31 Jan 2016
It may surprise you to know that if you drink can of non-diet fizzy drink a day you may actually ingest 39 pounds of sugar each year! Shocking, isn’t it?! Hopefully that shows that if you ditched just one fizzy drink a week, you could lose weight without trying! That’s a fact.
But let’s start at the beginning – what is processed sugar? It is the white sugar you use in baking, add to your morning tea or coffee, and it’s also found in almost any food we eat that contains sugar. You will normally see processed sugar listed as ‘refined sugar’ in ingredients lists, but it is the same thing.
So, to avoid using this type of sugar to make things sweeter, you could swap to agave extract, honey or stevia. Have you ever tried Manuka honey for example? I know it isn’t cheap but it tastes lovely and contains lots of organic goodness. You could also keep an eye out for minimally refined sugar, which is able to keep some “impurities” – impurities actually being minerals and vitamins your body could make use of.
Some fitness people may tell you that sugar must be eliminated wherever possible, but it can be hard to get the balance between health and practical living. No one really wants to give up sugar, and it’s actually very difficult to cut it out completely. You might be tempted to go down the artificial sweetener route but there are some articles that highlight how artificial or synthetic sugars are bad for you! It literally seems to change from one day to the next; one day we are told that artificial sweeteners are better for you than real sugar, then the latest cancer studies knock it right back.
So, what do the fitness instructors at Holmer Park think about it all? We all try to reduce the amount of processed sugar we take in and the rest we battle with high intensity workouts. If you allow sugar to stay in your body it will, unfortunately turn to fat. It also creates something called cellulose and it will make you feel tired after a time. We have fitness classes that are sure to burn those calories off, or of course we can design a gym programme just for you using your Technogym keycard.
Instead, why not just enjoy some of your favourite snacks and then get a sweat on with our Hereford fitness team?! We are always available and willing to provide you with proper dietary advice too. We can help show you how to start cutting back on the bad stuff, which exercises and classes can help you the most with removing any sugary stores you already have in your body, and how to tone up.
And remember – you don’t sweat, you sparkle!