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A Month Without Sugar

Most people cannot think about a day without sugar, much less a whole month. But removing sugar will not only help you to lose weight, it is a also great step to take towards a healthier you. 

This January marks the beginning of International Sugar Free Month and the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge, organized by Dr. Scott Olson, ND author of the book Sugarettes, as a way to bring awareness to the addictive qualities of sugar and the health hazards of that addiction. 

Dr. Scott is coaching and supporting participants with a free e-book, a newsletter, and the ability to answer any question about the program. 

Why Remove Sugar? 

Sugar is both addictive and harmful; a deadly combination. Let’s take a look.   

• Sugar is addictive: Ask a group of people if they are addicted to sugar and around 90 percent of them will raise their hands. But while we all agree we are addicted to the white stuff, most of us don’t realize just how addicted we are. Animal studies have shown that sugar addiction is just as hard to break as addictions to cigarettes, alcohol and even hard drugs. No wonder it is so hard to lose weight! If you are one of the 10 percent of people who don’t think they are addicted to sugar, try the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge and see just how addicted sugar can be. 

Besides being addictive, sugar harms our health in three ways:  

• Adds Weight: The standard medical position on sugar is that it contains calories, so it does have the ability to increase weight – but no more than any other food. Sugar, though, is special and increases our body weight because it causes such high spikes in our blood sugar. All the excess sugar in our blood stream has to go somewhere and it usually ends up on our waists and hips.  
• Insulin Insensitivity: Whenever our blood sugar is high for a period of time, it leads to insulin insensitivity. Insulin insensitivity means that the cells of the body no longer are responsive to insulin. This condition leads to metabolic syndrome and is one step away from diabetes. 
• Toxic: While it is not very well known, sugar is toxic to blood vessels. In much the same way that cigarette smoke damages the lungs of the smoker; sugar damages the blood vessels of the sugar-eater. It is easy to see this destruction in diabetics: they have kidney disease, heart disease, eye disease (retinopathy), nerve disease (neuropathy), and strokes, all caused by sugar destruction to blood vessels. 

Take the 30 Day Challenge

Breaking the sugar habit is not easy; at every step you are going to run into your addiction. The effort to stop sugar, however, is well worth the results: you will live a longer, healthier life with sugar out of your diet. 

Taking the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge is a great step towards your better health. So many weight loss programs are designed to help you shed pounds, but often do nothing to address your health. Why not have both good health and weight loss? Join us for the adventure! 

Why?

Myself and doctor Scott are firm believers that everyone can be in better health if they avoid sugar like foods. have a look into the free e-book provided here for a good example of how to eat for the month….

Dr. Scott Olson is a naturopathic doctor, an expert in natural medicine and the author of the book Sugarettes. You can read his blog at www.olsonnd.com.

As well as his previous post at Zen to Fitness here…….

Dr. Scott Olson is a Naturopathic doctor, expert in alternative medicine, author and medical researcher. Spurred on by his patients’ struggles with sugar addiction, he was determined to discover just how addictive and harmful sugar can be and ways to overcome that addiction. The result of that study is his book Sugarettes, which describes the addictive qualities of sugar and the harm that sugar does to our bodies.

Thanks again to Scott for the post and putting forward the sugar free Iniative. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am taking a Hiatus until January but get ready for loads of cool stuff from Zen to Fitness in 2009! Best Wishes,

Chris

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