Cut sugar to lose weight without even trying!

Even though we all love sugar we only need it in moderation. Unfortunately we no longer eat it in small volumes and it is affecting our health. Obesity is one of the outcomes of excess consumption or sugars that eventually convert to fat.

We should be aiming to consume less than 10 teaspoons, or no more than 10% of daily caloric intake per day, of sugar. But it’s so easy to consume double this amount on an average diet. Drinking one can of soft drink contains enough sugar for one entire day.

If you can cut down on sugar consumption and stop the cravings for sweet foods you will often drop a few kilograms within the first few weeks.

Leanne & Fitness Tips Say:

So How Do You Start??

1. Drink Water and lots of it. Plain water is always the best but if you have trouble drinking it on its own add fresh lemon or a lime for flavour. (Try not to have any cordial!!!) I found out a client was drinking a glass of cordial every night with dinner instead of water and as soon as he stopped taking the cordial his weight dropped as he was consuming less sugar).
2. Stay away from all soft drinks! Please try and kick the habit and you will start to feel better immediately.
3. Read Labels Carefully. Almost everything that you buy in the supermarket especially processed foods, contains added sugar. Be aware that other names are used other than sugar such as fructose, dextrose, glucose, sucrose and maltose. If you don’t know the name of it, then don’t buy it. Other forms of sugar include honey, syrup, raw sugar, brown sugar and concentrated fruit juice.
4. Fruit Juices that are unsweetened are the best choices.
5. Cut down on sugar in tea and coffee.
6. Choose tinned fruit in natural juice instead of with syrup.
7. Halve the sugar used in recipes. It works easily in most recipes except with meringues, jams and ice cream.
8. Cut out jam, marmalade, syrup, treacle and honey. If you have jam or honey on your toast for breakfast you have already started your sugar intake first thing before the day even begins.
9. Cut out your intake of cakes, biscuits and pastries.
10. Limit your intake of chocolates and sweets, choose healthier snacks.
11. Choose wholegrain cereals instead of sugar coated types.
12. Use low sugar varieties of ready made desserts and puddings.

So What About Other Sugar Alternatives??

Artificial Sweeteners – Yes or No? Artificial sweeteners are not a healthy alternative to sugar.

Aspartame Aspartame contributes to neurotoxicity and can cause some people to have headaches, seizures and mood disorders and some studies have even linked aspartame to cancer! Manufacturers have used aspartame in a variety of products including Equal.

High Fructose Corn Syrup High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a less expensive sweetener than sugar and can have serious health implications. It is present in some processed foods available in the local supermarket more so in the USA than in Australia. HFCS is made up mostly of fructose, a kind of sugar that must be metabolized in your liver.

Your liver cannot handle all the fructose that many people ingest, so doctors are seeing more and more patients with fatty liver disease, a condition similar to the liver toxicity of alcoholics, except that it comes from too much high fructose corn syrup and other lifestyle choices.

Saccharin Besides having an unpleasantly bitter and metallic aftertaste, saccharin has been shown to be carcinogenic and may cause bladder cancer. Saccharin is in diet drinks like Tab, some toothpastes, and Sweet n Low.

Splenda Marketed as a “healthy” artificial sweetener, Splenda can cause skin rashes/flushing, panic-like agitation, dizziness and numbness, diarrhea, muscle aches, headaches, intestinal cramping, bladder issues, and stomach pain. 

Splenda has also been shown to shrink the thymus glands and enlarge the livers and kidneys in rodents. Little long term research has been done on Splenda, so it is unclear what amounts might be safe.

How Much Sugar Are You Consuming Every Day?

Write down everything that you eat and drink for a week – How much did you consume? Try to cut down a bit further the second week and continue and you will find that you don’t have the sugar highs and lows throughout the day and you will feel so much better.

So Try it Now!