Nutrition Challenge #5: Avoid Sugar

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I have an amazing community in a Facebook group who are positive, motivational, inspirational, supportive, and all striving to become a better version of themselves. I started the group 4 years ago and it is one of my favorites groups.

It’s a safe place to share struggles and triumphs and we always encourage every member to be open and honest. We also don’t judge or discriminate as we are all such different people.

Since health and weight loss are highly affected by nutrition, every week we run a nutrition challenge as a group. There are 8 challenges that run a total of 9 weeks. And then we repeat. The best thing about this process is that you can see progress from one challenge every 9 weeks. For example, one of the weeks is AVOID DAIRY. When I first started the group, I wanted to be dairy-free, but was still having it 2-3 times each week. Even though my goal was always 7 days dairy-free, I would still have it a few times a week. After a few 9 week rounds, my dairy started going down to 1-2 times a week, and then to once a week.

I eventually succeeded with my goal of 7 days without dairy!! Baby steps (of course) but in the end I accomplished what I set out to do. And as most of you know, I am now 100% dairy-free and have been since the beginning of the year.

Now if you don’t WANT to do all 7 days, you can set your OWN goal. For example, THIS week is AVOID SUGAR. I for sure want to cut down on sugar, but I like to have a treat now and then, and I love oatmeal with PB and Grade B Maple Syrup. So my goal is for sure to cut down, but not necessarily to cut it out.

So I look at my week ahead and my activities and decide how many days I want to aim for. It’s usually 5.

I like to do the challenges from least to most difficult for most people so that we see some successes before the struggles set in.

Today we will talk about WEEK #5: AVOID SUGAR

Our AVOID SUGAR challenge is designed to help you become aware of how much sugar you consciously and unconsciously eat each day. There is so much sugar lurking in our packaged and processed foods!

Here are some of the names that sugar hides behind…

1. Barley malt

2. Barbados sugar

3. Beet sugar

4. Brown sugar

5. Buttered syrup

6. Cane juice

7. Cane sugar

8. Caramel

9. Corn syrup

10. Corn syrup solids

11. Confectioner’s sugar

12. Carob syrup

13. Castor sugar

14. Date sugar

15. Dehydrated cane juice

16. Demerara sugar

17. Dextran

18. Dextrose

19. Diastatic malt

20. Diatase

21. Ethyl maltol

22. Free Flowing Brown Sugars

23. Fructose

24. Fruit juice

25. Fruit juice concentrate

26. Galactose

27. Glucose

28. Glucose solids

29. Golden sugar

30. Golden syrup

31. Grape sugar

32. HFCS (High Frustose Corn Syrup… Very Bad!)

33. Honey

34. Icing sugar

35. Invert sugar

36. Lactose

37. Malt

38. Maltodextrin

39. Maltose

40. Malt syrup

41. Mannitol

42. Maple syrup

43. Molasses

44. Muscovado

45. Panocha

46. Powdered Sugar

47. Raw sugar

48. Refiner’s syrup

49. Rice syrup

50. Sorbitol

51. Sorghum syrup

52. Sucrose

53. Sugar (granulated)

54. Treacle

55. Turbinado sugar

56. Yellow sugar

CONFUSING RIGHT???? Ahhhh! That is why we encourage BABY STEPS (as always). Start with what you already have in your house. Look at your labels and this list and see where you can start making better decisions.

I like the AVOID SUGAR challenge because I feel like I learn more and more about sugar every time we go through it. Also, I get better and better about removing it from my daily nutrition.

Basically there is no need for sugar in our bodies. It causes headaches, weight gain, brain fog, insulin spike, and overloads your liver.

This challenge is hard for me. I have never gone the full 7 days. Starting this challenge triggers something in me that makes me want sugar! So it’s like Day 1 I eat sugar!! So my goal is usually 5 days and I can do that. In general I don’t eat a lot of sugar in my daily life so I’m happy with my 5 day goal. In my ideal life, I would eat NO sugar at all. So I am still working toward that.

Here is one of my fave articles on SUGAR…

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/why-a-high-sugar-diet-is-so-hard-on-your-body

And here are some comments from participants…

“The results are always I feel better”
-Kay

“When I first started reading labels I was shocked how many foods have sugar added, especially in condiments and packaged foods, even if they aren’t “sweet”. I learned a lot the first time I did this challenge.”
-Rick

Here are deets on the sugar challenge…