Cutting out sugars and carbs is a popular way to help ourselves become less addicted to the stuff, and feel better overall. But if you’ve ever done a sugar or carb detox diet, you know how hard they can be.

Challenges such as these are just that: Challenges. They’re excruciatingly difficult, especially if you’re addicted to sugar or carbs, which most of us are. The average American consumes 17 teaspoons (71.14 grams) every day, when we’re supposed to be limiting ourselves to 6 tsps (25 grams), according to the Sugar Association. One day without them and you feel like you’re going to die.

Though hard, one of the best ways to get out of a sugar or carb addiction is to challenge yourself not to eat them for a period of time, usually 7-10 days.

Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez decided she was going to do just that. Well, actually, her trainer decided for her, as she’s preparing to play a role as a stripper in an upcoming movie and the 49-year-old needs to look the part.

Though J. Lo is a pretty healthy person and works out often, her trainer thought why not just have her give up sugar and carbs altogether?

At first, Lopez kind of freaked. “That’s most of my diet,” she half-joked on the Ellen Show. But once she told herself, “okay, it’s only for 10 days,” she decided she could do this.

But man was it hard. Lopez said she experienced all sorts of terrible symptoms right from the very first day she cut the bad stuff out.

“Not only do you get a headache, but you feel like you’re in an alternate reality or universe,” she said. “Like you don’t feel like yourself. You realize that you’re addicted to sugar.”

She even found herself thinking about the next time she’d be able to have a cookie or piece of cake again. “I’m thinking about it all the time. I’m like, ‘When can I have sugar again?’” she said.

But, as she forced herself to continue on without sugar and carbs in her life, her body got used to it, and it became a lot easier to manage.

“[The challenge was] really hard in the beginning,” she added. “It was the discipline. I was like, ‘It’s only 10 days, c’mon, you can do this.’ And then it gets a little hard in the middle, and then by the end you’re like, okay.”

By the end of the challenge, she said she’d totally do it a second time!

“What happens is, it takes down the inflammation a little bit,” she said. “So all of a sudden you start feeling really small, and less swollen, and it feels good. You get addicted to that feeling too.”

Get it, girl! To hear her talk more about her experience eliminating sugar and carbs, check out the video below.

Have you ever done a 10-day sugar or carb elimination diet? Did you experience similar symptoms as J Lo did? What did you find to be the hardest food to give up?