Beating Sugar Addiction For Dummies
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Classic Undereaters are often low-energy people. They love to sleep, and they generally find it very difficult to muster the energy to do anything above and beyond what is absolutely necessary — even things they enjoy. In that respect, Undereaters are similar to Exhausted Addicts, but while Exhausted Addicts continue to unhealthily push themselves through their stress and exhaustion, Undereaters crash and shut down instead.

If you’re an Undereater, you probably have a history of spinning your wheels and feeling stuck or trapped in your job, your family issues, and your body size. You may often feel out of touch with others and regularly ignore your own emotional problems, admitting that “I just can’t deal with that right now.”

You seldom eat breakfast, and when you do, it’s usually an all-carb affair. In fact, most of your food is carbohydrate. You tell yourself that you eat enough protein “on most days,” but if you journal your food for a few days, you’ll see that you barely eat one or two servings of protein a day — not even enough to meet the recommended daily intake, let alone enough to be healthy and energetic.

Eating like this keeps your metabolism low, so you probably find yourself gaining weight even though you don’t eat much.

Like many sugar addicts, you probably feel overwhelmed with making food choices. You’ve tried dozens of frustrating diets and special detoxes over the years, none of which has yielded any long-term success. Eating healthy takes too much thinking and planning, so like the Exhausted Addict, you turn to sugar because it’s easy.

By beginning to wean yourself off sugar, you’ll start to feel more energetic and feel like you have more control over your food choices. The best advice for Undereaters is as follows:

  • Make sure you eat protein at every meal.

  • When you have a sugar craving, get up and do something! Your body and your brain are craving activity and stimulation, so take a walk, write in your journal, or do some sit-ups instead of continuing to drug yourself with sugar!

About This Article

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Dan DeFigio is one of the most respected names in the fitness and nutrition industry. His articles have appeared in numerous professional journals, and his workshops have been presented in many cities across the United States. He has appeared on the Dr. Phil show and was featured in SELF Magazine, MD News, Personal Fitness Professional, and a host of other publications.

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