Introduction
Contents
- Introduction
- Sugar free, what exactly does it mean
- Why eliminate sugar (but not totally) from your diet to optimize weight loss
- Our tips for avoiding sugar on a diet
- Fruit and energy sources
- What are the risks of a sugar-free diet
- Our advice: moderation and not deprivation
- The benefits of reducing sugar in your diet
- Conclusions
Thinking About Cutting Sugar From Your Diet, But You Can’t
If you are looking for the right motivation to limit your sugar intake, you may be definitively convinced by the many benefits that a low-sugar diet promises. You will feel fitter, more awake and energetic, and you will streamline your life. High sugar consumption has been associated with obesity and diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Cutting down on sugars can only do you good.
Reducing your intake of added sugars can help lower high blood pressure, lower bad cholesterol, and increase good cholesterol, which help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. A 2014 study showed that those who consumed between 17 and 21 percent of their calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of death from heart disease. Sugar Free, What Exactly It Means
Eliminating refined sugar from your diet may not be as complicated as you think. There are many foods and foods that are naturally sweet and whose simple sugars can be easily processed by your body. The problem is precisely the refined sugars that we find in all varieties of desserts and more.
One piece of advice we can give you is to always read the labels to understand if that particular food contains sugars and in what quantities.
But also to pay attention to what your body is asking of you. If you notice a certain craving for sugar every day at 4pm, it means you should have a protein-rich snack at that time to get you started. Not only will this make you feel better instantly, it also prepares you for the evening when you feel less craving for sweets.Why eliminate sugar (but not totally) from your diet to optimize weight loss
Cutting sugar can lead to weight loss or maintenance. For the past two decades, experts believed that fat was the enemy of our diets. We now know that the body needs fats, especially the “good” ones, such as omega 3 fatty acids which nourish the brain, improve circulation and act against inflammation.
Excess sugar, on the other hand, is converted into fat by the body.
Refined sugar from carbohydrates that have been deprived of fiber is metabolized even faster. The more sugar you eat, the more fat will be stored in your body. Our tips for avoiding sugar on a diet
Avoiding refined sugar is very simple, because just avoid sweets, sugary drinks and anything that contains refined sugar. While, as we said above, the natural sugars of fruit, for example, are good sugars.
Follow these tips to avoid sugars:
- Learn to read labels.
Understand that packaged foods generally contain added sugar, so you’ll need to learn to read a label and understand the amount of added sugar. They are added to make the food more palatable and to create addiction.
- Start limiting your sugar intake in the morning
Instead of cereal or toast, start the day with whole foods, but also fruit, which is naturally sweetened and contains fiber, which will keep your blood sugar steady. The point is to avoid peaks, because for every peak there is a dip. When this occurs you will feel low on energy and want to eat something sweet. Fruit and energy sources
- Don’t stop eating fruit
This is controversial as fruit contains a lot of natural sugars. But here’s the difference: it also contains fiber, which means your body breaks it down slowly, and the constant form of energy it ensures will keep you going, but won’t make you fat.
If sugar occurs naturally in an unprocessed or processed food, such as an apple or orange, you should eat it, as it contains vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants but also fiber, which prevent fructose from entering the bloodstream all at once.
Thus, fruit will provide you with a more stable level of energy and your blood sugar will remain constant.
- Choose other sources of energy
Let’s dispel the myth that sugar is a quick source of energy, because the opposite is true. In adults, but also in children, sugar becomes a wasteful source of energy because it actually makes you more tired.
Your body needs some sugar to function, but it comes from natural sources already, so you don’t need to add more as the sugar spike mobilizes insulin, which prompts your body to store the extra as fat. , and therefore does not give energy at all, since it becomes fat.
- Follow a healthy and balanced diet
Make sure each meal contains protein, vegetables, or other healthy carbohydrates and healthy fats. This will keep you full for longer and stabilize your blood sugar levels. What Are the Risks of a Sugar Free Diet
You may actually need it for more expensive physical workouts.
When it comes to high intensity exercise, carbohydrates are actually good and needed. Whether you’re eating a complex carbohydrate, like brown rice, or a simple one, like honey, your body breaks it down into glucose for energy.
If you are training for a marathon or triathlon, you should probably avoid a low-sugar diet.
Eliminating sugar can also lead to risks of eating disorders.
As with any diet, following a low-sugar diet carries the risk of becoming an obsession, which can easily turn into an eating disorder in the form of orthorexia.
While cutting down on sugar isn’t terribly restrictive, if taken to the extreme, it can interfere with your ability to enjoy life. Our advice: moderation and not deprivation
Avoiding simple sugars as much as possible is not impossible.
Simple sugars, such as those found in sweets and honey, the sugar we use to sweeten drinks, sweets, and fructose, the sugar found in fruit, causes blood glucose levels to rise rapidly.
In general, the more complex a sugar or starch is, the more your body has to work to break it down. That’s why dieters and nutritionists recommend avoiding refined carbohydrates and sugars and choosing whole starches like rice, oats, rye and quinoa instead.
Start by eliminating obvious sugars, such as sodas, fruit juices, sweets, jams, chocolates, cakes, and sweets.
But you also need to be aware that the high levels of sugars hidden in unexpected products like tomato sauce, salad dressing, flavored yogurt, dried and canned fruit, most breakfast cereals, bars energy, alcohol, and indeed most processed foods.
In short, the basis from which to start and understand exactly which foods contain refined sugars. The benefits of reducing sugar in your diet
It is proven that most adults and children consume more sugar than is recommended in their diet.
Sugar should make up less than 10% of the energy we get from food, but many of us eat a lot more of it, especially in foods and beverages such as sodas, energy drinks, fruit juices, candy, cakes, muffins, and sweets in genre.
To have a healthy and balanced diet, we should only eat these types of foods occasionally.
Sugars found naturally in whole fruit are less likely to cause tooth decay because these sugars are contained in the fruit structure. But when the fruit is squeezed or pureed, the sugars are released. Once released, these sugars can damage the teeth, especially if the fruit juice is drunk frequently.
Therefore, cutting down on sugar will allow you to avoid some serious heart disease, diabetes, tooth decay, and will also allow you to lose weight by storing less fat. Conclusions
Learn to read labels. Although the advice is to eat as few foods that have labels as possible, do find out what you are putting into your body.
The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely sugar is included in the list. So check the grams of sugar and choose the products with the least sugar per serving.
Become familiar with sugar terminology and work to recognize sweeteners, such as: corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, honey, molasses, brown sugar. All of these are sugars in disguise.
Remember that most of the complex carbohydrates we consume, such as bread and pasta, are not complex at all. They are usually highly refined and behave just like sugars, so they are best eaten in small doses.
