It’s in almost everything, and it is one of the most powerful enemies to anyone looking forward to losing weight and burning fat: sugar.
Everyone knows that eating too many sweets is bad, but what most people don’t know is the extent to which sugar will block your ability to burn fat, and just how little sugar it takes to hurt your weight loss goals and wreak havoc with your blood sugar levels.
What happens when you consume sugar?
Consuming just a small amount of sugar- half a glass of wine, some fruit juice, soda, any sweetened drink, not to mention a baked good or candy bar- can, in some cases (people who are older or have slow metabolisms, in particular), affect your blood sugar levels and ability to burn fat for as much as 48-60 hours!
Imagine the cumulative effect of consuming added sugar
regularly: a glass of wine every night, or even every other night, could be one of the major reasons you’re having trouble burning fat.
How much sugar can I eat?
The World Health Organization claims that six teaspoons of added sugar per day is a safe level of consumption. Safe for what, I wonder! Any added sugar is worse than an empty calorie.
Empty suggests that consuming it is simply adding the burden of more calories you need to burn off to maintain your weight, but the calories you consume from sugar are worse than the calories you would get from fat or other sources.
Consuming fat won’t have an instant, lasting effect on your Fat Storing Hormone, even if the calories are there, and even though so many people demonize fat as a major dietary problem in the US.
Food labels are misleading as well, because they list calories from fat, grams of fat, the type of fat in the food, and a daily value for fat. Sugar, however, is only listed in grams; there’s no percentage or daily value attached to it at all.
Sugar is tricky, too, because it’s not just in sweets. It’s in everything! Read your labels. See how many grams of sugar is in the packaged food you eat, and I’m not just talking about cookies and candies. Read the labels on energy bars, granola, cereal, and trail mix. Sugar, sugar, and more sugar.
Three-day Sugar Challenge
Give yourself three days, because that’s how long it takes before the sugar you’ve been eating will stop affecting your Fat Storing Hormone levels and burning of fat. For three days, read the labels on everything you eat.
If anything has more than one gram of sugar, put it down. You don’t need to do anything beyond that.
If you’re having trouble staying on track, make sure you’re getting enough vegetables and potassium in your diet. This will help control your sugar cravings.
After three days, see how much weight you’ve lost. You might be very, very surprised to learn just how much all that sugar was holding you back.
Dr. Eric Berg
08/31/2023
