Sugar Help...



This is also from the Goop site, if you'd like to read the entire article follow this link:

http://www.goop.com/journal/do/103/overcoming-sugar-addiction



Take L-Glutamine, 1000-2000mg, every couple of hours as necessary. It often relieves sugar cravings as the brain uses it for fuel.

Take a “breathing break”. Find a quiet spot, get comfortable and sit for a few minutes and focus on your breath. After a few minutes of this, the craving will pass.

Distract yourself. Go for a walk, if possible, in nature. Cravings usually last for 10-20 minutes maximum. If you can distract yourself with something else, it often passes. The more you do this, the easier it gets and the cravings get easier to deal with.

Drink lots of water. Sometimes drinking water or seltzer water can help with the sugar cravings. Also sometimes what we perceive as a food craving is really thirst.

Have a piece of fruit. If you give in to your cravings, have a piece of fruit, it should satisfy a sweet craving and is much healthier.

The Sugar Fight...





Here are some tips to help with sugar addiction excerpted from a 2010 article on Gwyneth Paltrow's site - Goop.


Eat regularly. Eat three meals and two snacks or five small meals a day. For many people, if they don’t eat regularly, their blood sugar levels drop, they feel hungry and are more likely to crave sweet sugary snacks.

Choose whole foods. The closer a food is to its original form, the less processed sugar it will contain. Food in its natural form, including fruits and vegetables, usually presents no metabolic problems for a normal body, especially when consumed in variety.

Have a breakfast of protein, fat and phytonutrients to start your day off right. Breakfast smoothies are ideal for this. The typical breakfast full of carbs and sugary or starchy foods is the worst option since you’ll have cravings all day. Eating a good breakfast is essential to prevent sugar cravings.

Try to incorporate protein and/or fat with each meal. This helps control blood sugar levels. Make sure they are healthy sources of each.

Add spices. Coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom will naturally sweeten your foods and reduce cravings.

Take a good quality multivitamin and mineral supplement, Vitamin D3 and omega 3 fatty acids. Nutrient deficiencies can make cravings worse and the fewer nutrient deficiencies, the fewer cravings. Certain nutrients seem to improve blood sugar control including chromium, Vitamin B3 and magnesium.

Move your body. Exercise, dance or do some yoga. Whatever movement you enjoy will help reduce tension, boost your energy and decrease your need for a sugar lift.

Get enough sleep. When we are tired we often use sugar for energy to counteract the exhaustion.

Do a detox. My experience has been that when people do a detox, not only does it reset their appetites but it often decreases their sugar cravings. After the initial sugar cravings, which can be overwhelming, our bodies adjust and we won't even want the sugar anymore and the desire will disappear.

Be open to explore the emotional issues around your sugar addiction. Many times our craving for sugar is more for an emotional need that isn’t being met.

Keep sugary snacks out of your house and office. It’s difficult to snack on things that aren’t there!

Don't substitute artificial sweeteners for sugar.

Learn to read labels. Although I would encourage you to eat as few foods as possible that have labels, educate yourself about what you’re putting into your body. The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely sugar is going to be included on that list. So check the grams of sugar, and choose products with the least sugar per serving.

Become familiar with sugar terminology. Recognize that all of these are sweeteners: corn syrup, corn sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, honey, molasses, turbinado sugar and brown sugar.

Sugar in disguise. Remember that most of the “complex” carbohydrates we consume like bread, bagels and pasta aren’t really complex at all. They are usually highly refined and act just like sugars in the body and are to be avoided.

Two days away ...

We start our first 90 day challenge on Tuesday, and I'm getting a little nervous. I should pr obably relax as the plan we are following moves in phases. Still, anything that restricts all out eating freedom is a threat! I'm spending some of this weekend menu planning, and hopefully a little preparation will make the process easier!

I had it all wrong!

This is what our plates should look like, I think I confused the vegetables with the starches! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!



You can still eat noodles!

If you love pasta, but don't love the calories or the carb count, you must try Shirataki Noodles. I dislike everything Tofu, but I like these noodles very much. The trick is to rinse them well and dry them well, first in a paper towel and then put them in a pan and dry them some more over med heat (just a minute or two). After all the drying is done (you don't have to do this but it gets rid of a slightly fishy smell) then add them to your sauce and there you go!
I use Shirataki to make Singapore Street Noodles (I'll post the recipe at some point later) and they are awesome, the noodles are also awesome in soup (Chicken Bok Choy soup another great tasting low cal./carb delight. I'll post that recipe or make a video soon) I think the whole bag of noodles are around 40 calories! A weight loss win-win!



On my fitness pal, you can log your food/water/exercise and keep track of calories along with sugar and fat grams, and it's free!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/


Also, I just saw a video about this pedometer and they say it's a motivator in your pocket...hmmm, pricey at almost 70.00, but it may be worth a try to get me moving!

Gathering Information...

I watched a video the other day and a man who lost a few hundred pounds said "sugar is the cocaine of the food world."  Sugar is certainly extremely addictive, I stopped eating it for almost two years a few years ago and it made all the difference in clarity, energy and even how much other food I ate. It seems that sugar is a driving force for me. When I relapsed it was a quick spiral back into the "food fight."
While I want to cut way back on sugar, I also want to try and learn how to strike a balance with food and exercise. I enjoy holiday cooking and eating and would like to take this next year to have a more sane approach to my relationship with food. I don't want to demonize certain foods, but I want to eat within reason. I think living with an 80 percent excellent diet and 20 percent fun diet, would do the trick!
I grabbed some ideas from blackdoctor.org that may help with planning and portion control:

I think this is a fabulous idea, a little effort up front can take you through the week.


Also, what about the following "Salad in A Jar" I read somewhere that if you put the dressing on the bottom and your chopped protein on top of the dressing, it keeps your salad greens from getting wilty - pretty cool!

And finally, here are a few great "swapping" ideas. I'm not so sure about the avocado for mayo swap as I love real mayo, but I'm willing to give it a try:

* All Images from blackdoctor.org's Facebook Page.