Why Summer is an Ideal Time to Take a Break from Sugar and Flour

If you’re fed up with vowing every morning that you’ll eat healthfully and then breaking your vow by evening, then summer might be the perfect time to take a break from sugar and flour.

Here are 4 reasons why:

1) Summer is full of fun things you can’t experience fully when you’re eating crap.

There are so many joyful things about summer: the scent of flowers and fresh-cut grass, the cold splash when you jump in a pool, the sound of birds singing when you wake up in the morning, the feel of sand between your toes.

Eating crappy food — and overeating food — not only numbs you from the lows in life, it also numbs you from those kinds of joys. If you really want to feel, smell, hear, and immerse yourself in summer, you have to stop numbing out with sugar and flour.

2) Learning how to have fun without sugar and flour will transform you.

When you can’t celebrate summer with ice cream and popsicles, you learn how many other wonderful ways there are to enjoy the season without junk food.

How about trying things you’ve always wanted to do — like rock-climbing or zip-lining? Or, if peaceful things are more your speed, what about starting a ritual of starting the day with a cup of tea out on the patio or balcony? Finding an outdoor yoga class? Learning to create the perfect container garden?

There are so many fantastic things to do in summer. But they all start with getting off the sugar and flour. That’s the foundation. That’s where it starts. Being sugar- and flour-free is the start for all the wonderful things that summer can be about.

3) You can get closer to people you love.

Overeating takes a lot of time and energy. You spend time worrying about what you’re going to eat, how much you’re going to eat, and whether you’ve gotten enough. Not to mention the time you spend feeling bloated and sluggish.

Wouldn’t you rather spend that time and energy playing in the park with your children? Or walking in the woods with your spouse? Or just watching a beautiful sunset?

When you’re not stuffing yourself with unhealthy food, you’ll be present and alive for time with your children, your partner, your friends and your family. That’s not just a gift to them, it’s a tremendous gift to yourself.

4) You’ll look better.

I don’t just mean you’ll have a slimmer body, although that is awesome. Healthy food gives your skin a glow and your hair a shiny sheen. Your eyes will sparkle when your brain isn’t soaked in sugar and flour.

If you’ve been thinking about giving up (or resuming giving up) sugar and flour, don’t wait for “motivation” to strike you. Motivation rarely hits out of the blue and when it does, it rarely lasts. Instead, action often comes before motivation. Action often is what leads to motivation.

So consider using the motivation of summertime to give yourself a challenge. Quit sugar and flour until Labor Day. Resume your healthy eating plan for the next two months. Whatever. There will never be a better time than right now.