Dieting often means losing your sweet tooth or at least moderating it. We all know that sugar damages our teeth and we’ve told our kids for years to lay off the sweets. They can have one candy bar, not the dozen they may want. It can be hard to tell ourselves the same, especially with the larger candy portions and the fact that eating chocolate can often make us feel better when we’re down.
The Sugar Buster diet bases its food recommendations on 30 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent protein and 40 percent fat. So you’re allowed to eat fish, poultry, red meat, dairy foods, fruits, vegetables, olive oil and nuts. You are forbidden from eating potatoes, pasta, carrots, white bread and white rice and all sugars – even fake sugar.
The theory of the Sugar Buster diet is that sugar produces insulin. Insulin prevents weight loss despite dieting and exercise. Therefore, you must eliminate sugar in order to produce weight loss.
The International Journal of Obesity published a study that found little weight loss increase from eliminating sugar; but they did find that more people were able to follow the diet when sugar was eliminated. However, weight loss is only affected when your caloric intake is less than that of what you burn in physical exertion.
Ultimately, this is a diet that is impossible for vegetarians and it cuts out healthy vegetables like carrots and legumes. Sugar is not toxic. Insulin does not lead to weight gain. Higher levels of insulin may be found in overweight people, but there is no scientific evidence to support the diet’s effect. Also, it neglects to support the need for calorie-intake versus weight gain or weight loss.