On Monday morning, I was chatting with some of the other moms on the soccer field. Our kindergarten kids participate in pee wee soccer two mornings a week. One mom started telling me that with the exception of natural sugar found in fruit and vegetables, she completely gave up sugar six months earlier. As someone who loves to bake and never met a sweet thing I didn’t like, I was both impressed and shocked.
I know I need to cut down on my own sugar consumption. While obesity isn’t a problem for me right now, there are so many other downsides to excessive sugar, such as tooth decay. Recent studies also link sugar to inflammation in the body, which may lead to all sorts of illness and disease down the road from sagging skin to heart disease.
A no sugar diet takes some serious commitment. Sugar is in everything. I mean every thing. For example, the mom can’t eat bread, since sugar is added to allow the yeast to eat and rise the dough with their little gas burps. And many of the foods that I deem “healthy” have sugar. Yogurt for example. (Forget the sugar-free versions, since artificial sweeteners have been linked to a number of health problems as well.) I try to fit in a Greek yogurt daily to keep my calcium up. The mom’s solution? Eating brussels sprouts with her eggs for breakfast. I like to eat cinnamon rolls with my eggs for breakfast.
Eliminating the sugar is definitely a healthier way of eating, but I wonder if I would ever be able to do it. They say that the body tends not to crave things it hasn’t had in a while. Perhaps going cold turkey could lead to better success? What do you think? Would you ever try a no-sugar diet?
Related Articles:
How to Fit in Healthy Eating with a Busy Lifestyle