The Sugar Smart Diet: Stop Cravings and Lose Weight While Still Enjoying the Sweets You Love by Anne Alexander, Julia VanTine
Authors: Anne Alexander, Julia VanTine
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sickeningly sweet. A side benefit is that reducing sugar consumption and heightening your sensitivity can reveal a wonderful, subtle sweetness in foods that once seemed to have no sweet notes at all. Certain oolong teas, for example, have a pronounced natural sweetness that I came to appreciate only after I had ratcheted down my consumption of sweet foods.
MAKE SUGAR PART OF A MEAL. Generally, the only added sugar I consume is the modest amount that is added to high-quality dark chocolate (70 percent cacao). My reasoning is that the fat in the chocolate slows the spikes and dips in insulin and blood sugar. If you do eat a food with added sugar, the healthiest way to do so is to make sure that the amount of sugar it contains is modest and to have it with foods that are full of fiber, protein, and fat to slow metabolism and control the rise and fall of insulin.
DON’T SIP SUGAR. The least healthy way to consume added sugar is to drink it in the form of a sweetened beverage. The sugar dissolved in soda is maximally bioavailable. The rise in blood sugar is nearly vertical, and the upcoming dip is correspondingly precipitous.
GET BACK TO BASICS. Added sugar is a relatively recent invention in human evolutionary history, and we have absolutely no need for it. Added, refined sugar in the diet appeared only in the last 1,500 years or so and in abundance only in the last century. There has not been nearly enough time for human beings to metabolically adapt to consuming copious amounts of sugar. When it comes to imagining life without it (or less of it), imagine yourself as the end product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and as a creature exquisitely adapted to thrive on a diet of unprocessed whole foods.
ANDREW WEIL, MD,
a leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, is founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he is also the clinical professor of medicine and professor of public health and holds the Jones-Lovell Endowed Chair in integrative rheumatology. He is the author of numerous books including
True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure
and
Spontaneous Happiness.
----
SUGAR SMART RULE # 4
Start each day with an intention.
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow isn’t here yet. Today is what you have to work with. Setting an intention—a personal goal or hope for the day—each morning can help you make the most of this unique 24-hour slice of your life. It opens you to the opportunities for joy, growth, and wisdom that are unique to you and that help you place sugar in the right context: a pleasure, to be savored mindfully in healthy amounts.
It took me a while to learn the importance of setting a daily intention. I figured it out one morning at 5 a.m. As was my habit, I was checking my e-mail while waiting for my coffee to brew. (I can get a
lot
of e-mail overnight!) This particular morning, I had a lightbulb moment: Why was I starting my day with a slew of other people’s to-dos at the top of my own to-do list? Then and there, without realizing it, I set my first daily intention: to spend that 5 a.m. quiet time on
me
.
Now, as my coffee brews, I read, meditate, do yoga, or just think about my personal priorities, from big-picture goals to what I need to accomplish that morning. My daily intention can be as practical as, “Today I will order that book on Amazon I’ve been meaning to read,” or as lofty as, “Today I will not let fear motivate me—I will move toward bringing more joy and happiness in my life.” This hour of “me” time has made a real difference in my life—every day.
Beginning in Phase 1, you’ll set an intention before you begin your day. I’ll explain how in Chapter 7 , but for now, know this: You’ll come to rely on those few minutes, which are completely and entirely all about you and your success.
SUGAR SMART RULE # 5
Add some joy to your life each day.
We can almost hear you now: With what
MAKE SUGAR PART OF A MEAL. Generally, the only added sugar I consume is the modest amount that is added to high-quality dark chocolate (70 percent cacao). My reasoning is that the fat in the chocolate slows the spikes and dips in insulin and blood sugar. If you do eat a food with added sugar, the healthiest way to do so is to make sure that the amount of sugar it contains is modest and to have it with foods that are full of fiber, protein, and fat to slow metabolism and control the rise and fall of insulin.
DON’T SIP SUGAR. The least healthy way to consume added sugar is to drink it in the form of a sweetened beverage. The sugar dissolved in soda is maximally bioavailable. The rise in blood sugar is nearly vertical, and the upcoming dip is correspondingly precipitous.
GET BACK TO BASICS. Added sugar is a relatively recent invention in human evolutionary history, and we have absolutely no need for it. Added, refined sugar in the diet appeared only in the last 1,500 years or so and in abundance only in the last century. There has not been nearly enough time for human beings to metabolically adapt to consuming copious amounts of sugar. When it comes to imagining life without it (or less of it), imagine yourself as the end product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and as a creature exquisitely adapted to thrive on a diet of unprocessed whole foods.
ANDREW WEIL, MD,
a leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, is founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he is also the clinical professor of medicine and professor of public health and holds the Jones-Lovell Endowed Chair in integrative rheumatology. He is the author of numerous books including
True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure
and
Spontaneous Happiness.
----
SUGAR SMART RULE # 4
Start each day with an intention.
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow isn’t here yet. Today is what you have to work with. Setting an intention—a personal goal or hope for the day—each morning can help you make the most of this unique 24-hour slice of your life. It opens you to the opportunities for joy, growth, and wisdom that are unique to you and that help you place sugar in the right context: a pleasure, to be savored mindfully in healthy amounts.
It took me a while to learn the importance of setting a daily intention. I figured it out one morning at 5 a.m. As was my habit, I was checking my e-mail while waiting for my coffee to brew. (I can get a
lot
of e-mail overnight!) This particular morning, I had a lightbulb moment: Why was I starting my day with a slew of other people’s to-dos at the top of my own to-do list? Then and there, without realizing it, I set my first daily intention: to spend that 5 a.m. quiet time on
me
.
Now, as my coffee brews, I read, meditate, do yoga, or just think about my personal priorities, from big-picture goals to what I need to accomplish that morning. My daily intention can be as practical as, “Today I will order that book on Amazon I’ve been meaning to read,” or as lofty as, “Today I will not let fear motivate me—I will move toward bringing more joy and happiness in my life.” This hour of “me” time has made a real difference in my life—every day.
Beginning in Phase 1, you’ll set an intention before you begin your day. I’ll explain how in Chapter 7 , but for now, know this: You’ll come to rely on those few minutes, which are completely and entirely all about you and your success.
SUGAR SMART RULE # 5
Add some joy to your life each day.
We can almost hear you now: With what
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