Are You Up for A Sugar-Free Challenge?
This January marks the beginning of National Sugar Free Month and the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge.
Dr. Scott Olson, started the challenge as a way for people to focus on weight loss, but also as a way to learn about the addictive and harmful aspects of our sugar consumption.
What a great idea! This is one of the hardest things to give up and get out of our systems and could be the one big thing that is keeping you from reaching your weight loss goal!
Why Stop Sugar?
You might agree that sugar is addictive, but you may not know just how addictive or how harmful that addiction can be. Let’s take a look and see what science is starting to show us about sugar:
Sugar addiction: Animal studies show that sugar is every bit as addictive as cigarettes, alcohol and even drugs. If you understand that sugar is an addiction, you understand a lot of your behavior around the foods that you eat: bingeing, cravings, hoarding, obsession are all signs of addiction. If you have ever tried a diet, but couldn’t stick with it, or if you lost a lot of weight only to gain it back, you have your addiction to blame.
Weight Gain: While medicine denies that there is an association, sugar leads directly to weight gain. It does this because eating sugar creates large spikes in blood sugar. Whenever your blood sugar is higher than the current needs of your body, your body will store the extra sugar as fat. This does not happen with other foods, like broccoli, meat, or even an apple.
Insulin Insensitivity: Insulin insensitivity occurs when our cells become resistant to insulin. Both metabolic syndrome and diabetes are forms of insulin insensitivity. Your cells become resistant to insulin when there is constantly too much sugar in your blood stream. While even medical societies such as the American Diabetes Association deny the connection, sugar and foods that act like sugar are largely responsible for diabetes.
Toxic: The most surprising thing I uncovered while researching Sugarettes, my book on sugar addiction, was that sugar is toxic to the blood vessels in the body. In the exact same way that cigarette smoke damages the lungs, sugar in the blood stream damages blood vessels. This damage is clearly seen in diabetics who have blood vessel damage in the form of heart disease, eye disease, kidney disease and more. The exact same damage occurs in people who aren’t diabetic but who eat sugar, only slower.
Join us in January
Breaking the sugar habit is not easy; but with the right support, you can succeed. Taking sugar out of your life means that you are taking steps towards a much healthier you and preventing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
Taking the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge is a step towards your better health. So join us in January for 30 days without sugar.
Dr. Scott Olson is a Naturopathic doctor, expert in alternative medicine, author and medical researcher. Spurred on by his patients’ struggles with sugar addiction, he was determined to discover just how addictive and harmful sugar can be and ways to overcome that addiction. The result of that study is his book Sugarettes, which describes the addictive qualities of sugar and the harm that sugar does to our bodies.
Dr. Scott also maintains a blog (www.olsonnd.com) which highlights the latest in health and healthy living.
I am in, how about you???
Angie Schumacher is a Certified Fitness Professional who trains clients in her home and is a Women's Boot Camp Instructor in Colorado. She is the author of The Fat Blasting Boot Camp Program and has offered a one stop website to help you with all of your health and fitness needs. Please visit www.BuildingABetterU.com to find exactly what you are looking for!
Popularity: 1% [?]
I had been fighting with sugar addiction for a long time. Joined some support groups too but my personal trainer from Carlsbad advised me to read ’sugaretts’ and it really got me out of the habit. Thanks to all!