Here are some top tips for cutting back on sugar, taken directly from the Summer Diet Boot Camp Workbook:
- Don’t add it to foods. This is the easiest and most basic way to immediately reduce the amount of sugar you’re eating. Biggest targets: cereal, coffee and tea.
- Don’t be fooled by “healthy sugar” disguises. Brown sugar, turbinado sugar, raw sugar … it’s all pretty much the same thing as far as your body is concerned.
- Make a real effort to reduce or eliminate processed carbohydrates. Most processed carbs — breads, bagels, most pastas and snacks — are loaded with flour and other ingredients that convert to sugar in the body so quickly you might as well be consuming pure glucose. That sugar gets stored as triglycerides, which is a fancy way of saying fat.
- Watch out for “fat-free” snacks. One of the biggest myths is that if a food is fat-free it doesn’t make you fat. Fat-free doesn’t mean calorie-free; plus most fat-free snacks are loaded with sugar, which is much worse for you than fat.
- Shop for color. The more your grocery basket looks like a cornucopia of color, the better. It usually means you’re getting more fresh vegetables and low-glycemic fruits such as berries and cherries.
- Become a food detective. This tip is from the wonderful author and nutritionist Anne Louise Gittleman, who writes”To reduce sugar, you have to know where it is first.” Start reading labels.
- Beware of artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately, they can increase cravings for sugar and carbohydrates. They can also deplete the body’s stores of chromium, a nutrient crucial for blood-sugar metabolism.
- Do the math. Look at the label where it says “total sugars” and divide the number of grams by four. That’s the number of teaspoons of sugar you are ingesting. This exercise alone should scare the pants off you.
- Limit fruit. (Notice I didn’t say eliminate.) Fruit has sugar, but it also has fiber and good nutrients. Just don’t overdo it. For weight-loss purposes, limit fruit to two servings a day and try to make most of them low-glycemic.
- Eliminate fruit juice. It’s a pure sugar hit with none of the fiber and less of the nutrients that are found in the fruit itself.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Jonny, how do I join the diet boot camp?
Hi Grace! Just go here: buy the program, and in your welcome letter it will give you the address for the community forum, and you can begin posting, sharing and doing the program with everyone else. We start July 5! Would love to have you there.
here’s the link:
http://www.dietbootcampsystem.com/
warmly
jb
Doctor Jonny,
I thought I read you endorse drinking a cup of pomegranate juice a day for the antioxidants? Is all fruit juice equally bad? What about the V8 brand of fruit and veggie juices?
Jonny.
Speaking of juices, I am a type 2 diabetic, and I was thinking of getting a juicer. I also bought Barlean’s Greens and Paleoreds. Should I avoid any of these?
Jeff J.
how many grams of sugar per day? Dr Mercola says only about 25 grams. does this fluctuate with someones weight/size.
Jonny,
What is your take on stevia as a sweetner? How about “stevia based” products like truvia and purevia?
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