If you want something sweet, eat fresh
fruit. Otherwise, no sugar from common
sources — candy, table sugar, brown
sugar, honey, jam, jelly, desserts,
sweets, and foods that contain more than
a tiny amount of sugar or high-fructose
corn syrup (such as soda and some
coffee drinks).
Sugar has calories but no nutritional
value. Sugar intake has increased
tremendously in the United States over
the past few decades and has contributed
to the increase in obesity.
How:
-Before you start the program, rid your
home of sweets and sodas, stock up
on fresh fruit, and replenish it
regularly.
-Keep fresh or unsweetened frozen or
canned fruit available at home and at
the office so that you’ve got healthy
snacks available.
-Instead of sugar, put fresh fruit on
your morning cereal, toast, pancakes
or plain yogurt.
-Avoid cereals that contain sugar.
Instead, try whole-grain cereals such
as oatmeal, and use fruit and spices
to enhance flavor.
-Experiment with spices — try
cinnamon in unsweetened applesauce
as a spread on pancakes or toast.
Other spices that may add sweetness
include allspice, cardamom, cloves,
ginger and nutmeg.
-Read labels to look for sugar in
products. If corn syrup, dextrose,
sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose,
turbinado sugar, molasses or highfructose
corn syrup is listed among
the first few ingredients on a label,
the product likely has a high sugar
content and should be avoided.
-Make your own fruit popsicles by
blending one or more fruits with a
little juice and freezing the mixture.
-Alcohol is counted as a sugar, and no
alcohol is allowed in Lose It!
-Substitute fruit juice mixed with
sparkling water for soda. Or make a
fruit smoothie in the blender, mixing
fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt and fatfree
milk with fruit or frozen juice
concentrate.
-Be creative and test your culinary
skills. For dessert, prepare baked
apples or grilled pineapple.
-Try new tastes that challenge and
motivate you — and help divert your
attention from more familiar, sugarladen
food. Serve fruits such as
kumquat, lychee, mango, papaya,
pomegranate, star fruit or Ugli fruit,
which can be obtained at many
grocery stores or specialty food
stores.
To be successful, it helps to believe that
you can lose weight and to visualize
yourself accomplishing your goal.
Believe it, see it, do it!
