The Sugar Smart Diet: Stop Cravings and Lose Weight While Still Enjoying the Sweets You Love (14 page)

A study published in the journal
Psychological Science
found that people who eat or drink while they’re distracted require greater intensities of taste—sweetness included—to feel satisfied. In one part of the study, people who made and tasted lemonade as they memorized a seven-digit number ended up with a 50 percent higher sugar concentration in their drink than when they had to memorize just one number. In other words, a healthy meal may be flavorful if you eat it mindfully, but bland if you’re distracted with work or TV, prompting you to eat more sugar after dinner to feel satisfied.

Look back at your food log again, think about the triggers that led you to reach for sugar, and jot them down in a chart like the one on
this page
. I’ve given you an example of the kind of detail that will be helpful. Really try to pinpoint the reason each weak point increases your vulnerability to sugary foods, and come up with solutions. Going forward, you’ll find them invaluable when you’re in similar circumstances.

I’ve combined identifying Secret Sugars and Sugar Mimics into one step because often—but not always—the two categories come as a package in foods. I’ll explain more ahead, but for now, similar to what you did yesterday for Straight-Up Sugars, place an SS—Secret Sugar—next to all the foods that you may not think of as containing added sugar, but that do. (On the list below, I’ve noted which foods tend to contain Secret Sugars, which are Sugar Mimics, and which are sources of both.) Do the same for Sugar Mimics—use SM as your notation. Here’s what to look for.

Ketchup SS

Barbecue sauce SS

Teriyaki sauce, plum sauce, or other Asian sauces SS

Low-fat or fat-free salad dressings and marinades SS

Dips and spreads, such as onion dip SS

Side dishes from the supermarket deli, such as macaroni salad, potato salad, or coleslaw SS, SM

Canned biscuits and pizza dough SS, SM

Leftovers from take-out meals, such as pizza or that sweet-and-sour chicken from your favorite Chinese place SS, SM

Look past the ice cream—if it’s still there, it’s one of your key sugar sources. Focus on:

Frozen entrées (low-calorie or otherwise) SS, SM

Processed meats (sausage, hot dogs) SS

Frozen veggies prepared with sauces SS

Breakfast sandwiches SS, SM

Mini pizza bagels or pizza rolls, or pocket sandwiches SS, SM

Frozen bread and rolls SS, SM

Potpies SS, SM

The pantry is a gold mine for Secret Sugars and Sugar Mimics. You’ll find them in:

Saltines or oyster crackers SM

Pretzels, chips, or other salty snack foods SM

Pasta sauce SS

Pasta, regular and whole wheat SM

Couscous SM

White rice SM

Rice mixes SS, SM

Instant flavored oatmeal SS, SM

Granola or fruit and grain bars (whole grain varieties included) SS, SM

Sweetened cornbread mix SS

Whole grain cold cereals (Even the ones that are sugar free and contain fiber are processed and can spike your blood sugar. You can reintroduce whole grain cereals with 0 grams sugar and at least 3 grams fiber on Phase 2 of the plan.) SS, SM

Flour, all-purpose or whole wheat SM

Bread, whole grain and white SS, SM

Baked beans SS

Trail mix SS

Whole grain crackers SS, SM

English muffins SS, SM

Pita bread SS, SM

Tortilla wraps SS, SM

Taco shells SS, SM

Rice cakes SM

Yogurt, fruit or flavored SS

Second verse, same as the first! After you review your food log, head to your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry, and load up your countertops with the sources of Secret Sugar and Sugar Mimics you find. But this time, there’s an extra step. Read the ingredients list on the back of the food’s package before you make a
decision about what to do with it. Look for sugar by one (or more) of its many names. I listed the various names for sugar in
Chapter 2
, but I think committing them to memory is so important that I’ve listed them again in the box below. Not every salad dressing or frozen dinner or what have you will contain them. As for Sugar Mimics—those processed grain products, both wheat and whole grain—as I said, most of them (like whole wheat bread, instant oatmeal, and breakfast cereal) contain added sugar as well.

The following foods are reintroduced in Phase 2, so you can stash them in your freezer or pantry if you like until then: tortillas, wraps, pita bread, and whole wheat pasta. But as for the others? Dispose of these items in the way you’ve decided. Toss ’em out, box ’em up, get ’em out—you don’t need them anymore. You’re taking control of your weight and your health, and becoming sugar smart.

To break the cycle of reaching for sugar when you are either biologically or emotionally cued to, you have to have something that will short-circuit your reflex response. When you begin Phase 1 of the Sugar Smart Diet on Day 6, you’ll find many strategies designed to disconnect your body and your brain from sugar. Each day offers an action you can take to ease stress in the moment and help manage it consistently—and encourage you to become aware of and accept uncomfortable feelings, so you can learn to manage them without sweets.

As you’ve learned, there’s evidence that highly palatable food—brownies and ice cream definitely qualify—can activate the brain reward system. In fact, a personality trait called reward sensitivity may predispose some people to be highly responsive to cues linked with pleasurable food, like TV ads, according to research presented at an annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior. To turn the tables on your pleasure-seeking brain, create a “rewards card”—a list of nonfood treats that give it (and you) the bliss it seeks, sans sugar. And that discovery process can be a pleasure in itself!

Most of the activities that curl your toes, float your boat, or make your heart sing are simple and fit into even the most harried schedule. For a few years, I kept a list of 20-minute pleasures on my fridge. Whenever I found myself heading to the kitchen for a treat, I’d see the list and realize how many more calorie- and sugar-free options I could enjoy, right then and there. So many of the things that delight me were available to me, pretty much anytime.
Doing yoga. Listening to music—from Johnny Cash to Krishna Das. Hanging out with my kids.

My greatest pleasure? Daydreaming. Letting your mind wander where it will is part of the beauty of life. Give yourself permission to indulge! Sure, you’re busy—me, too. But making time to daydream can lead you to your vision of how you want to live, what you want to do, who you want to be.

These days, I don’t need to keep my list on my fridge. It’s in my head. Taking a long, deep drink from the well of pleasure each day—doing something just for you, and just because—can help ensure that you don’t feel pleasure-deprived and turn to food to make yourself feel happy, nurtured, or loved.

Now it’s time to create your own personal Rewards Card to be whipped out anytime you find yourself heading to the fridge absentmindedly. Your rewards should be things you can do instantly and that last for the 15 to 20 minutes you otherwise might spend indulging in a sugar episode. They should also elicit the same pleasure you feel when you indulge in your favorite dessert. From now on, instead of treating yourself to food, you can treat yourself to pleasure. This strategy—
pleasure-focused redirection
, you might call it—will work like a charm to keep you focused on nonfood sources of pleasure. Not used to rewarding yourself with anything but sugary treats? Consider devoting your daily intention to enjoying one of the pleasures on your card until treating yourself to nonfood pleasures becomes second nature.

Copy the blank form below, fill it out, and keep it with you wherever you go. (You might even laminate it, so it won’t bend or tear.) Here are some of my personal 20-minute pleasures. Feel free to steal a few for your Rewards Card—but don’t pass up the chance to think up your own. Discovering your personal pleasures is almost as fun as actually indulging in them!

• Listen to music
  
• Dance like crazy
  
• Call a really good friend
  
• Paint
  my toenails
  
• Daydream
  
• Spritz perfume on my wrists or neck
  
• Take a nap
  
• Go for a walk, a bike ride, or a run, or stretch
  
• Pet the cat
  
• Take the dog to the park
  
• Watch junky TV
  
• Watch something silly on YouTube
  
• Browse a pretty catalog
  
• Goof off with my kids
  
• Draw or paint
  
• Do needlepoint (so relaxing and addictive!)
  
• Weed the garden (yes, it’s actually relaxing)
  
• Rake leaves
  
• Fill the bird feeder and wait for birds
  
• Give myself a facial
  
• Finally use those lovely bath salts/scrubs
  
• Take some cool photographs
  
• Post something on Facebook; scan others
  
• Plant a flower box for the windowsill
  
• Plan a dream vacation
  
• Lie down and look up at the sky
  

While you can still have favorite sweets today, at least once pull out your card and indulge in a treat that won’t spill over your waistband later. Often, you can stop a craving in its tracks with a small, simple action—a brisk walk around the parking lot, a trip to the library on a rainy day, or a call to your best friend who can stage a sugar intervention. But sometimes, only a treat from your Rewards Card, or the promise of one, will do. What’s more indulgent, really—a professional pedi with a happy color, or half a pan of brownies made from a cheap mix?

Today, you’ll go to the supermarket to shop for Phase 1 of the Sugar Smart Diet. Review the quick and easy meal options that begin on
this page
and pick a few that appeal to you. (If you are cooking for more than one, all you have to do is multiply the ingredients by the number of servings you need. Your results will be just as delicious!) Or you can turn to
Chapter 11
and peruse the Sugar Smart Diet recipes. They’re a little more involved, but I promise the extra effort is worth it.

Make a list of the items you need.
Once you get your groceries home, follow the strategies below to give healthy items prime real estate in your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry, and continue your strategic shelving as you progress through the phases.

Place favorite items at eye level.
Location, location, location. That’s where it’s at in real estate—and in your kitchen. A study published in the
American Journal of Public Health
, which staged a nutritional “intervention” in a large hospital cafeteria, found that color-coding foods and beverages based on their healthiness, and making healthy items more visible, led people to make healthier choices.

Whether you’re opening your refrigerator, freezer, or pantry, your eyes should fall right on the foods you love most. Place veggies, yogurt, and lean protein (salmon, grilled chicken breast) front and center in the refrigerator; your air-popped popcorn and rolled or steel-cut oats on an eye-level pantry shelf; your package of frozen edamame where you’ll see it, so you’ll remember to thaw it.

Prep foods for faster meals.
As soon as you get home from the supermarket, wash, slice, and peel your crudités, avocado, and salad vegetables and place them in see-through containers. Hard-cook eggs and prepare grains the night before you plan to eat them. When you walk in the door hungry, you’ll be able to whip up a healthy meal without a lot of tedious prep work.

Hide the junk.
If your family will continue to eat foods not on your plan, keep their options—especially the sweets and treats—on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, on the lower shelf in your freezer, and in high or low shelves in your pantry, where you’re less likely to see them.

Shop European style.
Especially if you shop for your family, hit the supermarket more often and buy only for their next few meals, rather than lay in supplies for the week. An overload of choices at home may deplete your willpower, a
Journal of Consumer Psychology
study found.