Tips For Giving Up Sugar

Two things inspired me today to get back to posting on my blog! One was listening to a recorded call with Donna Gates, author of "The Body Ecology Diet". You can hear it and many other great speakers at http://www.wishsummit.com/. The second motivation to begin blogging again was receiving an email from a college student who is like my daughter telling me that her and her roomies are giving up sugar! They already got everything out of the house with sugar in it and they want tips to make the process easier. It makes me happy when I hear people making healthy changes in their lives, especially people close to me. Today Donna is passionate about finding cures for autism and she advocates mothers eating healthy diets before conception so as to pass on healthy DNA to her children and her grandchildren. She spoke about female fetuses developing their ovaries in the first month in the womb and getting all of their eggs in the 6 month. The quality of the pregnant mother's health affects the quality of those eggs. So, in effect, every pregnant woman is affecting the health of her grandchildren! For that reason alone, I am happy to hear about an apartment full of college age women making big changes in their health.

Tip #1 - Drink lots of water. When you give up sugar, all forms of sugar, you will detox and possibly not feel well. Drinking more water than normal will greatly help the process. "You're Not Sick, You're Thirsty" is a fantastic book on the healing power of water. I highly recommend it!

Tip #2 - Read labels. Become aware of the names of ingredients that are used to hide what is really in a product. Even potato chips contain maltodextrin which is one of the worst forms of sugar and causes an addiction to those chips...you know, "once you pop, you just can't stop"...the infamous Pringles jingle.

Tip #3 - Stop eating out of boxes. Make simple meals at home with fresh ingredients such as grilled chicken with steamed veggies rather than packaged convenience foods that really cost you more in the long run. Large salads with baked salmon, tuna, or hard boiled egg on top are a good option. Learn to make simple salad dressings to avoid the added sugar.

Tip #4 - Be patient. After 4 or 5 days you will overcome the cravings. Adding more healthy foods to your diet will also reduce cravings for sweets and treats.

Tip #5 - Have stevia sweetened treats around the house for those times when you do want something sweet. We are learning to bake with stevia and we found a diabetic bakery that makes delicious desserts with stevia. One of our favorites is the bowl of caramel from Just Delicious Diabetic Bakery (only $3) that can be used to dip apples or drizzled on crepes and homemade cookies. I recently purchased chocolate chips that are sweetened with stevia. They are $7 for an 8 oz. bag which sounds like a lot, but, if you just snack on 3 or 4 when a craving hits, you will save your health and stick to your goal for not much money. I have only found one source for these chocolate chips.
http://www.shamansgarden.com/p-211-chocolate-vegan-chips.aspx
There are other sugar-free chocolate chips but do your research on alternative sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners can be very dangerous to your health. We found another diabetic bakery that sweetens with Acesulfame K. After reading the research on this sweetener, I know I will not eat that again! I got a headache shortly after eating one of their cupcakes, which is the same result when I eat aspartame. Here is a link to a good article on several artificial sweeteners: http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-sweeteners.html

Tip #6 - Have a support system. I tried to quit eating sugar alone several times but this time I was successful because my whole family committed to doing it together. It's a fun experiment for a group of college roomies. I think they will be proud of themselves for their accomplishment especially when they start seeing one of the positive side effects...weight loss!

Tip #7 - Write! Writing about your experience in your journal, keeping a daily food journal or blogging about it will keep you motivated and accountable. I decided to blog about our family's journey for that reason because I knew there would be hard times. After a month of being sick, I was glad I started my blog because I did start to wonder what I was doing to my body. My next post will be about that month of illnesses that kept me from blogging but didn't make me go back to life with sugar.

Tip #8 - Stay motivated. I have been motivated to keep on going because I have been reading so many books and articles relating to the damage sugar can do in our bodies. If you don't have time to read and study on the subject as much as I do, take an hour and a half and watch the video I posted previously: Sugar: The Bitter Truth That will be all the motivation you need to give up sugar!

You can do it! Once you start, you will find so many people who are on the same path with you!