Cut sugar with chromium and zinc-fortified willpower!
Substitution is a simple and effective tool for behavior change. Whether you are raising children, training a pet, implementing a management decision, or treating a medical condition, the advice is often the same, “Substitute.”
Numerous substitutions have been recommended for sugar. Honey and molasses are less refined than sugar, but still have the calories. Artificial sweeteners harmfully train the palate for sweetness. Stevia is a reduced calorie plant extract not yet sufficiently studied to be used as a commercial sweetener. Xylitol, ribose, and glutamine are examples of medically indicated sugars to be used in small doses and not as all-purpose sweeteners.
Since we eat too much sugar, cutting back is more healthful than substituting. The biggest challenge to cutting back is cravings, a form of withdrawal. Here’s the good news. Sugar cravings can often be curbed with two minerals – chromium and zinc.
Most of us run a chromium deficit. Why? We eat less chromium because it is reduced by food processing. We absorb less with certain gastrointestinal conditions, antacids and nutritional supplement containing minerals other than chromium. We spend more, because stress makes us lose chromium in the urine.
Chromium is a mineral essential to human health. It is difficult to measure because its concentration in the bloodstream is the equivalent of a penny in a million dollars. That does not make chromium any less important to health. Part of chromium’s job is to help insulin get glucose inside cells, thereby quelling carbohydrate cravings. Assess your chromium level yourself. At the onset of a sugar craving, supplement with 200mcg of chromium. If the craving slows within 15 minutes, then low body chromium stores were likely and 200mcg can be taken up to twice daily.
Zinc’s primary job in the body is to help enzymes speed chemical reactions, such as taste sensations. Without adequate zinc, food tastes bland and the tendency is to add sugar to satisfy the slow-to-react zinc deficient taste sensors.
Many of us also run a zinc deficit, because of low intake and high stress-induced losses. Zinc, like chromium, is not measured on routine lab tests. However, you can measure your own zinc status – by taste. When zinc stores are low, the body is not able to taste zinc. In contrast, when zinc stores are high, zinc in any form has a coins-in-the-mouth flavor. Yuk. Order zinc challenge liquid from Designs for Health or use a zinc lozenge as a more approximate measure. If the challenge liquid or lozenges taste neutral, supplement with zinc. Replenishing zinc can satisfy taste buds with less sugar.
In summary, invest in metabolically precious metals. Even though precious metals like gold and platinum are trading at record-breaking high prices, supplementing with zinc and chromium costs approximately ten cents a day.