How to Eliminate Sugar & Lose Weight

No matter how intense your exercise regimen is, the process of losing weight can be easily derailed by bad eating habits, especially if they include the consumption of sugar. Sugar makes you gain weight by quickly spiking your glucose level and forcing your body to create fat. In order to lose weight and keep it off, you can eliminate sugar from your diet and replace sweets with healthy alternatives.

Instructions

• 1

  Change your morning drink. Coffee lovers may find eliminating sugar especially difficult, but if you start your day with several spoonfuls, you've added hundreds of calories to your diet before breakfast. The healthiest option is to replace coffee with something healthier, like green tea. If you do continue drinking coffee, consider an alternative sweetener, such as honey, agave syrup or stevia powder.

• 2

  Replace unhealthy snacks. If you grab a handful of chocolates here and a few peppermints there, you're probably ingesting more sugar than you think. It's important to snack between meals to keep your metabolism up, but make sure you are eating high protein and high fiber foods. Consume raw nuts, fresh fruit and vegetable slices. Put these snacks in plastic bags and bring them to work so you will not be tempted by the office donuts.

• 3

  Avoid refined carbohydrates. Sugar does not just exist in its famous white granulated form. It is also found in many processed foods such as cookies, sweetened yogurt, cereal and bread, all of which contain these "hidden" sugars that contribute to weight gain and poor health. By avoiding these foods, you will not experience rapid peaks and falls in glucose levels. As a result, you will experience fewer sugar cravings.

• 4

  Keep away from sugar substitutes. Artificial sweeteners advertise the same taste as sugar with only a fraction of the calories. This may be true, but they contain harmful substances like aspartame and saccharine, which can lower chromium levels and make sugar metabolism even more difficult. If you are craving a sweetener, use natural raw honey, molasses or stevia, none of which cause spikes in glucose levels.