Getting real about sugar
Sugar has been a popular topic in the media for a number of years now, and we are often hearing about the negative implications for our health and wellbeing, and how it can play havoc with blood sugar and promote inflammation. So you might be wondering, how do you go about reducing sugar when it seems to have infiltrated every product going and it’s just so hard to say no to?
Well, before you commit to never to having cake again and start trying to avoid all fruit and honey, read on to understand what I believe to be the two keys to successfully curbing sugar - that is developing sound nutritional awareness, and also developing a healthy relationship with food, sugar included, so when we do consume it, it is in a balanced way, rather than a binge.
Where sugar lurks
Let’s start with understanding where the major sources of sugar lie in the standard Western diet at large. Think about fizzy drinks, concentrated fruit juices, processed cereals, ready meals particularly the low fat ones, white sliced bread, packaged cakes, desserts, biscuits, sweets and flavoured yoghurts, plus the sugar we add to teas and coffees.
As you can see, most of these food will typically feature sugar in a highly concentrated form, or contain a refined form of sugar ie. table sugar. When sugar is added by the manufacture, we call these ‘free sugars’.
Even with food industry steps to regulate free sugars, if someone’s daily diet is largely dependent on these kinds of processed foods it’s going to be tricky to keep things balanced, not to mention nutrient-dense and free of other possible artificial compounds and chemicals such as trans-fats, additives and preservatives.
We all have the message now that consuming large amounts of sugar overtime is linked to inflammation, blood sugar dysregulation and related conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes. However - to add a little perspective - infrequent or small amounts of refined sugars are unlikely to be harmful to most people. So, whilst you may look at the big picture of your diet and decide you need to reduce your intake, you may not necessarily need to cut it out completely, and I encourage you not to write-off all the foods containing sugar as pure evil (see my later point for more on this).
The second major category of sugars are the naturally occurring kind. Think about the sugars that are found in ‘whole foods’ such as fruits, dairy, starchy vegetables and wholegrains.
When people first start to get clued up on sugar they can get quite fearful of all sugars, including those in natural foods, fruits in particular. Bananas, grapes, pineapple, for example, can all get a bad wrap.
But what you need to know is that the natural sugars in most whole foods are delivered in a volume and format that our bodies are well versed in metabolising. Plus the sugars in these food come with a host of other beneficial nutrients. For example, fresh fruits contain fructose, as well as plenty of Vitamin C and fibre. This all means that as part of a balanced die, any possible negative health implications linked to natural sugars from whole foods are likely negligible for most people.
Lightening the sugar load naturally
There are so many ‘diets’ either focussed around quitting sugar or involving strict rules around it’s avoidance, but in my view our overall approach to keeping our dietary intake of sugar to sensible levels for health should be less focussed on ruling out sugar and more focussed around the overall balance of our daily diets including a base-line of ‘whole foods’ with all the many health benefits that they bring.
Whole foods are essentially foods in their simplest forms - the raw ingredients we have cooked with for centuries before Kelloggs and Cadburys popped up on the scene. As well as fruits, vegetables, wholegrains and dairy, you can also add meats, fish, eggs, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds to the list.
They don’t have a huge list of ingredients on the back of the packet, if indeed they need a packet at all. And they are nutrient-dense as well as being free or naturally low in sugar and/or providing sugar in forms the body is happy to take advantage of.
Spend less time choosing colourful packets… and more time choosing colourful foods.
Keeping it real
You might be wondering where yogurts, dried fruit, jams, honey, baked beans, bottled sauces, condiments or those ready-made protein balls you like, fit in the picture. If you were to take the concept of whole food to the very extreme then you would exclude these on the basis they were altered from their original natural states / have other ingredients combined / have been tampered with in some way. However, as you might guess, I don’t suggest these extremes are necessary in most cases.
There is no doubt that learning about the ‘hidden sugars’ added to foods can be surprising, but the processing of food is a spectrum and going extreme may not be practical or constructive to our relationship with food in today’s society. So in my view, it’s better to take a pragmatic, but still conscious, approach to food choices.
This is where a quick check on the back of a packet can come in useful as you build your nutritional awareness.
How are those sugars looking? Would you stay the processing is relatively minimal/understandable? Or are there stacks of ingredients on the packet you simply don’t recognise?
You might also consider how much of a food you would typically eat and what you might pair it with whilst you eat it. Take honey as the example here - eating it pure by the tablespoon is one thing, but imagine how most of us are actually most likely to consume it, for example, on a slice of toast with butter for taste, or combined with protein-rich greek yoghurt and berries, or to sweeten up your parsnips.
The overall nutritional quality of the overall meal or snack usually looks very different when you take it a whole, as compared to the single ingredients. And so can the potential impact on blood sugar levels too. When you combine sugar, or carbs that breakdown to sugar very quickly, with protein, fibre-rich foods, or fat-rich foods, you can help blunt the blood sugar response.
Take dairy products as another example. The processing methods vary widely so the nutritional profile of a brie will look different to cheese strings, kefir will look different to a Muller Corner. But whatever milk or yoghurt products you choose, consider that they all contain some calcium and protein, as well as the sugar lactose.
No sugar coating – being prepared when sugar calls
If you have challenges with your relationship with sugary or processed foods and struggle with cravings, then getting real about sugar may be tough. This is not your fault - you may be caught up in unhelpful beliefs how ‘bad’ it is. Plus, excessive sugar intake overtime is known to have potent biological, neurological and emotional affects.
Understandably, you may associate sugary foods with the enjoyment or comfort they bring or the quick energy hit. And, even if you have concerns about your health, you may feel resistant to changing your habits. Therefore cutting them out completely, as is often recommended by many professionals, could really backfire for you and result in food obsession or binge eating.
But there is a way forward. Instead I recommend taking an intuitive approach to gently ‘unhooking’ from sugar. Here are just a few tips to get you started:
Start by understanding your pattern with sugar by bringing awareness to your urges and cravings and understanding your personal triggers for turning to sugar. For example, hunger, thirst, lack of regularity around meal times, tiredness, stress or other emotions are all very common triggers.
Once you notice and name what’s going on for you, it’s far easier to work on your self-care accordingly and in turn naturally reduce the opportunities to get triggered and start to reset both your mind and body responses.This might sound counter intuitive but if you give yourself full permission to eat sugar as part of your diet, you effectively take it off that pedestal you’ve put it on and can level up with it. Many people assume control or willpower will get them through sugar cravings, but the human brain doesn’t work like that - if you tell it not to think about something specific, it will think about it.
Exposure (albeit very carefully at first) is one remedy to this, as eventually it will lose some of its allure and you reclaim your power to choose it when you really want it.Be mindful of the big picture of your daily diet and how the overall balance is shaping up (with consideration of my nutritional guidance above). Eat enough food! Incorporate colourful whole foods, combine proteins in meals and snacks. And when you’re thinking about what to eat, think about nourishment, satisfaction and fullness whilst eating and after eating - rather than simply getting a quick ‘hit’.
Put a little more time and thought into snacks and options beyond the ultra high-sugar snacks ie. the biscuits, cakes and sweets. Many of my clients report eating well at meal times but feel their snacking is out of control. What alternatives could you easily make available to yourself e.g. fruits, yoghurts, nuts and seeds, cheese, oatcakes, hummus or high quality chocolate?
As you can see, this is all about awareness and balance and there is so much more to this topic than I’ve covered in this blog. Keep learning from your own experiences and stay curious about what your body is telling you.
If the vast majority of your diet is based on whole or minimally processed foods, the odd sweet treat is really of no concern and should not induce feelings of guilt. But if you feel out of control around sugar and your health at large, then consider that support is available to help you develop a more healthy, flexible and liberating relationship with food.
Next Steps
Do you struggle in your relationship to food and would you benefit a fresh approach to eating that puts your mind-body health and wellbeing first? Please check out my Reconnect programme here.
