Healthy Eating – Weight Loss And Going Sugar Free

All your questions answered. (Well maybe, maybe not).

When it comes to dieting there are a million experts out there, a million websites, a million theories, a million diets:

Vegan, Keto, Paleo, Atkins, Zone, Vegetarian, Carnivore, South Beach, Weight Watchers, Raw Food, Jenny Craig, Blood Type, Mediterannean, I Quit Sugar, Low Carb, Intermittent Fasting, Time Restricted Eating, Low Carb, Cabbage Soup, Fast 800, Grapefruit…

Have I reached a million yet? Well the million was a little bit of an estimate.

Do you know what? We don’t have all the answers. We may not have ANY of the answers. We don’t know which diet you should follow, how much or how little of anything you should eat, when, where, what, why or how you should eat it.

Information on healthy eating changes, and changes and changes. What was accepted as gospel in terms of diet one decade (or year, or month) is turned upside down the next. Research is evolving and becoming more sophisticated and we are also bombarded on all fronts online and in print : social media, news sites, pop up advertising, magazines you name it - everyone is an expert and everyone’s diets are going to work for you and are what you should be doing. Right?

Well we are not the experts but we’ve read lots and there are definitely some common themes out there which we’ve kind of taken on board. Here’s a little bit about what we think helps with weight loss and long term health

• Use portion control when eating.
• Have longer breaks (fasts) between meals.
• Eat a limited amount of low glycemic carbohydrates to keep insulin levels down.
• Eat low calorie foods with a high satiety factor (make you feel full faster - sugar is the least helpful for helping satisfy hunger.)
• Drink plenty of water - especially before meals.
• Exercise regularly - particularly strength training and high intensity bursts of exercise.
• Eat less sugar.

What about snacking and treat foods even if labelled “Sugar Free”? (That’s a whole other blog post in the making.) Possibly not on the agenda of some diet gurus. But we are all human and research has shown that the desire to eat sweet is inborn. Yes, vegetables, some fruit and protein may be the better options. But the human part of us: the emotions, the thought processes, the will power, the cravings - the mental part - that’s the hardest part of trying to lose weight, in my opinion. And if allowing yourself the occasional treat with low or no sugar helps your state of mind on your weight loss journey then I’m all for it. And that’s the 1,000,001st theory right there!