Ugh sugar addiction… it’s a real thing! Have you tried to eliminate it from your diet lately? It can be such a challenge and it’s not surprising because it’s in so many foods we eat. Check out food labels and it can be downright startling! The food manufacturers know that adding sugar helps you like their products and buy them again. Sometimes the ingredients list can be misleading. Watch out for anything ending in the letters “ose” as it’s likely a form a sugar.

Sugar addiction prevents you from hearing your body begging for nutritious food!

Here’s the thing, cutting out the sugar can feel like a punishment. The first doughnut beckoning you from the office break room can lead you spiraling out of control and searching for anything else sweet you can get your hands on. Next thing you know you’re making a pot of coffee at 2 in the afternoon to keep from taking a nap at your desk!

Once you get on the sugar train, it’s really hard to hear your body asking for nutritious foods. You are so busy bouncing back and forth from doughnuts to pizza that you don’t here it begging you for broccoli and chicken! And quite frankly, broccoli and chicken sound so boring in comparison to doughnuts and pizza! But, they’ll supply you with much more energy and nutrients you need to run well and recover quickly.

Eliminating sugar from your diet is easier than you think!

When you learn how to eliminate the sugar habit or at least save it for special occasions, you’ll find you no longer feel sluggish, you’re more focused and you even sleep better. You’re also less dependent on caffeine.

The good news is it’s much easier than you think! You just have to know which foods to add to your diet. It’s also important to shift your mindset to focus on what foods you get to add instead of what you must eliminate! The benefit to adding the right foods is they’ll help fuel you for intense workouts and long runs.

6 Tips to Successfully Eliminate Sugar

Tip # 1 Start by adding cooked carrots, sweet potatoes butternut squash, and acorn squash into your diet. These are naturally a little sweeter and loaded with carbohydrates and minerals you need for running such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium as well as vitamins A, B, and C. Sprinkle these with cinnamon, which has tons of health benefits, and you’ll feel like you are having a treat!

Tip # 2 Cooking the above veggies with healthy fats like coconut oil, olive oil, MCT (medium chain triglycerides) oil or real butter, will increase your satiety plus benefits your heart and circulatory system. I have found that roasting them with coconut oil enhances the natural sweetness.

Tip # 3 These aren’t dinner only vegetables! Enjoy them at other meals. Have a sweet potato for breakfast. They cook faster than white potatoes, so bake a small one while your on your morning run or while getting ready for work.  Cook enough of carrots for dinner to warm up and enjoy with some scrambled eggs. Pack your leftovers for lunch instead of having the same boring turkey sandwich.

Tip # 4 No matter what vegetables you are adding to your diet, I recommend cooking them when starting out. Raw veggies have tons of fiber which is good for you but can be hard on your digestive tract if you haven’t been eating much fiber. Think tummy ache after eating a big healthy salad. Also cooking them gives you the opportunity to add healthy fats. I find that eating cooked vegetables leaves me feeling more satisfied. They feel like comfort food and not diet food!

Tip # 5 Remember your body is unique, so be willing to experiment and find what works for you. Eliminating sugar and empty carbs can be challenging, but you should never feel hungry or shaky. If you are you’re not eating enough and you likely need more healthy fats and high quality protein as well.

Tip # 6 Limit your servings for fruit to 1-2 per day. While fruits have sugars that occur naturally, they are higher than the vegetables listed above. If you are simply replacing your sweet treats with fruit and not vegetables you can expect the following: 1) your sugar cravings won’t be reduced and you’ll likely hood of falling off the wagon; 2) you’ll still feel sluggish and tired; and 3) you’ll be denying yourself the valuable vitamins and minerals found in the vegetables that will enable you to run faster and longer as well as recover quicker!

As a recovering sugar addict, I know first hand the negative effects sugar had on my ability to train hard, race fast and recover quickly. These are the tips that work for me whenever I fall off the wagon. Do you have any sugar busting tips? If so leave them in the comments below.