Jump Start Aug: Healthy Week: Day 2
Today we’re going to look at one simple aspect of healthy eating. It’s something to try just for one day, to see how you get on. We all know that eating large amounts of refined sugar is not considered healthy, so today is ‘no added sugar’ day.
The idea today is to avoid foods high in processed sugar, to see how that makes us feel. It’s also an ideal opportunity for some general healthy eating, which is never a bad thing.
What to look out for today:
- Sugar added to cereals
- Granulated sugar added to teas, coffees etc
- Sugary drinks (colas, sodas, hot chocolate)
- Syrups (flavoured, golden, maple, agave nectar, molasses)
- Honey
- Sweets, cakes, cookies, sweet biscuits
- Desserts
- Other processed foods
Sugar may be listed as just ‘sugar’, but if you’re checking the labels the look out for things like glucose, sucrose and fructose too, and partially inverted corn syrup etc.
It’s fine to have unprocessed sugar in the form of fruit, and maybe a small handful of dried fruit.
Try to stay away from artificial sweeteners as well, even the ones that are classed as ‘natural’: stevia, aspartame, xylitol, sorbitol, saccharin, acesulfame K, sucralose, and so on.
Eat regular, healthy meals and snack on fruit. Then keep a note of any sugar cravings, hunger pangs or even a general feeling of health and wellbeing. See how you get on.