What Jennifer Lopez Discovered About Herself During a 10-Day Health Challenge

Starting her career in the entertainment industry as a dancer, it’s no surprise that Jennifer Lopez has always taken a serious stance when it comes to her fitness.

But like the other stars who came before her, she’s neglected an important aspect of her health: her diet. The realization of this dawned on the Latina singer after taking on a 10-day health challenge.

A Challenge From Her Trainer

The 49-year-old singer turned actress is currently training to play an exotic dancer in an upcoming film called “Hustlers”.

Lopez was challenged by her trainer Dodd Romero to go 10 days without eating anything with carbs and sugar in order to “move the needle” a bit to get her ready for a challenging new movie role she’s lined up to play.

According to Lopez, Romero definitely knew what he was doing to help stay healthy and in shape seeing how carbs and sugar make up a huge part of her regular diet.

Lopez admitted being initially shocked by Romero’s challenge as she admitted in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. But she would even be more shocked as the days go by.

Giving Up Sugar Isn’t Fun

Lopez has often been photographed eating sweet treats like ice cream by paparazzi.

For someone who enjoys sweets as much as Lopez, giving up sugar for over a week is definitely bound to be difficult.

In the span of the 10-day challenge, she said that she realized how addicted to sugar she was. She remembers getting obsessive thoughts about when she can get her next sweet fix and thought about the foods she’ll eat once the 10 days are over.

Experiencing some sort of sugar withdrawal, Lopez reported feeling like she’s living in an alternate reality after quitting sugar cold turkey.

According to doctors, withdrawal symptoms can last up to two weeks depending on how much sugar a person initially consumed. However, the good news is that the longer a person goes without the white stuff the lesser the cravings for it will be afterward.

The Benefits Were Worth the Difficulty

In the end, Lopez said that the challenge did her good and even improved her mental state.

She also described how things eventually got easier for her as she learned to be more disciplined and fight off her cravings.

But the best part is that when she began consuming sugar again, she found that she didn’t enjoy it as much as she used to. In fact, she’s even decided to take up the challenge again for good measure.

Inspiring Others

The attractive couple has recently announced their engagement after two years of dating.

Perhaps another reason why Lopez succeeded in the 10-day challenge is that she was doing it with fiance Alex Rodriguez who motivated her by joining in.

The couple’s commitment inspired other celebrities to do the same. Some of them include television hosts Hoda Kotb and Michael Strahan who have fortunately managed to keep up their no sugar mantra.

In the end, Lopez was also proud of what the simple challenge achieved in changing the diets of other celebs.