Day 16: Processed vs. Whole Food Sugar

Welcome to day sixteen of the Sugar Free Challenge!

Today’s Reason to be Sugar-Free: 

Processing techniques have created sugar that has been extracted from these whole, natural foods, and is devoid of essential vitamins, minerals, and fibre. A simple way to understand this concept is to consider a large chocolate bar and a can of soda. Together they contain approximately 100 grams of sugar. If we want to eat the equivalent of 100 grams of sugar from whole apples, we have to eat approximately 6-7 medium apples. Of course, many of us become full in eating just a few apples, but we are more than capable of eating a chocolate bar and drinking a can of soda in one sitting. So by eating foods that have been processed and concentrated, we put a great deal of stress on our organs, which is a significant cause of low energy and illness. ~Dr. Ben Kim

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Fried egg (coconut oil) atop a bed of sauteed kale, bell peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

Lunch: Plum Socca Tart with Rosemary

Snack: High Protein Cookie Dough Dip

Dinner: Slow Cooker Chicken with Olives and Artichoke

Dessert: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Exercise Option: For those of you who chose to take part of the exercise challenge, your challenge today is to do 50 crunches, 10 squat jumps, 15 pushups, 20 1-legged calf raises (10 each leg).

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

What is your opinion of whole fruit sugars vs. processed sugars?

Remember that you can track what you eat on the printable Challenge Checklist.