Ricky RapsOne of the best ways to start getting your body in a better place is by eliminating processed sugars from your diet. There are a lot of benefits to a no sugar diet. A no sugar diet can be helpful to anyone. You don’t need to have refined sugar or other sweet, sugary foods in your diet.
There are a lot of places these sugars like to hide. Additionally, you have to look out for the names sugar hides behind. Sugar is bad for you and it can hide in places you didn’t even realize. Not only that, science has shown that you can develop a dependency to sugar. (1)
Starting to break your dependence on sugar is extremely important to your future detoxes and cleanses. A no sugar diet is just the start. Once you’ve completed a no sugar diet you can start looking into a full sugar detox.
What Is A No Sugar Diet?
A no sugar diet is when you cut out all sugar from your diet. This can be easier said than done for some of us. When you think about a no sugar diet, you have to focus on anything that isn’t naturally sweet. While this diet may not ask you to cut out all carbohydrates or bread, it does ask you too look seriously at eliminating refined sugars.
A no sugar diet may also ask you to stop consuming artificial sweeteners. There are many reasons to stop using artificial sweeteners. Studies show that the use of artificial sweeteners can cause weight gain. Additionally, some people believe that in order to break your sugar habit you should try to break your addiction to the taste of artificial sweeteners too. (2)
There are a number of names for artificial sweeteners, just as there are a number of names for sugar. However, there are a small number of names for artificial sweeteners so we will cover them quickly here. On a no sugar diet you should avoid artificial sweeteners by their chemical names as well as their brand names.
The first is called Aspartame which can be found in NutraSweet and Equal. Second, we have Saccharin which can be found in Sweet N’ Low. Third, there is Sucralose, which can be found in Splenda. Then, there is Acesulfame Potassium (acesulfame K) which can be found in Sunnet and Sweet One. Finally, we have Neotame, which can be found in products like Ice Breakers Mints. (3)
Remember to check ingredient lists especially on foods labeled “lite” or “diet.”
How to Find Hidden Sugars to Eliminate on our No Sugar Diet
There are a lot of different names for sugar. If you thought there were a lot of names for artificial sweeteners you will be blown away by how many names there are for refined and processed sugars. There are an incredible amount of different ways corporations have found to create sugary syrups and substances.
There are over 61 different names for sugar that you can and should check your ingredient labels for. It is recommended that you check your ingredient list for these things because while food labels do list total sugar they don’t have to tell you how much added sugar there is. It can be difficult to tell the difference between naturally occurring sugars from things like fruit or milk versus added sugars like the ones from the list provided. So, to be safe, we need to check our ingredient list for any ingredient that can be considered added sugar. (4)
Don’t be fooled by things that may seem healthy but aren’t. For example, things like yogurt, breakfast cereal, and oat or cereal bars can have excessive amounts of added sugar. More deceiving, though, are some “fruit juices” that add incredible amounts of sugars to their products. While the label may tout things like high levels of vitamin C and a lack of high fructose corn syrup, many of them still add sugar to their products. The best thing to do is simply check the nutritional label on the back – ingredient list and all.
Stop Drinking Sugar During Your No Sugar Diet
One of the biggest issues with people who take in too much sugar is that they’re drinking it all. It can be extremely difficult to break an addiction to sugary beverages. (5)
This is the most challenging part of a no sugar diet. The reason being that you need to cut yourself off from most diet beverages too. If you want to avoid the aforementioned artificial sweeteners you will likely need to swear off diet soda.
So what is a good thing to do to get your fix when it comes to a tasty and refreshing beverage? There are a lot of options out there for you. One of the best is to try some detox water. You can check out our tasty detox water to get some ideas of what you can make that still tastes good without added sugar.
Finally, what you may want to consider is the fact that your future cleanses will require you to drink a lot of water. If you aren’t already drinking a lot of water you might want to use this no sugar diet as a start. Drinking more water in place of your sugary beverage of choice is great way to prepare yourself for future cleanses and detoxes that require you to drink an increased amount of water.
You can also mix things up and drink a detox tea every now and again if you get tired of chilled water!
Why You Should Try the No Sugar Diet before a Sugar Detox
A no sugar diet is a great way to lose weight and start to eliminate our addiction to sugar. While this is a great start there is a more intense option called a sugar detox. The difference between a sugar detox and this no sugar diet are pretty vast. While we ask you to eliminate added sugars during the no sugar diet, we ask a lot more of you in a sugar detox.
A sugar detox is about eliminating all foods that have a high glycemic load. This would mean eliminating all refined flour and high carbohydrate foods. This is a much more daunting task than simply eliminating refined and added sugars from our diet. However, you still have to eliminate those things in a sugar detox too.
This is why we highly recommend doing the no sugar diet first. The no sugar diet is a healthy alternative for first-time sugar cleansers. When you do a full detox from sugar by eliminating foods with a high glycemic load your body can see some negative effects. You shouldn’t notice many adverse effects from eliminating excess sugar. Then, when you do go to do a full sugar detox, you will feel less of an impact because you’ve already done the heavy lifting of eliminating the refined, processed, and added sugars.
Conclusion
A no sugar diet is a great first step to a sugar detox. During your no sugar diet you need to really focus on eliminating hidden sugars. Hidden sugars include the 61 names for sugar we mentioned in addition to the five artificial sweeteners we listed. For your no sugar diet to be successful you need to eliminate these 66 products from your diet.
The biggest ways those 61 sugars and 5 artificial sweeteners sneak into our diet is through sodas and other sugary beverages. This makes soda, sports drinks, and other sweet drinks public enemy number one during your no sugar diet. When you’re trying to eliminate those drinks you can look into healthy, no sugar added juices or detox waters for inspiration.
Finally, once you complete this no sugar diet and believe you have a handle on it, you can consider a sugar detox. When you incorporate a no sugar diet into your life a sugar detox can be a much easier challenge than it normally is. Most of the time we tell people that a sugar detox is a pretty intense first detox and that they should try something else first. Well, if your goal is a sugar detox you should start here with a no sugar diet!