So today Sugah (Oh the irony) gave me a stern talking to about artificial sweeteners in our food and drink.
Apparently although I though I was doing the right thing using them in my coffee – and consuming who knows how much in my favourite “poison” – Diet Coke (OK the LIDL version at 39p but still) …………… I could be wrecking any weight loss chances.
(I mean I don’t even understand what this “stuff is”? Do You??)
So the long story short is that they make you feel hungry sooner with something called “false hunger” – so not only was I get the munchies cos I was dehydrated (mixing thirst with hunger) – but by using artificial sweeteners I was actually making myself consume more calories, as I was cruising along thinking I was saving calories only they were making me more hungry ……. does that even make sense. Aaaaarrrgghhhh!!!!!
No wonder I have “magically acquired” three stone from no-where (Denial??? – Moi?????
)
All I know is there are masses of research papers out there saying the same thing – so I am gonna have to just suck it up and do what he suggests on this one.
So gradually – over the next two weeks here is what he suggests.
So I have to start cutting down the diet soda’s - replacing them with fizzy waters or plain old council pop. Aim for one drink per day as a “treat” instead of swigging them on the go the whole time.
KEEP DRINKING THE WATER – 2 LITRES PER DAY – NO EXCUSES!!!!
For coffee and tea – go back to using sugar, but start to cut the quantities down little by little until you are sugar free…………… or start weaning yourself off the caffeine stuff and onto a herbal / fruit drink that you enjoy instead……… but slowly. If you drink a lot you don’t want to give yourself a migraine by stopping cold turkey.
Now we don’t eat many processed foods – but he has suggested keeping an eye on anything with a “healthy” label on it – low-fat often means more salt and sweetener added instead.
He says this will all go so much smoother if I get my head around where we are moving to – a clean, fresh, healthy diet – and that’s not stuff in packets with ingredients you can’t pronounce.
So – two weeks to clean up my “drinking” and eating habits a bit - that feels doable for me!!
What about you?