Happy Monday SugarSobriety followers AND Chef Marian followers! This is the first in a series from Chef Marian called “Sugar is My Drug of Choice”.  I am so excited to feature Chef Marian. She is my hero when it comes to “moderation” and learning how to achieve it!

WEEK ONE: HIDE AND SEEK WITH SUGAR

Do you play hide and seek with your Sugar? Check it out. You’ve got a nightstand next to your bed, right? Any sugar in there? You know gum and mints are sugar, yes?

If I look in my nightstand, I see a mini dark chocolate and cherry candy bar. Why? Just in case I wake up in the middle of the night, can’t get back to sleep and want to watch a movie. Can you see the logic?

Recently I have changed that to a portion controlled bag of nuts. 8 nuts. That’s a portion.  And it is true. Sometime I wake in the middle of the night and find if I eat a little something, I get right back to sleep. Not the healthiest habit, but I do think that a handful of nuts is better for you than a small candy bar (sugar, sugar, sugar).

Which brings us right back to our topic of the month, Sugar! I would call it an addiction created by bad bacteria that gets created in your stomach that makes you crave sugar.

Start thinking about this because it will put you in a more mindful state. Where else do you play hide and seek with your sugar? Your desk at work? Your pocketbook? If you’re a man, your pockets? I am always amazed when I see a guy leaving a restaurant grabbing a handful of mints or wrapped sugar (usually mint flavored). He eats a healthy meal and loads up on sugar afterwards. lol

The problem with sugar is: It’s an addiction. It’s something you have to wean yourself off of and in our society, you are eating more sugar than you think you are. So you’re being good, right?

Did you know there are amazing amounts of hidden sugar in Health Bars, Cereal, Rice Dream Bites, Granola/Granola Bars and Kombucha?

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Kombucha only has 2 grams of sugar. But 2 grams here, 3 grams there. They all start adding up, and before you know it, you are craving more!

According to EveryDay Health, here are additional products with sugar:

• Yogurt with fruit ~ 19 grams of sugar
• Canned soup ~ 15 grams of sugar
• Salad Dressing ~ 4 grams of sugar
• Tomato Sauce ~ 12 grams of sugar
• Bread ~ 2 grams per slice
• Dried Fruit ~ 29 grams of sugar
• Orange juice ~ 9 grams of sugar

Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/pictures/high-sugar-foods-youre-probably-eating-every-day/#02

And we haven’t even talked about food that converts to sugar like bread, pasta and most carbs. Of course you know fruits and vegetables high in sugar work better in your body because there’s fiber which slows down the spike in your glycemic index.

You don’t know what a ’spike in your glycemic index’ is? Well, we are going to talk about that next Monday in the next installment called: “Sugar is Sugar is Sugar”.

Mad thanks to those of you who forward this article and post it to your social Media!