Why Diets Fail (Because You're Addicted to Sugar) (21 page)

For many of us, our diets are dominated by carbohydrates. When you give up junk foods, breads, and pastas, what else can you eat? In this section, we will go over some alternatives that are not only healthy but will also leave you feeling satisfied.

VEGETABLES

Vegetables should, without a doubt, be your new go-to food. Vegetables should make up a big portion of what you eat. You want to try to fill up on these nutritious, low-calorie foods. The general rule is the greener and the leafier the vegetable, the lower its sugar equivalency and the better it is for you to eat. Vegetables are great because most of them have low sugar equivalencies and can be great snacks or complement a meal when served as side dishes. Broccoli, cauliflower, or zucchini, which you can top with butter or Parmesan cheese, all work great.

Are there any vegetables that should be avoided? While for the most part vegetables are a great thing to eat when trying to control your intake of sugars and other carbohydrates, some vegetables are starchy and should be used in moderation, or just not consumed at all. For example, winter squash (including acorn and butternut) are high in carbohydrates. In fact, 1 cup of acorn or butternut squash provides, on average, approximately 15 grams of carbohydrates. Similarly, corn is high in carbohydrates relative to other vegetables, as are many legumes, like black-eyed peas, green peas, or split green or yellow peas. Starchy beans, including all varieties of lentils and black, white, kidney, pinto, garbanzo, and refried beans, are another group of high-carbohydrate vegetables.

However, as with fruits (discussed next) and dairy, although these foods do contain sugars, the amount is certainly less than what you would find in junk food. Further, they are usually not trigger foods; it is not likely that someone will not be able to control their intake of acorn squash. Nonetheless, be aware of their carbohydrate and sugar content, and choose a variety of vegetables to eat that fit well with your diet plan.

You may have already heard that potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams are rich in carbohydrates. Remember, potatoes come in many forms. French fries, hash browns, baked potatoes, boiled potatoes, and potato salads are all forms of potato. These classic starchy vegetables provide, on average, as many carbohydrates per serving as breads, cereals, and grains, though not as much protein as legumes and starchy beans. So, these should be avoided, as should their close relatives, parsnips and rutabagas, which are carbohydrate-rich root vegetables. It’s hard to imagine anyone complaining about having to restrict their intake of rutabagas, but as mentioned earlier, potatoes are often used as side dishes for entrées, both at restaurants and at home. Knowing this, it’s important to plan ahead so that you have healthy substitutions. So, what are your alternatives? There are so many different vegetables out there that your options are really almost endless. Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, onions, and mushrooms all have very low sugar equivalencies and can be consumed on this diet.

FRUITS

The question of whether you can and should eat whole fruits is an important question and, among the various low-carbohydrate diet plans out there, often a point of contention. Fruit can be high in sugars, including fructose, which occurs naturally. However, there are a few reasons why fruits can be beneficial to you and should not be eliminated.

VEGETABLE CARBOHYDRATE CONTENT

Low-Carb Vegetables

This list is arranged from lowest to highest carbohydrate counts, but all are nonstarchy and generally low in carbohydrates. (Serving size = 1 cup)

Starchy (High-Carb) Vegetables

The main vegetables to be avoided when reducing carbohydrates are the starchier and sweeter vegetables.

First, as noted before, unlike other addictions, like heroin or alcohol, in which you can totally eliminate the substance from your life and never consume it again, it is practically impossible to do that with sugars. The goal of this plan is to reduce your dependence on them and to renegotiate the role they play in your life so that they’re no longer used as a primary source of your pleasure and calories. So, if you need to consume some sugars, fruits are the best option.
This is because fruits might have sugar in them, but they also have a lot of nutritional value, and often contain antioxidants and other phytonutrients that are beneficial to our overall health. They also have a lot of fiber, so they will make you feel full after consuming them. Try to eat one to two pieces of fruit each day, and strive for fruits that have a low sugar equivalency. Blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries all have sugar equivalency values below 6, but raisins have a sugar equivalency of 71! Dried or dehydrated fruits, like raisins, are basically whole fruits with the water removed, and as a result, they end up being smaller in size, and thus have a higher ratio of sugar content. They tend to be better than fruit juices, in that they retain the fiber and nutrients that you get with whole fruits; however, sugar is often added to dehydrated fruits, so be sure to
inspect the nutrition labels. Plus, they are usually easier to eat than fresh fruit, and you may end up consuming more fruit in the dried form than you would otherwise. So, even though we typically think of fruit as being very healthy, it’s a good idea to look up some of your favorite fruits in the Sugar Equivalency Table (see the box below) to get a better sense of which work well with this diet and which you can replace with other, less sugary options.

SUGAR EQUIVALENCY OF FRUIT

PROTEIN

Another large portion of your diet when reducing carbohydrates and sugars will consist of meat, poultry, and seafood, as almost all of these have a sugar equivalency of 0. As mentioned earlier, protein can be especially helpful when trying to lose weight, as it is very satisfying. In addition to being filling, the options with protein are seemingly endless, ensuring that your diet never gets boring. Chicken, turkey, beef, pork, ham, salmon, tuna, shrimp—the list goes on—and each of these can be prepared in different ways (for example, grilled, baked, sautéed) with countless different spices and seasonings. Meat and seafood can be used as warm salad toppings or can be stuffed with cheeses and vegetables for a more substantial entrée. You can also melt cheese on top of a serving of meat. Meat and cheese roll-ups are a great option for a quick, fulfilling snack, and meat and vegetable skewers are perfect for a summer barbeque. In addition to meat, poultry, and seafood, there are several other high-protein foods, including milk, cheese, eggs, yogurt, nuts, beans, soy products, and seeds; however, with these items, be sure to check to see how many carbohydrates or how much sugar they contain as these will vary.

Replacing the Taste that Comes with Hidden Sugars

Hidden sugars, or sugars that appear in foods where you would least expect to find them—like sauces, condiments, and dressings—are added to jazz up the taste. Since most sauces and condiments will be off-limits on this plan, what can you do to give a little extra pizzazz to your meal?

Spices can be used in place of sugar-containing condiments (such as ketchup, many salad dressings, and barbecue sauces) to add extra flavor and excitement to your food. There are sugar-free alternatives to condiments, but be sure to read the label to make sure your condiment is really sugar-free. In a pinch, when you don’t have a sugarless option, one tip is to start out by dipping your fork into the salad dressing and then using it to pick up a piece of lettuce when eating salad. This way, you’ll not only avoid wasting dressing, but also get a mouthful of flavor while consuming less sugar in total with each bite. As you adjust, you will want to consider making other changes, such as seasoning your salad with freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice instead of dressing (this is particularly good when using arugula), or sprinkling some rosemary and thyme on top of your chicken to add flavor instead of using barbecue sauce or other bottled marinade. Create your own marinades by putting a piece of meat, fish, or chicken in a resealable plastic bag and adding your favorite spices and a small amount of olive oil. You may even want to add some fresh nuts to a sandwich in place of sugar-containing peanut butter for a similar taste and added crunch. You can also get sugar-free peanut butter (or make your own with a bag of peanuts and a food processor), or try different types of nut butters, such as almond butter.

Over time, as you reduce your intake of sugars, you may begin to notice that your sense of taste changes. There are a few reasons
why this might happen. For one, when you eat foods drenched in sugar, other flavors are masked. For example, the sweet taste of frosted cereal can dominate your mouth while the subtle taste of the grains in the cereal is not easily detected. Also, sugars activate sweet-taste receptors in our mouths, and when we consume a diet high in added sugars, those receptors can become desensitized, and as a result you may feel like you need to eat more and more sugar in order to detect the sweet taste. Once you stop eating excess sugars, the receptors’ sensitivity will change, and as a result, your perception of how sweet things taste will also change.

Typical Meals on the Sugar Freedom Plan