Sugar Busters! is a restricted-carbohydrate diet that limits all types of sugar to help you lose weight. Carbohydrates are limited to between 30 and 40 percent of your daily caloric intake, while protein makes up about 30 percent and fat makes up 40 percent of your calories. Sugar Busters! emphasizes "good" carbs that are high in fiber and have little impact on blood sugar.
Sugar Busters! Concept
According to the four authors of "Sugar Busters!" the culprit behind America's obesity epidemic is sugar and the way your body, and specifically insulin, responds to sugar. When you eat sugar and refined carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises quickly. This leads to your pancreas producing insulin -- and often producing too much insulin. Insulin is a hormone that transports glucose into your cells for use as energy, but energy not used right away gets stored as fat. According to Sugar Busters! too much insulin causes you to store too much sugar as fat -- and less insulin equals less fat.
Foods to Avoid
Sugar Busters! requires you to limit natural sugars and eliminate added sugars. Forbidden foods include all refined sugars, including corn syrup, molasses and honey; starchy vegetables such as white potatoes, corn, beets and parsnips; all foods made from white flour including bread, pasta, crackers, cookies, cakes and pastries; cured meats that have added sugar, such as ham; and fruits that are very high in sugar, such as raisins, bananas and pineapple. Sugar Busters! bases its recommendations on the glycemic index (GI), which measures the potential of any carbohydrate to raise glucose levels. The lower a food scores on the GI, the less impact it has on glucose and insulin.
Foods to Eat
Unlike other low-carb diets, Sugar Busters! is concerned with saturated fat intake and encourages the consumption of lean meat, low-fat or nonfat dairy and monounsaturated oils. Allowed foods include eggs, seafood, lean meat -- trim all visible fat and remove the skin from poultry -- legumes and nuts. Most fruits and vegetables are allowed, except those that contain too much sugar, such as dried and tropical fruits or root vegetables. Whole grains such as oatmeal and brown rice are allowed, as is whole grain flour -- so you can have whole grain pasta or bread as long as there is no added sugar.
Other Rules
If you're eating processed or packaged foods, they must contain less than 3 g of sugars per serving -- and that includes natural sugars, with the exception of dairy products. Artificial sweeteners are acceptable, as is agave nectar. Pickles, pickled vegetables and olives are OK, assuming they meet the 3 g of sugar or less rule. Tofu and soy protein is encouraged because they doesn't contain any saturated fat. Butter is acceptable, but margarine, lard and shortening are not. No alcohol with the exception of dry red or white wines is permitted. Stay hydrated with water, tea, coffee, diet soda, or juice in moderation.
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