Does Sugar Busters Really Produce Fat Loss?
The Sugar Busters diet is based on a 1998 book: Sugar Busters! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat. Originally published independently and sold out of New Orleans through a word-of-mouth campaign, the book quickly sold an astonishing 100,000 copies and scored a second-edition printing through Ballantine Books. Since then the Sugar Busters authors—H. Leighton Steward, a Louisiana businessman, New Orleans doctor Morrison Bethea, endocrinologist Sam Andrews, and Dr. Luis Balart, a liver expert—have come out with a cookbook, shopping guide, and parents’ guide for children on the diet.
Well, the books have certainly been successful, but does the diet work? I’ve done a little research on the idea, the pros and cons, and the effectiveness of this diet for achieving fat loss.
The Basic Premise
The premise of Sugar Busters is the same as most low-carb diets: lessen the amount of foods in the diet that release their sugars quickly. This should keep insulin levels low and steady, which leads to more fat loss and less fat storage. Sugar Busters uses the glycemic index—which ranks carbohydrates based on how much they raise the blood sugar after being consumed—to determine which foods to avoid.
The diet encourages consumption of low-fat proteins, including fish, lean meats, eggs, and nuts, but the most important element of the plan is knowing which foods to avoid. Dieters are forbidden to eat any foods containing white flour, white rice, white potatoes, or corn; as well as any product containing added sugar, and some high-sugar fruits. Carbs considered okay include whole grains, beans, and sweet potatoes.
The Sugar Busters diet tweaks the usual low-carb strategy by placing more focus on eliminating refined sugars from the diet than on maintaining a specific protein-to-carbohydrate ratio. According to the authors, high insulin levels have more to do with raising cholesterol levels than fatty foods do, so they are less concerned with avoiding red meat and other foods that many low-fat diets deem unhealthy.
The Upside
Chocolate is okay, as long as it’s at least 60% cacao and eaten in moderation. The diet is also less restrictive about carbs in general. As long as dieters avoid refined sugars and white flour, it doesn’t really matter how many carbs are consumed on a daily basis.
In fact, the diet doesn’t ask followers to measure or count anything. They just have to be vigilant about avoiding the forbidden ingredients and theoretically their insulin levels will stay at prime fat loss levels. Dieters are also allowed to eat goodies like cheese and butter, the lack of which can be the downfall of many other diet plans.
The carbs that figure fairly low on the glycemic index—the ones that are allowed or even encouraged by this diet—tend to be high in fiber. Eating more fiber improves gastrointestinal function and generally contributes to better health. It also makes you feel full, which is an aid to portion control.
If you don’t have much of a sweet tooth, this diet should be relatively easy to follow, since sugar is practically the only major restriction.
The Downside
The Sugar Busters program consists of reading the Sugar Busters book and following its advice. Unfortunately, some readers have complained that the advice is self-contradictory, vague, or misleading.
Another concern is that different people process sugars differently. The spectrum ranges from diabetics who need to inject insulin to process sugars at al,l to people who process sugars too quickly and suffer from hypoglycemia. Sugar Busters claims to help adjust insulin to optimal levels for fat loss, but doesn’t offer any advice for adjusting the diet to reflect the way individuals actually react to carbs and sugars.
The result is that some people may experience enhanced sugar cravings, bodily discomfort, or fluctuating energy levels. All carbohydrates eventually break down and raise blood sugar levels, so people with blood sugar problems still need to eat in a way that works for their bodies, whether or not it works with this diet. And the truth is, it may not work for many people.
Some scientists are skeptical about the whole idea of the glycemic index because it doesn’t take the combination of foods people eat into account. Fats and other components of a meal affect the way that carbs are absorbed, and people rarely sit down and eat just one specific carbohydrate, then wait for their body to absorb it before eating anything else!
The jury is still out on the exact relationship between insulin and cholesterol, too. Though insulin levels do affect the metabolism of cholesterol, dietary cholesterol levels are still an important factor when it comes to your health.
The Bottom Line
If you are overweight and have a sweet tooth, this diet is a great place to start down the road to better nutrition. The fat loss potential of cutting out sugars and refined starches is undeniable, if you were eating too many of them in the first place. In a country hooked on highly processed, high-sugar, empty-carb fast food and pre-packaged food, the Sugar Busters argument sure resonates. This diet corrects some bad eating behavior, but it isn’t a totally comprehensive fat loss plan.
Sugar Busters is a useful corrective to bad eating habits, but I believe an effective fat loss strategy like Fat Loss 4 Idiots is better designed for real results. Unlike Sugar Busters, FL4I doesn’t rely on one biochemical index or a one-size-fits-all avoidance strategy. Fat Loss 4 Idiots is based on the belief that the body has to be “tricked” into burning fats by changing the kinds of calories we consume over the course of the day. It doesn’t ask dieters to limit calories, which can throw the body into “starvation mode” and actually encourage fat storage. The best part of FL4I is that you get three “free” days after 11 days on the plan. Even an idiot can handle that.
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