Sugar isn’t the worst thing you could be doing to your body. However, if you’re like millions of Americans you could be dealing with one serious sugar habit.
Sugar has seeped its way into our food supply and is more prevalent than ever. Here are 5 quick tips if you’re looking for simple ways to kick your sugar habit.
Don’t Go Cold Turkey
Web M.D. suggests slowly tapering the amount of sugar you eat so you don’t suffer the side effects of drastic change.
In addition, it is less likely you will stick with any change if you go from one extreme to another with little moderation in between.
Drastic diet changes never stick. The best thing that you can do is to make small changes and stick with them over time.
Change one habit and stick with it. For example, if you’re a sweetened coffee fan, you may start with 5 tsp of sugar but each week add 1 less tsp of sugar to your cup of coffee. In 6 weeks, your cups of coffee will be sugar-free. This is a small change done over time that you can stick with.
Eat Protein
When you eat your meals, eat more protein as this is going to help you feel fuller longer. In addition, protein is going to help you better absorb any starches and carbohydrates you eat with your meal.
Prevention magazine discusses how starches and carbohydrates are primarily sugars when broken down for digestion, which make you hungry faster after eating and also cause blood sugar spikes.
Eat Whole Fruit
Sugar has been a natural part of our food supply since the dawn of time. The problem with sugar now is that it is highly refined and it comes with almost no other substances. If you are craving sweets, DailyBurn suggests that you reach for whole fruit. Whole fruit will give your body the sugar that you are craving, but it will also give you some extra vitamins and fiber that other junk foods won’t provide.
If you are looking for an extra sweet treat, try overly ripe stone fruits or fruits that have strong outer rinds. The ripening process breaks down some of the fibrous materials and can make the fruit extra sweet. An over ripe plum or melon can really cure a sugar craving.
Know What You’re Eating
Food manufacturers have become masters at deception. Especially with all of the bad reputation that food groups like sugar and fat, get. As a result, they have gotten really creative at hiding the sugar in their products but calling it by other names like fructose or cane juice.
One sure way to see how much sugar is in your food is to see how many grams of sugar are listed in your food. If there are 30 grams of sugar per serving of sugar in your morning muffin, you are getting 120 calories of pure sugar to start your day.
Timing
If you absolutely have to eat sugar, it’s all about the timing. Sugar is best eaten directly before or after extended bouts of exercise. If you happen to be a marathon runner, or participate in all-day sporting events, placing your sugary snacks inside your active periods will help ensure that your body can actually use the calories that you are giving it. Runners World recommends saving your sweets for post workout snacks.
Since your body will readily use the sugar, you give it. In addition, eating sugar after a workout can help increase your glycogen stores in your liver. Increased glycogen stores mean longer lasting workouts. This is starting to sound like a win-win situation all the way around.
Now you should be an expert at ways to help you kick your sugar habit. Small manageable changes and knowing what to eat and when are going to make all the difference in the world when it comes to detoxing from sugar.
What worked for you and what didn’t? Were there any success strategies that you used when you kicked your sugar habit that we didn’t include that we should have?
