Sugar Addicts’ Diet

Want to work out how much sugar there is in a food? Take a look at the label. Where it says ‘carbohydrates’, it generally says ‘of which sugars – Xg’. A teaspoon of sugar is around 5g so divide X by 5 to find out how many teaspoons of sugar it contains. So if it says ‘of which sugars – 15g’, divide 15 by 5 and you’ll know it contains 3 teaspoons.

Where Sugar is ‘Hiding’

Even people whose diet consists mainly of savoury rather than sweet foods are probably eating more sugar than they realize, especially if they are fans of processed foods such as ready meals. The last thing you expect to find in a savoury ready meal is sugar, right? Wrong! They can contain up to 20 per cent sugar. And what about the sugar found in a dollop of tomato ketchup? Remember: even so-called ‘low-fat’ foods can be high in sugar.

The problem is that sugar is often added to foods where you’d never expect to find it. Would you, in a million years, ever imagine that there’s sugar in some sandwich meats or certain varieties of cottage cheese? For further jaw-dropping revelations about where you’re likely to find sugar when you least expect it, see Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo).

If you really want to avoid sugar, you have to learn how to decipher labels and get to the root of what you’re being fed. Sometimes it can feel like you’re reading another language! In later chapters, we’ll show you how to be a label ‘detective’ and work out for yourself if a food contains sugar, even if it looks like it shouldn’t.

DOES OUR LOVE OF SUGAR REALLY MATTER?

Does it really matter that we’re eating so much sugar? It tastes great and it makes us feel happy and content. Many of us would say there’s no high that compares to the buzz of eating sugar. But the satisfaction comes at a price.

If you have a major love affair with sugar, chances are you’re also having major problems with your weight. Later (see Chapter 3 (#u417a8976-0b92-50dc-92c5-72c896a7fcf3)), we’ll be explaining that sugar is a carbohydrate and that some carbohydrates in the diet are good. Chosen properly, they can actually help you maintain a steady weight and improve your health. We will also see that some sugars are preferable to others. But at the moment, all you need to know is that, by and large, sugar added to the diet is bad and is one of the main reasons we’re now fatter than ever before.

As you’ll see in Chapter 4 (#u7473120a-dd8e-5e9c-8c49-9edb20ba4794), there is also a huge range of health problems that are either brought on or exacerbated by eating too much sugar. For every medical study that suggests sugar is good for you (and these are generally funded by the immensely powerful sugar industry), there are dozens more that warn of the negative impact of high-sugar diets that are now so familiar to us.

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How This Book Can Help (#ulink_16cbdcae-48c8-5669-8623-6b22028f0f81)

So you’re a sugar addict. Perhaps, after doing the questionnaire in Chapter 1 (#u4e7026d2-ccd1-50d8-9454-e803be4f67f8), you’ve admitted this to yourself for the first time. That’s an amazing first step – realizing you have an issue with sugar is a huge leap forward because it means you’re now in a position to do something about it.

There are lots of self-help books about addiction, habits, cravings and, specifically, sugar. We should know – we’ve read them all. But we found most of them so difficult to read and understand that you could be forgiven for reaching for the sugar as a reward! This book intends to give you all this help and more in an uncomplicated way. The plan is based on Nicki’s success at beating her sugar addiction, following her lifelong struggle with it. She says, ‘When I decided to deal with my sugar addiction, I was faced with lots of conflicting messages about it – take this supplement, don’t eat this, increase the amount of that. It was a nightmare. Having done it all and been through hell and back, I now feel I can share with you what works and what doesn’t. You all know what sugar means to me, and if I can manage to kick the habit by following this plan, then so can you.’

OUR PHILOSOPHY

The aim of this book is to get you on the road to making the right food choices and eating regularly to help break the sugar habit and lose weight. Sounds simple, but so many of us with sugar addictions don’t do this. By making these two things a habit, you can help to ensure you never feel that roaring hunger that so often accompanies diets. As a result, you should – like Nicki – start to feel more physically and emotionally balanced as your body responds to the good things you’re feeding it and your need for sugar reduces. Stick with this and you’ll eventually be at the stage where you can allow yourself a sugary treat (come on – we’re all human!) and it won’t draw you back into your old ways. Plus, you’ll be losing weight without tedious calorie-counting. How’s that for an incentive!

HOW THE DIET WORKS

We’ll be going into a lot more detail about the right food choices, but here they are in a nutshell:

• Avoid ‘obvious’ sugars and ‘sneaky’ sugars: This will help prevent sugar ‘highs and lows’.

• Eat good-quality complex carbohydrates, protein and fibre together: This will stop you feeling hungry. Fibre (in complex carbohydrates or vegetables) helps to slow down the rate at which glucose is broken down in the body, thus helping to prevent sugar peaks and dips.

• Include plenty of ‘good’ fats in the diet: Omega 3 and 6 oils from fish, nuts and seeds boost carbohydrate metabolism, helping to burn carbohydrate calories more quickly.

• Eat regularly and have good quality snacks: Regular meals and snacking on the right foods will help to keep blood-sugar levels even through the day and prevent you bingeing.

The diet has worked a treat for many sugar addicts. Even those who didn’t think they had poor blood-sugar control have found it’s worked for them – this is an eating plan that can be used by just about anyone. As it’s based on the principles of healthy eating and cutting out added sugars and refined carbohydrates, it’s also suitable for diabetics. But if you have diabetes, always talk to your GP or specialist before changing your eating programme.

Polly’s Story

Before I sorted out my blood sugar, I’d get the shakes and would have to have sugar. If I got hungry, I’d lose the plot. By learning to eat properly – protein with carbohydrate – and have good, regular snacks, I’ve really helped to level things out. Now if I have sweet things, it’s because I want them rather than need them, as I used to.

How the Diet Can Help You

So how are we going to help you? What we aren’t going to do is preach – there’s nothing worse than some faceless person telling you what you can’t eat or can’t do. This is Nicki’s story of how she got her sugar addiction under control and lost weight in the process – a true double-whammy! As you go through the book in your own efforts to get sugar back on your terms, Nicki will be with you all the way, giving you her tips, support and encouragement.

You probably don’t associate the word ‘diet’ with fun, but we’re going to show you that it doesn’t necessarily have to mean ‘punishment’ either. By sorting out your relationship with sugar, you’ll feel better physically and emotionally, not held to ransom by your love of it.

You’re no doubt feeling bad about your love of sugar and won’t want us to make you feel any worse. But early on we’re going to tell you about how sugar can affect your health. First, because it’s true, and second, because it could be the extra ‘nudge’ you need to make you address your problem once and for all. As you saw in the introduction, this is what happened to Nicki.

There may be times when you feel like giving up the diet. But before you do, remember this – Nicki was like you, wanting sugar all the time and feeling it controlled her life. She was also, believe it or not, carrying extra pounds that she couldn’t shift. She managed to lose this extra weight simply by eating the Sugar Addicts’ Diet way. She knows this is the formula for success, and she wants to share it with you.

Nicki’s Tips

Throughout the book, Nicki will be offering her tips on how she kicked her sugar habit, from coping with those difficult ‘no sugar’ moments through to positive messages that have worked for her. Some might work for you, some might not – the important thing is to use these tips either as tools or simply inspiration to find your own methods for getting a grip on your sugar cravings. And if you find your own tips, tell us – we’d love to hear about them so we can pass them on.

What You Need

Keep a pen or pencil with you because you’ll need it to write your diary. Keeping a food diary is a crucial part of the plan – there is a template in the book for you to copy and fill in yourself (as well as a version filled in by Nicki to show you how to do it).

You can record all kinds of information in your food diary, from how sugar is making you feel and who your sugar ‘dealers’ are to the names of sugar-free foods you may hear someone mention on television. Don’t worry – it won’t be like going back to school! And believe us, it’s not a waste of time. Nicki says, ‘Being able to write things down was a vital part of my recovery programme. There’s so much going on in your head when you’re beating an addiction you really need that outlet. It also helps you to be true to yourself – it’s so easy to lie about what you’ve been eating, but if you have to write it down, somehow it’s different.

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Why We Crave Sugar (#ulink_356056f8-de78-51e7-98b6-9712e2072c9c)

In the past, not a minute would go by without Nicki thinking about sugar. But why did she crave it? And why is it that you are so desperate for it? In Nicki’s experience, her sugar addiction was made up of two parts – physical and emotional.

The physical was about the ‘hit’ and energy rush she got from sugar, while the emotional was about the role sugar played in terms of making her feel happy and comfortable. When she decided to tackle her addiction, she realized she was going to have to take a good look at both aspects if she was to succeed.

In helping you overcome your addiction in the same way, we can’t just say to you, ‘Stop eating sweets’ or ‘Chuck that chocolate in the bin’. That won’t be the answer – it wasn’t for Nicki. We need to explain to you what sugar is, where it is found in food and how it affects you physically. We’ll also be looking at the emotional side of sugar, how it can be more than just a taste sensation but also a friend, comforter and reward. We explain that while the ‘feel-good’ factor from sugar is an emotion, there are physical factors to take into account, too, such as how sugar affects blood-sugar levels. In other words, if you’re hooked on sugar, it’s not a case of ‘lack of willpower’. There’s a powerful combination of emotional and chemical activity inside you that’s hard to beat!

Bear with us through the explanation of what sugar is. It might sound complicated but it’s crucial to your understanding of what it’s doing when you eat it. It will also start to give you an insight into how you’re going to beat it.

THE PHYSICAL ADDICTION

What is Sugar?

Sugar is what’s known as a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are fuel for the body and, as our bodies can’t make them, we have to get them from our food. Compared to fats and protein, they are also the quickest-acting form of energy we can get.

The carbohydrates we eat come in two main varieties – simple and complex.

Simple Carbohydrates

These are what we most commonly refer to as sugars, or simple sugars. If you were to look at them under a microscope, you’d see that they are quite small, short units. Because of this, they are easily and quickly absorbed by the stomach or small intestine. You’ll recognize their scientific names because they end in ‘-ose’, such as glucose and fructose.

Complex Carbohydrates

These are generally longer units – in fact, they are simple sugars strung together. Before they can be used by the body, they have to be broken down into smaller, simple units – a process that takes both time and energy.

In order to be used by the body, all carbohydrates are eventually broken down into glucose. We can see from this that glucose (a sugar) isn’t bad – in fact, it’s essential for life. The brain and nervous system need glucose to function. But we get the glucose we need from the breakdown of vegetables, fruits and grains without adding any extra. Also, if the production of glucose from the food is slow because the body has to break it down – as it does with ‘brown’, complex carbohydrates – this helps to regulate the amount of glucose in the blood. If, on the other hand, the breakdown is quick, this can lead to high amounts of glucose in the blood followed by a corresponding dip – poor blood-sugar control. And some carbohydrates cause this to happen more quickly than others. Simple carbohydrates get converted to glucose very quickly (if they aren’t already glucose itself) while complex carbohydrates are absorbed into the bloodstream slowly, helping to avoid these blood-sugar imbalances. For further information about blood-sugar, see ‘The Sugar Roller Coaster (#ulink_57239a73-85c6-53af-9d41-c2bd803177c9)’.

Stop! You’re probably thinking that all complex carbohydrates must be good for you because your body has to work to break them down. That’s not the case – some are far better than others. Complex carbohydrates come in two varieties – unrefined and refined.