DAY 12

“The bottom line is that sugar upsets the body chemistry and suppresses the immune system. Once the immune system becomes suppressed, the door is opened to infectious and degenerative diseases. The stronger the immune system the easier it is for the body to fight infectious and degenerative diseases.” ― Nancy Appleton, Ph.D

How are you doing today? It’s getting to that time when challengers start to beat themselves up for missing a day or two or five (yikes!) of the challenge. If that’s you, take a deep breath right now. It’s not the end of the world … yet. 

Think about this simple truth that any week, day, hour, even minute is a good time to start over. You don’t need to wait for magical Monday, or the first of the month or tomorrow to renew your effort to live healthier and to lose weight. Pick up from where you left off and keep it moving. 

You may fall many more times. It is the ability to get up over and over again that will make you reach your goal. And you, radiant woman, can definitely do this!

Okay, grab your lemon/lime water and let’s get down to today’s business.

Day 12 Wellness Action: Create a Sugar Free Meal Plan For a Day

In today’s dietary landscape, sugar is present in almost everything that is available to eat. From the expected places like cakes and sweets to the unexpected places like whole wheat bread and “healthy” yogurt, sugar has become a mainstay in our diets.

While we could all use a little sweetness in our lives, we have come to depend on it so much that it is damaging our health.

Sugary foods fall squarely under empty calories that make no significant contribution to your long term health and take the place of the more nutritious fare that our body needs to thrive.

Another dangerous thing about sugar is that you tend to find its other more harmful counterparts, saturated and trans fats, where there is plenty of sugar.

As you take action to eliminate sugar from your diet for one day, do bear in mind that not all foods that contain sugar are bad for us.

For example, whole fruits and vegetables contain naturally occurring sugars. Fortunately for us, we get the benefit of the fiber from fruits that slows down the sugar’s absorption into our bloodstream when we eat them in their whole form. This means we don’t get the energy crash that usually comes with the processed sugary foods like cake and we still get something sweet that is packed with vitamins and minerals.

Today’s Radiant Read:

Sugar Out, Supplement In

Day 12 Workout: Tabata Legs

Tabatas are a type of high intensity interval training that involve 20-seconds of exercise and 10-seconds of rest alternated repeated times. This type of exercise delivers a very short but intense workout guaranteed to deliver results.

This workout involves not one but two Tabata workouts and where Tabata intervals normally only involve one exercise, these feature two.

1. Tabata squats and forward lunges

• 20 seconds of squats
• 10 seconds rest
• 20 seconds of forward lunges
• 10 seconds rest
• Repeat four times

2. Tabata squat holds and reverse lunges

• 20 seconds of squat holds
• 10 seconds rest
• 20 seconds of reverse lunges
• 10 seconds rest
• Repeat four times

Click here for full written exercise instructions. Once you have warmed up, follow the exercise demonstration in the video below to get started on today’s fitness challenge.  

Do you have a sweet tooth? What’s the sugary treat that gets you every time? Come share with us on Facebook. Click here to go directly to today’s Facebook post.