A Spoonful of Sugar – Hard to Swallow Advice
I know that you’re looking to get into your swimsuit or even just shorts and short sleeves this summer. I wanted to share with you my single best piece of advice in order to fast track you into your bikini.
While this advice is sound, you may have a hard time swallowing it.
Sugar….who’d a thunk? Sadly, it can be your worst diet enemy.
Sugar comes in many forms, here’s a list of other names for sugar:
barley malt
beet sugar
brown sugar
buttered syrup
cane-juice crystals
cane sugar
caramel
carob syrup
corn syrup
corn-syrup solids
date sugar
dextran
dextrose
diastase
diastatic malt
ethyl maltol
evaporated cane juice
fructose
fruit juice
fruit-juice concentrate
glucose
glucose solids
golden sugar
golden syrup
grape sugar
high-fructose corn syrup
honey
invert sugar
lactose
malt syrup
maltodextrin
maltose
mannitol
molasses
raw sugar
refiner’s syrup
sorbitol
sorghum syrup
sucrose
turbinado sugar
yellow sugar
What could possibly be wrong with sugar and its derivatives? Why would I pick on sugar?
Good questions. Fact is, there’s really nothing wrong with sugar, it’s the quantity of consumption that’s in question. If you start to read labels, you’d be surprised to see that sugar is added to literally every food item, even in foods that you wouldn’t expect to find sugar. The average North American diet consists of 20 teaspoons of added sugar daily. This is a lot especially when you consider this doesn’t count naturally occurring sugars found in food.
According to the World Health Organization, no more than 10 percent of calories should come from added sweeteners. In a diet composed of 2,000 daily calories, that would amount to about 200 calories, or 50 grams of sugar.
Sugar is an addictive substance. Once you taste something sweet, you crave more. The more sugar you ingest, the more sugar you want. You’ll you lose your taste for naturally occurring sugars when you eat intensely sweeten foods.
Here are a five of the obvious detrimental things that sugar does to your body:
* Refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, only empty calories. When you eat sugar, your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize it. Calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of the sugar. Calcium is used to neutralize the effects of sugar so sometimes the body draws this from the bones. Bones can then become osteoporotic.
* If sugar consumption is continued, an over-acid condition results, and more minerals are needed from deep in the body to correct the imbalance. In essence, the pH of the body isn’t balanced.
* Sugar makes the blood very thick and sticky, inhibiting much of the blood flow into the minute capillaries that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients. This can lead to diseased gums and dental problems.
* The pancreas overreacts to large amounts of sugar in the blood and releases too much insulin. This can lead to diabetes.
* Refined sugar may be one of the major dietary risk factors in gallstone disease. Gallstones are composed of fats and calcium. Sugar can upset all of the minerals, and one of the minerals, calcium, can become toxic, depositing itself anywhere in the body, including the gallbladder.
So what’s a girl to do? Well, your best bet is to become aware of all the places sugar hides and then try to reduce your consumption. Over time you’ll develop a taste for naturally occurring sugars. If you try to cut out sugar, you’ll likely experience some withdrawal symptoms. You’ll have crazy cravings and may feel sluggish and have a headache. After 4-5 days though, this will pass.
It’s easy to figure out your sugar consumption by reading food labels. The best way to visualize sugar content is to take the carbohydrate count and divide it by four. For example: if a serving size has 28 g of carbs, then that would amount to 7 teaspoons of sugar. Your goal should be to limit sugar consumption to a serving size of no more than 4 teaspoons of sugar or 16g of carbs at a time. Try to keep refined and process sugars out of your diet completely.
Give your diet a good hard look and cut back on sugar where you can at the very least. Cutting it out completely may be too much of a step to start. Baby steps and stay on track and your body will thank you in the end.
To me, cutting back on sugar is a great way to get bikini ready.
That’s it for today, stay tuned as I’ll be getting back to you later this week
with more ways to get into your bikini before summer.
Sincerely,
John Verd
P.S. I found a great program to help support your fitness program at home called Female Fat Loss Over 40. Please check out Shawna’s program Click Here!
If I were stuck on a desert island…
…and I could only bring one piece of exercise equipment, it would definitley be a FITBALL. AKA Physio-Ball, Exercise Ball, Swiss Ball, Stability Ball, Gym Ball (or the #%$##-that-made-me-so-sore-Ball), this is one of the most versatile pieces of equipment you can get your hands, feet, knees or shoulders on! For a few examples of some great exercises you can do at home, click here!
Have you made progress or sizzled out?
As the second month of 2010 comes to a close, where do you stand with your resolutions?
Most people wait around for motivation to strike them like a lightning bolt. Well, I’ve got news: motivation isn’t something that happens to you – it’s something that you create for yourself.
If you don’t feel motivated to achieve your goals, it is likely due to mental roadblocks that hold you hostage. Read the following 21 Mindset Tips and prepare your mind for success.
- Success comes first in the mind, so visualize yourself accomplishing your goals.
- Remember, you are the only person who can hold you back.
- Forgive yourself and love yourself despite past failures.
- Decide what is important in your life, and focus on that.
- Conquer each negative thought the moment it enters your mind, when it is weakest.
- Give up the idea that things won’t go right unless you worry about them.
- If you bring the body of your dreams to the point of resolve, then you’ll soon be living in it.
- Look towards your future, if you believe the best is yet to come then it will be.
- You become what you think about most.
- The margin between success and failure is very small and easily bridged by determination.
- Start your day by accomplishing your hardest task first.
- Set small attainable goals, rather than one monumental goal.
- Convince yourself that exercise is fun, and it will be.
- Know your big reason why.
- Create a motivating play list of songs to use as the sound track to your workout sessions.
- Every decision you make leads you either closer toward achieving your goal, or farther from it.
- If you think you’re a fat person, then you’ll stay fat. If you think you’re fit, then you soon will be.
- Once you’ve set your goal, your attitude either pushes you toward accomplishment or failure.
- If you don’t know exactly where you want to go, you will likely end up someplace else.
- You can have the body of your dreams, but first you must give up the belief that you can’t.
- You can only have two things in life: excuses or results.
If you’re sick and tired of making excuses, then contact me today to get started on a results-driven fitness program.
Tag! You’re Fit!
Are you ready to make this your best year ever? To help you hit the new year running, I’m offering a special New Year’s promotion.
Here are the details on our “Tag, You’re FIT!” promo and how YOU will win a complimentary MONTH of training, if you refer the most people!
1. Stop by our studio and pick your Game Plan keytags and hand them out to friends, which they can redeem for a week of any training we do.
2. Tell them to register at www.gpfitness.com, then click on “Free Consult” and enter the key-tag number. (info is on the back of each tag)
3. Get credit!
The contest will run until until Jan. 29th. and I’ll announce the winner Feb 1st.
Good luck and have a great week!
John
Where the Rubber Hits the Road
Your feet take a beating every day!
When it comes to exercise, it all starts with your feet. Whether you’re walking or running or just standing around, your feet are literally where “the rubber hits the road”. I always recommend that my clients take their footwear seriously, because the way your feet connect to the ground can affect your entire body…
Read more
Hooyah, Rain Campers!
I have the best boot campers! Friday was an awesome workout despite the torrential downpour. And my soaking-wet cap is off to my campers this week. Thanks for showing up and giving it your all. You guys rock!
Trainer John
What Favorite Post-Workout Meal?
We all know it’s best to have a healthy snack after working out. Studies have shown that eating a small meal of protein and healthy carbs helps increase the benefits of your workout and speeds up the fat loss process. So what’s your favorite post workout meal?
What Is Your Favorite Exercise?
I was talking with a training client today and we got into an interesting conversation about his favorite exercise. It was kind of neat learning about his preferences, likes and dislikes. So I wanted to open this up a bit and ask you… what’s your favorite exercise and why?
