Are you tired, sluggish, irritated, or even depressed?
Maybe it’s time to do a sugar-detox.
Ditching sugar cold turkey might sound harsh, but that’s the key to restore blood sugar balance, improve digestion, balance hormones, cool off inflammation, speed up your metabolism, and even lose a few inches.
Sugar detox is like a “reset” button for your body.
The best sugar detox is at least a week long, but 3 days will give you the jumpstart you need.
How do you do it?
Simply cut out everything that has added sugar in it (even ketchup and pickled cucumbers, yes), and everything that has a naturally high sugar- or starch content, like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes or corn.
That means you’re left with delicious, nourishing natural food like meat, fish and poultry, vegetables, nuts, legumes, eggs and the good fats like extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or the good old butter.
Here is a sample sugar detox meal plan:
Day 1
Breakfast: 1 cup of oats, a handful of almond slices, some blueberries, and coconut milk
– or bacon and eggs
Morning Snack: salted cashews
Lunch: Grilled chicken with butternut squash puree
Dinner: Salmon with broccoli and mushrooms
Day 2
Breakfast: 1 cup of oats, a handful of almond slices, some blueberries, and coconut milk
– or bacon and eggs
Morning Snack: coconut chips (natural, no added sugar)
Lunch: Grilled cheese or haloumi with grilled vegetables (zucchini, peppers, onion) with olive oil – vinegar – thyme dressing
Dinner: Beef patty with stir-fried bok choy and roasted brussels sprouts (or broccoli)
Day 3
Breakfast: 1 cup of oats, a handful of almond slices, some blueberries, and coconut milk
– or bacon and eggs.
Morning Snack: A handful of pecan nuts or almonds
Lunch: Roasted chicken thighs with some lemon, rosemary and sage, or chicken roasted in an oven with thyme, black olives and onion.
Dinner: Baked cod with mashed peas and fresh green salad
What to drink
Because a) sugar is lurking in so many drinks and b) this is a detox after all, it’s very important to drink plenty of water throughout the days. This will keep you hydrated, and curb any hunger or cravings.
It’s very important that you don’t drink anything containing sugar (fructose, rice syrup, agave and the others are totally sugar). You also need to avoid fruit juices, smoothies, even vegetable juices: although natural, these are just concentrated sugar.
Besides water, you should drink herbal teas or green tea a few times a day. Limit coffee intake to one cup a day, without milk or any sugary creamer. You can use a little cream.
If you’re missing the sweet taste of your coffee or tea, you can use Yummy Sweet instead of sugar.
The bad news:
You will be craving sweet stuff. If you don’t want to go crazy, you’d better prepare some yummy, sugar free sweets, otherwise you’ll either just eat a whole bar of chocolate in one sitting (this may or may not happened to me…) or you’ll reach for high-starch, processed, additive-laden comfort foods like potato chips – which is almost as bad as sugar…
The good news:
It’s a lot easier to go sugar free with Yummy Sweet: it has no effect whatsoever on your body. It’s a tiny amount that just passes right through your system without any metabolic effect.
No bowel irritation, no calories, no aspartame, nothing to count – and no weird aftertaste!
Give it a try. Yummy is your best friend going sugar free 😉