Why Diets Fail (Because You're Addicted to Sugar) (18 page)

PHASE 4: REDUCE HIDDEN SUGARS

TIME:
1 to 2 weeks

WHY:
Dressings, sauces, and condiments may seem to merely add some flavor to your food, but they often add sugars that can work against your weight-loss goals. A small amount of some condiments can add whole grams of sugar to your meal. Furthermore, we usually don’t use only one packet of sweet-and-sour sauce or ketchup; instead, we douse our food in these sugar-rich add-ons. Consequently, you might think that you’re doing all you can to reduce the amount of sugars you’re consuming, but that might not be the case if you continue to eat foods with hidden sugars.

Note that there are many foods that appear to be “diet” foods that actually might be bad to eat for your new eating plan. Many foods labeled as “diet,” “low-fat,” or “no-fat” replace the fat content with more carbohydrates. We tend to see “low-fat” and think this is a healthy option, but if “low-fat” is a synonym for “high-sugar,” then it is clearly a no-no.

There are also products on the market now that are labeled “sugar-free,” which appeal to people who are either diabetic or trying to restrict their sugar intake. Proceed cautiously with these products as well. While these products may indeed be sugar-free, they may still contain a lot of fast-metabolizing carbohydrates. Sugar-free cookies are the best example of this. You might think that according to this diet plan, you could eat an entire box of sugar-free cookies and feel guilt-free. Nothing could be further from the truth. The good news is that if you did eat a box of sugar-free cookies, you would have avoided consuming the 100 to 200 grams of sugar that might be in a box of regular cookies. The bad news is that you may have consumed as much as 400 or 500 grams of carbohydrates. In other words, you didn’t consume any sugar, but you might as well have! While implementing this plan and researching
the foods that you like to eat, you’ll be shocked to find that many foods and condiments that you never suspected, including ketchup and barbecue sauce, contain sugar.

HOW:
You may find, as you progress from one phase to the next, that reducing hidden or lesser-known sugars goes more smoothly than previous phases. This is because you’ll already have established healthy eating habits and be used to making substitutions for the foods that you used to overeat. The goal here is to use your knowledge of nutrition labels to identify the foods that you eat which contain hidden sugars and to identify sensible replacements for them, like the ones we suggest in the next chapter.

PHASE 5: MAINTAIN YOUR NEW WAY OF EATING

TIME:
The rest of your life

WHY:
As we mentioned in the introduction, the Sugar Freedom Plan is a
way
of eating, not a temporary diet. That means once you cut out these sugary, carb-rich foods, you’ll continue eating this way for the rest of your life. If you only eat this way temporarily and eventually go back to your old ways of eating, you can be certain that the addiction will rope you back in pretty quickly. The four phases just described lay the foundation for a healthy eating style that you can maintain forever. The key to achieving your goals lies in your knowledge of where sugars exist and what you can replace them with, and the consistent desire and dedication to follow what you know.

HOW:
As we mentioned at the beginning of this section, each phase takes time. Follow the allotted time guidelines—as a
minimum
. Be patient with yourself. If you find that one phase takes longer than what is listed or than you expected, that’s fine! The important point
is to achieve the goal of that phase, not how quickly you do it. Try to identify why certain phases are more difficult than others. This may help you to troubleshoot and figure out ways to transition through that phase that are specific to your needs. Invest the time you need; it will be well worth it in the long run.

Elimination versus Reduction

This eating plan can only be as strict as you make it. There are dozens and dozens of absolutely delicious foods that are acceptable to eat on this diet, so in that regard, the diet really isn’t restrictive at all. However, this diet is strict in that it advises that most sugars and other carbohydrates be removed from or drastically reduced in your diet. While we provide the tools that you need to recognize where sugars are and how to avoid them or use alternatives, as well as how to overcome your addiction to them, it can still be difficult to avoid eating sugars. This is largely because in the world of processed foods and fast-food restaurants, added sugars and carbohydrates lurk in almost every prepared food.

So, you’ll have to keep in mind that the modern food environment isn’t necessarily friendly toward your new way of eating. Forget easily finding a food or beverage that fits this diet in a convenience store or vending machine. Even if you shop in a modern, large grocery store, processed foods have so overtaken the aisles that it may take some maneuvering to fill your cart with only the foods that fit into this way of eating. For example, grocery stores or supermarkets have entire aisles dedicated to cookies, cakes, and crackers, which are forbidden on this diet. They have an aisle for breads and pastas, which are also on the no-no list. Then there’s the aisle for beer, which probably is not a good idea as it is nothing more
than a liquid carbohydrate. The frozen food section has TV dinners, which, when you read the nutrition labels, you’ll find are heavily dosed with carbohydrates and sugar. And don’t even think about going into the bakery section. The point is that you will need to plan out your shopping trips to avoid the aisles that contain the foods that you’re trying to avoid. The two areas of the grocery store where you’ll spend most of your time shopping are the produce section for fresh fruits and vegetables and the meats and seafood section.

So, let’s say you have gone through the Sugar Freedom Plan, are happy and healthy, and have reached your weight goal. Life couldn’t be better. You feel in total control of your food choices. You no longer eat foods for emotional reasons or rely on them in part to make you happy. You are the boss. So, can you now have a piece of cake at your kid’s birthday party or at a holiday work event?

The answer to this question really depends. On the one hand, you now have alternatives that take the place of sugar- and carbohydrate-rich foods, so why risk relapsing and falling back into your old ways of overeating? Again, this book is not designed to introduce yet another diet plan; it is designed to offer suggestions for sustainable lifestyle changes. Therefore, although you may have completed the Sugar Freedom Plan and feel great about your body and in your body, that does not mean you should ditch all of your efforts just to return to this book or another diet book in a year.

With that said, making all foods that contain sugars and fast-digesting carbohydrates off-limits is easier said than done, especially in today’s food environment. As mentioned earlier, it’s not just the obvious culprits like soda and candy that contain these ingredients but also foods that seem like healthy options (certain iced teas, energy bars, and so on). Our intention is not to ban all sugar from your diet—if that were the case, we all would probably have to start farms in our backyards and learn to live off the land. Plus, some foods like fresh fruits contain natural sugar but are a
healthy choice. Instead, this book advocates a diet free of the major sources of added sugars, like many desserts, sodas, and snack items, and calls for a drastically reduced overall intake of carbohydrates.

So, the answer to this question is not necessarily very clear-cut; it depends on factors specific to your circumstances. You know yourself. You know if you can eat a piece of cake at a birthday party and continue to implement a low-sugar diet or if this decision will completely derail you. If you’re concerned that you may not be able to introduce a high-sugar food back into your diet without comprising your goals, then don’t. You may feel more confident a week, a month, or a year from now, but don’t risk it if you don’t feel fairly confident that you can maintain your healthy way of eating afterward.

No Bland and Boring Diet Food Here

People who have tried restricting their sugar intake on other low-carbohydrate diets have complained in the past that initially the foods they were allowed to eat seemed boring. It’s hard to imagine someone saying this when you consider all of the vegetables there are, how many fruits fit into the diet plan, and how many meats and seafood options are available—and how many different ways these foods can be prepared. You don’t need to be a professional chef; given this variety of ingredients, anybody with a morsel of talent around a kitchen can come up with an unlimited number of recipes using different spices and sauces that can result in tastes and flavors too enumerable to list. Given these possibilities, your food really doesn’t have to be boring—even if you’re a vegetarian (see box on
this page
).

The people who complain about the options being boring when on a low-carbohydrate diet may really be saying something completely different. Well,
they
may not be saying it: this may actually be their
addiction
talking. Have you ever seen someone who has recently quit drinking alcohol drinking an O’Doul’s alcohol-free beer at a party? They often complain that the O’Doul’s tastes boring. Or have you seen someone who’s trying to quit smoking take puffs from one of these electronic vapor cigarettes? Again, often these people describe the experience as boring. It is likely that what they’re describing as boring is the fact that neither the O’Doul’s beer nor the electronic cigarette fully satisfies their addictive craving for alcohol or nicotine. When you drink real alcohol, you get a buzz, and when you smoke real cigarettes, you ingest a lot of nicotine. Both alter reward-related neurochemicals in your brain, making you feel good and leaving you feeling anything but bored.

The same thing happens with food. So, when you restrict your consumption of addictive substances and replace them with something else, the experience may feel boring compared to what you are used to experiencing. If you crave certain foods, you may find it difficult to get them out of your mind. When addicted, you can develop tunnel vision toward the object of desire, and entertaining the thought of other foods might be difficult.

So, if this diet initially seems boring to you, it probably is your addiction speaking. Give it time. As your addictive cravings subside and you regain control over your eating habits, not only will you will be less focused on those foods that you know are bad for you, but eventually you will also rediscover the wonderful flavors of other types of food.

No Calorie Counting Required

You might be wondering: Do I have to count calories? The good news is no. This plan isn’t structured around counting calories. This makes it easy to adhere to and gives you one less thing to worry about in your life. The reason why you don’t have to count calories is because you can eat as much as you like. This is a bold statement, and not one that you will often read in many diet plans. How can this be the case? The reason is really quite simple. If you stick to foods that are free of sugar and carbohydrates, you will find that you no longer
want
to overeat.