40 Days Toward Sugar Freedom

I had all kinds of plans for the weeks my grandgirls stayed with us this summer. We were going to play outside, sit on the floor giving life to their dollhouse family, and make the most of having all that time together.

Instead, I was exhausted.

They seemed to snack constantly, and from stress and habit, I snacked right along with them, especially on the sweet treats that were always within reach. But those foods weren’t giving me the kind of fuel I needed, and I kept noticing how often my sugar cravings were driving my choices.

By the end of those weeks, I knew I couldn’t keep ignoring the way I was eating. I wanted something different—not another strict diet, but a move toward sugar freedom.

Your version may look different. You may not have little girls asking for snacks all day, but you might know what it’s like to have plans for your life and not enough energy to carry them out.

I want more than less sugar

This isn’t really about losing weight or creating a long list of foods to avoid.

I want enough energy to keep up with my grandgirls instead of making fun plans I’m too tired to enjoy. I want to care for my health so I will be here to watch them grow up and see as much of my adult children’s lives as God gives me.

And I want energy for the life my husband and I are creating at home. We have chickens I promised to help care for, but lately he’s been doing most of it. He built me a greenhouse last year that I barely use. Now he’s working on the garden area I’ve dreamed about.

I can picture us tending the chickens together, finally growing those strawberries I’ve already failed at twice, bringing food in from the garden and cooking healthy meals together.

I don’t just want to eat less sugar. I want more energy for the life God has given me.

Why I’m calling this toward sugar freedom

That word matters here.

I’m not promising 40 perfect sugar-free days or trying to prove that I can follow enough rules if I just try harder. I’ve done enough all-or-nothing thinking around food.

One of the things I most want to practice during these 40 days is this:

Make a better choice at the very next meal.

Not tomorrow. Not Monday. Not after I’ve already written off the rest of the day.

The next meal.

Freedom may look different for each of us, but I’m beginning to think it has less to do with perfect choices and more to do with what happens after an imperfect one.

Follow the 40-Day Journey

Week 1 — August 24
Week 2 — August 31
Week 3 — September 7
Week 4 — September 14
Week 5 — September 21
Day 40 / Final Reflection — September 28

Come back each week and I’ll link the latest update above.

I’ve been here before

Thirteen years ago, when this blog was very new, I wrote an entire series called 31 Days to Food Addiction Recovery.

I approached food differently then. There were stricter rules and much more emphasis on abstinence. I’m grateful for the woman who wrote those words and for what God taught me during that time, but thirteen years of life and recovery have changed the way I see this struggle.

My history with food is tangled up with a much larger recovery story. After getting sober from drugs and alcohol, food eventually became another place I could turn for comfort, stress relief and escape. I’ve shared more of that story in Turning to Food: An Addict’s Journey.

I don’t need to retell all of it here. What matters now is that I’m still learning.

And this time, I want to approach the struggle with more curiosity, more nourishment and far less punishment.

What I’m trying for 40 days

A normal day lately can begin with a latte for breakfast—or sometimes nothing at all because part of me still thinks eating less must be better.

Then the day gets away from me.

Instead of stopping for an actual meal, I reach for easy snacks or treats. By late afternoon I’m hungry, tired and ready for someone else to cook me a big restaurant dinner, serve it to me and clean everything up afterward.

If you’ve ever reached the end of the day realizing you ate plenty but never really nourished yourself, you probably know this cycle too.

That is the cycle I want to interrupt.

For these 40 days, I’m stepping away from the obvious sources of added sugar that have the strongest pull on me: desserts, candy, sweet baked treats and restaurant desserts.

But I’m not trying to eliminate every trace of sugar from every ingredient or turn label-reading into another obsession. Fruit, sourdough, plain Greek yogurt, small amounts of honey, my morning latte and normal real-life meals can still fit.

I’m also planning one very intentional exception: a serving of birthday cake for my husband’s birthday near the end of the 40 days.

I actually want to see what happens.

Can I look forward to it without obsessing over it? Enjoy it as part of celebrating someone I love? Then go back to my usual choices at the next meal without guilt?

That’s the kind of freedom I’m interested in.

And none of this is a food plan I’m asking you to follow. This is my experiment. Your body, history and needs may be very different from mine. If you recognize yourself in any of this, though, I’d love to have you walk through these 40 days with me.

The deeper experiment

Less sugar on my plate isn’t the only thing I’m paying attention to. I want to notice what happens before I reach for it.

Am I actually hungry? Stressed? Tired? Lonely? Looking for a reward? Avoiding the effort of making myself a real meal?

And somewhere in that pause is an even more important question:

Have I invited God into this yet?

I know I’m not the only woman who has reached for something sweet before stopping long enough to ask what she actually needs.

I don’t believe eating sugar means I’ve failed spiritually. I don’t believe God loves me more when I eat well or less when I don’t. But I do know how easily I can ask food to comfort, soothe or carry something I haven’t brought to Him.

For these 40 days, I want to practice noticing that.

Not fighting every craving through sheer willpower. Not replacing one set of food rules with another.

Learning to pause, listen, nourish my body well, and depend more deeply on God as I do it.

What will freedom look like on Day 40?

I don’t expect to arrive at some magical place where I never want sugar again.

I want to ask a much simpler question:

Does sugar have a little less power over my thoughts and choices than it did when I began?

Maybe I’m thinking about sugar less. Maybe I’m eating real meals instead of living on snacks. I may be cooking more, getting outside more, or finally spending time in the greenhouse again.

One imperfect choice might stay one choice instead of becoming an entire imperfect day.

Those are the things I want to pay attention to.

If you’ve been fighting your own version of this battle for years, you’re welcome to walk through these 40 days with me. You don’t need to follow my food choices or create your own set of rules.

Just come back each week.

I’ll tell you what actually happened, what I’m learning, where I struggled and what God is showing me along the way.

Prayer for the Journey

Father, thank You for meeting each of us exactly where we are. Please help us care for our bodies with gratitude, not fear or shame. When stress, exhaustion, or habit has us reaching for food, remind us to pause long enough to invite You in. Teach us to choose nourishment without turning food into another set of rules. And when we make a choice we wish we hadn’t, help us leave it there instead of letting it decide the rest of the day. Give us the grace to make a better choice at the next meal. We want more than control. We want freedom, and we want to learn to depend on You along the way. Amen.