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Mark Hyman, MD

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Blood Sugar Solution Challenge, Day 3: How to Kick the Sugar Habit

Posted: 03/ 1/2012 9:13 am

We are hardwired to love sweets. To survive in lean times during our hunter gather days, we had to fatten up if we came upon a berry patch or a beehive.

But today we live in a sea of sugar that sends our biological desires into overload. Use the four steps in this video to end sugar cravings once and for all.

 
 
 

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11:06 AM on 03/02/2012
30 days is a great way to frame such a big change in your mind; telling someone to "do this" forever is just too much for most of us, especially when it comes to something so emotionally charged as eating. When it was first suggested to me that I might be gluten intolerant and would have to go off wheat "forever," my inner brat stamped her feet and just said NO to that idea. Later, another health practitioner suggested that I just go gluten-free for 30 days to see what might happen; that, I figured, I could do. And, of course, have been gluten-free ever since, having experienced such a huge improvement in my health.

Same with sugar ... I've experienced how quickly the cravings go away once you go cold turkey; it's the eventual falling off the wagon, the way they cravings come roaring back after one little bowl of ice cream or something with hidden sugar, that's the tough part. You've got to be vigilant, read labels, rediscover how delicious scratch cooking can be, rethink the topic of desserts and treats, and give up sugar again when you need to. By the time the 30th day rolls around, you're feeling so good you don't want to go back to the sugar roller coaster ... but we live in a sugar-laden culture and it's a daily challenge.
04:46 PM on 03/01/2012
I'll be doing some grocery shopping in about 30 minutes. In the grocery store I remember and use this pneumonic device to guide my decisions: Abs Diet Power. Each letter stands for a specific food or food group. It's exactly the foods Dr. Hyman is referring to. I've been eating this way for years and it has served me well. Very useful! Look it up.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
kkdc
chiropractor, functional medicine approach, therap
04:24 PM on 03/01/2012
Nice, easy to do. Read those labels, sugar's in everything, and processed starchy stuff turns to sugar right away. Get off the "cookie" diet...
11:49 AM on 03/01/2012
Yes, Matt, that may be true. But most people are food addicts in one way or another. So the "one day at a time" thing works here. For food addictions, like any other, it requires perseverence and a lot of willingness to try what is a new approach for most food addicts. I am one, and I understand what it is to not be able to eat just one cookie, whether it's a healthy one, or not. So every day we succeed is a great step. While everything you've said is so, food plays many different roles in individual lives, This is a life time effort....

Best,
Helen's Daughter
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henriette and hube
my goal is to live each day
04:11 PM on 03/01/2012
Who is the Matt you are referring to?
10:46 AM on 03/01/2012
I agree 100%! I cut out sugar and gluten and poof, like magic, I can make it through my afternoon work time without sweets - and the rest of the day too. Holy cow, 53 years old, a doctor, years committed to eating only a healthy, organic diet http://www.drbaileyskincare.com/blog/the-best-diet-for-healthy-skin-in-2012/ , but still with this craving monkey around my neck. Now I'm free of the cravings that kept me struggling to 'control' my tendency for weight gain (a byproduct of a metabolism perfectly designed to survive a famine). Like you said, I just had to go cold turkey off the sugar and flour.

Of course, my afternoon sweets were always homemade or vegan/health food types, but I didn't always eat just one because one lead to two lead to three etc. Plus, I always wanted sweets and had to exercise control - a pastry between breakfast and lunch if they were around, a little ice cream after dinner, a couple pieces of chocolate to 'pick me up' - it'd sneak in there. Now, it's fantastic, I'm not even tempted because the cravings stopped. And you're so right, it only took a few days off gluten and all sugar to tame this beast. It's actually easy and so liberating! Great message. You're going to really help folks!
10:15 AM on 03/01/2012
I think 30 day "solutions" are insufficient to kick the sugar habit.

All doctors assert that glycosylated hemoglobin levels, which reflect our history of sugar consumption, measure the previous FOUR MONTHS (not one) of sugar consumption.

Our bodies clearly are acting on a four month cycle here, the amount of time needed to replace all our red blood cells.

To frame remediation programmes with a one month time horizon (instead of four) increases the risk of failure unnecessarily.
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Parkite
Still haven't found what I'm looking for
10:55 AM on 03/01/2012
Other studies have shown that to change habits, it takes 30 days.
11:43 AM on 03/01/2012
It takes more than 30 days.

Look at the top tier peer reviewed literature on programmes to keep weight off; the clear findings is that the more gradual the changes, the more persistent they are.

Besides you are not addressing my key point.

Given the 4 month time horizon for glycosylated hemoglobin readings, having a 30 day program is insufficiently long to actually FEEL the changes brought about by only replacing one quarter of your sugar saturated hemoglobin with new, healthier sugar free red blood cells.
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vierge99
No man need grant you freedom. Freedom is inherent
11:53 AM on 03/01/2012
21 Days. How low... can you go?
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Parkite
Still haven't found what I'm looking for
10:57 AM on 03/01/2012
Aren't you supposed to continue all these changes beyond thirty days? Like forever? Which will take you past 4 months.