When my mom gave up added sugar at 60, she didn’t expect a miracle. But the changes came quickly — and stayed.

My mom wasn’t trying to turn her life around. She was 60, semi-retired, and relatively healthy. But after a routine check-up flagged slightly elevated blood sugar and cholesterol, her doctor offered a gentle nudge: “Try cutting added sugar for a few weeks. See how you feel.”

She wasn’t a soda drinker. She didn’t pile sugar in her coffee. But she did bake often—usually with a generous pour of maple syrup or brown sugar.

She added honey to tea and always had something sweet after dinner. Sugar, in her words, was her “little treat.”

Still, she agreed.

For 30 days, she would avoid all added sugars. That meant no desserts, no sweetened yogurts, no bottled salad dressings, no ketchup, and even her beloved granola bars were off the table.

As her daughter (and a health journalist), I was curious — but skeptical.

I’d seen plenty of diet fads come and go. But I wasn’t prepared for how much this small shift would change her energy, her sleep, and even the way she felt in her own skin.

Week 1: Withdrawal, and then something unexpected

The first few days were rough. She texted me with emoji-filled rants about how every product in the grocery store contained sugar—even crackers and canned soup.

The first night, she described pacing the kitchen like a ghost, craving something. Anything.

But then, something shifted.

By day five, she wasn’t craving sweets — she was craving simplicity. She found herself reaching for fruit, nuts, and roasted veggies with tahini drizzle.

She told me, “My tongue’s not bored. I’m just learning to listen to it differently.”

By the end of week one, the brain fog she thought was “just getting older” had started to lift. Her afternoon slumps disappeared. She felt—her words—“a little sharper than I’ve felt in years.”

Week 2: Food started tasting different

This is when I noticed it, too. I visited her for lunch and watched her eat a bowl of plain oatmeal with cinnamon and banana like it was crème brûlée.

Her taste buds had recalibrated. Suddenly, carrots were sweet.

Apples tasted intense. Even bell peppers, she claimed, had a depth she’d never noticed.

According to Well+Good, this kind of taste adjustment is real.

When you remove added sugars, your palate becomes more sensitive to natural ones. As her sugar intake dropped, her appreciation for subtlety grew.

Week 3: Real changes in mood and digestion

My mom is not the woo-woo type. So when she told me, “I didn’t realize sugar was messing with my emotions,” I paid attention. S

he felt calmer. Less reactive.

“I didn’t even scream at the printer when it jammed,” she said. (This was newsworthy.)

It turns out that blood sugar fluctuations are closely tied to mood swings — especially in older adults. A 2025 review in Nutrients found that high intake of ultra-processed, low-fiber foods is associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms. Cutting added sugar often levels those emotional spikes.

Her digestion also improved. No more bloating. More regularity.

A flatter stomach without changing anything else.

Week 4: The benefits stacked up

After four weeks, we made a checklist. She had:

Lost six pounds without counting calories

Reported the best sleep in years

Woken up alert instead of groggy

Felt less inflamed (joints, especially knees)

Been in a consistently better mood

Needed zero antacids—something she’d used weekly

She also got back her pep. She took on DIY projects, organized the garage (her Everest), and started walking farther than she had in a decade.

When she returned to the doctor, her blood sugar had dropped back into the normal range. Her cholesterol had improved slightly, too.

What she didn’t do

Here’s what I love about how she did it: she didn’t count grams or calories. She didn’t label food “good” or “bad.”

She just said: no added sugars for now.

She still ate carbs — brown rice, sweet potatoes, sourdough toast. She still had fruit daily. She didn’t demonize food groups or start soaking chia seeds in ten-dollar nut milks.

When she wanted dessert, she’d mash frozen banana with cocoa powder and almond butter. When she craved crunch, she’d make popcorn with cinnamon and olive oil.

She even went out to dinner — she just asked for sauces and dressings on the side and stuck to simple dishes.

The mental shift was bigger than the physical one

After 30 days, my mom didn’t want to go back. Not because she was scared of sugar — but because she felt like herself again.

She’d spent years assuming her dips in energy and mood were just part of aging. “Turns out,” she told me, “I was just on a blood sugar rollercoaster and calling it ‘getting older.’”

Now she enjoys sweets intentionally.

A slice of birthday cake? Great.

Store-bought cookies on a random Tuesday? Not worth it.

She says her new rule is simple: if it’s not special, it’s not sweet.

Final thoughts

Watching my mom quit sugar at 60 changed how I see aging. I used to think the sharpness and spark of our younger years inevitably faded. But what if part of that dimming isn’t time — it’s blood sugar swings, poor sleep, and low-grade inflammation we’ve just accepted as “normal”?

This shift wasn’t about perfection. It was about attention. About realizing that one ingredient—something so embedded in modern food — was quietly dulling her edge.

She didn’t just improve her labs. She got her life back, a little at a time, in ways neither of us expected.

And the best part?

She still eats dessert. Just on her terms now.