The Sugar Smart Diet: Stop Cravings and Lose Weight While Still Enjoying the Sweets You Love (30 page)
Authors: Anne Alexander,Julia VanTine
Now that you’re free to enjoy up to 6 teaspoons of added sugars (24 grams) a day (or 9 teaspoons for men) in any way your sugary little heart desires, you’ll need to keep track of how much you’re eating.
Sometimes, “sugar math” is easy. Stir a teaspoon of the sweet stuff into your coffee or drizzle a teaspoon of honey on your morning oatmeal, and you’ve consumed 4 grams of sugar, or one-sixth of your daily allotment. But as I’ve mentioned before, determining the amount of
added
sugars in packaged or prepared foods can be tricky. Food manufacturers aren’t required to separate naturally occurring and added sugars on their labels. What they list is the product’s
total
sugars, which can come from the sugars naturally in the food, added sugars, or both.
Sneaky! But not sneaky enough. Here’s a quick-and-dirty way to estimate any food’s added sugars.
• On the product’s Nutrition Facts label, look for Total Sugars.
• If the product contains 0 grams of sugar (or a minimal amount, say up to 3 grams), you’re in the clear.
• If the product contains sugar, consider all of it to be added unless the food contains a significant amount of fruit, milk, or yogurt, or “sweeter” vegetables such as beets, carrots, corn, green peas, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.
• Look at the product’s ingredients list. Do you spot any form of added sugar? No? Then the sugar is naturally present in the food. Two examples: plain yogurt or unsweetened applesauce.
• If you do spot sugar or its aliases, it’s sugar math time. Don’t get nervous. Once you’re familiar with how much natural sugar unsweetened foods contain, it’s a snap to guesstimate how much added sugar the sweetened versions are packing.
For example, ½ cup of frozen corn has 4 grams of sugar but just one ingredient: corn. The same amount of canned cream-style corn contains 7 grams of sugar. Check the ingredients list—sure enough, sugar is listed. So you can figure that the canned variety has about 3 grams of added sugar. Or take unsweetened versus sweetened applesauce—12 grams of sugar for the unsweetened versus 25 grams per ½ cup for the sweetened (thanks to the addition of high fructose corn syrup). Do you love cream-style corn enough to spend almost a whole teaspoon of sugar on it? Do you want applesauce to supply nearly half your daily allowance of added sugar? Is it “spoon-worthy?” Only you can answer that. But thanks to sugar math, you’ve got a choice.
STAY AHEAD OF “SUGAR CREEP”
When people on diet plans relax their eating, the result is “sugar creep.” A chocolate kiss here, a coffee drink there—eventually, their small nibbles and sips snowball, and they find themselves with a half-eaten tube of cookie dough in their hand, wondering how it happened.
What happened was not so much a relaxing of their eating. It’s that they stopped eating with awareness. Little by little, the healthy habits they worked so hard to integrate into their lives slipped away, and old habits took over. It doesn’t have to happen to you. Here are three simple but powerful ways to outsmart sugar creep. Stick to them and you’ll continue to enjoy all of the pleasures of sugar, with none of the drawbacks.
Stick with the label-reading habit.
That positive habit reinforces awareness, and it can help snap you back to reality when you’re considering a treat that you may not really want and didn’t plan to enjoy. Say, for example, your partner brings home a boxed raspberry cheese Danish. The label says that one serving packs 15 grams of sugar. That’s just short of 4 teaspoons—most of your daily allotment if you’re a woman! Do you really, really,
really
want that slice? Or would a few squares of dark chocolate or a slice of whole grain toast with 100% raspberry spread hit the spot just as well?
Plan your treats.
For the most part, you should decide what you’ll have as a treat on any particular day and stick to that. If you don’t know what you’ll be in the mood for, at least determine ahead of time
when
you’ll have sugar. Are you going out to dinner and want dessert? Do you plan on working hard through the afternoon and think a 4 p.m. treat will be a nice break? The idea is to limit your spontaneous sugar indulgences as much as possible. Planning not only helps you manage your intake of sugar, but increases your enjoyment of it when you do indulge.
Take a daily mindful bite.
Every day, give your full attention to the first bite of the sugary treat you’ve chosen. Gaze at it lovingly. Sigh over it. Give thanks for it, and give thought to its color, scent, temperature, and complexity of flavors. It’s a way to pay respect to sugar and keep your awareness of its presence in your diet sharp. Sugar creep won’t be able to gain the upper hand.
Ashley Koff, RD
SPACE OUT YOUR SUGAR.
The health risk (including weight gain, fat accumulation, chronic inflammation, overly acidic digestive system) increases when either or both quality and quantity of added sugar are compromised. Should you have a latte with sweetened soy milk at the same time as a yogurt with honey or even add fruit to the honey yogurt to make a smoothie, the body is overwhelmed with too much “quick energy.” It has to triage, if you will, aiming to send what it can to the cells and set aside (i.e., fat storage) what it doesn’t. Not only can the extra sugar lead to weight gain, especially belly fat, but it feeds bad bacteria in your body, negatively impacting the body’s immune function and digestive system. I like to teach clients that it’s similar to getting a week’s worth of work dumped on you first thing Monday morning as opposed to it being spaced out throughout the week. When you (or your body) are overwhelmed, stress and suboptimal performance are typically the ultimate outcomes.
SATISFY CRAVINGS NATURALLY.
When I do get a sugar craving, I will always give into it with a quality source of carbohydrate—like a serving of dark chocolate or organic fruit—so that I don’t allow that urge to build into something unmanageable. The human (emotional) brain doesn’t like being told that it can’t or even that it shouldn’t have something. In fact, that can drive an even bigger obsession toward having it.
STAY BALANCED.
If I notice that my desire for sugar is stronger than usual, I’ll first try to identify why. Am I tired, emotional, stressed, dehydrated, or all of the above? To combat any of these, I rely on a magnesium supplement as well as food sources of magnesium (which include the cacao in quality dark chocolate) and look to nonfood fixes (baths, massage, workout). I also make sure that I am getting enough water and potassium so I stay adequately hydrated.
MONITOR YOUR REACTION TO SUGAR.
When I overdo sugar or consume something abnormally sweet (for me)—think birthday cake icing, gelato, candy—there is a tendency for it to stay with me by way of a sugar craving for about 2 more days. So I monitor my consumption more closely on those subsequent days, make sure to get adequate sleep and exercise, and relax to prevent the craving from mounting a stronger offense.
ASHLEY KOFF, RD,
maintains an international private practice and is a coauthor of
Mom Energy
and the author of
Recipes for IBS.
She shares her message that better-quality food and supplement choices are the keys to optimal health with millions, regularly appearing on
The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors,
and other TV programs, in magazines (she’s
Prevention’
s dietitian), on radio, and online at
ashleykoffrd.com
.
HAVE A PLAN FOR BACKSLIDING
What if, despite your best intentions, sugar does creep up on you? Simply go back to Phase 1 for a week or two to reset your sugar thermostat. You can then either progress through the plan in the same way you just did or come straight back to Phase 4.
SAVOR LIFE AS MUCH AS SUGAR
We’ve been talking about savoring sweet foods—and when they’re occasional treats, as they will be from now on, you certainly will! But there are other things to savor. Take a moment to think about your schedule. Does it include an activity that puts a curl in your toes, that gets you really stoked? We’re not talking downtime in front of the tube. We’re talking pleasure. The more you indulge in it in healthy ways, the less you’ll look for it in sugar. And the more pleasure and joy and laughter you add to your life, the less you feel the need to derive pleasure from food.
Years ago, a boyfriend’s mother told me her secret to a fulfilling life: She did something she really loved for 20 minutes every day. What a simple and great idea! This “20-minute rule” clicked with me, and I immediately made a list of nonfood pleasures that I could choose from as a reward. What I’m saying is, hang on to your Rewards Card. Treat yourself to one of its pleasures each day, and as you discover new ones, revise your card. And remember—the sweetness of life is in the moment, and pleasure-filled moments make a life. Sometimes, when I’m pressed for time (deadlines!), my “reward” is as simple as spritzing on some scent or blasting a Lady Gaga tune.
But there’s another, lesser-known dimension to pleasure: savoring. To savor something is to enjoy it thoroughly, wringing every drop of pleasure from it. And research suggests it’s the key to true happiness.
In a study published in the
Journal of Positive Psychology
, researchers had 101 women and men keep diaries for 30 days. They recorded “pleasant events” and how much they savored or squelched them. Savorers got more pleasure by stopping to focus on a good thing, telling someone else about it, or
even screaming in delight. Wet-blanket types killed the joy by carping that it could have been better, they didn’t deserve it, or it was almost over. Ultimately, savorers got the biggest happiness boost from pleasurable moments.
The skill set for good savoring is one part wild abandon (hooting, hollering, jumping up and down) and one part mature wisdom (the “smell the roses while you can” side). Whether you’re one or the other, practicing the fine art of savoring can help you keep sugar in its rightful place in your life.
To reap the benefits of this little-known component of pleasure, embark on what the study’s lead researcher calls “a savoring adventure.” It could be a walk in the woods, a trip into a city, or cooking a meal you love. Then do three things:
- Before the experience, anticipate how wonderful it will be.
- During the experience, focus on the sensations and feelings you’re having. Use all five senses. Be nonjudgmental. Express your emotions to whomever you’re with or by writing them down later.
- Afterward, look back on the event. Share it with someone.
Whatever your savor-worthy activity, start planning it now. Sugar is one of life’s pleasures, and there are plenty more to revel in!
Peaches ’n’ Cream Waffles
Top 1 toasted whole grain toaster waffle (like Van’s Whole Grain) with ½ cup 0% plain Greek yogurt, ½ cup fresh or frozen and thawed sliced peaches, and 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds.
Nutrition per serving:
294 calories, 19 g protein, 28 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 14 g total sugar, 13 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 234 mg sodium
In a medium microwaveable bowl, combine 1 cup fat-free milk (or unsweetened soy milk),
1
⁄
3
cup rolled oats, ½ small ripe banana, mashed, and 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, then stir. Microwave for 30 seconds, or until the oats are soft. Stir in 1 teaspoon maple syrup and 1 tablespoon walnuts.
Nutrition per serving:
314 calories, 15 g protein, 50 g carbs, 6 g fiber, 23 g total sugar, 8 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 134 mg sodium
Creamy Ricotta, Basil, and Tomato Penne
Heat ½ teaspoon olive oil a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add ¾ cup halved grape tomatoes and ¼ cup chopped onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to pucker. Add 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves and 1 teaspoon minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in 1¼ cups cooked whole wheat (or regular) penne and ½ cup part-skim ricotta cheese and heat on low for 3 minutes, or until the cheese melts slightly.
Nutrition per serving:
450 calories, 25 g protein, 63 g carbs, 7 g fiber, 7 g total sugar, 13 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 572 mg sodium
Cook 2 tablespoons chopped onion, ½ cup crumbled tempeh or tofu, and ¼ cup frozen and thawed corn kernels in 1 teaspoon olive oil for 6 minutes, or until the tofu is browned. Stir in 3 tablespoons
Sugar Smart BBQ Sauce
. Divide the mixture between two 6” corn tortillas and top each with 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion, ½ cup chopped spinach, 2 teaspoons 0% plain Greek yogurt, and 2 teaspoons chopped avocado.
Nutrition per serving:
427 calories, 23 g protein, 51 g carbs, 8 g fiber, 9 g total sugar, 18 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 86 mg sodium