Cut it Out

Let's say you're driving down the road, and you see large potholes (also called chuckholes in other parts of the world). These potholes are labeled "cancer," "heart disease," "osteoporosis."

I'm guessing you would swerve to avoid them, yes?

And if you see more potholes labeled, "diabetes," "obesity"?

You would do all you could to avoid driving into them and risk throwing yourself off course. Any rational being would.

So here's your easy, one-step method for helping you to avoid these horrible potholes:

Cut added sugar out of your diet. Just cut it out.

Did I say easy? Friend, I am telling you its a whole lot easier than you think.

If you are a carboholic, a sugar-joneser, a sweet-tooth, cutting out the added sugar means going cold turkey for a while to relieve yourself of your addiction. That's the uncomfortable part, but eventually your dependence on sugar will diminish, your cravings will diminish. Not disappear completely. But most people can get sugar cravings under control with abstinence.

In fact, you can usually gain control inside of a month of effort. I would not lie to you. I've seen it happen over and over again. And when I doubted my own ability to cut sugar out of my diet, I proved to myself how easy it was.

Notice I say "added sugar," by which I mean the sugars that were not in your food when it was born. You read the packages and look for words ending in "-ose" and "-ol" and anything with "syrup" attached to it. If it's there, put the package back on the shelf.

Or better yet, don't buy packaged food. Avoid shopping in the middle aisles of the store. Choose your food from the produce and fresh meat and seafood sections, and then go home.

Look at the labels and particularly shun foods containing "high-fructose corn syrup," or "corn-syrup." This is a cheap manufacturing-friendly sweetener found especially in soft drinks and foods labeled "low-fat" that may actually encourage the manufacture of triglycerides and deposition of fat in your body. If you have high cholesterol readings, run, run like the wind from high-fructose corn syrup.

I know people who immediately drop the extra weight they carry simply by cutting out soft-drinks. I wish I were one of those people. Personally I dont think anything we drink ought to be sweet. That's a pretty good rule of thumb. Try getting your sweet fixes from whole fruit instead. Learn to drink unsweetened teas.

If you must have non-fruit desserts like cakes and pies, experiment with stevia, or some other non-toxic sugar substitute.

Life without sweets is sweet, friends,

JuJu

P.S. Not-candy Valentine gift ideas to suggest to your sweetie or give to yourself: A weekend somewhere without the kids, a gift certificate for a massage or to your favorite clothing store for spending when you reach your next goal, sexy underthings, lotions and oils to anoint your beautiful self, workout gear, exercise videos.


International Congress on Obesity on High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Dr. Weil on High-fructose Corn Syrup
Mayo Dietition on Sugar and Health
Center for Science in the Public Interest August 1999 Release