What I learned when I gave up sugar for six weeks

Foods with added sugar are everywhere – even in some surprising places. So how easy is it to go without sugar and what difference can it make to your health? While I typically eat a healthy diet with plenty of home-cooking, I also have a sweet tooth and tend to consume a chocolate treat or two every day. That's not very surprising – overconsumption of sugar is extremely common in our modern diets. It's bad for our teeth, harmful to our health and there is even some evidence to suggest eating too much sugar might lead to long-term cognitive deficits. As my role involves reporting on health and wellbeing, I've increasingly started to worry about eating so many treats, which alongside refined sugar, often contain numerous additives. In fact, one of my regular treats contains more than half my daily recommended amount of sugar. Dietary guidelines in the US recommend consuming fewer than 12 teaspoons of added sugar from food and beverages (around 50g) while in the UK, the NHS recommends people eat less than seven teaspoons (30g) of sugars per day. In reality US adults eat more than 16-17 teaspoons (65-70g) a day, according to the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. To p