When it comes to being sugar savvy, High Voltage knows her stuff.
If you follow along here at Mother Rimmy’s, you know I don’t often review books or products. When an offer hits my inbox, most often it’s for products that aren’t of interest to my style of cooking, or my philosophy on life. That being said, a recent offer from Reader’s Digest piqued my interest.
It was from Reader’s Digest, I’d be crazy not to respond, right?
At first I was skeptical. After all, there are hundreds of diet books available, all proclaiming to be the only path to long term weight loss.
I should be skeptical, right?
What’s more, I’ve lost weight – more than 40 pounds of it- and kept it off for 15 years. At the same time, I earned a certification in nutrition and wellness, so I’m not unfamiliar with the adverse effects of excess sugar in the diet.
- Damaging to your heart.
- Promotes belly fat, which can be damaging to your heart.
- Increases leptin resistance. Leptin is the hormone that tells you you’re stomach is full.
- Toxic effects on your liver.
- Damaging to your brain.
With all the research that’s being done on the impact of sugar on our health, it certainly can’t hurt to cut down on how much we consume.
But not all sugars are created equal. There are refined sugars, and the natural sugars we find in whole foods.
The Council for Family Health explains the difference between the two perfectly. “In whole fruit, the sugars are bound up with fiber that slows the absorption of sugar from the intestines and this reduces the rise in blood sugar when you eat it. Fruits are also loaded with antioxidants that help prevent the inflammation that causes insulin resistance.”
Sounds like a good reason to stick with whole foods and stay away from the refined sugars in their processed alternatives.
In recent weeks as I’ve watched two coworkers lose weight by reducing the sugar they consume, and more importantly, enjoy the benefits of increased energy (one of the promises High Voltage makes in her book), my doubts are waining regarding Sugar Savvy being just another weight loss gimmick.
While Kathy Dolgin, aka High Voltage, promotes an extremely low sugar lifestyle compared to American standards, she also promotes a healthy weight loss in terms of eating a reasonable number of calories per day compare to the extreme calorie reduction plans that I abhor.
But I have to say that I was most impressed with her ability to help her clients, and readers, focus on the positive. A much more productive way to lose weight if you ask me.
I was also impressed with her acronym, CRAP = calories robbed at processing. I love it!
So, what is the Sugar Savvy weight loss plan? You’ll have to check out her book for details, but I can tell you it starts with a Superlicious vegetable packed soup that you can modify to suit your tastes.
The soup has a base of sweet potatoes and beans to add sweetness and fiber, then I chose to make it a green soup with asparagus and broccoli. Fresh sage and thyme gave it an earthy flavor. The key is to puree it so smooth it melts in your mouth. In fact, my green soup was completely edible chilled the next day!
My next soup adventure will be to make a pot with carrots, bell peppers and ginger. Sounds great right?
When it comes to being sugar savvy, High Voltage has a book worth reading, even if you don’t plan on following her sugar reduced lifestyle plan. I was most impressed with her five points to be sugar savvy:
- Hydrate with water. The usual 8 glasses we hear about.
- Eat Sugar Savvy foods to amp nutrition.
- Move your body to produce feel good endorphins.
- Use positive affirmations for motivation.
- Be kind to yourself, grateful and forgiving.
Most importantly High Voltage says “You can eat what you want because you change what you want to eat.” Sounds like a good plan to me!
That’s it folks! Even if you don’t need to lose weight, I’m seeing the benefits of reducing the amount of sugar I’m consuming. I spent two days calculating the sugar in my diet, and I was shocked that even products I’d assumed were low sugar, definitely were not. It was just another lesson in how important it is to read the labels on the foods we buy, and to eat whole foods whenever possible.
Thank you Reader’s Digest for the opportunity to read this book. It was a pleasure, and now I have a delicious soup I can eat any time of day to keep the sugar out of my diet too.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the effects of sugar on your health, and how you keep it in check, so be sure to leave a comment below.
~Kristi
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the products mentioned above for free in the hopes that I would write a review on this blog. I only recommend products or services I use and believe will be beneficial for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
