Let food be thy medicine; thy medicine shall be thy food. —Hippocrates
Calling sugar the devil might be a little drastic, but the graphic above gets your attention, doesn’t it? Sugar lurks in many foods and is labeled as sucrose, fructose, and other natural-sounding ingredients, but it contributes to weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and many health problems. Sadly, my friends, sugar is the new tobacco. It can even be more addictive than cocaine.
Here are five steps to help you break the sugar addiction:
1. Don’t eat what you can’t pronounce. Many ingredients on grocery store shelves contain chemically processed additives that shouldn’t even be called food. Get back to nature. The closer our food source is to the hoof, the ground or the tree, the better. The less we process our food, the better. This goes for artificial sweeteners too. When diet products were first introduced decades ago, I couldn’t go near them. Aspartame causes migraines, not to mention a horrible after taste.
2. Become a label reader. If the product is in a box on a shelf for months or even years, is it the best fuel for your body? Where you least expect it, sugar hides in our favorite foods that wouldn’t be considered dessert: Spaghetti sauce, catsup, soup, yogurt and even pizza. Sorry. See for yourself. If you really want to be shocked, check out how many grams of sugar there is in a can of soda (30-50g).
3. I use the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of what I eat is so darn healthy, clean and organic, but the other twenty percent….not so much. I love to eat. I enjoy my homemade chocolate chip cookies on occasion. Life for me is about balance and not denying a few, minimal indulgences.
4. Eat more vegetables! Sugar cravings can be minimized by eating healthy snacks like carrots or cucumbers with a smidgen of hummus. You’ll have more energy too!
5. “Sugar is the devil” is my mantra whenever I feel the urge to indulge. Feel free to use it!
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Shemane, you’re right on target with the sugar and hidden ingredients as well as anything you can’t pronounce. I practice everything you’ve mentioned and it works. Go natural, organic if you can and have that splurge on occasion. Here’s another: eat only things that spoil, but eat them before they do! Love your healthy living tips. Keep spreading the word!
Great idea!! Love that!!
Thank you for joining us here! Have an amazing day!
Another great article, Shemane. Thank you. I especially like the 80/20 rule 🙂
Thanks Michele!
I’m all about 80/20!! ; )
Another great article, Shemane! Thank you. I especially like the 80/20 part 🙂
Going to make some hummus right now!
I’m coming over!! LOVE homemade hummus!!
I’m battling with this now just stopped chewing tobacco, started snacking and gained 20 lbs. like that! Now I’m getting back to what I used to do, Juicing between meals. Trying your recipe, Carrot, Apple, beat and ginger, my wife and I love it!
Thought I’d share what my wife does with the fiber left over from juicing. If you have chickens don’t throw it away, feed it to them, they love it and you’ll always know what your eggs are made of. If you don’t have chickens but have a garden then compost it and use in your garden.
Oh! So glad you like the juice recipe! Nothing is wasted at our house either – we use the scraps for the critters on our property. ; )
Have a great day!