Getting Curious: My Sneaky Sugar Experiment
One of my core principles, as a coach AND as a person, is to explore every situation with curiosity, not judgement.
I came across JJ Virgin’s work on nutrition while studying for my health coach certification.
You’ll notice her book is titled Sugar Impact Diet. These days, I tend to cringe at the word “diet” because of how we’ve been conditioned. I fear that the word “diet” in the definition of a set of rules can fuel food restriction and eating habits that are unsustainable.
My experimentation with sugar impact is just that: an experiment. I feel that JJ Virgin’s knowledge and research has a lot of validity that I want to explore further. I believe that each of our bodies is its own chemistry lab, of sorts. What causes inflammation and physiological reactions in one person is not the same for the next person. So, this month, I’ll be exploring how sugar impacts my body.
To give you a brief overview, JJ Virgin explores how different types of sugars found in food have unique effects on your body. A lot of these sugars are “hidden”, so we ingest them without much awareness. Virgin suggests, “If you’re eating healthy, but just can’t seem to lose weight, you’re not alone. Lowering your Sugar Impact is the single biggest needle mover when it comes to weight loss, great energy, and overall health, but sugar hides in places you’d never expect: whole foods, diet foods, packaged foods, dressings...even sugar substitutes. And it’s not about cutting out sugar entirely; it’s about knowing which sugars to choose and which to lose.”
Virgin has a comprehensive list of foods divided into High, Medium and Low Impact. I hope you’ll follow along this month as I test out identifying, and lowering my intake of, foods with a High Sugar Impact and focus on Medium and Low Impact choices.
If anyone wants to try it with me, shoot me a message and I’ll share my resources. And we are looking for progress, not perfection. Remember...it’s all about curiosity, not judgement!
(*For the record, this is not an advertisement or endorsed in any way. It’s simply me sharing information in hopes of bringing others more peace & plenty)