When feeling a tad bloated, sluggish and carrying a little excess weight, January is often the time of year when we all want to hit the gym, eat healthy and get in shape!
With this in mind we want to share with you just why limiting sugar or completely cutting it out (if you’re brave enough!) could be the best thing that you can do for your health and weight loss goals.
So what does sugar actually do and why is it a good idea to ditch it?…
1) It increases fat around the middle AND more importantly to know around our organs – which we can’t even see and is the most detrimental!
2) It increases our risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
3) It contributes to premature ageing, including wrinkles!
4) Excess sugar can play havoc with your hunger and fullness signals and blood sugar levels throughout the day. Think more protein less sugar to help balance things out and avoid the mid – afternoon energy slump.
5) Sugar is extremely addictive, so please don’t go beating yourself up if you have tried to give it up and failed!
6) And of course excess sugar encourages fat storage and weight gain.
Now at Sana Vita we are true believers that balance is key to success and that eliminating certain foods rarely results in long term weight management. So we are not suggesting going ‘cold turkey’ with sugar, but maybe becoming more aware of the negative impact excess sugar can have on your health might help when you’re thinking about your next pick me up snack.
The good news is that there are some healthier alternatives to sugar such as stevia, agave nectar, manuka honey and 85% (or more) dark chocolate. HOWEVER they do still have the same effect in spiking sugar levels so it’s not to overdo it on these too.
So why not try the 80/20 approach to begin with and see how you get on – go ditch that sugar 🙂
