Slash sugar & lose 10lb in two weeks

reducing sugar intake will not only help you to lose weight, but it’ll boost your mood and energy levels, too

Sneaky sugars are public enemy Number One,’ declares JJ Virgin in her book, The Sugar Impact Diet. ‘Even the most healthconscious among us struggle to avoid them. It can feel incredibly daunting.’

Over-consumption of the white stuff can cause kidney and liver damage, dental decay and obesity, as well as other health issues, which is why Public Health England recommends that sugar should not account for more than 5% of our daily calories (around 7tsp a day). Scarily, most of us are actually eating double that. And during the menopause, when mood swings, fatigue and disrupted sleep are prevalent, the body is even more sensitive to the imbalances that sugar can cause.

Free vs natural sugar

While you don’t have to eliminate sugar completely, you need to choose your sugars wisely. Naturally occurring sugars – the types found naturally in whole fruit, veg, milk and other dairy products – have health benefits that outweigh any negative impact from their sugar content. The sneaky sugar JJ is referring to is ‘free’ sugar – the sort added to foods or present in honey, syrups and fruit juices.

Tricky labelling

‘There are more than 50 names for sugar,’ says JJ. ‘It may be hiding with names like maltodextrin, barley malt, or fruit juice concentrate. Mountains of it are sneaking into your diet.’ As a general rule, anything that ends ‘–ose’ is probably a sugar.

Will you get a withdrawal?

‘Sugar is a drug, and getting off a drug is never easy,’ says JJ. ‘Each time your blood sugar crashes, you’re taken over by cravings, you’re irritable, you have headaches, and you’re shaky and hungry. The symptoms of withdrawal are biologically designed to be diabolical, so you’ll go right back to the drug to which you’re addicted to make them stop.’

Cutting back slowly, rather than all in one go, and making sure you’re getting enough sleep can help.