Sugar smarts

Great blog on 10 sneaky sugar sources that sabotage weight loss

I ate a piece of homemade chocolate peanut butter pie last week at a family event, and then craved sugar for days. Yep, that one piece of dessert almost instantly made it harder for me to avoid sugar/sweets, and I’m still struggling almost a week later.

I’ve learned — and finally admitted to myself — that I have a sugar addiction. This was not easy to believe/accept. But I did and it’s how I’ve maintained my -200 lb weight loss for more than 2.5 years. (I’ve written about some of the research that helped me understand this here and here.)

Whether you have a full-on sugar addiction or you’re just having trouble dropping those last few pounds, it’s important to know what processed sugar can do to your body, how to recognize it on food labels, and in what foods it’s hiding.

Protein bars, dried fruit, yogurt, smoothies, even balsamic vinaigrette! When I first started my transformation journey, I had no idea all of the hidden places sugar was showing up in my diet. Lucky for me, I had a great nutritional coach and trainer and I read everything I could about sugar — in all of its forms — how the body processes it and its affect on weight loss. Getting educated and “sugar smart” was an important step in me losing the weight, but it is critical to keeping it off.

So back to clean eating and no processed sugar, I go this week. This great blog from Huffington Post came across my email the other day and I thought it was a great reminder about 10 places sugar is hiding that you may not know. I now avoid all of these things, but I had to get smart first and learn my sugar facts. The labels don’t make it easy.

I hope by sharing this blog here titled “10 Sneaky Sugar Sources that Hold Your Weight Hostage,” it helps you.

Also, here are some of my related blogs on this topic:

Sugar turns you into a junkie

Food and addiction. Research and Hope.

Carbs trigger food cravings. Yep.

Step away from the refrigerator