I reduced my sugar intake with milk

I have a sweet tooth yet I'm not a fan of added sugar. I know that sounds impossible but it's the truth. Because of this, I hardly add sugar to my meals no matter how bitter. I either avoid it or add a little to boost the taste of foods like quacker oats or custard. Sometimes I add a lot of milk to whatever food would have required sugar and just have it like that.

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The people around me keep wondering why I eat my meals like that. It's not because I'm the most healthy or sugar-conscious, it's because of what I've seen sugar do to the people around me; ranging from menstrual cramps to diabetes, to even bed wetting.

I dropped my excessive sugar intake in 2015 when I first went to a boarding school. My mom used to get bottles of original honey for me from one Mallam close to the school just before we went in for inspection. I was not so excited about using honey to drink garri for instance, but I had to learn. My mom had been looking for a way to reduce my sugar intake and she finally got her chance.

When I initially resumed, I used to ask my colleagues for sugar and just leave the honey there until I saw another of my hostel girls using honey in her tea. I walked up to her to ask how she enjoyed it but to my surprise she said she didn't. She was doing it because her father had diabetes and she didn't want to end up like him.

The girl's words hit me that day, causing me to go back and talk sense into my own head. It was then I began my fight against excessive sugar intake.

It was not a funny experience, I had to take all my cereals without adding sugar and the honey wasn't even helping. It completely altered the taste of most of the cereals like golden morn. At some point, I even felt like throwing up. So sugar didn't work for me and neither did honey.

I had no other choice than to train my taste buds to get used to only milk.

At first, I included the chocolate beverage into everything I took; my cornflakes, golden morn, garri, in order for it to be more palatable but when my mother started complaining that I was consuming my provisions too fast, I had to stop.

I then began to increase my intake of milk in cereals so it would at least be edible and every time I wanted to take garri, it would be with tiny amounts of sugar and salt instead of milk or chocolate.

This went on for a while and after my three years in boarding school, I successfully overcame my excessive sugar intake. I wasn't even taking honey to make up for it, I could go for weeks without taking added sugar.

To make up for the sugar that my body would obviously need, I started consuming a lot of yogurt after secondary school. Not just yogurts, fruits also became a common part of my diet.

I think that I can successfully eat or drink whatever doesn't contain sugar. This is because I have trained myself not just to focus on the sweetness of foods.

I was told once that I was deceiving myself because of my sugar intake reduction. We were at home reading for a tough exam with my friends and close colleagues and wanted to have tea for breakfast. When the sugar was passed around, I refused and passed it on.

I was mocked and ridiculed, saying it was an act of pretense and that when I grew older I stood a chance of suffering from low blood sugar. I got scared and began to take more sugar with each passing day but then, I thought about it carefully.

I ate other sources of sugar; cakes, biscuits, fruit juices, and even foods like rice which contain natural sugar so there was no way I was lacking sugar. All I was doing was regulating my intake so it wouldn't become too much.

I also stopped taking carbonated drinks. This one was quite difficult, I still found myself craving Pepsi, or smoov, but with discipline and constantly reminding myself that I needed only portioned amounts of natural sugar, I have been able to stay away from sugar to a large extent.

On days when I cannot help it, I add sugar to my meals or take carbonated drinks knowing that it is a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence and it wasn't going to affect me in any way.

I am a strong advocate for controlling sugar intake and I don't fail to talk about it whenever I get an opportunity.