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Over It: Kicking sugar cravings to the curb

Feel like you can't beat your own sweet tooth? Here's some tips.

It is Over It Week here on 10 News Today, and as we head into the holidays we thought it would be a good time to get over sugar.

One East Tennessee doctor who is also a very popular blogger across the nation recently kicked the sugar habit and she's found so many benefits!

Many Americans are addicted to sugar, and that addiction is only getting worse according to the American Heart Association and World Health Organization.

That addiction has been compared to an addiction to drugs! It's no joke. According to the WHO, the average person in the US consumes 126 grams of sugar per day -- around 30 teaspoons worth and five times the recommended daily amount for the average adult. That's 14 chocolate chip cookies,12 doughnuts or six Snickers candy bars!

Dr. Edie Wadsworth is not surprised by the numbers.

"So I grew up like most people my age on pop tarts and cocoa puffs and Eggo waffles with lots of syrup. And always from the time I can remember loved sugar," Edie said.

So she cut it out entirely!

"One of the initial final straws for me was that my health crashed about three years ago and I ended up with adrenal fatigue and thyroid issues and hormone issues," Edie said.

She did a lot of research and found cutting sugar and modifying her diet would help. She tried the Paleo diet. It worked for several years and then she switched gears.

"The more that I read, the more I realized that I needed to go even lower in carbs at least for me to get my issues under control. So that's how I found the Ketogenic diet," Edie said.

The Ketogenic diet, or Keto for short, is a low carb diet similar to the Paleo diet. Both emphasize cutting simple carbohydrates and excess refined sugars out of your diet, but Keto places a bigger emphasis on sticking to high-fat foods.

"It should be about 70% fat, which sounds really high, 25% protein and 5% carbs. If you give your body a chance to get into ketosis, for most people you will thrive, your cravings will go down, you'll lose weight," Edie said. "It sounds counterintuitive because you're eating higher fat, but your cholesterol will go down, your triglycerides will go down."

She said she saw her health begin to improve over time.

"I slept so much deeper. I wasn't having cravings. I wasn't wanting to snack all the time, my hormones sort of settled down, just so many benefits that I noticed," Edie said.

And now she doesn't even think about sugar. She said she's truly OVER IT!

"I'm sitting here in front of a pile of Halloween candy and I'm not really tempted," she said.

As always, you should take your individual health factors into consideration and consult a doctor if you are looking to try a new diet. For more on how Edie kicked sugar, you can visit her blog at this link.

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