A Georgetown cupcake has never tasted so good. After a month of abstaining from foods with added sugar, the coconut chocolate cupcake was a godsend. Sugar-free January was not, to say the least, a rousing success.

After the holidays, my mom and I decided to eat healthier to make up for the hot chocolate and Christmas cookies we devoured. No added sugar meant no cake, no cookies and nothing with high-fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, molasses, Splenda or Sweet ‘n Low. But we could still have foods with natural sugars, such as fruit or milk.

The first few days weren’t too bad. I felt healthier, and I thought I would be able to eat like that forever. But then reality set in. I began to realize I couldn’t have soda and when my mom’s birthday rolled around in late January, we couldn’t even have a proper cake.

But the health effects of consuming sugar are worse than most people realize. Added sugars are most likely responsible for increased calorie consumption and obesity in the U.S., the American Heart Association found in 2009. The average American consumes 22.2 teaspoons of added sugar each day, even though the recommended amount is only about five teaspoons.

Foregoing sugar in January meant I was, at least where sugar was concerned, healthier than the average American. But oddly enough, I didn’t notice a drastic change. I didn’t feel “energized” or “animated” like various health websites claimed. After more than four weeks without sweets or treats, I can say that I feel no different. Waking up every morning was still just as hard, and studying for tests was even worse without Diet Coke to keep me going.

Giving up sugar didn’t make me drop 20 pounds or give me the ability to run a marathon. All the websites I looked at extolled the virtues of giving up refined sugar: my hair would glow, I would have a new bounce in my step and I would feel smarter. Maybe I was having too many chips or overdosing on super-sweet clementines, but the benefits of a sugar-free lifestyle never materialized. The last week, I counted down until the day when I could have even seemingly innocuous foods like peanut butter or Honest Tea again.

On Feb. 1, I ignored the websites’ advice to not eat too much sugar right away so my body could adjust. That Georgetown cupcake was a welcome treat after a month without dessert. For February, I’m forgoing pasta and bread. Maybe that will give me the spring in my step that supporters of the sugar-free diet had promised.