Could You Do A Month Without Sugar?
I became more aware of the dangers of high sugar intake in American diets when I began blogging 6 years ago and made diabetes a platform issue for my website, PaulasHealthyLiving.com. Our nation’s sugar habit is a driving force behind diabetes and obesity epidemic in the US and it’s believed to be a contributing factor to cancer and Alzheimer’s according to The New York Times(January 1, 2017).
The questions are, if it takes three weeks to change a habit, could you go four weeks without added sweeteners? I challenged myself with this concept after a doctor asked me to remove maltodextrin, a sugar substitute, to help with stomach issues I was experiencing. It’s a daunting task, but it could help you reset your sugar taste buds.
Sugar comes with many different names:
If you begin looking at ingredient lists, you may be shocked how frequently you will see these names within the first 3-4 names on ingredients lists. The higher they are on the lists, the more there is in the product. See the level of sugar in commonly consumed drinks and products across the nation.
The American Heart Association recommends no more than 24 grams of sugar per day for women and 36 grams per day for men.
(A single 16-ounce bottle of Coke has 52 grams). You may find yourself reevaluating a lot of the ‘healthy’ foods you regularly consumed previously like granola or packaged cereals which predominantly contain added sugars, processed orange juice, flavored yogurt, pizza sauce and sugar-free snacks.
One effort to assist in this challenge would be cooking, and therefore, controlling your own food. If you buy it from outside aisles of the grocery, instead of the inside aisles, it more likely to help you in your quest.
What you will find at the end of the experiment is the pure taste in things such as honey crisp apples, oranges, sweet red peppers and many other foods. I’m not an advocate of all-or-nothing diet plans, and a bit of 80% cocoa dark chocolate makes my heart sing in the afternoon sometimes, but you will realize a renewed, sensitive set of taste buds that have been dulled by processed foods. It’s an awakening to the beauty and amazing nature of natural food items and improved health is a bonus!
Paula Maier
www.paulashealthyliving.com