Sugar Detox-Lower Sugar for Better Health

Detoxing sugar is simply lowering the overall levels of sugar you eat.  Could be a plan to get started, but should be an overarching goal, on a consistent basis.  That’s IT and if you do it, you’ll be healthier for it.

“Excess sugar in our diets is driving obesity and chronic disease”, and there is more and more evidence of this.   “WHITE BREAD IS LIKE A BOMB OF SUGAR.” “Eating 6 or more servings per day is linked to obesity. When you use refined white, puffy bread, you lose the fiber from whole wheat bran and germ. Sugar is a sneaky thing. It doesn’t just cause cravings and make you fat, consuming too much sugar can lead to all kinds of health issues.” –Robin Hutchinson

We KNOW for sure that lots of sugar in the diet impacts health in the short term AND the long term. In the short term it definitely causes mood and energy swings, exacerbates acne, increases PMS symptoms and negatively impacts sleep.  In the long term we know it contributes to depression and anxiety, insomnia, and negatively impacts our adrenals and leads to insulin resistance and eventually to pre diabetes and full blown diabetes.

SO–limiting your sugars is a good idea & it is easy to get started.  Here are 3 VERY LARGE steps to get  going.  No time like the present!

Here’s how.

  • READ LABELS: Pay attention to labels-sugar is labeled as cane, syrup, fructose, and lot of other chemical-sounding names with an –ose at the end.
  • CHOOSE WHOLE FOODS: (berries vs. jolly rancher berry flavor)-whole foods have the sugar wrapped in fiber, which slows down the negative effects. Whole foods also taste real and better than the packaged sugar-added versions.
  • PREP YOUR FOOD AHEAD OF TIME: Bring a snack–instead of buying something from Starbucks, pack a salad for lunch from leftovers from last night’s dinner.

You Don’t Have to Deprive Yourself–REFRAME what dessert looks like 

Here are a couple of quick and easy ‘good idea’  WHOLE FOOD desserts.  Enjoy them during the holidays and beyond.

–Chocolate covered strawberries

–Fruit kabobs served with whipped cream

–Spiced Lattes (coffee, almond milk, coconut milk w pumpkin pie, vanilla, or ginger/cinnamon/nutmeg combo)-delicious but not that sweet.

Confirmation Studies

Here are a couple of studies that confirm the need to drop overall sugar in the diet

Eating small amounts of fructose, such as in fruits and vegetables, is not a health concern. BUT,  excessive intake of fructose from sugar-sweetened foods and beverages has been associated with various health problems.  Observational studies suggest that eating too much fructose may lead to increased visceral obesity, high levels of triglycerides and insulin resistance–all of which are NOT good for overall health.

1.  The Sweet Path to Metabolic Demise:  http://www.cell.com/trends/endocrinology-metabolism/fulltext/S1043-2760(16)30066-2

2.  Sugar Sweetened beverages and the prevalence of the metabolically abnormal phenotype in the Framingham Study:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24550031

3.  Sugar sweetened beverage consumption is associated with abdominal fat..: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24944282

If  you are struggling with lowering your sugars, please reach out to the holistic nutritionists at Healthy Nest Nutrition.  We are here to help, talk about this stuff all day long and have good answers for your struggles.  We’ve got this stuff figured out.  You can schedule a 20 min. complimentary consult to see if holistic nutrition is right for you here.

 

 

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