The biggest reason people get fat or gain weight is sugar. I work with overweight clients who tell me ALL the time "I don't really like sweets." Yet after examining their diets I see that they're loaded with bread, pasta, yogurt, and cereals- all foods that are laced with hidden sugars. They don't eat plain oats or oatmeal for example, they eat a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal containing 12 grams of sugar. If this sounds like your dietary habits, trust me, you're addicted to sugar, whether you realize it, or not.
Sugar has ZERO nutritional value. It weakens your immune system. It throws off your metabolic functions and is highly addictive. In fact, it's the leading food additive in the U.S food supply and is making us a nation of sugar junkies. It's practically in every product you eat now. In fact, the average American (hold onto your undies this stat is CREEPY) downs about 30 teaspoons of added sugar DAILY. Um that's about 480 NUTRITIONALLY EMPTY CALORIES A DAY! EW.
Refined sugar is technically called SUCROSE or table sugar. But the other sugars you need to run from are DEXTROSE (corn sugar), FRUCTOSE (fruit sugar), MALTOSE (malt sugar) and LACTOSE (milk sugar). Don't even get me started on artificial sweetners or sugars, that's another post for another time!
It's sad that sugar is marketed as "natural", an advertising term I wish we would eliminate. Somehow the public has started to equate natural with healthy, when it's anything but. There's nothing natural about sucrose. 90% of the original source (sugarcane or sugar beets) has been removed. The brown color is lightened by chemical bleaching. Yum right? What's left is white sugar, stripped bare of all it's minerals and vitamins.
Sugar isn't just bad for the waistline, it's bad for your HEALTH. When sugar is found in natural foods and plants, such as apples, berries, or even sugarcane, it comes in it's God intended package (so to speak) complete with vitamins, enzymes, and minerals needed for complete digestion. When it's found in sugar packets or candy, or baked goods, etc it contains nothing of any good. The body actually has to borrow from its stores of nutrients in order to digest it.
I could go on and on about what sugar does to the body- it makes you fat, it grows cancer, it kills your immune system, hell it gives you wrinkles! Sugar does the following;
- Gives you weight gain
- Slows your metabolism
- Can make you irritable or depressed
- Gives you constant cravings
- Mental confusion
- Yeast infections
- Chronic fatigue
- Migraines
- Damage to vital organs
- Coma or death (in uncontrolled diabetes)
Sugar is cleverly hidden in virtually EVERYTHING we eat, especially processed and packaged foods from breads and crackers and soup to sauces, entrees- even diet foods and low fat foods. So here's my guidelines for sugar:
CHOOSE FOODS with 5g or LESS of sugar. The body doesn't register anything 5g or less so this is optimal.
Some of the worst offenders include breakfast cereals. Suppose you start your day with the "good for you" bowl of Raisin Bran, well you just ingested 20g of sugar, about the same in NINE (9) Hershey's Kisses! A packet of Quaker Instant Oatmeal, like Maple and Brown Sugar or Apples n Cinnamon includes 13+ grams of sugar!! Don't TOUCH THIS CRAP. Opt for whole rolled oats, plain, and add in cinnamon and Stevia to sweeten. Consumer Reports found that eleven popular breakfast cereals contain at least 40% sugar by weight. That's AT LEAST as much sugar as you'd get in a glazed doughnut.
Sugar hides in foods under clever names like beet sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, confectioner's sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, maltodextrin, maltitol (sugar alcohol), mannitol (sugar alcohol), sorbitol (sugar alcohol), sucrose, turbinado sugar, or of course, chemically FAKE sugars like aspartame or sucralose (i.e Equal and Splenda). These sugars are in everything from protein bars, protein powders, to shakes, to breads and dairy. Don't waste your time reading ingredients, you'll be so overwhelmed you'll run screaming from the store. Eat foods with 5g sugar or LESS per serving, you'll be fine!
BUT FIRST:
Are you a Sugar Addict? Take the questionnaire to find out!
Answer "yes" or "no" to the following, and be as honest as you can be!
- Do you snack frequently on sweet foods or drink sweet beverages between meals?
- Do you often feel shaky, weak, or irritable after eating sugary foods?
- Do you eat sugary desserts most days of the week?
- Would you describe yourself as chronically tired most days of the week?
- Do you usually put sugar in coffee or tea?
- Do you use sweet condiments (jams, jellies, syrups, and the like) daily?
- At parties do you gravitate towards the sweets?
- When you were a kid did your parents give you sweets for being good?
- After eating sweets do you feel euphoric, only to have your mood plunge later?
- When you get cravings are they mostly for bread or sweets?
- Do you suffer from frequent headaches?
- Do you usually grab a doughnut or bagel for breakfast?
- Do you drink soft drinks (including diet drinks) daily?
- When you go to the snack counter at the movies do you buy candy?
- If you order an alcoholic beverage is it usually something sweet like a pina colada, frozen margartia, etc?
If you answered YES to 3 or more of these questions, chances are- YOU'RE A SUGAR ADDICT.
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