A no-sugar diet can help you lose weight and manage your blood sugar. However, some people push it too far and miss out on essential nutrients.
We start all diet blogs with a simple message: we’re not huge fans of diets. We believe the best route to health is a balanced diet where you enjoy all foods in moderation. We believe in paying attention to your meals while you eat so you don’t graze mindlessly. You can eat what you like if you heed portion sizes and prioritize healthy foods. Diets can be restrictive and have rules that leave you feeling deprived. That can lead to people “breaking down” and eating less healthy things in abundance. That leads to a feeling of failure, and that is neither healthy nor productive.
However, we recognize that some people do well with diets, and some are on medically necessary diets. Because everyone is different and we like to support our customers, we review diets from time to time.
Almost all of us eat more sugar than we should. Sugar is added to almost every processed food, making it hard to avoid. “High-fructose corn syrup, which is essentially sugar, is found in thousands of foods, including those that don’t even taste sweet — ketchup, canned soup, fast food, breakfast cereal, bread, peanut butter, and lunch meats,” said Prof. Deborah Cohen, a registered dietician at the Rutgers Univ. School of Health Professions.
“Excess added sugar causes inflammation in the body, which may lead to a host of conditions, such as joint pain and certain cancers,” said registered dietician Keri Gans.
A no-sugar diet can sound intimidating, but it is possible. “Basically, this is a diet that eliminates all added sugars, foods high in natural sugars, and sugar substitutes,” said Sonya Angelone, registered dietician and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “The extreme version of the no-sugar diet also eliminates foods with natural sugars like fruit, milk and plain yogurt.”
“Technically, a no-sugar diet would contain only pure fats and pure protein sources,” said Prof. Cohen.
Some people try to follow the most extreme version of the diet to get the best results. That eliminates all fruit and dairy. You miss out on a great many vital nutrients you need to stay healthy. The diet lacks vitamins, minerals and fiber.
American adults eat an average of 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day. That’s beyond what naturally occurs in fruit, dairy and whole grains. Added sugar has been linked to a wide array of health concerns. Beyond weight and blood sugar, eating excess sugar can increase inflammation, cholesterol, blood pressure and heighten the risk of heart disease.
Following a no-sugar diet can aid your health. But you don’t have to avoid fruit, unsweetened dairy and whole grains. Fruit juice, sugary yogurt and white bread are off-limits, but their ingredients certainly aren’t!
