The sugar free buzz- How do you quit sugar?

What is the fuss about sugar these days.

Mmmm…. Sugar.
Sweet-tasting, white…. poison. SAY What???
Jip you read right. Although sugar has been around since the day dot, only recently studies (and the increased consumption thereof) liked it with a number of illnesses, diseases, tooth decays and even cancers.

Not only does it cause and aggravate illnesses, but sugar stimulate the same areas in the brain as what drugs would. This making the addiction real and the withdrawal symptoms very similar to these of drug abuse withdrawals. Scary!

By itself sugar is not a cause of Obesity, metabolic syndromes and illnesses rather the fact that we over consume it. Look I’m not a medical expert or advisor but one can simply not ignore the fact that the sweet taste of sugar leaves more than a taste in your mouth. Make sure to view my sugar free plan at the end of this post to give you a guideline during your first week.

Quitting sugar is not a diet.

The decision to quit sugar was a joined decision in our home. Both my Hubby and I lost our Dads to cancer. I’m sure that you have heard that sugar feeds cancer cells. So with that in mind, we decided to make some changes around the house. I know that my father did not eat much sugar. But once I started learning more about living a sugar free live I quickly understood that absolutely every product on the shelves had some sort of sugar added. And the worst majority of the times they are labeled as “healthy” or “sugar free”.

Is sugar really needed?

Ask this to my grandmother, and she will say YES! 😂 She still cooks sweet peas or sweet carrots and loves some sugar in her tea. And heaven forbids if you are feeling light headed, she will feed you spoons full of the stuff.

I agree, we do need glucose in our lives. But not fructose. Glucose are produced naturally by your body with the food that you eat. About 58% of the protein that you consume along with 10% of fat changes into glucose which will be used up by your body as needed. Fructose is an extra, and really not needed. I know fruit contains high amount of fructose. We still consume fruit, but as a treat not a meal. Just remember that fructose converts directly to fat.

How much sugar is to much?

We try to keep our sugar intake as low as possible. As a general rule we try not to consume more than 9 teaspoons a day. We do not count every drop, but we are very aware of how much sugar products contains.

According to the American Heart Association, the maximum amount of added sugars you should eat are as follows :
Men: +/- 9 teaspoons
Women: +/- 6 teaspoons
Kids: +/- 3 teaspoons

Learn to read labels, you will be shocked!

Start reading labels. You will soon discover that almost all products on the shelves contains some sugar. Even a silly little product like chicken stock contains sugar.
Here are a few tricks we have learned:

• If sugar is the first or second ingredient listed, Stay away! Labels always list things used the most, first.
• Calculate the sugar content in teaspoons. This way you will easily know how many spoons you consume. Looking at the label you will see sugar listed. Look at the “average quantity per serving” colom. The amount of sugar per gram must be divided by 4.2. This gives you the amount per teaspoon. For example: 26.2g of sugar = 6.24 teaspoons of sugar!
• Dairy is tricky… as a general rule, remember that the first 4.7g of sugar per 100ml is actually lactose. Anything higher that this amount tends to be added sugar.

Where do you start?

We started by cutting out all the obvious sugars. Here is a few easy to follow steps.

• No Sugar, honey, xylitol, stevia, maple syrup or any other syrup, coconut & palm sugars and no jam.
• No more cool drinks. We only drink water, unsweetened tea & coffee.
• No more store bought sauces, stocks, gravies and easy to cook meals.
• Try to eat as many unprocessed foods as possible. The more natural the better.
• Stay away from dried fruit and fruit juices. (You might think “if it’s fruit, it must be good for you” but look at the added sugar. 😱)
• Stick to Natural yogurt (Greek style) Rather use Cinnamon to sweeten it up if you would like a sweeter alternative. Check out my recipe for a sugar free granola. This really goes well with Greek style natural yogurt. https://livingdelish.com/sugar-free-granola/

No sugar clears your body and mind

Not adding fuel to the flame, you end up side stepping a lot of illnesses and diseases. By not having sugar in your diet you will soon notice a lot of positive changes:
Weight Loss
Better moods and clearer sharper thinking
Clearer skin
More Energy
Reduced cancer risk

Sugar free plan

Below is a typical meal plan for one week that we followed on a no sugar plan. Just remember that you can only spice your vegetables, salads, meats and soups with herbs, salt and pepper. Also remember that you must check your labels to ensure that there are no added sugar.
Check out this sugar free granola for a healthy breakfast option http://www.livingdelish.com/sugar-free-granola/