You're going to love this one! You want to lose weight and you feel that you should cut all sugar out of your diet so that you can lose weight. But, guess what I found out by reading several articles on the Internet-don't do it! By all means cut down on calories, limit your fat intake and cut down on sugar, but do not deprive your body of all sugars. Otherwise you will have a rebellion going on in your body.
Your body needs some sugar to maintain a proper balance. Believe it or not, it's true! You have to have sugar to keep your body properly functioning, but you don't want to have too much, because then you have those sugar highs and lows that aren't good for your health. All I'm saying is don't cut all natural sugar from your life in order to lose weight.
What I found out is when you cut out all sugar from your daily diet, you are doing yourself some harm. By switching to drinking diet sodas, about three a day, your body is actually craving the sugar and will find other ways to get it. You will find yourself craving sugary foods, and more carbohydrates that break down into sugar. You will be sabotaging your diet, because you will want to eat more sugary foods every day that can cause you to add about 100 calories to your diet every day.
What you should do is still allow yourself to have some sugar each day, just a little such as having a cookie, or possibly a soda drink with some sugar. But, limit your sugar intake by not indulging in everything your body craves such as those yummy doughnuts somebody brought into work-you'll have to remember to not sign her birthday card next time.
What you can also do is consume foods that are sweet but much lower in calories, such as low-fat yogurt, raisins, grapes, honey, and even vanilla or chocolate soy milk. Yogurt and honey can be utilized as a substitute for sugar in cooking, and baking so that you are taking in less calories but are still getting the sweet taste.
Stay away from the man-made sugar substitutes such as aspartame, saccharin, Equal, and Splenda, because, they too will have your body screaming for the real thing. You need to have some sugar so that your body can keep going and have energy but you just don't need to have a lot of it- that's one of the ways your body creates fat.
Do allow yourself to have one natural sugar item each day, that isn't an entire cheesecake for example. It has to be within reason to allow your body to have the sugar and those taste buds to have it also. Then substitute the real thing for foods that are are low in fat. Allow yourself the pleasure because you will satisfy that sugar craving, and then you can go on to eat healthier foods that contain sweet flavors and some naturally sweet tasting ingredients, such as apples, oranges, watermelon. Drink lemon water, and have a variety of healthy vegetables that contain a lot of fiber that will fill you up to also stave off that sugar craving.
You can wean your body off of natural sugar by substituting it with the man made stuff. But you will be sabotaging your diet by having your body crave real sugar even more. You need some natural sugar to maintain a proper body balance, but you don't need to overload the sweet stuff. Natural foods can satisfy that sweet tooth with honey, yogurt and many fruits that will help you lose weight!