A friend of mine recently complained to me "I am so addicted to sugar and it's just so hard to stop eating it!" I agreed with him by saying "yup, it's a quick energy source for our bodies, so we do tend to crave it." This sparked a debate about the crazy amount of sugar in certain foods and some foods that you don't expect to have added sugars. For example, low fat yogurt. You expect something like yogurt to be healthy and while most are, low fat yogurt is FILLED with sugar, about 30 grams in one cup on average. That's common with most low fat foods, because once you remove the fat you lose flavor so the easiest way to add back flavor is to add sugar. Another one that a lot of people don't realize is condiments. So many such as ketchup, Sriracha BBQ sauce and even some mustards.
Back to original sentiment, how do we start with reducing sugar from our diets? I must admit my 'sweet tooth', that I don't normally have, has returned lately so I thought this will be a good way to get myself back on track as well. A couple of us discussed what was reasonable and I recommended to keep it simple at first, since the best way to make anything a permanent change is to build it slowly and with purpose.
So, here's the challenge, pure and simple.....
For 30 days
NO
candy
candy bars/chocolate bars
sodas
Added sugars; such as flavored coffee creamers, adding sugar to your oatmeal, etc. Honey is ok and maple syrup and agave nectar are ok in moderation
baked goods; such as donuts, cakes, muffins, etc. unless you bake them yourself and use one of the above sweeteners, date sugar or coconut sugar
You can still have fruits (although I would recommend limiting your amount of fruit juices), milk and dark chocolate in moderation and yogurt is good as well (just stay away from low fat yogurt, Greek yogurt is great!).
Hopefully at the end of the 30 days you will feel better, maybe have lost a few of those extra pounds and don't have as strong of a sugar craving. Maybe you'll find that once you remove the refined sugars for your diet that fruits will taste much sweeter and you'll start to crave them instead.
Let me know if you have any questions and how it goes for anyone that does this.
Happy Journey!
Photo by Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash
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