If you want to lose weight or just want improve your overall health you have to stop ingesting massive quantities of sugar. Many researchers believe that sugar is responsible for the obesity pandemic. And this may or may not be true (obesity is probably caused by multiple factors), but one thing is sure, you need to stop eating sugar for better health. Sugar has been associated with an increased risk of developing certain diseases such as diabetes type 2, metabolic syndrome, liver disease, obesity, heart disease, elevated triglycerides, depression, gout, and many other ailments.
According to the USDA, the average American consumed 132 pounds of sugar in 2010. Is this too much? Well, you decide but in 1700 the average American consumed only 4 pounds per year! (So we are eating 33 times more than in 1700).
Sugar is no so bad as a nutrient. Is the simplest form of carbohydrate. Nature selected humans and animal to like sugar since sweet fruits are actually full of many nutrients that we need. The problem is that with the increase in food processing we have gone from what we could call “normal” sugar ingestion (through fruits and vegetables) to an “abnormal” consumption of sugar. We are loading ourselves with too much sugar on a daily basis, especially if you drink sodas and processed fruit juices and eat a diet with a high proportion of processed flour (yes, cereal flours when digested are 80% pure sugar).
Stop Sugar Cravings with this 4-Week Plan
Within 4 weeks you will be ale to stop sugar cravings. The plan is simple:
Week 1: awareness week
Week 2: make your home sugar-free
Week 3: stop eating sugar (cold-turkey)
Week 4: decide what level of sugar you can allow in your life
Week 1: go to your kitchen and read labels. When you go shopping for food read labels too. You will be amazed at how many processed foods have added sugar. A simple baked roll may have 4 teaspoon of sugar. Your “health snack” may have two. Sugar addition to processed food may be masked by several names: Cane sugar, Cane juice, cane juice crystals, Confectioner’s sugar, Corn syrup, High fructose corn syrup, Corn sugar, Corn sweetener, Corn syrup solids, Crystallized fructose, Dextran, Dextrose, Diastase, Diastatic malt, malt, Evaporated cane juice, Fructose, Fruit juice, Fruit juice concentrate, Glucose, Glucose solids, Maltose, Maple syrup, Molasses, Raw sugar, sugar, and many more — ..
Week 2: throw away your sugar-loaded food and buy sugar-free foods. For example replace high-sugar cereals with a whole grain cereal that contains no added sugars. Instead of a sweet sugar protein bar, eat crackers and peanut butter (this is really a protein bar).
Week 3: The hardest of all the weeks in your life. JUST STOP EATING SUGAR FOR A WEEK and see how you feel. Your sweetness tolerance will decrease significantly during this week so food that you thought were bland will taste really good (you are tasting the real flavor of the food not the sugary coated flavor of sugar-coated food). When you get those sugar cravings realize that this is not hunger is just a craving. DO something else and the craving will go away (drink a glass of water, go for a walk, etc)
Week 4. make a plan to allow yourself sugar in your life. Modern life would be almost impossible without sugar (you would have to eat only meat to do that). SO an occasional treat of that cake won’t make you unhealthy or fat but be aware of a pattern of recurrence in sugar consumption. If you are eating again sugary stuff everyday, then you are back at feeding your sugar cravings.