Sack OFF Sugar

The sugar industry is booming more than ever, almost all of us are hooked on it, it’s near enough unavoidable and it’s killing us. I say it loud and I say it proud, stop pulling the candy floss over your eyes and remove those sherbet coloured spectacles. Artificial sweeteners are not worse for you than sugar and yes, you do need electrolytes, you can get electrolytes from salt.

I would love nothing more than to live in a world where eating endless Victoria Sponges and drinking fountains of salted caramel latte's didn’t bring you rapidly closer to death, but life isn’t meant to be easy. You don't believe me or you don’t want to believe me? In all honesty, I don’t even want to believe me. Either way, I feel it is my duty to spread awareness and deliver the facts and statistics to help anyone reading this.

Before we sink in to the negatives, it’s imperative that I start off with why our body needs sugar, what makes it so delicious and moreish, plus, what would happen without it?

GET THAT GLUCOSE

Primarily, our brains require glucose to function, so does our central nervous system and red blood cells. Without any glucose in our system, our brains will slowly start to shut down; the first signs being dizziness and extreme fatigue. These neurological meltdowns are extreme and very rare, unless you’re a diabetic or doing intense training without nourishing your body sufficiently. Glucose travels to our brains via the bloodstream after we consume sugar or carbohydrates from a wide range of fruit, vegetables, starch and dairy products. Nonetheless, it is important to mention that when our bodies are depleted of all it’s glycogen stores, it will start to break down and convert stored fat from our cells in to glucose. It’s a longer process for our cells but it’s what many people strive for, to become leaner.

So that’s it… that’s the only real benefit to consuming sugar, other than it makes us feel good by releasing dopamine. Even then, this dopamine fix is a double edged sword because it can create addiction and reliance. When it comes to sugar, it’s not something we should be reliant on, especially high doses of it, it will cause our insulin to spike and make us feel hungry when we aren’t. One of the reasons our species survived thousands of years ago is because of this addictive function. All of these hormones and chemicals are working intrinsically to persuade us to eat the extra berries on the bush, even if we are full, because we don’t know when we will see berries again. It was a great function then but it’s causing horrific damage to us now.

TREAT YOURSELF

Now we have established the sugar cycle, here are some tips to help with those cravings. I am in no way recommending removing all sugar from your diet, that would be unrealistic and impractical. You can likely benefit from just going “refined sugar” free. It’s difficult at first but your tastebuds adapt and the things that tasted so bland before, now have a new life. I can only suggest what works for me, everyone is different but I have had decades of experience.

1. Replace those jelly babies for some low sugar fruits, particularly kiwis. In my opinion, eating kiwi’s is the best way to give your brain that much needed glucose hit, without over doing it. Kiwis are also the most nutrient dense out of all the ready available fruits. Calcium, Magnesium, Fiber, Vitamin E to name a few benefits, also, kiwis are just delicious.

2. Start your day off with a savory, high protein breakfast to help balance your hormones and deplete those over active hunger cravings. I like having omelets, some avocado on ancient grain toast or low fat cream cheese on crackers.

3. Stevia! I love this sweetener. For those of you that really hate artificial sweeteners, whether that be from allergies or fear of the unknown, stevia is a fantastic alternative and 100% natural. You can add it to pasta sauce, 0% fat Greek yoghurt for a healthy dessert or you can even bake some cookies with it. The possibilities are endlessly delicious.

4. Sugar free treats and fizzy drinks. With society catching up to the dietary science and accommodating for diabetics, there are so many sugar free products available at most supermarkets, it’s fantastic.

5. Visit your local practitioner if your cravings become too overwhelming. This could be a sign of a serious underlying health issue or mental health problem. I know if I’m over eating, it’s due to high levels of stress and it’s an unhealthy/unstable coping mechanism that will only get worse.

THE SINISTER SIDE OF SUGAR

To put it bluntly, habitual over-consumption of sugar is up there with smoking cigarettes. It causes DNA breaks, DNA damage and inflammation. In addition, you can gain an excess of visceral fat, it can cause depression, diabetes (which in turn, increases chances of all cause mortality), accelerated aging, cancer, the list continues. Just to focus on diabetes alone is foolish, regardless, 415 million people suffer worldwide with diabetes and it’s estimated that 80-85% of these cases are caused by obesity.

Molecularly, the excessive amounts of glucose is collected and sticks the DNA strands together, this can cause all of the above listed illnesses. Imagine trying to copy a painting that’s crumpled up and covered in glue? Then copying that copy and so on and so forth. It's impossible, you lose details and vital information.

Without meaning to ruin your appetite, I hope this article has given you a new perception of those sugary treats. I’m not saying I don’t indulge in the occasional chocolate cake, ginger nut and doughnut, I’m only human. However, I do try to limit my sugar intake to the bare minimum. Now, when I look at a bag of Haribo I try to envisage the damage it can cause my tiny strands of DNA, before I devour a couple. This technique stops me from eating another thirty sweets and instead, grabbing some carrots and dip. We should all be more mindful with our sugar consumption and treat our bodies with good nutrition and care, our bodies work hard for us and it's a great way to show gratitude.

If you have any questions or want to discuss any of the above topics, please feel free to follow my socials below and send me your message.