Last week we discussed chocolate and looked into what were the best to worst bars to consume. This moderation strategy is good because you can make significant changes without actually feeling like you are restricting yourself.
However, for many, they need to make a more significant shift in their behaviours, perhaps give up a whole food group or behaviour pattern. One of the most common ones I am asked about is giving up sugar. The best process for doing that is outlined below:
1 – Clarify Your Definition of Sugar
It is very important that you define what you mean by sugar. The term sugar means different things. For most they use it to refer to eating junk food or white carbs, which may or may not be high in sugar. This could include chocolate, bread, cake and so forth. Others refer to all sugars and thus would remove not just obvious junk but also fruit and milk products. The biological definition of sugar, would include the sugars found in vegetables as well. If you take this angle then you are looking to follow a no carb / keto diet type approach. Neither is right or wrong but you need to be clear where the lines are drawn in your sugar elimination
What is your definition of sugar / giving up sugar entail?
What foods are clearly not allowed?
What surprising ones are allowed?
2 – Calculate the Calorie Amount of Your Current Sugar Intake –
With your rules clearly set, it is prudent to see just how much food you will be giving up when you start your no sugar approach. The reason that so many people struggle to stick to a no sugar plan is that their new plan is significantly less in total food than their previous one. While you may feel great for a few days, eventually the under eating catches up with you and cravings for sugary foods increase.
Once you have seen how much food you eat which counts as sugar, you can ensure any new plan is of similar food intake amount. The hard bit is then getting yourself to eat more, almost everyone combines the no sugar approach with wanting to lose fat at the same time. This makes the process much harder. It is more effective to take a few weeks to become comfortable with no sugar then move on to focusing on reducing your total intake amount to allow for fat loss.
Another area people struggle with is forcing themselves to eat more food. Without knowing, many people’s typical intake amount is too low for what your body needs, at which point, you end up eating sugar to make up the missing energy. Often you then feel guilty the next day so you eat less food, which creates an energy deficit which you want to fill by eating sugar. In this scenario, the problem is NOT sugar, it is undereating in the first place. So, if your goal is to cut out sugar, you must focus on giving yourself enough food to begin with. This can involve eating a lot more food if your general eating pattern is fairly healthy.
How many calories of food will you cut out if you follow a no sugar diet?
How does a good and bad day compare for this calorie amount?
Bad Day Currently – ________ Calories From Sugar
Good Day Currently – ________ Calories From Sugar
3 – Plan For Taste & Convenience
Much of our sugar intake comes from simple ease of access to, or desire for good tasting foods. In step two you would have seen the amount of food you need to eat to make your no sugar diet easier to follow. In this step you should plan to find foods that have some sort of matching power on taste, e.g. you at least like them, ideally you love them!
To do this, plan out how you could match the taste of foods that replace sugar. Simply pick out foods you like and plan how to get these into your diet. Sometimes you will need to bend other health rules you have in place to allow this.
The next bit of planning is being able to find substitutes for the times when you would grab sugar because of ease of access, the social situation you are in or to match the mood you are feeling. This process involves drawing up a list of possible substitutes based on all the logistical requirements for it to actually work. Then go out there and try it and see if this solution actually works or do you need to try another idea.
What can you replace your sugar with that is above 7 on a 0 – 10 taste scale?
What can you easily grab to replace convenience sugar intake?
What can you easily grab to replace sugar consumed in social situations?
What can you eat to match sugar consumed for emotional reasons?
These answers can take a while to discover but please be persistent.
4 – Power Up Your Motivation – Start ASAP – Be Kind!
For change to happen you will usually need some motivation to get it going. Increase it by reminding yourself of some of the sugar facts out there, do this by reading one of the many books on sugar or watching documentaries / podcasts such as this one>>. You can also focus on the motivational benefits that not eating sugar would bring to you.
With this in hand you must start ASAP. No delaying, putting off, having a huge sugar binge on all the foods you think you will miss. Just start today and go! Yes there will be mistakes here and there but alongside starting today you should also adopt a ‘kind to yourself attitude’. If you make a mistake, forget it and immediately get back to the plan.
Food changes, especially eliminations have a tough first two weeks or so. If you get through it, you will find it quickly goes from being tough to follow to fairly easy. Eventually, it will become a natural behaviour pattern. Therefore, on any tough days in the beginning just tell yourself that this is a short term challenge that will pass soon.
Please note, much of the toughness in sugar elimination comes from step 2, not being close to matching your old calorie intake with your new no sugar diet.
What book or documentary can you learn more about the consequences of sugar?
What This Means For You
You do not have to give up sugar for life, you do not have to give up sugar for one day even. However, if this does sound like a beneficial thing to do, then follow the steps above. There is great benefit in very short eliminations too, such as for just 3-5 days.
Start today – What is the very first step you could take right now?
Review – When can you review how this process has gone?
Be kind – How can you be kind to yourself if you make a mistake?
