The 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge.

Think you could give up sugar?

Want to try?

Then maybe you should sign up for the 30 Days Without Sugar Challenge that Scott Olson is putting together to celebrate next month’s inaugural National Sugar Free Month.

As Scott says “The New Year is a time for looking ahead, a time for renewal and reflection, a time to set new goals, and (typically) a time for weight loss. Why not make this year’s commitment to lose weight a more permanent healthy step by making a pledge to do without sugar for 30 days.”

The author of the book Sugarettes, Scott is making it his mission to increase awareness of the addictive qualities of sugar and the health hazards of that addiction.

Here’s what he has to say about ‘What Makes Sugar Harmful?’

Sugar is both addictive and harmful; this makes for a powerful combination that works against you and your health. Sugar seems perfectly designed to destroy our health: 

Sugar is addictive: We all joke about being addicted to sugar, but the truth is that animal studies have shown that sugar is an addiction every bit as powerful as other addictions like drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Recognizing sugar as an addiction explains a lot of our behavior around sugar including hoarding, binging and using sugar to change our mood – all of these are very similar to other addictions. It also explains why we go on diets, lose weight and then gain it back again. If you have ever questioned whether sugar is a real addiction, try the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge and see for yourself just how addicting sugar can be.

Weight: Despite what medical and nutritional professionals have to say, sugar leads to weight gain. Part of the problem is that sugar contains calories, but sugar is also special in its ability to add to our waistlines. Sugar acts as fuel for the body and whenever we eat a lot of sugar, there is a lot of sugar-energy in our blood stream. The body only needs a certain amount of energy at any given time. Once the body’s basic energy needs are met, the body has to deal with all the extra sugar and, for most people, that extra sugar gets stored as fat. Keeping sugar out of the diet means this fat storage never takes place. Being overweight or obese increases a number of diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even certain cancers. It is estimated that obesity cuts life expectancy by as many as five years.

Insulin Insensitivity: Sugar in our blood stream over a long period of time leads to insulin insensitivity. This means that the cells of your body are insensitive to insulin (the hormone that controls high blood sugar). Insulin insensitivity is responsible for the disease called metabolic syndrome and is a step away from diabetes. Diabetes is an awful disease that reduces life expectancy by 10 to 15 years.

Toxic: While it is not very well known, sugar is toxic to our blood vessels. In much the same way that cigarette smoke damages the lungs of the smoker, sugar damages the blood vessels of the sugar-consumer. Diabetics, who have a much higher amount of sugar in their blood, have an equally high amount of this blood vessel damage. Diabetic kidney disease, heart disease, eye disease (retinopathy), nerve disease (neuropathy), and strokes, all have a common cause:  sugar destruction to blood vessels.

It really is enough to want to make you give up sugar. But, while it sounds simple, taking away all sugar and foods that act like sugar is no small feat

And that’s where Scott comes in. He’s created the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge to help you, providing an e-book that will explain the program and show you all the foods you can eat and can’t eat, meal plans and recipes, and online support.

Sounds like something worth looking into.

And don’t forget you have until 8th December to enter to Win One of Three Copies of Sugarettes.