So if your calories are high and you're inactive and you eat a lot of sugar now, sugar becomes inflammatory becomes Pro cancer and it causes a lot of problems. So why is this important to know? What's important to know because sugar is specially sugar in processed foods. Encourages you to do what eat more. If you want to pump your body and expand your mind is only one place to go Mi Nam, bite up with your
hosts. Sal de Stefano, Adam, Schaefer, and Justin.
Andrews. Hey, you're
listening to the number one, fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is mine pump. Now, today's episode, we talk about a tough subject Sugar Sugar causes a lot of people to overeat, it can cause health problems when it's over consumed and they even some people even say that there's such a thing as sugar addiction. In fact, my co-host Adam says, he's been addicted to Sugar since he was a kid. So in this episode, we tackle
Sugar. And we give you strategies on how you can reduce and maybe even eliminate your sugar addiction, or your sugar Habit For Better Health fat loss, and better muscle gain. Now before the episode starts, I want to let you know that this episode is brought to you. By our sponsor Legion, a legion makes some of the best performance-enhancing supplements out there including protein powders and a pre-workout supplement that they just did with us. We actually collaborated together.
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products.com hi. My name is Adam Schaefer and I'm a sugar addict. I've been battling with sugar for the last 25 years and I've ruined some of my most important relationships, family, friends, people that I love have all stop talking to me, man. Welcome, Madam. We accept
accept. You may be wondering why we brought you here
today. Yeah,
you've been great as real. You've been a great friend for the following.
And here's how you've damaged our relationship. Yeah, here's what'll happen. If you don't
I got a message from my my brother-in-law actually today we're sitting here getting ready to plan for you know, Thanksgiving week right here and record a single topic episode and he just happened to send me this message. Like hey have you guys ever done an episode on sugar addiction? And whether you should cut it cold turkey or tapering off? And thought man this is actually really good timing with what's going on right holiday season, right? So
And I don't know if we've done a topic like that specific and that's very near and dear to
me. I know, you know, sugar is one of the big three, right? There's three components to food that they'll label in the hyper palatable category, it's more complex than this but it's sugar fat and salt. Like when you put those in Foods, they have some special, They enhance things properties, but sugar and particular, for some people can be really tough and you've talked about this a
lot.
Yeah, I sound correct me too if I'm wrong. I heard some crazy stat. Like 80% of all Foods in the grocery store have like sugar and fusing it, something like that. So ridiculous static
okay. Processed foods. Just yes in everything added sugar like crazy. In fact, I can't remember what it was. I think was a documentary where somebody was trying to go and buy foods that are not typically known as like high sugar foods that candy and stuff like that. Yeah. And then, at the end of it, he added up the sugar content, it'll still through the roof like normal products, like ketchup and yeah, stuff like that.
Toothpaste toothpaste sugar, and it's an easy thing to add and it does. And there's like, so many different names now for it's
not just like you people think, like you look in the labels and say sugar, it's like no it's like some crazy sneaking in with some alcohol, you know? Yeah.
Verbage dehydrated, you know, coconut syrup and organic. Oh yeah, this is good or what are we good? Yeah exactly but it's all true. Yeah, no monk foods. Not sure about something different on us. See, I don't know. Yeah. But changes
every day that's a better version. That's where you.
Yeah, that's an actual fruit that's
Got like a sweet or a plant, that's got a sweet flavor to it, but sugar is so many corn syrup. It could be dehydrated cane juice or whatever it could be. Of course, regular sugar. And it does have some interesting effects on people, it actually that. So here's a crazy story, I talked about this on the podcast, after my son was born. So when he was, when he was born, they wanted to do a quick blood test on him because
Because the way it was born and wanted to make sure he had enough blood oxygen. I want to test them out and, you know, taking blood from a newborn is very difficult like to find a vein into all that,
right? And it's heartbreaking, very as a parent, oh, watch out.
Oh, did you have to see something like
that to ya and Courtney action had to step in because they kept missing the vein and so she's a pediatric nurse by trade. And so she just kind of was like Hey I can do and she did first one, did I do - I almost stepped in and drop with everybody. So he's screaming off.
Off topic though. But did they let that happen? Like because your wife is a nurse and she's got a baby. They're like ours that like not. Yeah, they don't normally wouldn't do that. But like I think somebody there knew her, you know, from Valley mid. It was a dip. Is it Kaiser? So, anyways, there they let it happen because they knew
her. Yeah, well, here's a crazy thing. So, they're doing this for my son and before they did, they got a pacifier and then they had this syringe with like, some something on it and they said, oh, don't worry. It's just sucrose.
It's called sweet, some fundamentals call but it's called. It's just a little sucrose and they put it on the little bit of the pacifier put in his mouth. And while they're doing this, he's not crying at all. And I'm thinking, is there a painkiller in this, like what are they giving a medicine or something? And yeah, and I went and researched it and know it was literally sugar and it for infants, it changes their pain, how they perceive pain, it does have some pretty powerful effects. In the body. Sugar is not very easily found in nature.
It's actually relatively rare. So how you know the places you would find sugar would be like
fruit, right, honey. It usually indicates something safe to
eat. You does that? Sweetness means safe, typically, right? But, you know, fruit unless you plant, you know, fruit like it. With, with agriculture, you don't find a whole lot of fruit just naturally growing and natural fruit before we started breathing. It was very low in sugar and comparison right to cream
fruit and an actual sugar. Cane is like bamboo. So, like to get to like things like
she'd have to be like a panda bear and shoe the shit out of it.
Yeah.
Memorize read a stat alone, tie know if shirt on the podcast long time ago, but I think it's like the what is in a soda can write as far as sugar is equivalent to like eight feet of like sugarcane. Yeah, and what that would take to chew that
it would never happen. You have tons of fibers wouldn't wouldn't happen. And then honey, honey is a very concentrated form of sugar, but it's really it's harder to find naturally and it's guarded by bees. Right? So, so sugar was relatively hard to find, but when you did find, it was safe and it
It was a good source of energy. So we developed this like strong craving and, you know, around sugar and nowadays. Sugar so readily available so easy, we subsidize the hell out of corn. So Muslim much of our sugar comes from corn syrup. So, it's everywhere. And there are some some definitely consequences. One of them, being this kind of sugar habit, or some people would even say addiction fact, if you look up sugar addiction, you'll actually find addiction facilities that deal with drug.
That also deal with other addictions. Sugar is one of
them? Well, I think the first step is like any other addiction is admitting or realizing that you even have an addiction to it.
Yeah. How did you do that? How did you, how did you differentiate between? Oh, I just like this. But between that, and this is an unhealthy relationship. So many bowls of
ice cream, did it? Yeah. Well, it's so I didn't think I did. Right. So, he was snorting, it off the table. And do you know, what is the problem? What I think. And I can't be alone here, right? So, because I was, I,
As you know, athletic and moving around a lot. And I did a lot of different like sports and activity and I was late weight training and I was already a hardgainer. I Justified the amount of consumption that I was having a sugar because I wasn't getting fat and so because I wasn't getting fat, I'm like, it's plenty healthy for me and it doesn't. Who cares? I'm burning it off. I'm not addicted. I never, I never even questioned if it was addiction. It was like I like sugar. I like candy. I like ice cream. I'm not getting fat because I move all this.
I don't have a problem, you know, and I'm sure it's very similar to alcoholics who can, you know, get by their day and perform and be great at work still but are still drinking, you know, eight beers a night like just because you're getting by doesn't necessarily mean you're not addicted to it so that's the relationship I had with it for 20 plus
years. What do you remember it? Was there a moment where you like, this might be an issue.
So to be completely honest, it wasn't really like it didn't, there's probably like moments, where become a little more aware, a little more aware of
It like, as far as like my habits and when I was starting to really dive into my diet, but it really wasn't until I completely kicked everything to compete which wasn't that long ago so it wasn't until you're 30. Yeah. So it wasn't until my 30s when I eliminated and it was the the eliminating of it and realizing how good I felt without it and then allowing it to be reintroduced. And I talked about this with other things, right? Like to me, you kind of have to do that, like, get rid of something introducing get rid of something reintroduce, it
For like the light bulb really goes off of like, what's going on to where you can assess like what's going on with how you feel with your body and all that other
stuff. What's interesting about sugar to me, in particular sweet foods to me in particular is how quickly your perception of sweetness starts to change and adapt based off of how much sugar you eat. So like if you never have a lot of sugar you barely ever eat processed sugar, one soft drink or candy, you know, piece of candy whatever.
It could really hit you hard and you eat it. You're like wow that's really sweet powerful yet like my kids never had soda growing up and then as I got a little older with the birthday parties that have them little have a little bit of soda and a couple times I gave them a whole can just to see what would happen. And my kids would only drink a quarter of it and then give it back to me. And I realized that they had, they had hit their limit because they had had lots of sugar up until that point. Now, if they had sugar all the time or they had soft drinks all the time gradually, you start to want more
Or I noticed this with myself. If I have a lot of sugar sweet Foods especially naturally sweetened Foods start to taste less sweet over time. And I start to my it's like my tolerance for sweetness goes up, which is kind of a classic Hallmark of an addictive property like drugs, right? Like you you take your first hit of a drug or whatever and it does everything and then the next time you might need a little bit more caffeine does the same thing and I definitely noticed this a lot with sugar. Yeah it loses its
potency I've noticed the same thing.
Things. My kids to like it and it's a pure reflection of, you know, the size of the portions that, like people eat. It's pretty alarming to me. Like it when you go to, like, a soft-serve place or like an ice cream place and you see like, the, the actual cups that they offer. I'm like, I don't know how people eat all of that like, without just getting sick right away, but it's a process of starting with the small and working your way up to that, and you don't even realize, like, you know, it takes that to just have the same experience while you're reminding. Me of the
The first Epiphany, right? Which and it's a little embarrassing that I went, you know, almost 30 years. So this is probably around twenty seven, twenty eight of like, kind of starting to pay attention of how much sugar and then and pulling it off. I honestly, I swear to god, dude, I didn't know that fruit, tasted the way fruit. Tastes like until like almost 30. I just thought that like, strawberries and grapes and blueberries, and all these fruits, apples bananas, just were Bland as shit. They really were Bland to me. I was, I didn't like,
Fruit fruit was lame to me, didn't taste good at all. And I think it's just because of how much sugar that I was eating for so long that and the amount when you get think too. Like I was in consuming not only regular, you know, Candy and ice cream and artificial sweeteners were in there. Like so my palette for the, be able to recognize how sweet something was had to been like, like you said, like as like an addict with drugs, it had my tolerance had been so high that when I have something natural like a strawberry was like, this is lame.
You know, I bite into and be like it's I didn't like it at all. It wasn't until I completely got off of everything for a while. And then Remember by, I'll never forget binding to my first Apple after I hadn't had any sugar or any process sugar for a long time and I was like, holy shit. And I honestly, like I thought it was a
special. Yeah, that was a special. Every time you choose
what did you get? This apple amazing. This is gonna get the same point Apple. Again, it's supposed to stop. Yeah. You're seriously was like it was just the most amazing thing ever and
And I know, I know I can't be alone in this. Like, there's got to be people out there that don't enjoy fruit that much. And, you know, a lot of it's because you don't realize that you've ruined it for yourself. You'd think of it
this way, if you're a sugar eater, right? Are you like to eat a lot of sugar? Have a teaspoon of honey, if a teaspoon of honey doesn't taste like super like crazy sweet to you. You know, you have a problem because in nature, honey, is one of most concentrated forms of sugar. It is a pure, almost pure sugar. And if you eat that and you think to yourself,
Honey's kind of, you know, it's not that good then you know that your tolerances and this is where the big problems come into play. Because here's the truth. Okay? A lot of sugar and a lower calorie diet with that, otherwise you work out and you've got decent macros. If your sugar's high, you still may cause some problems. You may cause some problems with insulin resistance and that kind of stuff, but the problems become massive when your calories go up. So if your calories are high and you're inactive, and you eat a lot of sugar now, sugar becomes inflammatory becomes
Pro cancer, and it causes a lot of problems. So why is this important to know? Well, it's important to know because sugar is specially sugar. In processed foods. Encourages you to do what eat more. So, it's actually quite rare. It's not common because I get this argument all the time with people in the fitness space was like, well in the context of low calories and high protein, it doesn't make that big a difference. I say find me, one person in the real world, not somebody that counts and measures everything every single day, a normal person, the real
Who eats a high-protein low-calorie, high sugar diet doesn't work, that way, it's always high calorie high sugar. People are going to
always argue to keep things that like they really enjoy and like this isn't gonna affect me that much and then meanwhile like their their teeth and everything else is like a clear indication of, you know, this can't be that great for us to ingest if your teeth are
literally running right in front. That's actually a good point. It does make a big difference when it comes to 2000. Fact, there was a study that showed that people could heal
All cavities actually were several studies. Yeah, reverse, it, they could reverse cavity by changing their diet and how this was
mind-blowing for me. Because, I mean, I was going through a lot of stuff with my crooked ass teeth and like, trying to get everything fixed. And I found that I was getting a lot of gingivitis type of symptoms. And like my, I got all this information in my mouth. And every time I would eat, you know, some kind of a candy or something with high sugar, it was only a matter of like, you know, 20 minutes later where I'm just like, oh my mouth would hurt and they get sore. And so,
Like, I just had stopped. I just lost interest in eating candy at that point. Well, there is an example, Salvo of a like a low calorie and high sugar. And that's the diet, you know, Soda community and the people that are doing all the artificial sweeteners and, you know, talk about how I think that can be dangerous. I mean, there's this, there's this side of our fitness space that that, hates anybody, who demonizes sugar. Like, you know, how dare you do that, and they advocate for Diet Cokes and
Artificial sweeteners because there's no proof that it's, there's no sugar in those. Therefore yeah. Therefore, because it's low calorie. Therefore, it's okay. Because that was again, another, you know, phase of me getting away from so much sugar was. Okay, the first was, oh, wow. Realizing what? How much of it I was consuming now, switching over to the Diet Coke and all the artificial sweeteners and it still didn't solve the whole fruit thing. In, real sugar thing, in fact, artificial sweeteners are even stronger than like cane sugar. This is like it's more
sweet. The sweet, the
Signal is definitely higher. It's the, I don't know how many thousands of times higher in and when you look at equivalent size, so like a teaspoon of sugar versus a teaspoon of let's say, sucralose sucralose is, I don't know how many hundreds or thousands of times sweeter. Now, here's the deal with artificial sweeteners in a calorie controlled, macro controlled environment. If you cut out, sugar replace with artificial sweeteners, you do lower your calories, okay? This does happen in the real world. Do this, never happens. In fact, every study that's done an artificial sweeteners that does not
Not have people in a lab with everything. That's controlled some of those. In other words, they live a regular life and they say, Okay, cut out your your sugary, soda replace it with artificial sweeteners. And just, you know, do everything else normal. And then we'll come see you in six months and see what happened. None of them lose weight, none of them lose weight because artificial sweeteners, encourage people to overeat. Just like the regular sugar does is that sweet Flavor now that does have different effects in the body and we can argue as to whether or not sugar as better effects or Worse effects than artificial
You're some people say artificial sweeteners are benign. I disagree. I think you perceive it therefore it's not benign. Just the fact that you perceive the sweetness can't possibly mean it's benign to something going on right with artificial sweeteners. But at the end of the day, again, replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners, you still get the sweet flavor. You're not going to change your behavior as the behaviors. Don't you? The behaviors. Don't change. So you don't lose any weight. You don't actually lower calories, actually increase calories, by eating, other things to replace the sugar and then here's the other.
Other part and this is one of the big issues that I have with artificial sweeteners if you're at least somewhat health-oriented. Okay, if you're at least somewhat aware of the calories and stuff, when sugar that's in your food, you have to be a fitness fanatic, just somebody's kind of a little bit of where sugary sodas or sugary foods. Have a natural barrier that you can see and that natural barriers calories, right? So if you're like atom, for example, and your trainer, and you're somewhat aware, and paying attention a little bit, and
You may have one soda because like that's, you know, 200 calories. I'll just have one soda. Well, you have an artificially sweetened soda with no sugar whatsoever in it, that barrier is gone. And so, it turns into 567, next thing. You know, all your drinking is artificially, sweetened sodas, and not even drinking much water. And I've seen this happen time and time again with people in the fitness space. So it's not a good substitute really, isn't unless everything is perfectly controlled, in which case, I would say, you're probably not have leading the best relationship long.
Long-term, at least with food.
Anyway. Okay. So let's pretend that we've all become aware, right? We've come aware whether it be artificial sweeteners, or regular sugar, or eating too much of it, it's a problem. Where do we go from here? And that's, that's a question that my brother-in-law was reaching for. He's like, do I just cut cold turkey and just turn it all off and, and eat all Whole Foods and get rid of all the sugar processed and artificial? Or is there a, is it a better way to slowly Wing off? What is your guys as
opinion? There's see now, here's the funny thing.
It really depends on the person because there's two approaches here and you can do this with any substance caffeine could be sugar. So for example, if I go off caffeine cold turkey, I know I'm gonna have a shitty week, but then after that, week is up, I'm back to normal, I feel, okay? Or I can say to myself, I don't want to have a shitty week. I don't want to go through that pain, so I'm going to slowly gradually reduce it. And now it's going to take me five weeks to come off of caffeine. It's the same thing with sugar. There's some clients have had or really good with the cold turkey, cutting it out and they know
Are going to, it's going to have cravings for the next week. But I've had other clients were like, I don't want to deal with those Cravings in which case, I tell them to cut their sugar intake by a quarter every week. So it's usually a four-week process. I think, even with
the cold turkey approach, it's a very short-term strategy in terms of like people, like keeping that up for very long and I do think it does work on some people. I am for myself, I fasted and had went through sort of an Elimination Diet personally and then reintroducing.
It made it less desirable for you, but I just don't think that that's the the, you know, the common person. I think that the other strategy actually to keep it in there but start lowering the actual volume of sugar. I think is a better approach. So I really think it depends on the personality, right? So and if you're the type of person who is, you have a lot of self-discipline and you almost like Relish in the challenge of things and like, you got a know, it's hard, I'm gonna push through this, you know, I've got five days and I'll be good or with that, I don't care that I'm miserable.
Isabel. I know that's one more day down another day to go. You know, they have that kind of mentality towards anything. They tend to do really good with the Coulter. If you don't have that personality, it's because no matter what the five days, you know, if you were to do like a five day or seven day type of cleanse from it, where you go, cold turkey, it's going to be harder. It'll be harder than someone who stretched out for weeks. Now, it's now it's longer and it takes more consistency, stretching it out slowly over at 4 weeks, but it'll be less painful, right? But some people are okay with that. It's the same people who
Like like to push, don't mind to be really sore like whatever. Get through it, push through it, I don't care. If I throw up from training so hard. Like if you have that kind of mentality than maybe the cold turkey, I think would work really well for you and I think too if you have like a true addiction you know. Like that's going to be something that you're constantly in the back of your mind like you're thinking about. It's almost like you're taking it away from you and like your tyrannical. You like saying no I can't have this and so that that becomes a thing that you're going to carry with you which inevitably might lead into like a
a binge
situation. Correct. That's why I was going to say what's more important than picking the cold turkey versus a slow approach is how you're taking that approach and sense of what's your relationship with the approach? So is it that you're restricting yourself? So are you saying yourself? I'm fat. I'm ugly. I can't believe I'm eating so much sugar. That's it. I'm not going to eat sugar anymore. Or are you saying to yourself? You know what, I need to take care of myself better, I'm going to do this because I want to take care of myself. Very different approach, one feels restrictive. The other feels empowering.
One makes you say, I can't have any more sugar, the other once it makes you say. I don't want any more sugar and then the second part that I think is equally as important is the after it's the after. How do I now maintain, let's say I do the cold turkey approach or even the slow approach afterwards. Now, how do I maintain this? Because at some point it's going to come back. At some point I'm going to lose my motivation or my my my resolve at some point. I'm going to a birthday party or whatever. Am I find myself in a situation where I'm starting to have a little bit too much sugar?
Again, that's an important thing to focus on, so
that's why I I like the slow approach better because unless the cold turkey, like if you were planning on, getting rid of sugar and the Never introducing it into your diet ever again then. Okay. But that's not most people. Most people are, they're thinking they're going to do that and then eventually sure I'll let it you know, intermittently into my diet, right? So the slow approach trains, you kind of that. So if you think about the slow approach, obviously you go. Week one is Extreme. You're still having a lot and you're slowly tapering down, probably where.
Going to land long term is actually the last week or so. Yeah, where it's still kind of in the diet every once in a while but it's not as prevalent as it was at the week, you know, week one of getting swinging off. So to me, I like the slow approach because it kind of gets you used to what? Oh, you know, when I'm almost completely off, this is what it'll probably look like. When I reintroduce it, I'll still be able to have it every once in a while. It's just not an everyday thing
for. Yeah. I think that one of the easier ways to do that because that's me to Adam. I'll do the same thing would be
He to take out the call the most obvious offenders first so soda, right? That's a very easy, Big Sugar bomb. You could drop candy, right? Kate, you know, cake pastries. You can reduce those first because of those more common offenders and they're just the Big Blocks or the big rocks, I should say. And then later on start to move down the path. But go
ahead. Well, I just, you know, speaking of that, that to me like and I know that we had, you know, laid out like five steps and I don't
In the best order I think really the first the really first step is what you just alluded to right now which is removing it from your house. Totally. Like right away. You remove a barrier. Yeah. You
remove the barrier. We do you make a barrier you gotta marry me. Yeah.
Right. Exactly. So that because that's one of the things when you're trying to you know, if it's easily accessible to you and you're also trying to discipline yourself to to get it out of your life boy it's really hard. When all you do is walk down to the cover and just grab it like like but if I have to get in my car and go drive to get
Get it. I'm less
likely to go after totally recovering alcoholic. That works in a bar, probably not going to be a good idea, right? So Grace environment. So when you get the sugar out of the house, this is what you say to yourself. This is also very important. So what you have to say to yourself, I'm not telling myself I can't have sugar, I'm just saying, I don't want to have it in the house. If I really want to have sugar bad enough, I'll get in the car right? I'll drive to the grocery store and then I'll buy a single serving of sugar. I'll buy a single soda or a single Atomic in a
Costco,
run. That's right. And now this is actually quite effective. Because typically, when for most people, these Cravings, or whatever tend to hit after you're relaxed, you have dinner, you're at home already. Maybe you're chilling with your family and you think I'm an, I really like we're like a pie or I'd really like some ice cream. Then you got think to yourself, do I really want to go? Put my shoes on, get out of my sweatpants, drive, the car, get to the grocery store, waiting line by, and then bring it all the way, all the way home to, I really want to do that. And oftentimes not every sometimes you
Do it. Sometimes you actually get up and do it but oftentimes you'll save yourself maths not worth it. I'm too lazy to do
than the checkered like, you know, judges you yeah. Yeah. That's for me. Yeah. Yeah. You're in your flannel sweatpants and so every time yeah. Three God, they're like, amen. Yeah,
the weak moan. What time? I went to the garage because that's what I do. I don't have my
wife's pregnant, that's yes,
this is a good excuse actually. So so I that's what I do, right? I don't have that stuff in my house specifically for that, but if I wanted to have it bad enough, I go to the grocery store and I'll never forget one time.
Jessica and I were like hanging out and I'm like, yeah, do you want something sweet? Like, you know, I gotta go to the store. I'm like fine I'll go do that. I'll go buy some candy for us and she's like, hey, can you pick me up? Some some templates to so sad a problem. So I'm in the line and I've got like chocolate and tampons and I bring it up to the register and the guy looks at me, like, oh boy, I see what's that? Like no, no, you're, you're getting the wrong idea, but no, get it out of the house because when you put barriers in between you and the thing,
That you really want. That's kind of a, that's an Impulse. It actually reduces the impulsivity of it and it creates a barrier allows you to think about what you're doing and it's slowly slowly trains it out of it, being an
Impulse. So I feel like that's step one and then step step to what you do allow in the house are things that I wrote that would replace it. So this is where I like these types of substitutes. I mean for exam we work with a sponsor like magic spoon where you have a gives me that feeling of maybe I'm going to
It feel like I would be eating a bowl of ice cream, but it's a lot better for me. This is what I like to have. The substitutes are allowed to be in the house but I'm also trying to manage that
right? Yeah, totally. I like to have like, what is it seltzer water or, you know, bubbly water and a carbonated things I was in Lime? Yeah, lime salt. If you put a little bit of salt and lime in that for whatever reason, it kills that Sugar craving for me, it's also helped my clients. Here's another thing. You can do, you can
At the these carbonated waters that are, you know, they have like the essence of fruit or whatever Infuse. Yeah, it's like it's got nothing in it. Right? It but it tastes like it was thinking of strawberry. Whatever. The fruit far
guitar hit exactly.
So what you do is you buy still liquid Stevia Stevia is a, it's a, it's a sweetener but there's no sugar in it and it's natural. So it gives you a little bit of that. Sweet flavor, put like a drop of that in that carbonated water that tastes kind of like strawberry and it does taste like you're having something with a little bit of sugar.
Now I wouldn't recommend it all the time because then you'll run into similar problems like artificial sweeteners, but it is a good substitute definitely is
well, I've even done like the carbonated water with like regular juice. So if you have a major sweet to cut it a little bit you just cut yeah I cut it in half so instead of having a, you know, 6 or 8, ounce glass of juice or something, you have three ounces and then the rest of its the carbonated water and then it feels like you're getting like a flavor. I think so scale like that. So yeah. If you want to dilute it a bit I think that's a good first step. You know we do work with to all leave.
Pop's. Another like eat something that if you're so addicted to soda, soda is a big one for people to just with the half sugar addiction. So there's like ways to kind of find products that also provide, you know, way less sugar. But also gives you that kind of
sweet. Why not one thing I learned from dog is in Duck. So, when we before covid happen, right? We would travel a few times a year, at least we do live events or do podcast and stuff out of state. Doug would always travel because, actually, what whenever we would get two hotel rooms and it was always, it's always Doug and eye on a room.
And then the two snoring guys in the other room,
right? And the polar bears. Exactly Bear Club. Yeah,
Doug would all every no matter where we were. Who'd pull out a bar are chopped. Very, very dark chocolate. Yeah,
it's like 98 percent cacao
tips. It's just, it's know. What is it Doug? 85, it. It's really low in sugar and it's got dark chocolate which has its own health problems. So you'd eat like a piece of it and you get like a few grams of sugar, it would be very low. I've done this with clients as well, really? Dark chocolate can be
One of those things that kind of helps with that, craving get in the way water just water in general. Drink, a lot
of being hydrated helps so much because they've been Cravings. A lot of times will like come up, especially when you're
died. Yes, fruit. And then of course, fruit. Right. Berries are wonderful. There. They taste good. They're high in fiber and for fruit, the relatively low in sugar, you can eat a whole bowl of berries and not be too bad at all and the fiber in the fruit helps it improve or gives it more of a satiety effect. So it kind of makes you feel like you don't want anymore. I
had
Ka, Coco, Whip and blueberry and then flaxseed dish thing that I used to make all the time. That's absolutely amazing. So there's a lot of things out there that you can use as Replacements and again the idea and the relationship. It's like the I remember when we first started working with magic spoon people were like you guys are advocating for cereals, like listen there is a way for you to utilize this as a tool and it's not something that were advocating. Somebody has four bowls of this everyday and you replace Michael Foods. No, never. We say that. But here's a great example of
like a nice transition for somebody who eats a ton of processed sugar all the time to start to Wing them off of that and actually get to the place where they're not having to deal
with, right? Here's another one. And this one is just in general, will reduce your your food intake in general, and that is to prioritize protein intake, okay? So if you're hitting your protein, if you are a hundred and twenty pounds and you're hitting a hundred and ten grams of protein a day, which is considered the high protein and of a diet for
Building muscle, it's good for building, muscle is good for burning body fat for most people, that that works best 110 grams of protein, a hundred, twenty grams, 120 pound person. Your appetite is going to be limited. When you hit that first, you're satisfied. Yes. When you hit that first, even if you eat sugar later on, you're going to eat far less. I way, you know, to out of these days. I don't know what I weigh 215, or something like that. I hit 200 grams of protein a day. I'm full. It really, in studies show. This protein is
Extremely satiety producing. It reduces people's, caloric, intake, tremendously, and protein. Also burns more calories per gram than fats or carved. So hit that first. Make that a parcel. So, literally, that's the first thing you need, and you can even make this deal with yourself. If I hit my protein Target, then I'll allow myself. I was
just going to say that I saw this. I had a lot of success with this, especially during the competing days, where if I had this craving, where I really wanted sugar, maybe I haven't had in a while and I don't like that relationship of. No, I can't have like, yes, I can. If I
Can balance this out or figure it out. And so I would make this deal with myself that. Okay, if I get my 35 more grams of protein which I need to hit my target, you can go have this thing and nine times out of ten after you eat that meal you don't even have that craving anymore. It goes away completely. So I love that. Like telling yourself. Yeah, you can if you want but first, get what you need and your body needs and then see how you feel. So, one of two things that ends up happening, almost, every time for me, either one, I don't even want it. And I
Pass on it or two. If I do the amount that I indulge in is like see if they actually weans it out without having to feel like you're punishing yourself, right? Think if the the more we can move away from that mentality, the more successful and long term this will be in your
lifestyle. Think of it this way I'll just give you a little scenario. Let's say you want some gummy bears or gummy? What's my favorite right gum? That's my favorite candy. Gummy candies for getting gummies. Yeah, but they had to be organic. I want to be a healthy candy, but let's say I want to have gummy bears, really bad.
I say to myself. Okay, Ali, the gummy bears. After I eat five ounces of chicken breast, okay? Now, think of that in your head, you want a piece of candy but you got e. 5 ounces of chicken breasts. First you probably not gonna want too much candy. No, you're not getting the candy at all and not the chicken breast, or you like the chicken breast and I have like, you know, a third or a fourth of the candy. That's right. And now I want to eat anymore. Now, the next thing, this one, we've talked about many many times, very important, this is important, especially in this category, which is to avoid.
Avoid just heavily processed foods in general. Here's the funny thing, heavily processed foods, I said early on this episode sugar, salt and fat. What are the three things that they add to almost all processed foods and improve the palatability all those? Yeah. Talking about sodium. For example, everybody's you know, we've heard so many times. You don't want to eat too much sodium. It's bad for your blood pressure, bad for your heart blah, blah, here's the truth. You cut out processed foods. You can salt the shit out of your food. You can add all the salt you want on your food. You're not going to eat a lot of sodium.
The people who eat too much sodium, eat a processed food diet, just look at the back of a can of soup or processed whatever and you'll see even stuff that you don't even think
have anything in a boxer can
basically just tons of sodium. Same thing with sugar, same thing with typically with unhealthy fats and processed oils. So when you eliminate processed foods, you reduce the food consumption and you naturally reduce your sugar intake.
Now, I do want to make a note on like, what? Or at least what this looks like for me. So it doesn't, I don't go from cold turkey on this.
Either because, you know, that a lot of this has got sugar already in it. This is part of the the, you know, coming off process of going from you, go from no sugar and no processed food all at once. Going to be really difficult. So I look at like the greatest offenders. We've talked, we alluded already to like the, the soda thing that soda thing would always be one of the issues that always had. I was allowing that in the diet. So it's like, okay, I'm just going to limit that and whatever number week, I was having, I'm going to cut it in half and then eventually a quarter and then eventually none. So same thing goes for processed foods of yours.
But who's eating a ton of, you know, bars and you eat a lot of stuff in wrappers and packages and then I'll send decide you're going to get off this sugar thing and need to go completely cold turkey. I would look at one or two of the biggest offenders in that category and slowly and go from, you know, whatever you do in a week to cutting it in, half to cutting a quarter, to eventually none the same way. So even though it's not just because you think sugar and we automatically think of like sugarcane or artificial sweeteners but it's, you know, a lot of that is hidden in these
SS Foods. Yeah, and so, that is part of the process of coming off. The sugar is also Wing off that. Well, it's actually interesting to I've had clients and also even Courtney that, like, I've seen this before to where, you know, we make this like we're definitely trying to limit our sugar intake but also that tends to open up like more chips and more like nuts and more things with salt and things and sort of like you know, turns our focus more on like getting those kind of snacky foods which then adds up and then the calories are still there and everything else. So you
In terms of like, always having to have like these certain things available and snack on, like that's something we need to address behavioral as
well. Yeah, just get rid of the prop, most of the processed foods, get rid of those. And you can do them slowly. Like Adam said, you know, you brought up hidden sugars. I went to, we made burgers a couple weeks ago with the kids and I had to get ketchup. So, I'm in the ketchup aisle and I see low sugar or reduced sugar, ketchup? And I think reduced sugar, ketchup. Wow,
I'll catch up in a longer run. Yeah, so I bought it. It tasted so weird. I did not realize how much sugar they put in ketchup. When I had reduced sugar, ketchup. It tasted just like tomatoes made a paste. It was really strange, and you're right. Look at the back of processed foods and you would be surprised at the foods that you'd even think or sweet or would have sugar had to have those added sugar. So we'll get rid of them. I also
think that's part of why this is so difficult for some people is they don't realize they're getting all that Sugar. There plus their Coke and ice cream and soda.
Salad dressing there. Yeah. Sally's. Got you, and then you try and get rid of all that. All once it's just it's so much. So be a pay attention to how much of that that you're having. And again, I like to look at one or two offenders cut in half cutting quarter then and then completely, and I like to do that for like a week. So, week one, I'm going for, you know what, I was whatever it was that I was doing it. I'm doing that now, half of that. Then after that, a quarter that
and then eventually not. So you like to go like a hundred gram. Let's just hypothetical hundred grams of sugar down to 50, then from 50 down to like 25. Yeah. So I see
and the
What I'm counting to so I'm not counting fruit like right I'm counting any like through my processed foods or ice cream or sugar or sodas, like that's the sugar, I'm counting and pay attention to, I'm not paying attention to for because eventually, I want fruit to be in my diet on a regular basis and my main source of sugar. So that's the goal is to. I'm not going to limit, I'm not counting the sugar that's coming from fruit because I'd say that's what's going to stay in my diet. I'm looking at all other sources of sugar that are in my diet that I want to start to get down and I do. I go half quarter
none. Yes, I do.
Similar I'll go. If it was a hundred grams of sugar. I'd go 175 5025 zero. So I would I would do even. Yeah, you're even slower. Yeah, in three weeks time, I'm deaf you're going through. Yes. Yeah. They're both very, very similar. You know, it's funny. You brought up fruit. I gotta say this dried fruit. Be careful. Became dried food is not the same as fresh fruit. It's not the same. You could eat. I could eat a lot easier can so I could eat. Yeah, 10 mangoes in five minutes that if they're dried mangoes. Well, they
also add sugar to that. Even if you
Aren't they? Because of a Sprinkle the
sugar on say? Yeah they do but let's say they don't because I live even done this while buy the dried fruit no added sugar but it doesn't matter because it's dehydrated. And it shrunk down, I will literally eat philae five or six mangoes in one sitting. I'll never do that with it with fresh real. Real, you know, so be careful with the dried fruit as well. No, we talked about artificial sweeteners, I don't think that's a good strategy. The only population that I could say artificial sweeteners, might help our people who are pre-contest, bodybuilding bodybuilding.
There's busy, competitors, bikini competitors, people who everything is measured and dialed in, and they're measuring it. And even them I say, you know what, let's stay away from those, because the rebound post contest is going to be kind of nasty, but for the average person, artificial sweeteners, don't
help. So, you were the one who got me doing this and it actually made a big difference. So, back when I was, you know, trying to kick the diet coke, you made a comment about, you know, why don't you just allow yourself to have a regular Coke, or a regular drink with sugar in it. So, you count it. And I actually found it was
Easier to do that than to because when you have Diet Coke and it's zero calorie write as many as you want, right? So then you end up having one wheels-free. Yeah, real quick, I'm having one with every meal. So I'm drinking, two, three, and a day and the Cravings that I have for sugar are higher than they'd ever be. So when I went over to drinking the, the little Hanson root beers that I like that have like I want to say 20, something or 30 grams of sugar in it, because I know I'm getting sugar, I count it and I'm aware of. And I also noticed that because it's not artificial sugar, it doesn't the Cravings aren't as bad.
For it as from the diet. Is that weird? You know what? I, you know, it's funny people who are addicted to or who say, they're addicted, to sugar free sodas. It's hot. In my experience, it was harder to get my clients to stop drinking those then clients who drank regular soda. Yeah, this is, there's a hundred percent true. If I had a client who came to me and said, hey Sal, I love having, you know, a soda every single day, or two sodas every day. That was easier to work with than the person who says, oh, I have, you know, you know, a couple of few Diet Cokes everyday the die.
Diet sodas were so hard for people to kick and I think it's because there's so much stronger and the way that they hit the brain hundred percent and it's very, very strange, isn't it right? One thing that I do was so doc because Jessica and I will have one rarely, but if we do, so what I do. I go to the grocery store and buy one soda for both of us. One split it, and that's it. And then we're done. And if I want more, I got to drive all the way back to the grocery store. There's that barrier thing again. Look, mine pump is recorded on video as well as audio. Come check us out on YouTube mind, pump podcast, you can also find all of us on
Social media that's Instagram. And now also on parlor, you can find Justin at my pump just and me at my Plum, Sal adamant mind, pump, Adam and Doug the producer at mine. Pump
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