Sugar Or Alcohol? Which Is Worse For Your Weight Loss Plan.

Would you rather have a chocolate truffle or glass of wine? How about a warm cookie out of the oven, or a zesty margarita?

Let's talk about sugar and alcohol: two things that have been somewhat demonised in the wellness world yet are still big parts of many of our favourite indulgences. A good glass of wine or a delicious piece of cake is a part of a balanced, well-rounded diet; they can contribute to your overall sanity when you're eating clean! But sugar and alcohol themselves — generally speaking — are not really healthy substances you want in your diet. So is there a lesser of two evils?

We noticed that there's a bit of controversy over which is worse. Sugar can be like a drug and create an addiction that can lead to major health problems. The same can be said for alcohol — it's a toxin and is difficult for the liver to metabolise. Both can significantly contribute to weight gain.

While some trainers suggest eradicating alcohol from the diet entirely, we've also noticed many diet plans allow an occasional glass of wine during the week while forbidding dessert. Is one worse than the other?

Why No Desserts?

How Much Honey Is Too Much?

Many people swear by honey as a healthy sweetener, an alternative to sugar or non-caloric chemical sweeteners. But can you go overboard on this tasty treat and is it really as good for you as you think?

Angela Lemond, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Texas, warns that sometimes since honey is natural, it isn’t automatically filed away in our minds as sugar, but, she says, “it is considered an added sugar when you eat it.” Womp womp.

“It can be easy to go overboard on honey, especially when you’re adding it directly to smoothies, oatmeal, or other recipes and not measuring it out beforehand,” says Torey Armul, R.D., an Ohio-based dietitian. “It’s difficult to gauge portions when using it straight from the bottle, and the sugar content adds up quickly.” Armul says too much honey consumption is linked to weight gain, diabetes, and tooth decay. Additionally, “there is a significant amount of fructose in honey," says Sonya Angelone, R.D.N, a California nutritionist, who recommends against eating honey in general. Fructose is known to cause gas and bloating, and Angelone says people can develop those types of GI problems when eating honey.

 Related: How To Kill Your Sugar Addiction Naturally

This is not to say you should go cold-turkey with your honey. It has its own benefits, from making food taste better to soothing sore throats. Raw, unfiltered honey in particular is rich in probiotics and antioxidants that you won't find in regular sugar. 

This Is Why We're Unhealthy

Check out this video and see how you compare to recommended levels. Let me know what you think?

What Is The Pioppi Diet?

Pioppi is a tiny fishing village in the south of Italy that has a cracking beach and a sea museum. It is also the spiritual home of the Mediterranean Diet and the inspiration for new book The Pioppi Diet by Dr Aseem Malhotra and Donal O’Neill, which aims to provide a simple 21-day lifestyle plan that the authors claim can transform your health forever.

This remarkable effect is achieved without drastically cutting calories or exercising every hour of the day. The Pioppi plan is based around avoiding added sugar and refined carbs, and instead building your diet around vegetables and fatty foods like oily fish and olive oil. The plan goes beyond your diet too, with recommended movements and stress-busting breathing exercises.

People will be talking about this book, so make sure you’re in the know. Here’s a bluffer’s guide to the key pillars of the 21-day Pioppi plan, as described in the book. 

7 Secretly Unhealthy Foods!

I seriously thought some of these were really healthy. Can't believe I have to watch out for smoothies. Which ones did you find most surprising?


Related: Drinks to Avoid That can Hijack Your Weight Loss

4 Easy, Healthy Sweet and Salty Food Swaps

Check out this video with some healthy swaps. Let me know what you think. 

How to Kill Your Sugar Addiction Naturally

Sugar cravings! We all have them. Check out this video and let me know if you found it useful.

Twelve 60 Second Weight Loss Tips - Part 1 of 2

There are certain foods that—as soon as they hit your lips—can have a damaging effect on your waistline. Learning how to spot them is just step one, and the top 12 to watch out for are noticeably dangerous. 

Now, here's why you need to avoid them, how minimizing their consumption minimizes your waistline, and how to make simple substitutions so you don't feel deprived:

1. Ditch high fructose corn syrup

Once you eliminate this natural sweetener from your diet, expect to see rapid weight loss.

The Crazy Amount Of Sugar Hiding In Random Foods

What?! Its crazy how much sugar in the orange juice. What do you think?

Switching To Diet Drinks - Does It Help?

If you’re trying to lose weight you be be tempted to order a diet soft drink instead of a regular one. 

But a new study suggests making this common diet swap does not actually help people lose weight.

Researchers looked into the impact of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) such as stevia, monk fruit and aspartame, which are becoming increasingly popular in soft drinks.

They found that participants tended to eat more food after consuming NNS-based drinks, compared to regular sugar-based soft drinks. 

Researchers led by Siew Ling Tey, of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore, tested the effect of four drinks on the body. 

One drink contained sugar (sucrose), another the artificial NNS aspartame and two others with natural NNS made from stevia or monk fruit plants. 

A group of 30 healthy male study participants randomly consumed one of the four sweetened drinks on each of the different days of the investigation.

On each test day, participants ate a standardised breakfast and by mid-morning received one beverage to tide them over until lunch.

An hour later they were provided with a lunchtime meal and asked to eat until comfortably full.

Their blood glucose and insulin concentrations were measured closely, while participants also kept a food diary of what they ate for the rest of the day.

The researchers described the findings as “surprising”. There was no difference in the total daily energy intake across all four drinks, meaning that overall participants consumed the same amount of energy (calories) during the course of a day.

They either reduced meal intake after the sugar-sweetened drink or ate significantly more at lunchtime and the rest of the day to compensate for the three calorie-free drink options.

The study found that although participants felt slightly hungrier and looked forward more to eating something again when they drank NNS beverages, they did not overindulge.

They did however eat more following the NNS drinks than when they consumed the sugar-sweetened drink.

“The energy ‘saved’ from replacing sugar with non-nutritive sweetener was fully compensated for at subsequent meals in the current study, hence no difference in total daily energy intake was found between the four treatments,” Tey explained.

“It appears that the source of non-nutritive sweeteners, whether artificial or natural, does not differ in its effects on energy intake, postprandial glucose and insulin.”

The study is published in the International Journal of Obesity.

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