I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately about the dietary changes I’ve made over the last couple of months so I thought I’d share some ways to cut excess sugar out of your diet, since that was my biggest challenge and has had the greatest impact on my overall health and weight loss. I was so addicted to sugar that I binged on it constantly – it was not uncommon for me to eat an entire sleeve of Thin Mints in one sitting, an entire row of Oreos, an entire bag of skittles, etc.
I had to have sweets after every meal and would often rush through dinner just so I could eat my “treat.” I always had a moderation problem with sugar and experienced the constant highs, lows and crashes that came along with it. Especially during the work day – I would feel so tired all day long and would always eat sweets right after lunch. No wonder I was crashing all afternoon.
You might remember that for six months last year, I was working out consistently at a training gym and not getting the results I hoped for– no doubt due to the fact that I was not getting enough sleep and eating a ton of sugar, both of which were detrimental to my wellbeing. In addition to this, I came to realize that the workouts I was doing were not a good fit for me, but I’ll go more in-depth about that in a future post. Plenty of studies show that not getting enough sleep makes you eat more (see some articles on this here, here and here).
Sugar will forever be a challenge for me and it’s very easy for me to fall back into my old patterns (which I’ve done countless times — I’ve even seen a nutritionist for this issue). I really wanted to make it a goal this year to reduce my sugar intake and eat less processed/packaged foods in addition to starting a workout routine that was doable for me: that meant no early mornings and starting off with three days a week. You can read more about my current workout program, here.
Before I get started, I want to mention that I have gotten some comments on social media that I didn’t need to lose weight. While I was not clinically overweight, I had gained 10 lbs. on top of what my usual weight is. If you count the additional weight I lost when I was nursing, it was more like 15 lbs. I had gained back. Some of my jeans were tight and I often felt bloated and the sugar crashes and cravings were horrible. The 10 lbs. I lost brought me back to a weight I’m more comfortable at and I’d like to maintain this weight while also building some lean muscle.
So, here’s how I lost 10 lbs. and cut my sugar intake + cravings:
Keep trigger foods out of the house
The most important thing for me to stay on track is to keep “trigger foods” out of the house. These are foods I know I have trouble with when it comes to bingeing/moderation. I don’t buy Thin Mints, Oreos, Skittles, ice cream sandwiches, etc. anymore. We still have sweets at home, but they’re not ones I love, so I’m not as tempted by them. If my family goes out for ice cream or is at a birthday party, I don’t deprive myself – if I truly would like that ice cream or other sweet treat, I have a small serving. Going cold turkey isn’t reasonable and it’s important to have balance in your life – after all, you only live once, and delicious sweets and baked goods should be a part of that existence!
Find sweet alternatives
Like I said above, I don’t believe in deprivation. Sugar isn’t evil in reasonable quantities. I keep a variety of dark chocolates on hand so I can have a couple of squares after dinner. It fulfills my desire for something sweet but it’s so rich, that I can’t eat more than a couple squares. I also love to bake with Harper, so we find recipes that are delicious and healthier than a lot of store-bought packaged foods.
Reduce sugar intake in small ways
Another step I’ve taken is to reduce my sugar intake in everyday things I consume – I don’t add sugar to my lattes, use un-sweetened vanilla almond milk (I add cinnamon into my almond milk right inside the frother for extra flavor) and I get my Starbucks almond milk lattes without vanilla syrup now. When I purchase everyday items like salad dressing and peanut butter, I look for ones with the lowest grams of sugar per serving. You can find peanut butter with less than 1 gram of sugar per serving and salad dressing with between 1-4 grams. Little changes like this can make a big impact!
Find carb alternatives
I still eat carbs, but I’m more thoughtful about them. When I do eat carbs, I try to eat carbs that are high in fiber and I choose sprouted grain bread (the Ezekiel brand is my favorite). Instead of pasta noddles, I eat zuchinni noodles (zoodles) and recently discovered lentil and black bean pasta at Trader Joe’s. I also love Trader’s Joe’s cauliflower crust pizza and cauliflower rice. I try to have a protein (like chicken breast) and large side of veggies for lunch and dinner. It keeps me fuller, longer.
Eat real food, even when it comes to snacks
This may seem like a no-brainer, but the less you eat from a package, the better. Having said that, when you’re a busy woman or mom, keeping healthy packaged snacks on hand is essential – I love raw almonds, LARA bars, apples and other fruit, carrots and hummus, boom chicka pop popcorn, etc. Look at the ingredients list on the packaged foods you buy – if there are a lot, that’s usually a sign that there may be a healthier option (of course there ae exceptions to this).
Plan your meals
Don’t go to work without packing your lunch. It’s so easy to get off track this way. If you buy lunch, ensure you have healthy options nearby so you can stay on track with healthier eating. I bring my lunch to work most days, but I sometimes go to Salata or get a salad with chicken from the salad bar at work. I tend to succeed most when I eat a lot of the same foods daily. It keeps me on track to know what I’m going to eat each day.
Eat more fiber
Fiber keeps you fuller, longer and takes a long time for your body to break down/digest it. It’s a good idea to include some fiber with every meal. I love GG crackers with peanut butter for breakfast or bran cereal with almond milk and berries. Other high-fiber foods include apples, raspberries, strawberries, almonds, broccoli and green peas.
Once you reduce the amount of sugar you consume overall, you’ll find you start craving it less and that things like fruit start to taste uber-sweet to you. Since eating more real foods, I’ve found myself to be less hungry because I’m eating foods that are nutritious and filling. I consulted with a trainer, and he said I should be eating 1200-1600 calories per day. I don’t count calories, personally, because it feels cumbersome, but a few of my friends use My Fitness Pal (it’s free!) to count calories and love it.
Below I’m sharing a recent food diary, including weekends, so you can see what a typical day looks like for me. As you can see, I eat a lot of the same meals and snacks over and over.
M O N D A Y
Pre-breakfast – morning hot lemon drink (mix half of the juice of a lemon with a dash of cayenne pepper and turmeric in boiling water)
Breakfast – 2 GG crackers with a generous topping of Trader Joe’s peanut butter (the one I have has flax and chia seeds in it), one cup of coffee (nespresso pod + steamed almond milk – I used Trader Joe’s vanilla almond milk)
Lunch –Baked chicken breast with veggies (mix of red bell pepper, green snap peas, asparagus, zucchini and yellow squash)
After lunch – one cup of coffee (nespresso pod + steamed almond milk – I used Trader Joe’s vanilla almond milk)
Dinner – grilled chicken breast with spring mix salad, blueberries and TJ’s green goddess dressing + 1 slice of zuchinni bread with chocolate chips
After dinner – Trader Joe’s crispy ranch chickpeas
T U E S D AY
Breakfast – 2 GG crackers with Trader Joe’s peanut butter (the one I have has flax and chia seeds in it), one cup of coffee (nespresso pod + steamed almond milk – I used Trader Joe’s vanilla almond milk)
Lunch –Baked chicken breast with veggies (mix of red bell pepper, green snap peas, asparagus, zucchini and yellow squash)
After lunch – one cup of coffee (nespresso pod + steamed almond milk – I used Trader Joe’s vanilla almond milk)
Snack – handful of raw almonds
Dinner — – grilled chicken breast with spring mix salad, blueberries and balsamic vinaigrette + 2 dark chocolate squares
*I also had one scoop of BCAA powder prior to my evening workout – I did BBG week 7 legs
W E D N E S D A Y
Pre-breakfast – morning hot lemon drink (mix half of the juice of a lemon with a dash of cayenne pepper and turmeric in boiling water)
Breakfast – 2 GG crackers with Trader Joe’s peanut butter (the one I have has flax and chia seeds in it), one cup of coffee (nespresso pod + steamed almond milk – I used Trader Joe’s vanilla almond milk)
Lunch – had a meeting with catered lunch – I selected spring mix lettuce with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and hard boiled egg with creamy avocado dressing. I also had several slices of both grilled chicken and steak. I also had a small serving of mixed berries (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry)
After lunch – one cup of coffee (nespresso pod + steamed almond milk – I used Trader Joe’s vanilla almond milk)
Snack – handful of raw almonds
Dinner – grilled chicken breast with spring mix salad, blueberries and balsamic vinaigrette + 2 dark chocolate squares
T Y P I C A L S A T U R D A Y
Breakfast – Venti almond milk latte from Starbucks with cinnamon and reduced-fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich from Starbucks (210 calories)
Lunch – we usually go out. One of our favorite places to eat is Local Foods and there, I order the vegan taco salad without tofu and add chicken. Sometimes I will have the Mexicali salad from Trader Joe’s for lunch.
Post lunch – I will usually have another cup of coffee during Lincoln’s nap (around 1 PM)
Snack – I will sometimes eat an apple or popcorn as a snack – if we are out running errands, I might skip a snack
Dinner — on weekends I tend to be more flexible with my diet and what we eat for dinner varies. Sometimes we go out, sometimes we make breakfast for dinner, sometimes we order pizza Friday night and eat the leftovers Saturday. If we order pizza, I usually just make my cauliflower crust one from TJs – I love it and Lincoln actually likes it better than the regular pizza we order.
T Y P I C A L S U N D A Y
Breakfast – on Sundays we usually make scrambled eggs and bacon, Ezekiel toast with almond butter, or protein pancakes served with fruit and maple syrup. I’ll also have an almond milk latte from my nespresso or just regular coffee with a splash of almond milk.
Lunch – we usually go out – I try to order some kind of salad with protein
Post lunch – I will usually have another cup of coffee during Lincoln’s nap (around 1 PM)
Snack – I will sometimes eat an apple or popcorn as a snack – if we are out running errands, I might skip a snack
Dinner — usually chicken and veggies
I hope this post is helpful if you’re trying to cut excess sugar out of your diet! If you have any questions, please let me know!
Sam @ G&G Nutrition Co. says
Another tip is to avoid low-fat packaged items. Most of them decrease fat but then increase added sugar to compensate for the taste.
Veronika says
This is such a good point! I hate when they add fake sugars!
Katie says
Does your family/husband eat the same thing for dinners? My husband is always saying he doesn’t get full from stuff like salad with chicken and I hate cooking 2 meals. Anything that your whole family enjoys for dinner? Thanks!
Katie says
Does your family/husband eat the same meals for dinner? My husband says he doesn’t get full from just salad with protein (like chicken) and I hate cooking 2 meals. Any ideas for dinners that your whole family enjoys? Thanks!
Veronika says
My kids usually eat chicken breaded with almond flour and veggies for dinner or sometimes meatloaf with a veggie side. Sometimes they have pasta and meat balls. My husband will eat the same chicken as me but eat it with a pasta side or veggies.
Brittany says
What kind of dark chocolate do you eat?
Veronika says
I mostly buy it at Trader Joe’s!
Nina says
Hi Veronika,
I’ve been trying to cut back on sugar also and one thing that’s helped is finding very clean (all natural, raw) recipes for desserts. This one from Detoxinista is so good! https://detoxinista.com/raw-brownie-bites-vegan-paleo/ It really tastes like brownies! Another one I love is her cookie recipe: https://detoxinista.com/the-healthiest-cookies-ever-paleo-vegan/ I actually don’t bake it and just leave out the baking soda and chocolate chips and eat it raw like cookie dough. You can even leave out the flax/chia egg if you don’t have it on hand. So good!! Also, can you provide an update on your BBG progress please? I’ve been really interested ever since you first posted about it but haven’t made the jump yet.
Rachel says
I’m so glad you brought up not seeing results at the gym even with going consistently. So many people think the gym is a miracle worker. You can work out 7 days/week, but if you eat like crap, you won’t see any difference. Diet will get you 80% of the way there and the gym will help with the remaining 20%. I struggled with this for the longest time as someone who can eat anything and remain a size 4. I am a fast food/junk food addict and would get annoyed when going to the gym made zero difference in my trouble areas (stomach and thighs). Changing your diet is freaking hard!
Veronika says
Rachel- I was always one of the “diet doesn’t change that much!” People. But numbers don’t lie. A consistent diet is the only way.
I too stayed at a size 4 even with the extra weight but my clothes were tighter. Once I got the diet right, I saw the payoff. I’m kicking myself at how hard I worked at the gym all those months without seeing the fruits of that labor.
Michelle says
Hi Veronika
Have you considered trying to eat less meat? Meat is made up of 3 things: fat (not the good kind), cholesterol (again not good: our bodies make enough, we don’t need extra) and protein. The meat industry has done a great job at making us think we need much more protein than we really do and we can in fact get all the protein we need from plant based foods. There are so many studies which show that meat protein contributes to many of the top killers in the US (heart disease, cancer etc) and it concerns me that you’re promoting a diet to your readers that includes chicken breast at lunch and dinner. The health organisations in the world shy away from telling consumers the truth, with the fear that they may scare them and they won’t be willing to change their diet so dramatically. So we get a moderated version, which is still making us sicker (the world’s top killers are on the rise and it’s due to diet; our genes don’t change that much in such a short space of time and it’s food and environment that causes a dormant gene to express itself).
I feel like you and other online influencers have a voice and responsibility to understand the facts and to impact change. I appreciate your blog content and am not trying to come across as harsh, I just want to make sure you understand the research. Working in a hospital, I’m sure you have a very positive view of the medical field. However, my view is we’ve become far too reliant on drugs which aim to treat the symptons rather than the cause and doctors are not provided enough education on nutrition (and are therefore reluctant to treat patients through lifestyle medicine). There is so much research to show that nutrition is far more effective at treating the cause from a holistic perspective rather than a particular symptom related to one issue.
Keen to hear your thoughts!
Michelle
Erica D says
This is going to sound lame but how do you cook your veggies and chicken? I want to try adding more veggies but so far all I can get right is baking red potatoes or sweet potatoes lol. And I ALWAYS overcook the chicken! 🙁
Veronika says
all recipes we use are from skinnytaste.com!