This year marks the second annual 30 Sugar Free Days Program and your chance to make January a MONTH WITHOUT SUGAR.
Season of Sugar
It is that time of year again: The Season of Sugar.
As the weather turns colder, and the sun dips lower in the sky (except for you south of the equator), the days get darker, and we all get incredible sugar cravings. Our collective lust for sugar is only fueled by the multiple invitations to gather with friends and family and the tendency of office workers around the world to bring plates of tasty treats to share with everyone.
Too many holiday parties, too many advertisers highlighting tasty foods, too little time outside, too many temptations; it is no wonder we all wake these days feeling like we have a hangover and notice that our clothes don’t fit as well as they did the day before.
New Years
New Years is coming quicker than you might think and it is a good time to start thinking about New Year’s Resolution. The best resolution you can choose is a resolution of health and the best thing you can do for your health is to kick sugar and foods that act like sugar out of your life.
Why don’t you join us this January for 30 Sugar Free Days 2010 and give sugar the kick it deserves?
Sugar Harm
The question I always get is: Why kick sugar out of your diet?
The reason is actually pretty simple: Concentrated, pure, processed sugar is not a natural thing to put in your body. Our bodies are simply not meant to handle such a pure and addicting substance.
Take a look at what eating sugar does to you and your health:
- Sugar adds Weight: Added sugar means added weight. This happens because your body has to do something with the extra sugar that enters your blood stream. Maybe you know this, but your body is great at storing sugar as fat. This ability to store fat is unique to sugar and doesn’t happen with non-purified foods. Added weight means you are more likely to live a shorter life, get diabetes, heart disease, stroke and have certain cancers.
- Diabetes: Despite what most medical associations and your doctor might say, there is a connection between sugar and diabetes. Consistently high blood sugar develops into insulin insensitivity and eventually diabetes.
- Toxic: Sugar is toxic to blood vessels in a similar way that cigarette smoke is toxic to lungs. Sugar destroys blood vessels. The results of sugar damage are easy to see in diabetics (who have very high blood sugar) that have a much higher risk for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, eye disease and other conditions.
Take the 30 Day Challenge
Kicking sugar means that you will not only lose weight (if you want to), but that you are taking the first big step toward living a longer and healthier life. When you kick sugar out of your life, you decrease the chance of getting diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.
Breaking the sugar habit is not easy; at every step you are going to run into your addiction. The effort to stop sugar, however, is well worth the results: you will live a longer, healthier life with sugar out of your diet.
Joining us for the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge, 2010 is a great step towards your better health. The program is free and provides you with the support you need to succeed. So many weight loss programs are designed to help you shed pounds, but often do nothing to address your health.
Why not have both good health and weight loss? Join us for the adventure!
Hello Dr. Scott,
I just happened to notice on your previous response to one of my questions that you recommended burritos for breakfast. Now the only burritos I’ve eaten are wrapped in a flour tortilla; are tortillas okay to eat? I’m confused by this.
Also, I was told that olive oil is best used in it’s natural state and that when you use it to cook with you change its constition so much that it is not longer good. What do you think about this?
Thanks for all your responses. Doing well on the diet; even lost some weight. However, I do allow myself one cheat day per week.
Jessica, sorry for the confusion. I was trying to suggest that beans make a good breakfast and just mentioned burritos as an example. When you are done with the 30 Days, a burrito is fine (the small amount of sugars contained in the tortilla are balanced by the protein and fiber in the beans), but during the 30 Days it is best to keep away from all foods that act like sugar.
Cooking destroys and harms all the foods we eat and olive oil is no exception. Olive oil, however, does seem to handle heating better than other oils (it has a moderately high smoke point, another oil with a high smoke point is grape seed oil). The most stable oil under heating are actually the saturated fats (the best of which is coconut oil). I generally suggest that you limit fats as much as possible, so use all oils in moderation.
Sounds like you are doing great, keep up the good work!
Scott
Dr. Scott,
Thanks for your response; that clears up my confusion on milk. I am wondering however if whey protien powder is suitable. I have used whey powder in the past to make smoothies but again I’m not sure if it is condusive to this sugar-free diet (I am in line with the diet that eliminates added sugar as well as foods that act like sugar in the body). Also, could you be more specific about the beans for breakfast; this is very different for me.
One more, I am a mother with children and since I started eating this way I feel guilty feeding my children all those starchy carbs and sugary additives that I realize now to be unhealthy. I want the best for my kids and I also don’t want them to feel like they’re missing out (eg. pizza, cake etc.) Currently, I make two meals; one for them and one for myself. Any suggestions on how to balance this?
Whey is an okay protein as far as keeping your blood sugar low, but I think milk proteins do a lot of harm to your body (they are associated with a lot of diseases such as cancer).
As far as beans go, anything you want is okay. I think that it takes a while to break the habit of needing something sweet for breakfast, but burritos, chili, or simply a bowl of beans are all okay. Beans contain fiber that not only fills you up but also helps to balance your blood sugar throughout the day.
Children are hard, especially when they are out of your home. Take whatever steps you can to include more fruits and vegetables into their lives. I have three children who are separated by many years; they are 6, 10 and 17. While the six year old doesn’t eat all the well (actually she probably eats better than 90 percent of the kids in America, just not well enough for me), the ten and the seventeen year old eat much better. The ten year old is a vegetarian and the seventeen year old counts the days that he doesn’t eat junk.
I constantly talk to my kids about how what they are eating makes them feel; I ask them to pay attention to their bodies. This, I think, works much better than simply removing all temptations from their lives (my kids run into junky food at school, at friends houses, and at birthday parties). Having them pay attention to how they feel makes them responsible for their own health and not make them feel guilty about what they are eating (and that is the best skill I think I can pass on).
Dr. Scott, I’m so happy that your mentioned fruit smoothies. I LOVE smoothies and have always made them with yogurt. Please share your smoothie recipe without dairy. I checked my smoothie cookbook and am not seeing many that don’t have some sort or dairy or sweetener. I can’t wait to see the recipes in your new book.
I make smoothies with a rice-based protein powder or I use a product from Garden of Life called:
I use a milk substitute made from coconut milk that you can find in most health food stores. To that, you can any fruits you like. I prefer frozen berries (blackberries, raspberries…).
Hope that helps!