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February 12th, 2012

7 Simple Ways To Cut Sugar From Your Diet8 Comments

Topics: Abs Nutrition

 

Want to limit your sugar intake?  No problem.  I'm about to give you 7 simple ways to cut sugar from your diet.  You probably know that there are different types of sugars and some are definitely worse for you than others.  Refined simple sugars that produce the most fructose and glucose are the worst. 

This means that foods with refined sucrose (breaks down 50/50 glucose and frusctose), high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, brown sugar and organic sugar are the worst foods. 

And what happens when you eat these refined sugars?  To put it simply, the sugar can immediately be absorbed into the blood which stimulates the pancreas to produce and release insulin into the bloodstream.  Insulin escorts glucose into the cells producing energy.

The problem is that afterward, blood sugar levels can drop and your initial sugar high crashes soon after resulting in tiredness and a "sugar low."  Feed your body enough of these refined simple sugars and it can lead to obesity (especially excess belly fat), type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, dental decay and other health problems.

So what do you do if you have a sweet tooth like mine and love chocolate, but want to slash some belly fat?

No problem!  Here are 7 simple ways to cut sugar from your diet…

1). Use unsweetened almond milk or unsweetened coconut milk instead of regular dairy cow's milk.  Cow's milk can have about 12-14 grams of sugar per cup whereas unsweetend almond and unsweetened coconut milk have 0 grams of sugar.  And they still taste good, especially in smoothies.

2), Eat plain Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt.  A lot of your more traditional yogurts can have 30 grams of sugar or more.  Plain Greek yogurt has about 7 grams of sugar or less.  You can always add protein powder sweetened with Stevia in it to give it more flavor.

3) Speaking of Protein Powders, use a protein powder that's sweetened with Stevia, rather than loaded with sugars and artificial sweeteners.  Stevia is a natural plant based sweetener and your body doesn't respond to it the way it does sugar.  My favorite protein powder is Prograde Protein.  It's sweetened with Stevia and only has 1 gram of sugar.  Truvia is another good sweetener.  It's zero calroies and made from Stevia leaves.

4). Use Stevia in your coffee, or just add some unsweetened almond milk.  And definitely STAY AWAY from artificial sweeteners.  Read this article from nutritionist Isabel De Los Rios on How Artificial Sweeteners May Be Making You Fat.

5). Skip the ice-cream, candy and cakes for dessert and try this chocolatey smoothie instead:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 serving Prograde Protein

1 cup ice

add raw cacao nibs, raw cacao powder and organic unsweetened coconut flakes (I bought all of these at Whole Foods).

Blend in a blender and enjoy.  The smoothie is chocolate, it's delicious, it's healthy and only has 1 gram of sugar.

6) Bake with erythritol instead of regular sugar.  "Erythritol is a “sugar alcohol” that is naturally found in a wide variety of foods including mushrooms, watermelon, pears and grapes (as well as fermented foods like sake, wine and soy sauce).

"It has zero calories and a glycemic index of zero. And it’s widely considered the “almost sugar” by health experts and pastry chefs alike. But while erythritol does a great job at mimicking the sweet taste of sugar, it behaves quite differently in the body.

"First, it is slowly and incompletely absorbed from the small intestine into the blood. Then, the very small amount of erythritol that is absorbed gets converted to energy by processes that require little or no insulin.  "That’s why erythritol won’t cause a spike in blood sugar levels, which is great news for anyone who is concerned about their weight!  (this information again comes from my good friend Isabel De Los Rios).

7) Drink Zevia instead of regular soda.  We know that regular soda can have like 40 grams of sugar per can and diet soda is awful for you because of the artificial sweeteners.  So if you must have your soda, try Zevia which is a Stevia sweetened soda.

I recommend using Calorie King so you can track how much sugars are in the foods you're eating.

>> Click Here So You Can Make Rich, Creamy, Healthy Chocolate Smoothes <<

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Abs Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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