At David’s Way we advocate a diet that excludes added simple or refined sugars entirely. This is truly the key to sustainable weight loss that will not leave you crazy from from carbohydrate cravings which is what typically derails almost everyone on most other diet plans. Of course, we are not a diet plan, rather we educate others to make permenent lifestyle changes. A diet has an end point, David’s Way is for life.

When we say to eat zero sugar, does that mean you will not eat any at all? Well, the answer is absolutely in regards to refined sugar. However, you will, and we encourage you to consume complex carbohydrates which are another form of sugar. We have no problem with the natural sugar which comes from a piece of fruit such as an apple, we are talking about the garbage sugar which we find in almost all desserts. Do not despair though, as scattered all throughout this blog, we have numerous sugar free dessert recipes that are real treats.

When you kick simple sugars from your diet, there are things which will happen almost immediately.

1. You will begin burning fat immediately. This is a huge benefit as eliminating refined sugar automatically reduces the total amount of calories you are consuming in a day. Your body will not be able to draw on this sugar for energy and it will instead begin burning your fat stores from all over your body. The effects will be quickly noticed in the mirror besides the scale as sugar causes inflammation in the body which causes you to retain excess fluids. Your weight will drop off rapidly as soon as the fluids from the inflammation are released from your cellular structures.
2. Your hunger cravings will disappear. You will notice that you no longer get “HANGRY”. You will obviously still get hungry, but it will be bearable and not drive you crazy like the cravings you get from simple carbohydrates will cause. At first, your hormones will tell your body that you are starving it and they will send out signals for you to snarf down every thing in the pantry and the refrigerator, but that quickly passes. This is where consuming a higher amount of protein and fat along with fiber rich complex carbs comes into play. Protein, fat, complex carbs and fiber will keep you satiated by keeping your blood sugar and insulin at a stable and proper level. Fiber will slow the progress of complex carbohydrates in your body to give you a steady stream of energy all day long. You will find that by cutting refined sugar from your diet that you can actually eat more as it is actually hard to eat the total calories you need in a day to maintain weight when eating a clean diet. This is good news for guys like myself who love to eat.
3. You will feel energetic. You will feel the need for afternoon naps a whole lot less often and you can save money on energy drinks as you no longer feel the need for them to get through the day, By keeping your body and brain fueled with good foods instead of refined sugar, you will not find yourself getting brain fog any longer. By eating clean, you will not require quick energy sources to fuel your way though the day.
4. That fat tummy is going to shrink. You are going to notice this almost right away. When you replace sugar laden foods with protein, fats, complex carbs and fiber, your belly will be flatter before the end of the week. Most Americans do not consume near enough high fiber foods, as a result, the healthy gut microbes that keep us lean have less to consume. This means the unhealthy microbes which feed on sugar take over. These microbes which feed on sugar are exactly what makes your belly rounder through bloat. That bloating makes your belly bigger than the underlying layer of fat would make it otherwise.
5. Your risk of Type 2 Diabetes is reduced. Eating refined sugars is hard on your body in more ways than causing you to be fat. Sugar hurts both in the short and in the long runs. When you eat those cup cakes and ice cream that taste so good, your pancreas produces more insulin than necessary, which eventually leads to insulin resistance, weight gain, metabolic syndrome, and Type 2 Diabetes. Each one of those maladies are totally preventable if you make a personal choice to avoid the foods that cause them.
6. Your muscles will strengthen. Scientists have linked the consumption of sugar to a condition called sarcopenia which essentially is an age related loss of muscle mass. This happens because added sugar blocks the body’s ability to synthesize protein into muscle. By cutting sugar out of your diet, you will keep your muscles younger and stronger which will help you to raise your metabolism to burn fat more efficently.

Once you have kicked the addiction of refined sugar, you will find that nothing tastes as good as you feel with this newfound health. What you have to watch out for after you are sugar free is the saboteurs who will try to talk you into having “just one serving” of a sweet treat at family fuctions or get togethers. The irony is, no one will offer an ex-smoker a cigarette. It would be ludicrous to offer a beer to a recovering alcoholic. Yet these same people that would agree with those two statements will still try to get you to eat their cake and will act all offended when you stick to your guns by saying “no thank you”. You may have had great success in weight loss and be living the healthiest life you ever have, and they will try to derail you. You just have to remain strong and eventually they will get over it. If not, it is their problem not yours. You are the one who lives in your body. You are the one who is responsible for your health. And when you give in by getting back onto sugar, you will likely at sme point be the paying for Metformin, test strips and other doctors bills. Those who egged you on to eat that birthday cake are not going to step up and pay those medical bills for you, and you can count on this, a fair amount of them will whisper in their little circles about how good you did, and then how you blew it.

Be responsible to yourself, your future depends on it.