Gimme some sugar.
The Challenge: Avoid all added sugar for one week. I have done
this challenge multiple times and I always love it. It's hard maybe the hardest
one we're gonna do which is why I want to do it first when we're all feeling
motivated and strong with the new year. Thumbs up if yu're ready for the
challenge. Now there are different types of sugar and it doesn't need to be 100%
avoided but our bodies can only handle so much of it and when we get more than
we need that's when it's stored as fat. So the purpose of this challenge is to sort
of reset your body in terms of sugar. I generally advise doing the challenge for
two to three weeks to really feel the difference but for the purpose of the
series we're going to do it for one week. I will continue to do it for the full
three weeks if you want to join me. There are refined and unrefined sugar before
the sake of your palate really being able to reset I recommend trying to stay
away from both for the duration of the challenge. What is included in this
challenge? The obvious refined sugar. So no chocolate, no candy, no ice cream, nothing
that is obviously sugar. If it says sugar in the ingredients none of that. Read the
labels. No cereal, no biscuits or cookies, no packaged snacks, even salty foods can
have sugar in them.
Soda. Sneaky or surprising sugar. Read the label there are a lot of sneaky sugar
names. A list of a bunch of those sneaky sugar names is included on the PDF for
today but these words all means sugar so we want to avoid them. You'll find that a
lot of these are in breads and packaged goods. A lot of them are names that end
in "OSE". Bread, wheat and white bread can have a lot of sugar, read the label. Peanut butter
can have a lot of sugar. Get natural or make your own. Deli meats. Can you
believe that a lot of the more processed ones actually have forms of sugar like
"Dextrose" in them. If you get it at the deli counter where they cut it up in front of you that's
probably not the case.
Always read the label to be sure. Artificial
or natural sweeteners. Definitely try to avoid the chemically derived ones like
saccharin, aspartame, generally sucralose or make it occasional at least. There are
different kinds of natural sweeteners, there are refined and unrefined. Now we
process refined sugars differently even if they are healthy refined sugars
like maple syrup, honey, etc. They are still refined and can still cause a blood sugar
spike. So even though those are considered healthier choices they should be avoided
if you really want to do this challenge to see how your body feels. Coconut sugar
is unrefined but for the sake of your palate I'd try going without it for this week
and it still does contain calories and carbs or sugar. No calorie natural
sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit, I encourage you to try and go without them
as well. What can happen is that when we taste those sweeteners that are sweeter
than sugar we end up actually craving the real stuff but we can't satisfy the
craving. But if you're like NooOOoOOo I cannot drink my morning coffee without
sugar, then sure add a little bit of stevia. It isn't worth doing a challenge
if it isn't at all achievable. Remember baby steps. The no calorie sweeteners
won't spike your blood sugar and they won't affect the physical reset but they
may hurt or help you mentally so you kind of have to do what works for you here. So
definitely you're going to want to find substitutions. Number one, nature's candy
fruit or anything that involves fruit like nice cream. Natural sugars in fruit
are absolutely ok. There is no need to avoid any of these naturally occurring
sugars that appear in their whole foods form. We're not talking maple syrup or honey,
we're talking whole fruits and vegetables. The purpose is not to do this FOREVER.
It's to reset your body. Every time after I do this challenge my cravings go
down because remember you crave what you eat and I am amazed once I finally
eat sugar again how little I actually need compared to before. You may find yourself
getting a little bit uncomfortable or having a headache for the first day or
two especially if you're used to having a lot of sugar in your diet but they
will subside after the first few days. I definitely
suggest adding some more fruit into your diet to help compensate. Do you pledge
take the challenge? Comment below and let me know what is going to be the hardest
thing for you? Share this video with someone who can take the challenge with
you and tag me on social media and use the #redefinehealth and
#nosugarchallenge so that I can see your progress. We will check in
throughout the week to see how it's going so don't forget to subscribe.
You'll find a recap of this challenge in today's PDF and remember especially
when you really want some sugar it's all a matter of Mind Over Munch.