No Added Sugar Challenge

Photo by Mykl Roventine on Flickr

It's that time again ... challenge time. I want to test your ability to go without added sugar for ten days. Are you up for this? Do you think you can handle it? Sounds fairly easy, right?

Not so fast.

The Katie Couric movie Fed Up, highlights how prevalent sugar is in our food system. It's added everywhere. When you hear "no added sugar," you may immediately think, "oh, that's fine, I just won't add sugar to my coffee or my cereal." Well yes, but it goes much deeper than that. It's obvious that sugar is in desserts like cookies and ice-cream, but it's also found in harmless seeming foods like bread, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, ketchup, crackers, and a whole lot of other foods.

Check out Katie Couric talking about the challenge below. #FedUpChallenge 

Read the ingredients list. Sugar goes by many different names, so be sure to avoid the following:

For ten days, challenge yourself to give up sugar completely. I'm starting today, Wednesday, May 28. Afterwards, I'll put up a post on how my ten days went. I'll be using the hashtag #tiffs10day on Instagram so you can see what I'm eating. You should also use this hashtag so I can see what you're eating. 

Let's do this together -- as a team. We can do this! 

Even if you find this post after I've started the challenge, start your challenge at any point. 

31 Days of Weight Loss Tips: Day 13 Avoid Artificial Sweeteners

Photo by Steve Snodgrass on Flickr

Sugar free: Consume the sugary stuff you like without any of the calories. Sounds like a winning situation, right?

Wrong.

I know that lots of people have good intentions and try to avoid the effects of sugar consumption by using artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin or sucrolose. Even I used to like using those yellow packets instead of real sugar. But research shows that these sweeteners can actually make you gain weight.

A study done by researches at Purdue University found that artificial sweeteners interfere with the body's ability to recognize the fake sugar and the body reacts to it as though it is real sugar -- raising insulin levels and causing sugar cravings -- which leads to weight gain.

If you're thinking, "but I don't use those little packets of sweeteners," well, you may be a fan of zero calorie soft drinks, and this especially applies to diet sodas.

In a study done by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, researches found that diet soda drinkers waist circumference was 70 percent higher than non-drinkers. And in another study, the researches found that heavy aspartame usage may directly contribute to increased blood glucose levels -- which promotes weight gain and is a risk for diabetes.

Ditch the diet sodas and sugar free varieties of everything from gum to jelly and improve your chances of long-term weight loss and better health.

Resources:
Purdue University
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
International Journal of Obesity