Sugar and White Flour: What to Remove from Your Diet First
Dr. Boris Wydoff
When a person decides to “get healthy,” they usually start with an ordeal: a strict diet, fasting, exhausting workouts. A week later, the ordeal ends in a setback. I advise the opposite: you do not need to fast or “go on a diet.” To begin with, it is enough to remove three things from your plate that most strongly pollute the blood and overload the liver.
What to Remove
- Sugar — and everything it hides in. Candy and baked goods are obvious, but sugar hides in sweet yogurts, sauces, “healthy” bars, soda, and packaged juices. Read the ingredients.
- White flour. White bread, loaves, pasta made from soft wheat varieties, cookies. Everything alive has been removed from the grain — what remains is an empty mass that behaves in the body almost like sugar.
- Processed foods. Sausage, hot dogs, smoked meats, fast food, chips. This is no longer food, but products made from food.
These foods give the body empty calories and acidic waste, while taking away vitamins and energy needed to process them. Remove them, and the body will immediately direct the freed-up energy toward cleansing.
What to Replace Them With
Replace sweets with fruit and a small amount of dried fruit. Replace white bread with whole-grain or bran bread. Replace sausage with beans, lentils, or mushrooms. And the main household rule: do not keep “junk” at home. What you do not buy, you do not eat; willpower is needed once at the store, not twenty times in one evening in front of the refrigerator.
Three Traps
The first is replacing sugar with “diet” sweets and syrups: it is the same sugar in different clothing, and often worse. The second is removing everything at once and giving in after three days: three groups are enough, but remove them for good. The third is “rewarding” yourself with harmful foods for your successes: let the reward be a feeling of lightness in your body, it is more honest.
What You May Notice
Many people notice the first changes after two or three weeks: steadier energy without the “roller coaster” after meals, clearer skin, calmer sleep, less craving for sweets — the craving feeds itself, and when the supply stops, it fades. But everyone has their own pace, and results are not guaranteed.
Sugar and Acidic Waste
Too much sugar and white flour makes the internal environment more acidic — and the body responds to acidic blood with inflammation, fatigue, and the loss of minerals that it tries to use to neutralize the acid. Acidosis is the acidification of the internal environment by harmful acids; I also associate it with many “unexplained” joint pains. Some people notice that their joints feel better after three weeks without sugar, but this does not happen to everyone; if you have joint pain, see a doctor first.
Hidden Sugar: Where to Look
Check the ingredients where you would not expect sweetness: bread, ketchup and sauces, “fitness” muesli and bars, flavored yogurts, packaged juices (a glass of juice can contain up to four spoonfuls of sugar without the fiber). The words “fructose,” “glucose syrup,” “maltodextrin,” and “dextrose” are the same sugar under different aliases.
The First Week Without Sugar: What to Expect
Days 2–4 are usually the hardest: cravings, irritability, “just give me a cookie” — this is habit protesting, not a need. Fruit, water, a complete protein-rich lunch, and sleep before 23:00 can help. By the end of the first week, many people find that cravings have noticeably faded; by the end of the third, it becomes easier to walk past the display that once commanded you. Everyone has their own pace, and results are not guaranteed. But this freedom is exactly what we are looking for.
WHEN YOU NEED A DOCTOR
If you have diabetes or take medicines that affect blood sugar, discuss dietary changes with your doctor before sharply giving up sweets. The advice in this article does not replace prescribed treatment.
Frequently asked questions
Where should I start with healthy eating?
Not with a diet, but with a cleanup: remove sugar in all forms, white flour, and processed foods (sausages, fast food, chips). It is one habit, with a greater effect than many diets.
Can I replace sugar with fructose or syrups?
It is better not to: “diet” sweets and syrups are the same concentrated sugar in a different form. Replace sweets with fruit and a small amount of dried fruit.
When will I notice results?
Many people notice the first changes after two or three weeks — steadier energy throughout the day, calmer sleep, less craving for sweets — but everyone has their own pace, and results are not guaranteed.
Go deeper with Dr. Wydoff's materials
Azbuka zdorovya / The ABC of Health (e-book, Russian) →Weight stabilization forever. →
Boris Wydoff — naturopath and author, Ph.D. in nutrition. For over fifty years I have helped people restore health through nutrition, cleansing and the power of the mind — in Europe, America and Asia. About the author →