Sugar Busters Food Lists

Sugar Busters is a low- to no-sugar lifestyle choice. The creators of this plan work from the perspective that sugar is the root cause of weight loss difficulties. According to Sugar Busters theory, foods that contain large amounts of sugar, along with simple carbohydrates your body rapidly converts to sugar, raise blood insulin levels to the point where weight loss becomes difficult to impossible, even if you cut calories and exercise often. The Sugar Busters food lists bases acceptable food choices on the amount and effect of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels.

Sugar Busters targets added sugars as the type to avoid. With the exception of fresh fruit, the foods you include in your diet should contain no more than 3 g of added sugar per serving. These include sweeteners, such as honey, molasses and corn syrup, and additives such as cornstarch, modified food starch, dextrose, polydextrose and malodextrin.

In order of importance, acceptable foods in this group include those made with 100 percent stone-ground whole wheat, whole grain or whole-wheat flour. This list also coincides with processing and the fiber content of each type. For example, according to the website Extension, a research-based informational site, stone-ground whole wheat undergoes the least processing and has the highest fiber content.

Include breads that meet the sugar and flour-type rules, whole grain crackers and whole grain or whole bran cereal. Oatmeal is a good choice but make sure it is old-fashioned, rather than instant oatmeal. Rice can be brown, brown basamati, white basamati, wild or converted white rice. Pasta should be either whole wheat, 100 percent hard durum semolina or a whole grain, non-wheat flour type.

The Sugar Busters diet includes and encourages most varieties of fresh, frozen and canned vegetables, as well as dried beans on the list of allowed foods. Carrots are a new addition to the Sugar Busters food list, included after further testing revealed their position on the glycemic index is not as high as initial tests portrayed.

Vegetables not on the food list include white potatoes, corn and products that contain corn, beets, turnips, parsnips and rutabagas.

Except for watermelon, raisins, pineapple and bananas, fruit and fruit juice with no added sugar is on the food list. In addition, the food list includes fruit spreads and jam or jellies with no added sugar.

Lean protein foods include lean red meat or pork, as well as white meat poultry, fish or shellfish, reduced-fat sausage and turkey bacon. Sugar Busters also includes protein from sources, such as eggs or egg substitutes, tofu, soy protein, nuts, seeds and nut butters with no added sugars.

The food list includes all low fat or nonfat dairy products as long as they do not violate the three-gram rule.

Although some amount of dietary fat is essential for good health, the food list for the most part limits fats to monounsaturated types, such as olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil or walnut oil. Although the food list does include butter, Sugar Buster recommends you use it in moderation.