Weight Loss Diet: Overcome a Stubborn Sweet Tooth

It never fails...

You make up your mind to start changing your lifestyle habits and eating healthy.  The first few days are really tough, but you are determined to stay the course.  A couple weeks go by and you begin to see measurable results.  You feel good, you feel strong and then one day as you’re waiting in line at the coffee shop to order your morning tea, a double chocolate doughnut catches your eye and you just can’t help yourself from indulging. 

When you are trying to lose weight on a healthy weight loss diet, many times cravings are an indication that you are not getting the right combination of nutrition with your meals or you are not consuming them in the right proportions.  More specifically, sweet cravings are a pretty good indicator that you are a little too lean on your carb consumption.  Everyone has slightly different nutritional requirements and that’s why it’s important to determine your own unique requirements before you embark on an eating plan for either weight loss or weight management.   

If you are following a healthy weight loss diet plan and getting the right amount of nutrition and that sweet tooth just won’t quit, here are some healthy ways you can try to satisfy your cravings without falling off the wagon:

1.       1)  Fresh fruit is always a great option for combating a craving for something sweet.  Try and stick with berries, apples, pears, grapes, citrus fruits and melon.   These fruits have great fiber content and are lower glycemic index scale.  Try to stay away from fruits like bananas, mango and dates.  These fruits have a much higher sugar content and will raise your blood sugar more rapidly which can result in even more sugar cravings down the road.  Also ensure you are combining a fruit snack with a healthy protein option such as cottage cheese or natural flavored yogurt.

2.       2)  Yogurt is a good option for taming a sweet craving, but be sure you are choosing from the regular fat kind (usually in the organic section) and never eat yogurts that are made with artificial sweeteners.

3.       3)  Nut butters (Almond Butter, Peanut Butter, etc. ) are also great option to quiet a sweet tooth as they’ve got a rich sweet flavor and still provide the fat and protein nutrients your body needs to keep your blood sugar in check.  You can eat it on its own with a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled on top or spread some on a few slices of green apple for a great morning or afternoon snack.

4.       4)  Sometimes all you need is fruity flavored herbal tea to calm a craving. Unpasteurized honey and agave nectar are my best recommendations if you need to add a little sweetener to taste.  This is a good evening alternative once you’ve already met your nutritional content for the day.  If you are not feeling hungry and just need something to take the edge off, this should do the trick.

Most importantly, always stay away from any kind of processed sugar.  Don’t be fooled by fancy labeling that tells you the granola bars are “low in fat” and “high in fiber”.  First of all, it’s not the fat content you need to worry about, it’s the sugar and secondly you would need to eat the entire box of those granola bars to get the same amount of fiber that’s in one fresh green apple.  The longer you can avoid highly unfavorable carbohydrate choices, the more your sweet cravings will begin to disappear.  

Just remember, the road to a healthy body is not always easy, but I promise you it’s worth it!


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Weight Loss Diet: Sugar in a Healthy Weight Loss Diet

We are fatter than we’ve ever been.  The United States is facing an epidemic with respect to the level of obesity in our country.  Based on data from the National Centre for Health Statistics, 34% of American adults over the age of 20 are obese (2007-2008).  Today, the average American consumes approximately 180 pounds of sugar annually compared to the 1800’s when that number was only about 18 pounds a year.  It's pretty scary to think where we are, but it's even scarier to think what this will mean for the future if we don't get educated on the dangers of this potent provision.

Over the years I've come to understand that sugar is the most misunderstood food item we consume.  Most of the struggles we encounter on a healthy weight loss diet have to do with this misconception about sugar. Most people associate sugar with highly sweet food products.  Donuts, ice cream, candy bars and chocolate chip cookies are obvious examples of food products that contain sugar, but what if I told you that your body doesn't know the difference between that donut you had for breakfast or the baked potato you had with dinner.  In fact, whether you consume a couple slices of whole wheat bread, a bowl of pasta or a chocolate bar your body breaks it down to the exact same substance.  Sugar can take many forms in the food we eat (sucrose, fructose, and maltose to name a few), but through our body's digestion and absorption process it all breaks down to the same thing…glucose.  Glucose is the simplest form of sugar and it’s what our body needs to ensure we receive the energy we require to go about our day.  Glucose is an important nutrient when it comes to fueling our bodies, but once your body has processed all the sugar it needs to function it stores the extra as fat.  When on a healthy weight loss diet, by eating a balanced diet from natural sources such as meat, vegetables, fruit and dairy you are getting more than enough of the glucose your body needs to function at its best.  It's important to realize that your body has a limited capacity to store excess sugar after it converts to glucose, but it can easily convert it into excess body fat. 

The major challenge in controlling our sugar intake today is that excess refined sugar is hiding in most pre-packaged foods on the market.  Advertising labels on processed foods makes it difficult for the average consumer to know what they are actually buying.  Messaging on food packages such as “fat-free” and “less than 200 calories” are misleading if you aren’t aware of the dangers of sugar.  Processed foods are loaded with sugar and other chemicals that work to prolong the shelf-life of the product and make it taste appealing after the manufacturer has removed most of the essential nutrients.

 

So how do you start to eliminate, or at the very least, reduce the amount of sugar you are consuming on a daily basis?  

It’s really just about getting back to the basics.  Getting away from packaged food products and frozen entrees and introducing real, whole foods back into your diet is the only way to be successful.

Now it’s important to note that sugar is a drug and as with any drug if you have been consuming a lot of it over an extended period of time, your body has most likely become addicted to it.  That being said, getting off sugar is not an easy feat.  If it were, we could jump into just about any commercial diet plan on the market and see lasting weight loss results. But, if you’ve ever been on a diet you know that is simply not the case.  If you think of sugar the same as nicotine, caffeine or dare I say even narcotics, you will be better equipped to understand this process will not happen overnight.

A good place to start is to try and eliminate something from your diet that contains refined sugar about once a week and replace it with something natural, but enjoyable.  For example, if you regularly eat frozen dinners, stop!  Fresh or even frozen fish fillets are easy to prepare. There are tons of varieties to choose from so ask the guy behind the seafood counter to recommend something that’s not too “fishy”.  Couple that with some fresh or frozen cooked veggies.  If that's all you change for the next 3 months...congratulations!  You’ve just cut about 3 inches from your waistline.  How "sweet" is that!


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Weight Loss Diet: The Truth About Carbs & Fat Loss

What is the truth about carbs and fat loss when considering a weight loss diet plan for women? When it comes to achieving lasting fat loss, it really is important to focus on what you are eating as opposed to how much you are eating.  It’s not so much about the number of calories you consume that impacts your ability to lose body fat as it is more about the nutritional composition of those calories that matters.  In reality, your weight is not the problem when it comes to looking and feeling your best.  It’s the excess amount of body fat that is making you feel uncomfortable and look disproportionate.

There are 3 essential nutrients that you need to consume everyday if you want to live a healthy and vibrant lifestyle.  In grade school you learned the basics about these essential nutrients, but here is a quick refresher.  You get your protein from meat, poultry and fish. You get your fat from nuts and oils and you get your carbohydrates from pasta, bread and other grains. What about fruits and vegetables? Where do they fit in?  If you grew up in the same generation as me the FDA probably just threw them in under vitamins and minerals and told you to eat 8-10 servings a day. Would you be surprised if I told you that fruits and vegetables are actually carbohydrates? And the real truth is that our bodies use energy from fruits and vegetables the same way we use energy from other carbohydrate sources such as rice and pasta.

Carbohydrates are responsible for providing us with energy and without them our bodies cannot function properly.  The most important thing to understand about carbohydrates is the rate at which our bodies convert carbohydrate sources into glucose, as glucose is the only form of energy our bodies can use.  This process is measured using the glycemic index. Carbohydrates range in complexity depending on two things (1) how long it takes them to enter the bloodstream and (2) how quickly they raise blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index enter the bloodstream quickly and raise blood sugar levels rapidly thereby creating an exaggerated insulin response. These carbohydrate sources consist of foods like white bread, granola, and pasta. Regular consumption of high glycemic carb sources creates a cycle of spiking blood sugar levels followed by a surging insulin response which results in “energy crashes” and eventually an addiction to sugar. On the flip side, complex carbohydrates have a low glycemic index and therefore raise blood sugar slowly resulting in a steady release of insulin. Complex carbohydrate sources consist of foods like slow cooked oatmeal, broccoli, strawberries and hummus. The result of the steady release of insulin from consuming complex carbs is longer sustained energy and a sense of feeling full over a longer period of time. 

Carbohydrates have gotten a bad reputation over the years with the introduction of “low-carb” and “no-carb” diets.  The truth is that carbohydrates are not the enemy and our bodies need carbohydrates in order to live a healthy and vibrant life.  Eliminating carbohydrates from your diet may provide quick weight loss in the beginning, but will not result in lasting weight loss once you begin to introduce carbs back into your eating plan.  What is most important is to understand which carbohydrate sources are favorable and which are unfavorable.  As long as you are making favorable carbohydrates choices most of the time partnered with sufficient amounts of protein, losing excess body fat becomes virtually automatic. 


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