41 Days | Learning to Cut the Sugar

Yesterday's post on sugar hit a lot of you very strongly.  And one of the resounding questions was, "How do we walk away from it?"  

Know this--no one said it was easy.

For me and many others on this 90 day challenge, we something specific--a plan that had tight boundaries, but was also healthy and helpful and easy to follow.  The 5/1 plan was (and is) one rehabilitation option. It uses incredibly scientific, perfectly portion, nutrition controlled meals that most of us don't have the time, energy or know-how to prepare for ourselves.  It isn't sugar-free and carb-free, it is sugar and carb controlled.  And while you are detoxing and regaining health, you have the freedom to practice new habits that are all-important for longterm change.

But it is not the ONLY way.  It is possible to detox on your own.  It will take extreme commitment, but anything worth doing requires commitment, right?

This is a FANTASTIC article by a man named Nahad O'Connor.  It is entitled, "Learning to Cut the Sugar" and he makes some excellent points.  He helps people detox from sugar.

In case you decide not to read the article, I want to make sure you hear this one very important point:

What are your thoughts on diets that focus on calories?

A.

I’m not against reducing calories. But if that’s all you’re doing, it can’t work. It depends what those calories are. Everything that comes in a 100-calorie container, half of it is sugar, whether it’s yogurt, or cookies, or whatever. If a calorie is a calorie, then it should work. But it doesn’t, because a calorie is not a calorie. And this is the thing that we have to get past. 

The other thing I loved in the article is that they took families and showed them that kids WILL eat healthy food, that parents will too, and that MANY children enjoyed the healthy foods, it wasn't just a fluke.  Additionally, they showed them grocery bills to prove that they also could afford to eat healthily.  They debunked the excuses--the excuses we all make.

Sugar (in all of its various forms and names) certainly isn't the only thing that hurts us, but killing it is a very good start toward slaying the dragon.