Sugar - and now the good news
In my last post, I told you about an amazing presentation given by David Gillespie author of Sweet Poison - why sugar makes us fat. His talk was insightful, thought provoking and just a little bit frightening I know. I was there! But it’s not all bad news….
There is little doubt that most of us eat way too much sugar - 35- 45 teaspoons per person per day according to David. And that is almost all in the form of processed white sugar. This stuff is essentially nutrient free. As far as our health is concerned, its pretty much a waste of time and energy eating it. We need to get as much of this stuff out of our diets as we possibly can.
Sneaky Sources
The major source of processed sugar is processed food. Just have a look at the ingredient list on most packaged breads, sauces - tomato and barbecue especially, jams, jellies, peanut butter, flavoured yoghurts, low fat products and of course breakfast cereals. This is just a list to get you started. You’ll find they all contain sugar unless they are artificially sweetened and then its a whole other story!
We haven’t even covered the things you already know about like soft drink, lollies, sweet biscuits, cookies and cakes. These products almost all use the highly processed, nutrient void white sugar or worse still, high fructose corn syrup. Just check out the ingredient list, you’ll see what I mean.
So what are the options? You could go cold turkey and give up sugar completely like David and so many others are doing. This is fairly dramatic action and I’m sure a lot of you would argue, not much fun. For some though, it’s the only way to beat their addiction.
And there will always be cases where people need to get sugar out of their lives, whether it’s to deprive cancer of its nourishment, fight off candida, loose weight, starve parasites, improve their immune system or because of an intolerance.
If you don’t fall into one of the categories listed above, there is something to be said for some types of sugars. If you are interested in knowing more about the health benefits of some sugars, Cyndi O’Meara’s wonderful Changing Habits Changing Lives has a whole chapter dedicated to sugar and how certain types can be good for you.
The Healthy Options
Lets look at a few of the totally natural sweeteners available that our bodies do recognise and can benefit from in small quantities as long as they don’t become a major source of energy for you.
Rapadura - This sugar is actually dehydrated sugar cane juice. Sugar cane naturally contains vitamins and minerals and these are fairly much preserved in the dehyration process. It works well as a one for one substitute in most recipies. You can get Rapadura from your health food store and from whole foods stores. The more we ask for it, the more readily it will become available.
Honey - how much more natural can you get than honey. It was certainly around for the cavemen and would have presented them with a great opportunity for exercise and ingenuity when they came across a bee hive. Raw honey has antiseptic and anti bacterial compounds and minerals so sure to use raw organic honey to get the best nutrition.
Maple Syrup - A good source of maple syrup is a wondrous thing. It imparts a special flavour to whatever it’s used in. It also contains antiseptic and anti bacterial phenolic compounds and minerals just like honey does.
If you would like to know more about the different types of natural healthy sugars and how to use them in your cooking, check out this information at Quirky Cooking.
So how much is too much?
That’s the million dollar question but you’ve all heard of the 80/20 rule - 80% of the food you eat is healthy, clean and nutrient dense and 20% of the time you cheat a little and eat as you please. After all, we are all here for a good time, not a long time! If getting to 80/20 is a bit of a struggle or you’d like to attempt to give up sugar completely, here’s a great article on ways to beat sugar cravings that you may find helpful.
Dangerous Sweeteners:
Here’s a few sweeteners that are really nasty.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is as the name suggests, made from corn, actually corn stalks, and has to go through a “secret” chemical process to make a compound that is not even recognised by your body. The processing creates a product that is very rapidly absorbed into your blood stream. HFCS’s contain more fructose than sucrose. Its not good for you! Avoid it at all costs! Read this article if you would like to know more on HFCS.
Artificial Sweeteners
Here’s the low down on some of the more popular artificial sweeteners. This information has been taken from Additive Alert by Julie Eady:
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954 | Known carcinogen especially linked to bladder and reproductive cancers. Banned in US in 1977 but reinstated with strict labelling provisions |
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951 | Linked to many health problems including cancer, asthma, nausea, depressions, hyperactivity and seizures. The most complained about food additive accounting for 75% of all complaints to FDA |
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950 | Caused cancer and tumors in animal tests |
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955 | Linked to neurological and immunological disorders, caused kidney and liver damage in tests. More research needed – avoid it. |
So we are still left with a question and we need to work out what’s right for us and our families. Do we give up sugar completely or just cut back our consumption to much much less than 35 teaspoons per day and make sure that what we do have is high quality and nutrient dense? Its all about finding where sugar fits into your life if at all. Its about finding your natural groove!
Let me know what you think about sugar and how it works in your life in the comments below.
PHOTO CREDITS
Bird eating nectar - <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/da100fotos/7037790239/”>Danny Perez Photography</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>
A spoonful of sugar <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/carowallis1/4388310394/”>Caro Wallis</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>
Sugar Cane - <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/royalolive/3874858198/”>Royal Olive</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>
Raw Honey <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/htomren/8298463852/”>htomren</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>
Maple Trees - <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/akaashmaharaj/8541356133/”>AkaashMaharaj</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>
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