The Sugar Blaaaaaahhhhhs

My stomach's bloated.

I lack motivation.

My butt feels too big.

I'm skipping the gym.

Can't concentrate on homework.

I want to curl up in a blanket and eat donuts and cry.

I wanted a little bit of sugar once in a while. The routine has evolved to epic sugar proportions: I wake up and pour my coffee and gather a handful of cookies to eat with my coffee. Because there is nothing tastier. But nothing squelches motivation like a belly full of sugar rot.

For lunch I will probably eat a giant, colorful salad. Then the sugar craving will kick in and I will hunt around the kitchen for something sweetly satisfying. It almost feels okay because my lunch was so healthy.

One handful of chocolate covered almonds becomes two or three handfuls. Then I get so sleepy I have to nap it off.

When I wake up from napping, I search around for chocolate almond stragglers. Remnants.

I skip dinner because I don't want calories from both a healthy dinner and the inevitable ice cream.

My joints hurt. I have to carefully stretch my back when I get myself off the couch. It's bedtime and yet just one more chocolate beckons me, just one more spoonful of ice cream.

Why am I in this perpetual loop?

I need the angel on my right shoulder, because for now I can only hear the devil on my left.

Why Results of Sugar Studies are Unclear

                                          

Who is willing to go without sugar, even with financial incentives? Even on behalf of sugar research, who would the control groups be?

• People who are going to lie--"Sure I'll go without sugar for 6 months for your study!"

• People who go into it honestly, but fail--"Um, Mr. Researcher, I, uh, had an accident the other day, and then the day after that, and, uh, I failed."

I am concluding that there are two types of people. The liars and the failures. Kidding. There are a great number of people across the globe giving up sugar for weeks and months and years at a time, but how are the researchers going to pinpoint these perfect candidates for their studies? It seems to me like studies are done locally by the institutions performing them. This local cohort of people I would tend to believe fall into one of the above two categories. 

My oh so brilliant solution? Researchers ought to hire a savvy social media person to collect contact info on people around the globe who are, on their own, giving up sugar. These people blog and use other social media outlets to share their experiences. I think this is our best shot at collecting accurate stats about sugar and human health. 

"Since the latter part of the twentieth century, it has been questioned whether a diet high in sugars, especially refined sugars, is bad for health. Sugar has been linked to obesity and suspected of being implicated in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, macular degeneration and tooth decay. Numerous studies have been undertaken to try to clarify the position but the results remain largely unclear, mainly because of the difficulty of finding populations for use as controls that do not consume sugars."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar)

As an afterthought, I suppose another way to go about studying sugar's effect on human health would be to categorize groups of people by how much sugar they consume. Then require your control group to eat a certain amount of sugar, additionally. Gross thought.

Sugar & Weight Gain

(Sue Archer)

This may not come as a surprise to those of you battling sugar: A new study found that eating less sugar is linked with weight loss and eating more sugar is linked with weight gain.

A study or did they just read my blog? :)

One of my nutrition heroes, Walter Willett, chair of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, comments, "Sugars from whole fruits have not been linked with weight gain."

Such simple, wise advice. Now, let's eat whole fruits and give up added sugars, shall we? It's soooo hard to do.

Lately I've been satisfying my pesty sweet tooth with big chunks of fresh pineapple. Seriously, you are not going to crave Ben & Jerry's or cookie dough after chewing on these juicy, sweet morsels. I would know because it seems like I have to go to the ends of the earth to douse my sugar cravings. Or just eat pineapple. Treat yourself to a whole one. Cut off the skin and around the fibrous core. It's good for digestion and it's full of nutrients.

I think I need this cupcake t-shirt....it captures the vibe quite well.

Yummy Sugar Substitutes

I've quit sugar enough times to know that it can't (shouldn't) be done without the right substitutes in your cupboards. This just takes a little bit of planning.

If you've already quit sugar but haven't stocked up on substitutes, it's not too late but I recommend you hustle to your local grocery store.  Do not delay! A health food store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's would be best. Being prepared with substitutes can make the difference between reaching your goal of staying off the white stuff or giving in and re-starting the icky cycle.

FAVORITE SUGAR SUBSTITUTES

Zesty Nacho Kale Chips at Trader Joe's. So good you might eat the whole bag! And if you do (pull out the little packet of silica gel, first) that's 300 kale calories, with some healthy cashew and beet powder goodness. These seriously rock and satisfy the need to nosh...and keep noshing.

Hot Tea. Splurge on the most exciting flavors of tea. Tea has a wide price range, but don't be frugal here. Buy that Red Velvet Chocolate tea and you will feel so much better sipping on that rather than crying over a chocolate cake you've just devoured. For me, something about the heat satisfies all on its own.

Dark Chocolate Honey Mints at Trader Joe's. Only three ingredients: honey, chocolate liquor and oil of peppermint. If you like York peppermint patties, you will love these. The peppermint is so strong that you can only have one or two at a time. And it's honey, not white refined sugar, although the "sugars" in three small patties still equals 17 grams.

Dried Fruit Leathers from Trader's. About 50 cents each, but so good and made with just fruit. Sometimes if my sweet tooth is really buggin', I will need to eat two or three leathers to feel satisfied....but I've avoided white refined sugar!

Fresh Fruit washed and cut. For me the fruits that really satisfy a sugar craving are: mango, pineapple, crunchy apples with almond butter or cheese, dried fruit like prunes or apples.

Fresh Veggies washed and cut. Crunchy, juicy peppers in hummus, carrots with almond butter, cucumbers, celery, etc. If I've taken the time to have these prepared then it's so easy to grab them. If not, I'm likely to talk myself out of washing and cutting and finding the right sized container first.

Juice. (My favorite: Grape Juice). Although this is a kind of sugar, at least it's from fruit and not the white refined stuff. It contains nutrients that white sugar can't speak of. I like to pour myself a very small glass and sip it. It's so sweet and nice and cold that I don't need Ben & Jerry's after all.

Popcorn. So many different flavors of microwave popcorn (read labels!), but of course best popped fresh with minimal butter and salt added. Spray some soy sauce and then sprinkle nutritional yeast/garlic spices for a real treat.

*  Remember this, the goodies you are using as sugar substitutes must be good. They must really make you excited. Do not hesitate to overstock your kitchen with goodness.

**  Lastly, a word on the existing junk food in your pantry. I don't necessarily recommend throwing it all out. If you're anything like me, you kind of need to know it's there and that you're really avoiding it daily. Other family members are NOT quitting sugar with you so the junk food is theirs. I try to find a happy medium here. I don't like Oreos in my cupboard because they are a food I might break my sugar fast for. On the other hand, other junk food like candy or chocolate chips or whatever don't tempt me as much. If you do choose to throw out every last piece of tempting junk food, just brace yourself for when you are in the presence of these things: friends' homes, restaurants, mom and dad's house, etc. It might prove to be more difficult because you haven't had practice with avoiding them up front.

Sugar-free feels AMAZING!