My baby is ONE! I am so excited to see her little personality really show up and I am also excited to get serious about my health. I have very little interest in a “pre baby body” but I do have interest in energy, health, and a longer lifespan. One huge struggle for me is sugar, I crave it- and if I ever even have a little bit – I have a lot a bit. So for me, it just needs to be cute entirely.
I am a pretty basic person when it comes to health goals, I have successfully lost baby weight 3 times now- and I feel like I know what works best for my body but I am always willing to try new things! I have been doing a lot of reading and recently was introduced to the Silver Fern Elevated Plan, and I was able to add a few of their guidelines to my own weight loss regimen. They really focus on gut health, which is SO important – They have some awesome products and probiotics .
As I have read and learned more about sugar, its about so much more than will power. Sugar has a lot to do with your gut-we want to try and balance out the bad bacteria (introduced through unhealthy diet and sugars) with good bacteria (found in probiotics) When you cut sugar out of your diet, the bad bacteria that are literally feeding off the sugar, die- and the good bacteria THRIVES!
Here are my tips for cutting sugar:
- Start with a good sugar free breakfast. I rarely want to start the day with fruit or juice, just because it seems to kick my sugar cravings up first thing in the morning. Smoothies seem to do that for me as well, so I like to stick to a savory filling breakfast – the more important meal of the day! This here is pork breakfast tacos, a favorite at our house.
2. Decrease artificial sweeteners. This is HARD for me. I am a Diet Coke girl through and through but I do notice that when I don’t drink it- my sugar cravings also decrease. Drinking water helps, and a lot of it! You can make water fun as well with infusing with fresh fruit, or making fruit ice cubes too!
3. Make sure you read your labels! You would be surprised just how many companies are sneaking sugar into your foods you THINK are healthy. One tip– if the ingredient list lists “SUGAR” it is the bad kind, if it lists “SUGARS” its the good kind! Natural from fruit etc, so beware of sneaky sugars- they can kick cravings up a notch for you even when you have been eating well! There are lots of companies who use real natural ingredients, Silver Fern is one of them!
4. Get your fiber intake in. It will help keep your digestion flowing and helps you stay full longer. I always look for natural fiber sources like legumes, whole grains, nuts, fruit, oatmeal, berries, etc.
5. Let fruit be your dessert. If you dont eat it all day long, and save that sweet fruit flavors for your once a day treat- you will be surprised how great it will taste! When you remove fake sugars from your diet, fruit comes alive and tastes better than ever. When I cut sugar out, Grapefruit is SO GOOD. Like better than a snickers, trust me.
I am about a month strong with hardly any sugar, its tricky during the holidays but I am trying my best to stay in control and not have another 10 pounds to add to my weight loss goals in January. Who is with me!? LETS DO THIS.
This post was written in partnership with Silver Fern Brand.
Sugar cravings are the number one thing I am constantly working on on my way towards a healthier lifestyle 🙂