<p align="center" style="margin-top:30.0pt; text-align:center; margin:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:Roboto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#a5a5a5">By Dr. Jason Haas </span></span></span></span></b><span lang="EN" style="color:black"><a href="http://benchmarkmedicalgroup.com/category/blog/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#a5a5a5"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-underline:none">Blog</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></a></span><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#a5a5a5">, </span></span></span></span></b><span lang="EN" style="color:black"><a href="http://benchmarkmedicalgroup.com/category/medical-weight/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#a5a5a5"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-underline:none">Weight Loss</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p align="center" style="margin-bottom:11.0pt; text-align:center; margin:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:Roboto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">Stop the Sugar Madness!</span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom:11.0pt; text-align:center; margin:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:Roboto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">The biggest reason people crave sugar is that their insulin is high, when it starts to drop our bodies want the sweets to spike it back up. It’s a vicious cycle, that leads to feeling tired, fatigued, and GUILTY. Who wants that? Here are some great tips to get you back on the road to being healthy and feeling energetic again.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom:11.0pt; text-align:center; margin:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:Roboto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">1. Try Protein first- </span></span></span></span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">Often our body tells us it wants sugar when it really needs protein. Try starting with an egg, or a high quality protein product.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom:11.0pt; text-align:center; margin:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:Roboto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">2. Remove the temptations from your environment-</span></span></span></span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999"> If you don’t have them in the house it’s harder to indulge. If it’s at work that you’re having a hard time. Do what you can to remove the temptation BEFORE the craving hits. If you keep a jar of jelly beans on your desk. Get rid of them, but bring something healthy to eat when you are ready for a snack.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom:11.0pt; text-align:center; margin:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:Roboto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">3. Eat something every 3 hours- </span></span></span></span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">Cravings hit hardest when we have either skipped a meal, or we have had a drop in our blood sugar. By eating every few hours we avoid that drop in blood sugar (and keep your metabolism burning high). Eating 3 quality meals a day with 2-3 snacks will keep you feeling good without getting to that starving feeling where you grab whatever you can find to get your blood sugar up.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align:center; margin:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:Roboto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">4. Cut sugar cold turkey –</span></span></span></span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt"><span style="line-height:130%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="color:#999999">Because our insulin is so used to being high, the first 3 days are the hardest. If you can eliminate sweets completely until your body has had a chance to let your insulin come down, you won’t crave them like you did. Then you’ll be able to be satisfied with a small protein rich sweet snack like our dark chocolate wafer or maybe some of our chocolate chip pudding.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>