The Sugar Replacement

How to complete The Sugar Replacement

Liquid sugar is the easiest few hundred daily calories to cut because nothing about a drink swap requires cooking, planning, or willpower at mealtimes. Ninety days is long enough to reset your taste: by the end, the soda you loved tastes like syrup and water stops tasting like nothing.

1. Finish or give away every sugary drink in your house and stop buying them on day one; the grocery store is where this is won.
2. Stock the fridge with cold plain and sparkling water; buy a variety pack of flavored seltzers to find two or three you actually like.
3. If soda was your caffeine source, switch to unsweetened tea or black coffee so withdrawal headaches don't get blamed on the sugar.
4. Carry a water bottle so the vending machine never gets a vote.
5. Order sparkling water with lemon at restaurants and bars before anyone asks what you're having.

Tips

• Define your rules up front: juice, sweet tea, energy drinks, and sugary coffee orders all count as sugary beverages.
• Days four through ten are the worst; cravings drop sharply after week two.
• Ice-cold matters: lukewarm tap water loses to a cold can every time, so keep water chilled.

What counts as done

You go 90 consecutive days drinking only water, sparkling or still, whenever you'd previously have grabbed something sweet.