Sugar Busters Diet: What It Is

What It Is

"Cut Sugar to Trim Fat" proclaims the dust jacket of Sugar Busters! Inside the book, you read that "Sugar is toxic!" And that's the basic premise of the diet. The authors tell you to eliminate all sweets made with refined sugar and certain fruits and vegetables with a high-sugar content because they wreak havoc on your biochemical system. The diet also promises to lower your cholesterol, achieve optimal wellness, increase your energy, and help treat diabetes and other diseases.

So proclaims the diet that became a self-published phenomenon in New Orleans, until a major publisher released Sugar Busters! in 1998. It's still selling so strong in the hardcover edition that the paperback hasn't been released yet. The four authors are H. Leighton Steward, a former CEO, and three doctors from the Big Easy: Morrison C. Bethea, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon; Samuel S. Andrews, MD, an endocrinologist; and Luis A. Balart, MD, a gastroenterologist.

Although the authors say that counting calories or measuring food is not a part of the Sugar Busters! plan, they suggest you "look at portion size," which is another way of cutting calories -- even though they claim that "calories are not the answer to weight gain or loss." In addition, the authors point out that moderate exercise will not significantly affect weight loss if you continue to eat foods with high sugar content. Finally, they caution that the diet is not for exercise fanatics.

What You Can Eat

While the authors say there are only a few things you cannot eat on the diet, these banned foods include some of the more common staples of the American diet: "You must virtually eliminate potatoes, corn, white rice, bread from refined flour, beets, carrots, and, of course, refined sugar, corn syrup, molasses, honey, sugared colas, and beer." A short list, but note that you must stop eating all refined sugars.

The basic plan is to eat high-fiber vegetables, stone-ground whole grains, lean and trimmed meats, fish, and fruits. If you choose alcohol, you should drink red wine. Bake, broil or grill meat, and cook with an oil that is high in mono- and polyunsaturated fats and low in saturated fats, such as canola. You eat three meals a day of moderate portions, and you can have snacks such as fruit and nuts, although fruit should be eaten by itself. And fruit is preferred over fruit juice, and best eaten a half hour before the meal.

You should eat:

Meats, including:

Lean beef and pork
Canadian bacon
Poultry
Game meats, such as venison
Fish and shellfish

Vegetables, including:

Beans
Lentils
Peas
Spinach
Lettuce
Squash
Zucchini
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Artichokes
Cabbage
Celery
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Eggplant
Onions

Fruits, including:

Apples
Lemons and limes
Pears
Cherries
Raspberries
Kiwis
Grapefruits
Apricots
Melons other than watermelon
Tomatoes
Tangerines and oranges

You also can have dairy products, and whole grains and cereals --- just don't add sugar to them! Spices and dark chocolate are also permitted. You should not eat: