One of the biggest challenges people encounter while doing a cleanse, like the 21 Day Body Makeover, is battling their sugar addiction. Withdrawal symptoms from a high sugar diet can be include cravings, headaches, crankiness, fatigue, flu-like symptoms, depression, anxiety, dizziness or shakiness, just to name a few.While quitting sugar is one of the best things you can do for your health, it can be a bumpy road. But there are things you can do to keep the detox symptoms and cravings at bay. If you want to make your cleansing experience more pleasant you can slowly prepare so that you spend a majority of the cleanse feeling calm, bright and energized.
When it comes to cleansing, going cold turkey with sugar and processed foods can bring up intense withdrawal symptoms. A week or two of slow preparation will not only mellow your body’s reactions but it can even alter your taste buds and craving, as well as stabilize blood sugar. All extremely helpful while cleansing.
It takes two weeks to retrain a sugar-addicted palate. To do this, start slowly replacing your sugary drinks with mostly water. Or you can start mixing half of your favorite beverages with the low or no sugar version of it. For example, mix no sugar-added almond milk with the sugar-added vanilla almond milk.
Also, instead of stopping dessert or sugary treats all together, start reducing by half the first week and another half the second week.
Remember, not all sugar is bad. The sugars found in starchy tubers like sweet potatoes and fruit are natural sugars, which are not the same as added sugars. Added sugars, used to improve the taste of a food, are what should be avoided during a cleanse. Going too low carb on a cleanse can also produce fatigue, hormonal swinds and strong cleansing reactions
The following is a list of things to do to tame your sugar dragon and prepare for an easier cleanse.
Step #1)
The most important step for successful cleansing is proper planning and preparation. If you don’t prepare yourself for cleansing, you may find yourself in a situation where you are hungry and there are no good food choices around. When your blood sugar is dropping, it’s the worst time to make a decision about what to eat. To prevent this situation, always keep a healthy snack in your purse, pocket or car.
Step #2)
The next step to successfully cleansing is to prevent temptation in your environment. First start with clearing all the processed, sugary food out of your kitchen. If you don’t want to throw the food away, then give it away or put it in the basement or garage in a hard to reach place. A good guide for purging is to get rid of anything with the following words on the ingredients label “cane”, “syrup”, “nectar”, “agave”, “fruit juice concentrate” or anything that ends with the suffix “ose”.
Step #3)
The third step is to increase healthy fats and protein at each meal. Healthy fats will help balance blood sugar and keep you full. Fat will not make you fat or raise your cholesterol. In fact, sugar is the real culprit behind raising cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as increasing risks for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Healthy fats come from eggs, avocados, nuts, salmon, olives and coconut oil to name a few.
Step #4)
Eating meals or snacks on a regular schedule will stabilize blood sugar and prevent crashes that leave you shaky and reaching for the next sugar fix. Also, when you are eating natural sugars or starches like fruit or sweet potatoes, eat them with fat, protein and fiber to keep blood sugar and insulin from spiking.
You can also follow the steps above while you are doing the 21-Day Body Makeover Program to make it a smoother and more enjoyable experience.
