Sugar is a carbohydrate. Sugar is a source of energy in the body, is a structural component of the cells and comes in two types of sugar: Simple & Complex!

Simple Sugars:
Simply put are broken down and digested in the body easily, while we think this would be beneficial it causes highs and lows in your energy. Includes sugars that are refined and processed and found in many forms of sweets, candies and on your kitchen table.

Complex Sugars:
Are exactly that, more complex. The body takes longer to break them down and digest them and are actually healthier for your body. Includes sugars that are natural carbohydrates including fruit and grains.

When consuming soda, ice-cream, or candies, all of which contain simple sugar, it is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream, giving you a “high.” This high becomes a sort of addiction or craving, as the insulin in your body regulates all of the sugar you just consumed, you feel the need for “more” energy and follow your sugar craving! This “sugar craving” affects the production of a hormone called glucagon, that relates to improving your body’s composition, reducing it’s output. This hormone allows stored body fat to be released into the bloodstream in order to be burned by your muscles as energy. When your body increases its levels of insulin and decreasing the levels of glucagon you “lock-in” any excess body fat, causing the process of reducing stored body fat to be compromised.

Complex sugars are your body’s most preferred source of energy. As they are broken down by the body they are turned into glucose and used as a source of fuel or stored in muscle and are utilized as glycogen in the liver. When we have a good supply of glucose and glycogen in the body, it is able to run more efficiently giving you the energy to function at your best and allowing you to reduce body fat and reach your health and fitness goals.

So how do you know what to buy and what not to buy when shopping?

• Stay away from Simple Sugars: Refined Sugar, Sweets/Candies, Pop, Pre-packaged and processed foods.
• Include foods which contain Complex Carbohydrates/Sugars in them: Fruit and grains.
• Stay away from foods and food labels that include any of the words: Bleached, enriched, processed or refined.

It is hard to switch and stay away from the “sugar rush” or quick fix and to shift your eating behaviours and foods to items that do not include these simple carbohydrates, so be kind to yourself, start small. First set yourself a goal, perhaps illuminate pops/soda’s, energy drinks, and packaged fruit juices. Set yourself a time frame, ie. for the next 3 months I will not consume any of these beverages, after you have gone through the 3 months it will be easier and you can work on adding something else to the “take” out of my meals list.

Do the best you can. At first, it may seem challenging as you begin to uncover the foods that contain sugar, eliminate them and seek out the more supportive carbohydrates. But once you get into the habit of eating the fibrous and starchy carbohydrates, eventually it will become a way of life for you. I can promise you, after an initial effort, the payoff of eliminating sugar from your diet can be dramatic. Your energy level will soar. You will lose stubborn body fat. And your craving for sugar will completely dissipate. Allow yourself to “replace” whatever you removed with something that is just as “sweet” but a complex sugar. A simple way to make water more interesting, add a lemon or cucumber!

Have you been able to eliminate some simple sugars out of your diet? If so, what did you eliminate? Was it easy?