Eliminate Sugar, Reduce Fat and Lose Weight

(Article first published as Tips to Help Eliminate Sugar From Your Diet on Technorati.)

Infants, children and adults alike have evolved to desire the taste of sugar. Natural sugar from fruits provides a healthy source of calories which was an advantage during our evolution, and fruit is packed with antioxidants that help fight disease and cellular damage. There’s even some evidence that sugar can be addictive, as it stimulates dopamine receptors in the brain.

Excess Sugar Converts to Stored Body Fat

The results of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that people who eat the most sugar, regardless of the source, have the highest blood triglycerides combined with the lowest protective HDL cholesterol levels. This is bad news because triglycerides (a dangerous form of fat in the blood) can significantly increase the risk of heart disease. Further, excess triglycerides cause metabolic imbalance, leading to diabetes and triggering the dangerous conversion of sugar to body fat.

People trying to lose weight and improve their health need to make a concentrated effort to drastically limit sugar in their diet. While this may seem a daunting task, there are useful tips you can follow to purge sugar consumption, while improving blood lipids and the release of fat from storage in the body.

Sugar Busting Tip 1: Dump Sweetened Beverages
Sugar from sweetened drinks and fruit juices accounts for nearly half the sugar consumed each day for many people. Of primary concern is the fact that much of this sugar is from high fructose corn syrup, a super-charged synthetic form of sugar linked to increased risk of diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Opt instead for water or tea, and sweeten with stevia which is a natural sugar alternative.

Sugar Busting Tip 2: Drop Refined Carbs
Sugar comes in many forms, including the obvious – candy, baked goods, ice cream and cakes, to the hidden sugars tucked away in breads, pastas, potatoes and most grains. All have the same blood sugar disturbing effect on your metabolism, pushing your body toward fat storage, weight gain and disease.
Learn to read nutritional labels, paying close attention to total carbohydrates and sugars. Always fill yourself up first with fresh vegetable and meat sources so you’re less likely to splurge on those sugary treats which pack on the pounds.

Sugar Busting Tip 3: Look for Hidden Sugar

Most people know how to identify the most common high sugar culprits, but sugar can be hiding in places you’d never think to look. Be careful with gum, cough syrup, mints, ketchup, tomato sauce, baked beans and lunch meats, as these all pack a sugar punch. Be mindful that sugar can slide through under many different aliases such as sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup, cane juice, glucose and honey. All will derail your weight loss journey.

Extensive research points to the incontrovertible fact that sugar should not be part of your diet. Glucose feeds cancer cells, and a high sugar intake can promote tumor growth. Sugar disrupts your metabolism causing blood sugar swings and ultimately metabolic disorder and excess body fat, and this process starts in our children from a young age. Bust sugar from your life and benefit from lowered disease risk, improved health and naturally mediated weight loss.