While participating in a "sugar detox" might be trendy right now, in a recent Huffington Post column, nutritionist Abby Langer offers four common-sense reasons why quitting sugar just doesn't make sense.
Langer starts by making the argument that quitting sugar is simply unrealistic. "Some people are successful in quitting sugar for extended periods of time, just like some people are successful in not eating any bread or chips or Diet Coke for long periods of time. Works for some, but not for many," Langer writes. She makes the case for cutting back over cutting out as a better and more sustainable plan for reducing sugar intake.
Langer also points out what every health professional knows to be true: "You don't have to quit something altogether to improve your health." She goes on to say, "Not depriving yourself altogether of a single nutrient can help your diet be more balanced and enjoyable." Published data have supported this notion for years, with findings that sugar makes nutrient-rich food and beverages more palatable, leading to increased intakes of essential nutrients.
Importantly, Langer says a detox is not a good example for your kids and teaching your children that sugar is "toxic" is a scare tactic that isn't healthy for them. In fact, the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics is that "used along with nutrient rich foods and beverages, sugar can be a powerful tool to increase the quality of a child's diet."
Finally, she calls for a stop to "vilifying a single ingredient and treating it likes it's responsible for our crappy diets and poor health," noting that sugar isn't the only reason why you're unhealthy. "Fad diets, cleanses, detoxes -- sugar or other -- will not make you live longer, and in many cases, will not make you any happier. Depriving yourself can be miserable and it can lead to overeating later on," Langer concludes.
We appreciate Langer's candor and common-sense approach and need more of it in today's conversation. She echoes something we often try and communicate -- "focusing solely on sugar and not on your overall diet pattern can be a huge mistake, because a lot of unhealthy foods that you may be eating actually contain no sugar, and plenty of healthy foods do."
However, perhaps Langer's most profound point is her questioning the rationale behind the choice to engage in a detox. "If you're trying to cut out sugar for a finite period of time, like 10 days or two weeks, what are you expecting to gain?" she asks.
As we noted in a recent Sugar Packet article, there are just more effective, sustainable and pleasant ways to reach weight loss goals than depriving yourself of a single nutrient – like all natural sugar.
Source: www.sugar.org