by Peg Ronnoco

Created on: March 09, 2009

If a person is going to do ONE THING towards living a more healthy lifestyle I would suggest this first: KICK YOUR SUGAR HABIT!

Sugar has no nutritious qualities whatsoever. The only benefit of sugar is in canning and preserving fruits and berries and some pickles. Pickles and condiments are not a necessity of life, and with the invention of the freezer, there is no need to preserve fresh fruit in sugary syrups.

Filling and long-lasting snacks should have protein as well and a complex carbohydrate. These will sustain you better than something sugary which only offers a quick boost that drops just as quickly, causing the sensation of hunger sooner.

When your body is getting proper nutrition with plenty of protein, cravings will lessen and eventually disappear. Sugar is addictive, so when you are getting it every day, you crave it every day and the cravings grow stronger the more you eat.

To help you in eliminating your sugar laden diet you must rid your home of all sugars and all products that contain sugar. This will require reading ingredient lists and tossing everything that contains anything with "ose" in the word such as glucose and fructose, corn syrup, etc. If there are a lot of words listed in the ingredients that you cannot pronounce or understand toss it out, you obviously don't need additives you can't pronounce.

SHOPPING:

Buy some fresh fruit. Berries are the best fruit choice, they are God's little vitamin pills! Chock full of vitamins and anti-oxidents (blueberries are the best anti-oxidents), fibre and very little sugar. The best fruit and berry choices are your local ones, thus ensuring their freshness and aiding your own local economy. If everyone supports local you can ensure good prices and a steady market, it is definitely a win-win situation to support your local farmer.

While you are still in the produce section, look around you like a kid in a candy store at all the beautiful colors of vegetables that are available. Buy lots of bright green veggies and compliment them with red, yellow and orange ones. Go crazy! Buy something you have never tried before.

Find some high fibre bread like multi-grain or rye and check the list of ingredients. There are many breads now being made with very low or no amount of sugar, it may do some looking to find something you like.

Whole grain or rice crackers are great snack choices.

Find a cereal with little to no sugar. The best choices have lots of grains, high fiber and protein. Look in your health-food section

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