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“#nosugar is working. I’ve been off the bad stuff for over two months, and the weight flies off,” she says in her post. And when Patti says no sugar, she means no sugar. According to her post, Patti cut processed sugars, artificial sweeteners, and even fruit from her diet.
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#nosugar is working. I’ve been off the bad stuff for over 2 months and the weight flies off. Cut out all processed food, no fruit no artificial sweetener went full on with @sweetleafstevia #stevia Feeling #sundayfunday great! #nofilter #nomakeup
A photo posted by Patti Stanger (@pattistanger) on Aug 21, 2016 at 2:20pm PDT
But according to Keri Gans, R.D., author of The Small Change Diet, there’s a very big difference between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars. Cutting out both cold turkey probably isn’t the best way to go if you’re looking to make a healthy change.
“We need glucose in our bodies because that’s the body’s preferred fuel,” she says. “You’re not going to get that preferred fuel just by eating lean protein and healthy fats.”
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It’s true that the average American diet is way too saturated with added sweeteners, so cutting back on the processed stuff definitely isn’t a bad thing. But the naturally occurring sugars found in fruits are a key part of keeping our bodies running. (Get after your weight-loss goals without insane changes with Women’s Health’s Body Clock Diet.)
Rather than go to an unhealthy extreme, says Gans, we should be paying more attention to where added sugars are hiding in our diets. Check the labels on salad dressings, drinks, and sauces to make sure you’re not sabotaging an otherwise healthy meal. You can also dive into this list of 56 different names for sugar, so you know what all those funky ingredients are. And don’t feel guilty about grabbing an apple on your way to the gym.