How to quit sugar

Many people think it is impossible, but you can quit sugar. Sugar has been linked to the contribution of many debilitating health conditions such as chronic inflammation, diabetes, depression, cancer, arthritis, and many other conditions. Sugar makes you crave more sweet things, particularly the junk type, fueling an insatiable appetite and paving the way to being obese, anxious, exhausted, sick, and being in a generally poor mood. Luckily by doing the right things you can overcome your sugar addiction. Here’s how.

 

Have a Plan

Trying to stay off sugar without a plan is like attempting to stop doing crack without rehab; you will fail. The first step is to acknowledge the huge task before you and make a commitment to achieve your goals. It will not be easy because we live in a sugar world. Chances are every edible thing around you contains some amount of sugar. Start by choosing some days to not eat sugar, and scale from there. That way, you don’t get hit by sugar withdrawal symptoms. But make sure your no-sugar days are not high stress because your cravings will be extra strong on those days. For many people integrating regular detox hacks in their life help them to stay disciplined with their dietary plans

 

Load up on Healthy Fats

Fats, the healthy saturated type are delicious and filling. High-fat foods such as fish, nuts, avocado, tallow, or olives can help stabilize blood sugar levels and reduce your cravings. Thus you will have more control over your appetite for sugar.

 

Drink Water

Staying hydrated is an excellent way of keeping sugary thoughts at bay. Water is not only an efficient thirst quencher but an excellent hunger suppressor and we are only thirsty many of the times we long for something sweet. Keep a bottle of some healthy drink with you at all times. It can be water, unsweetened tea, vegetable juice or coffee in moderation. If unsweetened is too bland for your taste buds; add honey or stevia to spark things up. No artificial sweeteners though.

 

Don’t Cheat on Sleep

Cheating sleep is a major way to set yourself up for failure. When you sleep, your body regulates the levels of the satiety and hunger hormones leptin and ghrelin. Sleep deprivation increases the levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and depresses leptin levels, leaving longing for sugary food. Eat a balanced meal well ahead of time but not too early to wake you up hungry in the middle of the night. You should implement some functional medicine hacks for better sleep

 

Practice Mindful Eating

You can get carried away easily as you watch colleagues snatch up the sweets in the candy bowl. And that is why you need to be present at all times. Don’t get lost in the drift. Remember, there is sugar everywhere. Every time you resist the urge to indulge in unhealthy sweets is a victory. The improved mood and the burst of energy you will enjoy when blood sugar fluctuations stop messing with your mind, combined with the improved feeling of being in control of your life help create a feeling of contentment. It’s worth sacrificing sweets for, you will enjoy bigger rewards soon. If you can’t shake off the urge, try taking a short walk or better yet, enjoy a good workout.

 

Regular Exercise

Regular, explosive bouts of exercise can help crush uncontrollable sugar cravings while boosting your feel-good hormones. You might cut out all the low-quality foods in your diet, but you won’t be living naturally or healthy if you don’t get regular exercise. Your body benefits more from exercise when you have a healthy diet. Workouts are also the best way to create a craving for high-quality nutrition.

 

Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

So you eat chocolate after swearing never to go near the stuff. Worse, you really enjoyed it. What next? Don’t beat yourself up over small slips. Give yourself a break, but always keep your eyes on the goal. It’s okay to indulge occasionally for most people, as long as you don’t make it a habit.

Having said that it is also important to remember that many people have had great health victories when they not only have avoided unhealthy sugary carbohydrates but by eliminating most of the carbohydrates in their diets. Diets like paleo, keto, the specific carbohydrate diet etc., have a major focus of eliminating certain carbs in varying amounts. These diets have been great for some people, but there is more controversy in the realm of alternative nutrition then many people would think. For instance, a new diet called the paleolithic ketogenic diet taking form in Europe, calls for the elimination of all carbohydrates and entails a diet of 100% animal products for sick people. They claim this is the best elimination diet and comprises of large amounts of animal fat, and other parts of the animal, such as organs and meat. They add healthy plants back into the diet once a person recovers. They allow healthy people to have a maximum of 30% of their diet come from healthy plant carbohydrates. They claim based off of their results and history, that this is the diet many of our ancestors ate. Surprisingly they have had good results so far in many autoimmune diseases and cancer. Yet many people preach the health benefits of a vegan diet with demonstrably positive results. A Vegan diet obviously consists of mostly healthy carbohydrates and fats. Two successful diets with exactly opposite points of view, I find this extremely interesting. Diet is appearing to be more complicated than many people are aware.

With so many nutrition and dietary opinions in existence today, it can be hard to answer the question of what should I eat right now? No matter which dietary theory will ultimately prove its superiority, it is clear everyone should avoid certain sweets as much as possible. Candy, conventional pastries, and non-organic processed sugar items are literally a scourge on our planet for everyone. Once again a little bit is likely ok for a healthy person, but probably not for sick people, and certainly not in large amounts.

Check out these other sources of information

 

• Why Cutting Down on Sugar Might Be the Best Health Insurance Available

• 5 Steps to Kick Your Sugar Addiction

• The sweet danger of sugar