HOW I GAVE UP PROCESSED ADDED SUGAR

HOW I GAVE UP PROCESSED ADDED SUGAR

About two months ago I was diagnosed with borderline hypertension.
That was when it hit me that I was twenty-six years old and I could have high blood pressure.
I had to make some changes and this time not dieting like I used to, I had to make lifestyle changes.
The first thing that had to go from my diet: sugar.

According to an article from the Harvard Health Publishing, throughout a study carried out for 15 years they realized that the participants who had about 25% of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice likely to die from heart disease than those whose daily sugar intake was about 10% added sugar.
Life without sugar.
I know it is boring, lifeless and with no color.
Unimaginable.
Yet it is doable. For about two months now, I have not been adding any sugar to my tea.
My cousin who inspired me to quit sugar has been on a sugar-free spree for about two years now.
I woke up one day and I decided that from then onward I will no longer use sugar and today I am here to try to convince you to give up sugar too.
Giving up sugar is a conscious choice that I made every day until I got used to not having sugar. I still indulge occasionally on chocolate, a piece of cake here and there or an eclair, but I never add any sugar to my tea.
Boundaries without too much restriction are the key.

HEALTH DANGERS OF USING TOO MUCH SUGAR

Everything is okay when used in moderation, but when it used too much, it becomes dangerous.
Sugar is the same way, a little bit can be okay but too much can cause health risks.
One can substitute processed sugar with raw pure honey or jaggery(sukari nguru).
I am not sure about using stevia because I have never used it; I am only recommending what I have used before.
There are sugars in the foods we eat too like fruits or milk but I am only going to talk about processed added sugars today known as sucrose. The American Heart Association recommends that in a day men should only have 150 calories of sugar (9 teaspoons) while women should have about 100 calories of sugar which are 6 teaspoons.
But do not get too excited because you think you can have 6 to 9 teaspoons of sugar, those teaspoons are included in everything you eat like the sugar in baked products like bread, cookies, cakes, cinnamon toast or even processed fruit juices. You have to be careful of hidden sugars in all your food. So by the time you add another four teaspoons of sugar to your tea and have it with some bread or cake or cookies, you may have surpassed the daily recommended limits.
Imagine this a the 375ml of coke, the small coke bottle, has about ten teaspoons of sugar, that already puts you way above the sugar limit for both men and women.

Sugar has no nutritional value leading to weight gain because it is an empty calorie as it only adds calories but it does not have any nutritional value. They are also digested so fast by the body they do not counterbalance hunger; you end up eating more and more to satisfy your hunger. The more you eat, the more empty calories consumed, the more weight gained.

Unlike getting your sugar from fruits or milk where instead of only getting the sugar, you get some nutritional values like vitamins and fiber, which is a win-win.
Another benefit is that natural sugar is digested at a slower rate, so they are a longer-lasting source of energy, unlike added sugar that is digested faster and excess stored as fat, leading to weight gain.

Sugar by itself does not lead to weight gain, weight gain is affected by so many things like diet, exercise, and genetics, but giving up sugar has helped me lose some weight in the past two months.

When I was consuming too much added sugar I had this terrible acne that would not go away no matter what I tried. If you have read my book finding self-love, I talk about my struggle with acne. (If you have not read it, grab a free copy now, just click on this https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/941580 .) I tried everything to fight it, I tried fair and lovely, jojoba oil, giving up makeup and nothing worked. When I gave up sugar, my skin just cleared up on its own. That is something to think about.

These are just but a few of the dangers of consuming too much sugar, we have to be careful about whatever we put into our bodies. So for the main reason why I wrote this whole post in the first place:

HOW I GAVE UP ADDED SUGAR:

I am not saying that you should entirely cut out sugar (unless you have been directed by the doctor then please do) but you just need to regulate your sugar intake to ensure you are not overusing sugar. A coke or piece of cake once in a while is okay, just not every day.
Well there were the headaches and the low energy the first week after giving up sugar but it got better with time, now I cannot add sugar to my tea.
That being said here are a few tricks I used to cut back on my sugar intake:

• Reduced the number of teaspoons every week: when I started I added about four teaspoons of sugar to my tea. I started by reducing a teaspoon each week until I did not add any sugar at all. I tried to go cold turkey and it backfired, I found out this way was so much better.

• I reduced my soda intake to once a month. We have already established that soda has way too much sugar in it but at times you just need a cold refreshing coke on a hot day. Nothing can beat that. So instead of torturing myself and suffering, I have reduced my soda intake to about 500ml a month. That way I limit my intake and also reduce my added sugar intake. I replaced my soda habit with a lot of smoothies and fresh fruit juices which believe it or not are so delicious. Also be careful of fruit juices in restaurants and hotels because they do tend to add sugar to make them sweeter, which is why I prefer sugarcane, and ginger juice. It is the most natural juice you can have that you did not make yourself.

• Cakes, sweets and cookies, my other weakness when it comes to snacking. It is easy to fall prey when you have no healthy snack alternatives, which is why I always have an apple or two in my bag. This way when I am hungry after a meal and I crave something to bite into I bite into the apple. Does not mean I have cut of cakes and cookies entirely, I indulge once or twice.

• Read labels in “healthy foods” you buy, they may contain hidden sugars that you are not aware of.

• If you cannot resist sugar in the house then do not keep any at hand. When it is available in the house it is so easy to just add some to your tea when drinking tea without sugar becomes impossible for you. So just get rid of all the sugar now.

• I prefer drinking mint green tea when I do not add sugar to my tea but my cousin and my mum prefer having milk tea without sugar. Drink what feels right to you milk tea or I do recommend buying some green tea with mint, so delicious without any added sugar.

I guess those are the tricks I used to give up sugar, there is one last one, know the why. Why are you giving up sugar? Just like everything in life the why is very important, it drives you on what you do every day. I am giving up sugar because I want to lose some weight and also get my hypertension under control, why do you want to give up sugar?

That will drive you in everything.
Let’s meet on my next blog post as I discuss the effects I felt when I first gave up sugar and the weight loss.
If you are interested in any of my books please check out my website: www.lynnachieng.com.
Thank you for joining me, until next time.
Love you.