Saying goodbye to your favourite sweet treats can be tough. It’s certainly no cake walk to ween off those 3pm sugar cravings for good, especially with the news that Aussies consume 14 teaspoons a day (the recommended amount is six, by the way).
Want to know just how long it takes for the health benefits to start kicking in after replacing that Mars Bar with a turmeric latte? The Journal of the America Osteopathic Association believes the lucky number is nine days.
After analysing different studies on quitting sugar, researchers found that your metabolism will get a boost once you cut back on the sweet stuff (particularly high-fructose corn syrup) for less than two weeks.
“Fructose provides no nutritional value and isn’t metabolised in the brain,” says one of the researchers, osteopathic pediatrician Tyree Winters. “Your body converts it to fat, but doesn’t recognise that you’ve eaten, so the hunger doesn’t go away.”
So, when you stop eating it, your metabolism immediately will have an improvement. “That single change in diet improves metabolic results in less than two weeks,” Winter says.
Think you can handle nine days without your normal sugar hit? Once you do, Winter and her researchers says you’ll start feeling great on the inside and out – and you’ll be on the fast track to keeping up with this new healthy lifestyle (albeit caving in to the occasional Tim-Tam slam every now and then…)
If you’re going to change your diet in any way, be sure to have a chat with your local GP or dietitian first.
