A while back I blogged about cutting the cheese from our diet, now let’s talk about sugar! I used to never think about the amount of sugar in my diet. (I used to not think about a lot of things in my diet!). There are so many hidden sugars in all kinds of food, for example, ketchup. Who knew? My family was doing a diet together and they had to watch their sugar intake. It gave them a list of foods to avoid, and what to replace them with. When I saw ketchup on the list I thought, cutting back on sugar is a lot harder than we think.
Then you have some people like my husband who gets a sweet craving at night while in bed. He loves his Sour Patch Kids! That is his go-to night time snack.
Why is sugar so bad you ask? When you have a little here and there it is not. However, according to the American Heart Association, the average person has about 22 teaspoons of sugar per day! When you hear it like that, yowzers! Having too much sugar makes you prone to type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is when your body does not use insulin properly. It can be treated with lifestyle changes or medication.
Too much sugar can also make you depressed. How sad is that? How many of us grab some kind of sugary food, whether a chocolate bar or ice cream to help our mood or in times of stress? Unfortunately, this is just the opposite. Too much sugar lowers the “feel good” hormone inside us. You know, that “crash” we get from too much sugar! When we eat a breakfast loaded with sugar, like some cereals, it does not keep us filled. You find yourself hungry soon, and you have no energy. A diet filled with sugar also brings on added calories and brings on the fat. This fat can store around our organs which causes problems later in life.
But wouldn’t you want to just avoid all this and be more conscience of your sugar?
So let’s see how we can help to be more proactive! Looking at labels is definitely your best bet, and try to limit yourself to about 24 grams per day since a teaspoon of sugar contains about 4 grams. Foods labeled with glucose, sucrose or fructose have hidden sugars and are more harmful. High-Fructose corn syrup is used a lot as a sweetener and is in foods such as soda, bread, cookies, candy, ice cream, cakes (you know, all the good stuff.). Foods that are marked as light, or low-fat, have more sugar in them than their regular version.
There are also many foods that have natural sugars such as fruits and vegetables. These you do not have to avoid. These foods contain a small amount of sugar but they also have fiber and nutrients that are beneficial.
So to summarize, the best way to avoid too much sugar is to try to eat more unprocessed foods, and read your labels. If you see an ingredient you are not sure of, look it up. I do this a lot, right there in the store.
If you feel you have too much sugar in your diet, there are some sugar detoxes that you can do. I heard someone did a 21-day sugar detox and now, they don’t even crave the sugar anymore. I’m not saying they never eat sugar because that would be nearly impossible. But the extra sweet craving is gone.
This book is one of many helpful ways to eliminate extra sugars in your diet. If 21 days is too long for you, there are some 3-day sugar detoxes that might just help you get your feet wet.
If you are trying to or going to try to cut back on sugar, let me know what you are doing and how it is going. I love hearing your great ideas.
Awaken Your Inner Self!
Carol
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Recent Comments