Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Zen Habits has a pretty cool article about beating the sugar habit:

• Beat the Sugar Habit: 3 Steps to Cut Sweets (Mostly) Out of Your Life | Zen Habits

Steps one and two waste your time telling you WHY you need to cut sugar out of your diet. Anyone willing to read an entry on how to “Beat the Sugar Habit” already knows why they don’t want to eat sugar anymore. The best advice comes at the third step, “Just Live the Daily Journey one Choice at a Time.” They have a list of ways to make good choices in your diet:

• Choose to eat more natural foods.
• Find the hidden sources of sugars and remove them.
• If it’s not near you, you can’t eat it.
• Make each meal balanced to control your blood sugar and insulin response.
• Eat sugar from its natural packaging – like fruit (as it is packed with fiber, water, vitamins and minerals) and other complex sources like vegetables.
• Base your larger intake of carbohydrates around workouts and other activity.
• Choose to burn fat, not store it.
• Get out and exercise.
• More fish please.
• Learn it’s OK to say “No”.
• Get rid of your mental attachment to sugar and food – once a week with a short fast (like only eating dinner for a day once a week).
• Control and manage your stress.
• Go to bed early and get your sleep.
• Don’t ever get down on yourself.
• Enjoy Life.

Oh, enjoy life… THAT’S why it’s so hard for me to stop eating sugar. I haven’t been enjoying LIFE enough. I do agree with a lot of the things that were said in this article, but sometimes it’s a little more complicated than that. I DO NOT recommend that you “Get rid of your mental attachment to food” by fasting once a week. I strongly believe that the act of fasting causes bingeing. There’s some good advice in that article if you’re willing to sift through it.

The basis of all of this is eating or NOT eating sugar is our choice. Every piece of food that I put in my mouth is my choice. That alone is a very powerful thought to keep you motivated toward healthy eating.