How to detox from sugar

Here are some tips to quickly and easily detox your body from all those sweet treats you had just stuffed yourself with:

Clean out your kitchen

This is the first thing you should do when you decide to go cold turkey and eliminate all types of sugars (added, refined, artificial, or natural) from your diet. Make sure you're not storing any sweet delicacies in your fridge. Toss sources of added sugars like soda, bread, pasta, and other packaged foods too.

Hydrate a lot

Hydration is important throughout the year, but it's especially important after you have overindulged on sugar. Water helps flush toxins out of the body through urination and bowel movements. For extra benefits and taste, you can add lemon slices, cucumber slices to water, or have unsweetened herbal tea.

Go green

Add more leafy greens like kale, collard greens, and spinach to your diet. Not only they will help alkalize your body (reduce inflammation), but also provide you nutrients like Vitamins K, C, and A, and filling fibre.

Increase intake of healthy fat

Healthy fats will help reduce your cravings for sugary foods. Best sources of healthy fats include avocado, unsweetened coconut products, butter or ghee and nuts and seeds. Make sure you include 1-2 tablespoons of healthy fat with each meal.

Change to fruit deserts

If you have a habit of having sweets after a meal, try replacing them with fresh fruits. Fruit too contain natural sugars, but they are absorbed slowly into your bloodstream, thanks to the other nutrients and fibre in them. Antioxidant-rich, low-sugar fruit like berries are best alternatives to deserts.

If you can, avoid even fruits during your sugar detox period. But normally one should consume at least 1-2 servings of fresh fruit a day as part of a balanced diet.

Eat enough protein

Protein is especially important when you're doing a sugar detox. Aim for 30 grams of protein at breakfast to keep yourself satiated and reduce sugar craving. When you're detoxing from sugar, you should also eat more complex carbs like sweet potato and butternut squash.