Weight Loss Wednesday: Cutting Out Sugar

My Progress:
New weight:135.9 technically I lost .5 lbs
Goal weight:117
Total lost: 7.5 lbs
I am guilty of eating too much sugar! The average sugar intake for Americans is approximately 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, which is around 355 calories. But why is sugar not really good for us? For one, sugar has a lot of extra calories. Think about all the foods with sugar in them. They are usually high in fat, calories, refined carbohydrates, and probably many other chemicals your body doesn’t need. It messes with your blood sugar level (just in case you didn’t already know 🙂 ). When you eat something sugary your blood sugar spikes and drops (the same thing happens with white bread and other refined carbs). Also, studies have shown that people who consume more sugar usually have increased triglycerides and lower HDL “good” cholesterol and low HDL levels can be associated with heart disease. Sugar doesn’t cause diabetes, but there is an association of those who drink sugary drinks and higher BMIs, overweight, and obesity which is a risk factor of diabetes. Sugar can also have some pretty bad effects on your teeth. My sister was a sugar addict and she was constantly visiting Dentist Fort Wayne!
Ways to cut out sugar:
  • Don’t add sugar or sugary creamers to your morning coffee.  I stopped doing this a long time ago to decrease sugar. I just put a tad extra almond milk instead.
  • Skip the sugary cereals. So I recently bought a sugary cereal, because it was on sale and was a non-gmo eco-friendly kind. What I noticed was when I ate sugar in the morning I was starving and craving sugar all day. Realizing this I stopped eating something sugary and it went away. I don’t know if this is just me, am I crazy? Probably.
  • When you got a hankerin for something sweet grab some fresh fruit. I love frozen berries I could eat them all day and they are so sweet!
  • Make your own popsicles! My friend got me a popsicle tray for Christmas and the first thing I made was pineapple popsicles.
    • All you do is get a can of crushed pineapple packed in juice, fill up the containers, and then freeze. Can’t get much easier or healthy  than that.
    • You could also make your own fudge pops with sugar free pudding and freezing it. Or yogurt pops yummm. No dairy for this girl though.
  • Ditch the pop (or soda depending on where your from)! Try sparkling flavored water instead. Or if you really need that pop what I do once in a blue moon when I am at a fast food restaurant (which I rarely ever go its to expensive and not very good for you) or gas station fill up your cup with diet pop almost all the way, then add a few squirts of regular pop and it takes like the real thing. Except without all the added sugar.
  • You could use sugar substitutes like Splenda I guess…  To me fake sweeteners are just a bunch of chemicals. My approach to eating is a whole foods diet and I try to get rid of all that fake stuff. But if you can’t have anything else, which I understand, its the next best thing.

You don’t have to give up sugar for the rest of your life. Just like with everything its ok in moderation. So have a small piece of cake or ice cream when your at a party, but just have one! Also, take baby steps by eliminating excess sugar a little bit at a time. Trust me I tried to go cold turkey and I have withdrawal symptoms. Slow and steady wins the race just don’t go to slow.

One Comment

  1. What a great post. I will be checking back often. I am on a similar journey, and let me tell you there is SO much info out there that we can become overwhelmed. REAL food created by God is the only way I am able to lose weight. The FAKE stuff just added my pounds over the years…and looking in the mirror it’s not good.

    So 2012 started out for me on this new journey of health and life changes.

    Love your blog.

    Blessings,
    Connie

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