Most people have a sugar addiction. This may be addiction to chocolate, bakery treats, biscuits and breads. Even so called “healthy” foods have sugar added to them. Sugar can be found in tinned tomatoes, soup, yoghurt, breakfast cereals, fruit juices, frozen meals and so much more. If you check the ingredients list on some of your items in the pantry you will find a lot of sugar.

Excess sugar consumption is linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity (now often referred to as diabesity), high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression, tooth decay, asthma, water retention, poor immune system and many more illnesses.

The problem with this addiction is it makes you hungry for more. This is great for the food companies but not for your health! Your hunger will never be satisfied, you will have sugar highs and sugar crashes and you will always have cravings.

The best way to stop these cravings is to give up sugar altogether. Cold turkey. Starting now.

Check the ingredients of everything you cook with. Never add sugar to anything. When eating out check with the restaurant which items are sugar-free. And while you’re at it, sugar substitutes should be removed from your diet too. Even if they are calorie-free, they elicit the same responses in the body and you will not be truly free of the addiction.

Most people find the first few days tough. You could spend whole days dreaming of your next sugary treat, or even worse, get headaches or shakiness. You will need a LOT of willpower to get through this. A support system (not unlike AA) is useful too. Tell your friends and colleagues and get them to support you by not offering you treats or tempting you. Get your family involved and request they stay sugar free too.

When you get a sugar craving, do something else. Go for a walk, call a friend, brush your teeth or have something else to eat. These tactics of diversion will help the cravings pass.

The good news is that for most people, 3 or 4 days is the most you’ll have to suffer the cravings. After that you will find cravings dramatically reduce or disappear entirely. Not only will your sugar cravings be curbed, but your general appetite will normalize. You will no longer get the dreaded afternoon sugar crash and need to fix it with more sugar. You will probably sleep better and your health will have improved.

After a few weeks, most people find that the thought of anything containing sugar is off putting. After this, if you do eat some sugar, pay attention to your heart rate, anxiety levels and hunger for more. They don’t call it a sugar high for nothing!

Give yourself a sugar-free month. You will feel so much better and hopefully you will continue a healthier lifestyle.

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Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too! I created this recipe as I wanted a gluten-free sugar-free dairy-free tasty muffin. This is really hard to come across if you are a chocoholic at heart like me. So here you go:

Chocolate Protein Muffins

1 1/2 cups Almond meal
1 scoop Chocolate protein powder¹
1/4 cup Cocoa powder
2 tsp Baking powder²
1 Egg lightly beaten³
1 tbsp Maple syrup
1/2 cup Coconut oil
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the wet ingredients.

Spray muffin tin with oil and spoon into molds. Bake for 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted is removed clean.

Makes 18 mini muffins. They freeze well.

¹ Protein powder optional. Make sure it is 100% natural with no crap in it.² You can buy gluten free baking powder so use that to make this recipe gluten free. ³ Substitute egg for 1 tsp flax meal to make this recipe vegan.

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When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, diet is the make or break part of the equation for most people. It is possible to exercise without reducing any fat – I’m living proof of this! I can put in the miles needed to train for an ultramarathon and end up heavier! It is true what they say – You can’t out-train a bad diet!

Over the past 6 months I have been experimenting to find out what works best. I’ve done vegan, clean eating, gluten free, grain free, high carb, low carb, ketogenic, carb cycling and even junk food cycling! What I’ve found it almost everything works. But there’s always a point when your fat loss efforts stall. You also need to question how healthy it is.

I think everyone knows that eating clean, natural, whole foods is the healthiest option. Everyone is different, and for me this wasn’t very effective.

The most effective so far has been junk food cycling! I took the carb cycling method to the extreme and went all out on chocolate. If was great! I could have my cake and eat it too! The only problem with this, is after months of eating clean food, my body had become extra sensitive to toxins. Sugar highs and lows were much more pronounced, foods with wheat flour left me feeling hungry and full at the same time, and foods my body doesn’t tolerate well (too many carbs, dairy etc) affected me more than ever.

There are many quick fixes and magic tricks to reduce body fat. You can take your shakes, count your points or chop off a limb, but you need to think about what makes you healthy on the inside. What gives you more energy? What prevents the afternoon slump? What keeps your moods stable?

I am a trainer, not a dietitian. I wont write you a meal plan. And I wont tell you to eat 10 slices of bread and 2 serves of sweets each day as per the government’s food pyramid because we can all see that doesn’t work!

You need to know how your body responds to foods. If you need help feeling your best, I can get you back on track for a healthier you!

(Image: Some rights reserved, Peyri)

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