitfully. I felt increasingly anxious and craved a treat every afternoon. My skin – particularly around the jawline – had become red, angry and blotchy. I’d noticed my thin under-eye area beginning to wrinkle, giving rise to dark circles. My skin was less taut. To top it all off, I felt decidedly unskinny in my skinny jeans.

And so, one sunny Tuesday morning in June, as I cycled to work, salivating over the thought of the honey-baked granola I’d enjoy on arrival, I started to ponder my total sugar intake. Thanks to spending my working week in an office full of women whose desks become extravagant tuck shops at four o’clock – macarons, bags of dried fruit, slabs of Hotel Chocolat, homemade chocolate brownies – it dawned on me the majority of my diet comprised sugar. I wouldn’t contemplate having a greasy, fat-laden burger for lunch, but I’d chomp a Kit-Kat at teatime. And it wasn’t just food. Although I’ve never been a big drinker, I’d taken to indulging in a stiff G&T or a large glass of pinot noir to mark the end of my working day. During an evening out, I could easily put away several sweet cocktails.
That day, I went online and ordered sugar-free bibles Clean & Lean Diet and Clean & Lean Diet Cookbook, and that was the beginning of the end. Sugar and I split up.

I went home and purged my cupboards. I threw away cereals, bread, biscuits and cakes. I banished sauces, honey and liqueurs. Less obvious foods, such as sushi, also faced expulsion (sushi rice is marinated in sugary wine). Thai meals, too, became verboten, along with processed food and anything that contained artificial sweetener. Dinners had to be planned and snacks were reduced to a few oatcakes with avocado or a handful of almonds or seeds. I even outlawed fruit, except for some dark berries each morning.

Despite my good intentions, the first sugar-free month was utterly joyless. Two days in, crippled by headaches and a complete lack of energy, I took to my bed, convinced I’d faint if I remained upright. Had I not performed the pre-emptive minesweep to eliminate temptation, I would have cracked. Instead, I felt too weak to crawl 50 metres to the shop.

My colleagues were incredulous of my new regime. Friends were doubtful, especially as I’ve always pronounced restrictive eaters boring, unsexy and neurotic. Some were aghast. Many lamented the new me. I was “no fun” any more. They rolled their eyes as I opened my packed lunch at work or skipped the dessert course, again. I was hardly likely to be the life and soul of a party. Not that I attended any. I was lucky if I stayed awake beyond 10, and would more often collapse into a fitful night’s rest soon after work.

My regime discomfited others. I felt I made them self-conscious of their own choices. (I took three boxes of oatcakes on holiday last summer, and dutifully snacked on them while my friend ate poolside ice creams.) Others lambasted me that “life’s too short” to be so restrictive. Four weeks in, they had to eat their words. I had lost a stone, dropping from a size 14 to a 12, and the broken sleep I’d been suffering for the past few months began to abate. People started commenting on how the whites of my eyes were brighter.

Is it any wonder that we’ve learnt to associate sugary food with happy times and making ourselves feel better?
James Duigan
But the biggest difference was to my skin. My cheeks took on a rosy tone. People commented that I looked “healthy” or “glowing”. I decided to maximise my new energy by enlisting the services of personal trainer and nutritionist Holly Pannett to help me target excess weight around my waist. “There’s a direct relationship between sugar and levels of the stress hormone cortisol,” she said. “Cortisol has been shown to increase central fat distribution, so by limiting your sugar intake, you’ll quickly target this area.”

She was right. Within two months, my life had changed. Not only had I lost nearly 10kg, but the emotional rollercoaster of sugar highs and lows I’d become so used to disappeared, as did my cravings. I felt fuller more quickly, and for longer. For the first time, I felt in control of my diet rather than it being in control of me.

Ever since the prime minister, William Gladstone, abolished the sugar tax in 1874, making the sweet stuff affordable for the masses, the health of Britain has declined exponentially. But its more insidious effects have only recently become apparent. Dr Robert Lustig has spent the past 16 years studying the effects of sugar on the central nervous system, metabolism and disease. In his new book, Fat Chance: the Bitter Truth about Sugar, Lustig writes that it works on the brain’s reward centre to encourage subsequent intake. “You get hooked on sugar at an early age, and it’s harder to kick the habit after years of prolonged usage,” he writes. “The stuff is abused… And when the sugar is stopped, symptoms of irritability – withdrawal – become apparent.”
Sugar is also emotionally addictive. Most of us grew up with sweet foods used as a reward by our parents, grandparents and even doctors and dentists. “There are deep emotional associations with sweet foods,” says James Duigan, founder of Bodyism and the Clean & Lean low-sugar regime. “Birthdays are marked by huge cakes drenched in sugar, sweets are given to soothe scraped knees. Is it any wonder that by the time we’ve reached our teens we’ve learnt to associate sugary food with happy times and making ourselves feel better?”

As for its effect on our faces: “There are several reasons too much sugar is harmful for your skin,” says aesthetic doctor Mica Engel of London’s Waterhouse Young Clinic. “In cases of glycation, excess glucose binds to the skin’s youth proteins and turns them brittle and stiff. The surfaces of cells are effectively caramelised; the by-products of glycation accumulate in the body and skin constantly appears dull and aged.”

Cell inflammation not only ages the skin; it depletes the stores of vitamins and minerals in your body, compromising your immune system. “It’s not only the skin that suffers,” continues Dr Engel. “There are other, more serious, issues presented by people with too much sugar in their bodies – circulatory problems, inflammation of the cartilages and joints [arthritis], eye problems [cataracts] and liver and kidney problems, to name a few…”
Buying good-quality ingredients has become my treat. But now I’m a small size 12 (10 on a good day) and full of energy, I deem it worth the sacrifice
One year after making my sugar-free pact, I haven’t looked back. Of course, eliminating sugary treats – and the associations bound up with them – leaves a hole in one’s life: asking for a vodka and soda to accompany dinner doesn’t feel as “social” as sharing a bottle of wine and socialising itself can be awkward – there’s nothing like advising a host of your food fads to send their blood pressure soaring. I get around dinner parties by eating what I’m given and not worrying about it. I do, however, find I cook at home more often and spend a lot more on food. Buying good-quality ingredients – organic fish, meat and dairy products, say – has become my treat. But now I’m a small size 12 (10 on a good day) and full of energy, I deem it worth the sacrifice.

Shortly after starting my sugar-free life, I met someone new. Ironically, he has the sweetest tooth of anyone I’ve ever met and will sit beside me wolfing down chocolate brownies and praline ice cream. Happily though, neither of us is bothered by the other’s eating peccadilloes, and for that I feel very thankful.

And I’m not a robot. There are times when I buckle and have the odd glass of red wine or scoop of gelato, but I don’t beat myself up about it. I weigh two stone less than I used to, and my body shape is transformed. My hair and nails have never looked better. I sleep soundly and my skin is free from blotches. But, best of all, the lines that were beginning to cause me consternation are much less pronounced.
And that’s the sweetest treat of all.