Having Trouble Staying Low Carb? Ditch the Sugar!

Life's all about getting knocked down, dragged through the mud, spit in the face but ultimately picking yourself up, brushing off the muck and getting back in the saddle, head held high. You're only human, and it's inevitable that you might take a look at this image and be tempted to not only jump off the Low Carb Bandwagon, but puncture all four of its tires and never hop back on. But if you want to avoid chronic disease like type 2 diabetes or obesity, it's best if you do your very best to hop back on the healthy wagon. If you've been having a rough go at staying low-carb, it could very well be that your taste buds have been tickled too much with the sweet--and/or salty--stuff. Even having zero-sugar diet soda or no-calorie, sugar-free artificial sweeteners can really throw your taste buds out of whack. When we habitually eat processed foods (anything that comes in a package, box or can) and drink anything else besides water and veggie juices, our taste buds can be thrown literally out of whack. If you're a busy office worker that doesn't have time to prepare healthy lunches and snacks, you might think you're still eating healthy, but restaurants don't hand you nutritional info along with your entree. Many restaurants load their foods with either sugar or salt, often both, to enhance flavor. What this does is deaden your palate for natural-tasting foods. Here's an example: eating a bowl of broccoli, brown rice & chicken may sound super healthy, but when the foods are smeared, smothered, or drowned in a ginger-teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with a week's worth of sodium, your taste buds get assaulted. Unfortunately, instead of never wanting excess sugar or salt again and vowing never to eat this dish again, your taste buds undergo somewhat of a "Stockholm Syndrome," getting used to and ultimately craving more sugar or salt. Despite your good intentions of eating healthy, it could be that eating out is resulting in the unintended consequences of having your taste buds hijacked by a sweet yet powerful foe, sugar. (And perhaps you're ignoring sugary sauces and other condiments in your own home.) If you think your taste buds have been hijacked by sugar and/or salt, here's what to do.... Ditch diet soda, all artificial sweeteners and even most natural ones such as agave or stevia. If you really want to correctly reset your palate, do this for 21 days, which is considered a threshold for habit formation. Don't despair if you've become hijacked by sugar and salt. Food scientists have devised the perfect ratio of fat, sugar and salt so that you'll be craving more and more. Make no mistake about it: processed food is just as addictive as drugs. They stimulate and assault the pleasure center of our brains, disrupting and manipulating our taste for real, natural food! Even diet soda, although it has no sugar or calories, manipulates our pleasure center and stimulates our lust for more sugar. So does sugar-free candy. This is why you must go 21 days without any soda, fruit juice, sugar-free snacks and tropical fruits (one not overly-ripe banana a day is fine). If you can go three weeks without sugar or sugar substitutes, eating a handful of berries (the one fruit and serving size you should have every day) will taste like the sweetest thing on Earth after 21 days! If you're struggling to stay low-carb, practice some visualization now. Although it might seem like an insurmountable mountain to climb, picture how you will feel 3 weeks from now, knowing that you've reset your palate and won your God-given natural right to be completely satisfied and ecstatic eating foods that taste naturally sweet. Miracle Noodle recommends Miracle Rice Pudding for breakfast or a snack during your 21 day palate reset. Use Miracle Rice, raw cacao powder, shredded coconut, a handful of blueberries and unsweetened apple sauce to naturally satisfy your sweet tooth. Here's a recipe for Miracle Rice Pudding by a health expert and author, Maria Emmerich. Click here for her recipe for Tapioca Miracle Rice Pudding.  Save 15% Every Time You Order Miracle Rice and other Products!