Our Sugar Busters Diet review takes a look at a bestselling diet that’s been around since the mid-90s and was reinvented a few years ago – is it still a good bet today?
The Sugar Busters Diet was written by a gastroenterologist, an endocrinologist, a cardiovascular surgeon and the CEO of a Fortune 500 company…spot the odd one out!
There are also the Shopper’s Guide, Quick and Easy Cookbook and a version for kids.
The premise of this diet is pretty simple – it’s a low GI diet so cut out the sugar, refined carbs and processed foods. Eat less fat and more wholegrains, veg and lean protein.
Sounds pretty good to us, so…
Sugar Busters Diet Review – How Does it Work…?
Essentially this is a low GI diet.As the name of the diet would suggest, sugar is the baddy when it comes to weight gain. Cut it out and you’ll lose weight and keep it off.
Unless you’ve been living on Mars, you’ll be familiar with the term GI, which stands for Glycemic Index.
The principle behind GI dieting is that sugars and refined starches, like white flour and rice raise your blood sugar level.
This promotes the production of insulin by the body to regulate blood sugar levels. Insulin is your fat storing hormone, so unless you burn off those carbs the insulin sends them off to be converted to body fat.
The GI measures the rate at which the sugar in different foods is released into the bloodstream on a scale of 1-100.
The nearer to 100, the faster the sugar is released and the more likely it is to be converted to fat.
Now eating lower GI foods like most fruit and veg, wholegrains and so on causes a slower rise in blood sugar as they’re digested more slowly and release their sugar gradually.
In other words, they’re less fattening than their higher GI counterparts.
Put simply, the Sugar Busters Diet bans high GI foods and promotes the consumption of low GI foods.
You’ll be avoiding white bread and pasta, white rice, sugary foods such as jam, cookies and sugar.
You’ll be eating wholegrain bread and pasta, wild rice and plenty of fruit and veg, chicken, fish and lean meat.
As such, our Sugar Busters Diet review would suggest that the diet overall is really pretty healthy.
It’s high in fiber, it advocates the consumption of moderate levels of lean protein and it’s low in fat, particularly saturated fat.
The diet promotes the consumption of fresh fruit and veg…well, most fruit and veg.
Whilst we like GI diets generally, this is where all GI diets slip up.
Fruit and veg like bananas, carrots and raisins are taboo, which is a flaw in the GI approach.
Whilst GI is useful as a guide, Glycemic Load (GL) is also a factor
GL is the amount of sugar that a food releases. Whilst a carrot may be higher GI, it has relatively little sugar so will have little impact on blood sugar levels, insulin production and fat storage.
Let’s face it, carrots are hardly in the Ben and Jerry’s league when it comes to calories!
The Sugar Busters Diet is around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. Pretty close to most healthy eating guidelines.
Portion sizes are generous so fill your plate once and don’t go back for seconds or be tempted to snack between meals!
The diet has no weight loss and maintenance phases as such. The emphasis is on a lifelong approach to food and eating.
There are no formal exercise plans, although you are recommended to do at least 20 minutes of cardio at least four times a week together with a couple of weight training sessions.
Sugar Busters Diet Review – Does it Work…?
The Sugar Busters Diet has a lot going for it. Any diet that promotes the consumption of healthy wholegrains, fruit, veg and lean proteins has to be a good thing.
You should lose weight if you follow the plan, although whether this will be down to the low GI nature of the diet or the fact that it’s lower in calories is unclear.
The simple fact that you’ll be cutting sugar out of your diet will make a big difference in calories and potential weight loss…assuming that you eat a lot of sugar in the first place that is!
The diet is a little higher in protein than the 15-25% that various health agencies recommend.
Although there is a good body of evidence to suggest that a little more protein helps to control appetite, speed up metabolism and protect lean tissue mass when dieting.
Consuming 30% of your calories from lean protein is unlikely to cause any long term health problems, although there’s no definitive evidence one way or the other.
As far as our Sugar Busters Diet review is concerned, the fact that the diet promotes a long term approach to food and weight loss based on a healthy, varied and balanced diet that includes all the main food groups is a plus.
This should increase your chances of losing the weight and keeping it off!
Sugar Busters Diet Review – The Bottom Line…
Overall, our Sugar Busters Diet review would conclude that this is a balanced, healthy, sensible weight loss program that offers a long term solution to weight management.
If sugary foods and refined starchy products like white bread are a problem and have contributed to your weight gain, then a low GI diet could well be the answer.
Whilst the evidence base for the diet isn’t universally accepted, we can’t argue with a diet that advocates the consumption of high fiber foods and fruit and veg.
One downside though is the lack of support you get – you buy the book and that’s it, get on with it!
Our Sugar Busters Diet review verdict? This diet has a lot going for it!