Aren’t you tired of dieting? Do you ever wonder if you’ll have to struggle with your weight for the rest of your life? Don’t you wish you could sit around the table and eat what everybody else eats? Don’t you wish you could stop feeling bloated and gross?
There’s a way to resolve all those concerns. Cut out two items from your diet that are contributing to a lot of your pain points.
Cut sugar and ultra-processed carbs…
Let them go.
You will look great and feel great if you cut sugar and refined or ultra-processed carbs. I’m not kidding, you’re less bloated, have less stomach discomfort, your skin clears up, and you lose weight even if you’re not counting calories.
And I want to be clear. I’m not saying you should cut out carbs. Only ultra-processed carbs, like wheat flour. Sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, steel cut oats, fruits, and many other carbs are delicious, nutritious, and totally on the list of things you should eat.
Now you’re probably thinking “IMPOSSIBLE!” I’m here to tell you it’s not.
WHY IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO CUT SUGAR AND PROCESSED CARBS FROM YOUR DIET
A few years ago, I was the one saying that this would be an impossible task. But, there’s an increased focus on eating healthier now, so our supermarkets carry foods that weren’t easily available 5 years ago.
I was still living in Florida in 2016. And I can safely say that the only place where I found coconut flour was in Whole Foods.
This past year, as I’ve gone back to spend time in the Sunshine State, the regular supermarkets have been stocked with coconut flour, almond flour, plus healthier sugar substitutes.
Being real here, though. I know this isn’t the case everywhere. But, with services like Amazon Prime, or Walmart, you can now have these items shipped to your home without even having to pay for shipping.
And then, through Pinterest and other social media platforms, you can find countless healthy, yet decadent, recipes that don’t include sugar or ultra-processed carbs.
RELATED POST: Coconut Flour to Regular Flour Ratio
HOW TO CUT OUT SUGAR AND ULTRA-PROCESSED CARBS FOR GOOD
Again, it’s definitely possible to cut sugar and ultra-processed carbs from your diet.
Think of it as a challenge.
Right now, you may think you’ll feel deprived if you decided to cut these items for the rest of your life. Let’s not be that drastic.
Addiction to this stuff is real and we’re exposed to it every single day in some form or another. The focus of your challenge is to know that you can accomplish when you cut sugar and ultra-processed carbs in the first place.
Once you do, you’ll find that you don’t crave sugar or ultra-processed carbs in the same way. You don’t even miss them. Suddenly, you’ll feel like you have the “willpower” you thought always evaded you.
Let’s get into 5 tips to get you started.
TIP #1: THE ONE WEEK CUT-IT-OUT CHALLENGE
You’re gonna start out by “ripping off the band-aid.” For one week, you’ll cut sugar and ultra-processed carbs from your diet as a sort of detox exercise.
This’ll be your biggest challenge. And I know it sounds hard. But, if it were easy, you wouldn’t be reading this post.
Pay attention to everything you put in your mouth. Write it down if you need to for this first week. You can use an app, like My Fitness Pal, to track it. The best thing about this app is that it tells you the sugar content in the foods you log.
During this time, please don’t starve yourself. Please don’t cut out calories to an amount that you won’t be able to sustain when this is over.
You will likely notice a difference in your weight by cutting out these two items alone. Eat healthy filling meals. If you’re full, it’ll help with the cravings.
After 3-5 days, the crazy cravings will subside, and the hardest part will be over. But continue until the end of the week. In fact, shoot for two weeks if the cravings take longer to subside.
RELATED POST: How to Reduce, Resist, and Stop Cravings for Weight Loss
TIP #2: GO SCRUMPTIOUSLY NATURAL
Make a list of your favorite fruits, veggies, meats, and healthy carbs. Then go grocery shopping and have them available when you start.
For example, my absolute favorite treat is blueberries with almond butter and cinnamon. It’s sooooo good! I would’ve gone for this treat even when I was still eating sugar every day.
Every item in that treat is natural. Think of a combo of foods that are your favorites and that you know will feel like a treat when you eat it. There’s no need to ever feel deprived.
The key to making this permanent is to find new crave-worthy healthy foods that you’ll want instead of the sugary floury stuff you might be eating now.
TIP #3: USE YUMMY SUBSTITUTES
There’s no need to cut out your favorites, like bread, cookies, or cake. Try to replace them with healthier ingredients.
This is where foods like coconut flour, almond flour, stevia sweetener, and monk fruit sweetener come in. These are only a few examples of healthy substitutes that can be used to substitute sugar and regular flour in your recipes.
For a free list of these healthy substitutes and more, along with their measurements and conversions, sign up below.
TIP #4: REPLACE WITH TO-DIE-FOR RECIPES
Have you ever tried a diet and stopped because nothing you ate was enjoyable? You felt deprived the entire time. There’s no need for that!
I’m a total foodie, so to me, it’s very important that everything I eat tastes delicious. I want to feel like it’s worthwhile to eat it. I want emotional satisfaction, just as much as physical.
So, look for recipes that will accomplish that. Pinterest is bursting with healthy recipes that are to-die-for.
You don’t want to spend a long time in the kitchen? Search for 15-minute healthy meals.
Want grab-and-go meals? You can search for that too.
While there’s no need to follow a specific diet, search for low carb, paleo, or real foods recipes. These are all guaranteed to exclude refined sugars and ultra-processed carbs.
Be careful with the amounts of sugar subs in some of those recipes. If you’re replacing a cup of refined sugar with a cup of raw honey, you’re not gonna see a difference in the scale. It’s still a healthier choice though.
RELATED POST: Healthy Eating and Intermittent Fasting: What Healthy Is and How to Make it Sustainable
TIP #5: SHIFT THE MINDSET AND DROP THE GUILT
The last thing I want to say is “drop the guilt.” Attaching guilt to eating leads to unhealthier eating. If you eat a meal with sugar or ultra-processed carbs, enjoy and then go back to eating without.
This is probably the biggest mind shift you have to make.
Has this ever happened to you? You’re on a diet, feeling deprived. One day you can’t resist the delectable dessert in front of you, so you “break the diet” and eat sugar. Then, you feel a huge sense of guilt. The guiltier you feel, the quicker you say, “oh well, I already broke it, so I’ll just keep doing it the rest of the day.”
But then it extends to the following day, and the day beyond that. And you just go back to eating unhealthily.
The mind shift is beyond dropping the guilt, it’s about dieting. Don’t look at cutting out sugar and ultra-processed carbs as a “diet.” It’s simply a decision to aim for not eating these items on a daily basis.
So, there’s no guilt attached to breaking a “diet” if you have something that contains sugar one day. It’s much easier to jump back into your healthier habits right after.
To prevent this from happening often, set a concrete goal with the number of days you want to cut sugar and ultra-processed carbs. Make it 30 consecutive days, or more if you want. It’s up to you and what you feel comfortable with. But the longer you go, the less enticing it’ll feel to want to eat these foods.
HEALTHY SUBSTITUTES I USE
READY TO TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE?
Now it’s your turn to take on the challenge of cutting out sugar and ultra-processed carbs from your diet.
Are you ready?
Comment below and let me know when you’re getting started and why.
And don’t forget to download the free Fit and Healthy Conversions Cheat Sheets at the bottom of this post for great healthy substitutes for sugar and flour.
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