It seems I’ve had a conversation about sugar in some form with just about EVERYONE I’ve talked to recently!
The biggest driver is questions surrounding “what’s ok” and “what’s’ not”.. there is also a lot of confusion about how carbs and sugar go hand in hand.. what type of sugar comes from what source.. and how all this plays in with the micro biome (gut health) and inflammation within the body.. so.. since I suspect there are LOTS more of you out there with these same questions.. lets dive into it!
Sugar by itself is NOT BAD! In fact it is the driving force of energy within our bodies! The problem comes in when we pump our bodies with TOO MUCH ADDITIONAL sugar.. and sadly .. our mass produced .. (Intentionally engineered to be addictive) food supply is LOADED with WAAAAYYYYY TOO MUCH SUGAR!
So.. YES.. you have to be VERY AWARE of EVERYTHING you put in your mouth..
How much is too much? This part is easy.. the guiding number is 24 g.. as in.. do everything in your power to not exceed 24 g of sugar in a day (that’s 6 teaspoons).. more than that and you will begin to introduce toxic loads to your system.. (ie.. your cells cant function with too much sugar.. )
So where does sugar in our food come from ? Well obviously we all know about table sugar, cane sugar and the incredibly evil (I’m not kidding) high fructose corn syrup (more on that later) and we all know about reading nutrition labels and seeing how much “added sugar” is in a product.. and really.. that’s your first step.. READ THOSE NUTRITION LABLES.. every single one.. if its in a bag, box, jar, can, bottle or some other container.. it should have a label.. and its your job to READ IT!
Once you start reading those labels.. and I’m going to remind you here and now that the nutrition label part is not the only thing to read.. because the cold hard truth lies within the INGREDIENTS LABLE!!! So READ THAT TOO! Once you start reading all those labels… you will begin to realize the scope of what we are dealing with here.
Example.. 1 8oz serving of orange juice (pick the brand,
pick the quality..) ONE serving contains 23g of sugar!!! (HELLO! THAT’S AN
ENTIRE DAYS WORTH OF SUGAR IN ONE GLASS!!!!)
Example.. The first ingredient in “Louisiana” brand cocktail sauce (good quality
brand right?) is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (wait.. Kim.. you said that stuff was
pure evil?!?! And it’s the FIRST ingredient?? EEK!).. but WAIT.. there’s MORE..
one serving of cocktail sauce is ¼ cup.. and that contains 17g of SUGAR! (lord
have mercy all I’m doing is dipping my shrimp and I’m almost maxed out on sugar
for the day again?) Double whammy!
Example 3.. (and this one still blows my mind!) One medium McDonalds vanilla
shake contains SEVENTY TWO g of sugar.. and worse even (can it get worse? YES) ..
Their seasonal “shamrock shake” (comes out in march..) contains no less than
NINETY THREE g of sugar in ONE medium shake!!!!!!!!!!! That is INSANITY!!!
So when I tell you that sugar is EVERYWHERE.. I’m not kidding! Read your
labels!
Here’s another sad truth.. because our delightful food manufacturers are just itching to keep us addicted.. they are adding sugar to “healthy” food too.. things like fruit yogurt, almond milk and salad dressing and so much more!. guess what.. all LOADED with sugar!
Its ok tho.. I PROMISE! There are SAFE and DELICIOUS alternatives to all of the above that do NOT have added sugar! You just have to be intentional and read those labels!! For example.. PLAIN ORGANIC Greek Yogurt, UNSWEETENED ORGANIC Almond Milk.. and certain brands of salad dressings are just fine! (I like Annie’s brand among others.. or better yet. MAKE YOUR OWN!!)
Anyway.. I think you get the idea…..
“BUT” (you excitedly say) “I don’t eat/drink anything with extra sugar Kim.. I ONLY get “sugar free”, “diet” “zero calorie etc..”so I don’t have to worry about any of that”!! J
Sorry to burst your bubble.. we now enter huge massive enormous monster problem number two.. because when you see that packaging.. or if you see “0 sugars’ on the nutrition label.. I want you to send your eyes to the ingredients label (remember that cold hard truth part?) well.. there it is in black and white.. I’ll be willing to bet you’ll find “ASPERTAME” or “SUCRALOSE”.. (aka splenda, sweetNlow, and equal)
Sometimes you’ll get lucky and see “stevia” or “monk fruit” (these are both FINE AND SAFE! More on that later)
The other two tho (aka “artificial sweeteners”… aspartame and sucralose).. are right there in the PURE EVIL category with High Fructose Corn Syrup!
The biggest (and this is a BIG deal).. the biggest issue
with artificial sweeteners.. is that while they are marketed to “leave the body
unchanged.”.( so supposedly they don’t ‘do anything” inside the body) the
reality is that as they pass through the intestinal tract (where all our very
important “good guy” bacteria lives.. ) .. the artificial sweeteners KILL OFF
ALL THIS SUPER IMPORTANT GOOD BACTERIA!!!
(why do I care Kim? Well.. since you
asked.. the nutshell is that this Good gut bacteria is CRITICAL to how our
bodies metabolize, absorb and use the nutrients in our food! Without this GOOD
gut bacteria we literally cannot function like we’re supposed to.. we cant make
the vitamins and hormones that our body needs without this good gut bacteria!!!
And furthermore, since nature abhors a void.. BAD Gut bacteria will over
populate and proliferate and take over .. and guess what? This BAD bacteria..
is REALLY bad.. because.. not only does it NOT do the job that the Good gut
bacteria is supposed to do.. but it also sends up CRAVINGS FOR MORE SUGAR &
MORE PROCESSED REFINED JUNK FOOD!!!
I may have hit a nerve there for some of you? YES GUT HEALTH IS SO IMPORTANT!!!
If you experience sugar cravings.. or cravings for junk food.. Id be willing to bet your gut bacteria is out
of whack!
So.. a SUPER important component of helping to get your gut health on track is
to absolutely refuse and I mean NEVER EVER ingest, drink, eat or chew on
ANYTHING with artificial sweeteners. (yes.. that means your diet coke! KICK IT
TO THE CURB!!!)
“But But BUT!!! I “NEED” my diet coke!” (or whatever other product you are
addicted to)..
My friend.. I’m gonna stop you right there.. cuz the truth is .. 1) you DON’T
need it.. an 2) those “diet” products make you gain weight (yup).. make you crave
more junk (hello unstoppable munchies.. )… and create inflammation in your body
that wont ever stop till you clean up what you are putting into your mouth…
sorry kids.. that’s your truth..
Now.. lets move onto some SAFE ways to sweeten your life!
Remember how I mentioned Stevia and Monk Fruit? Well.. guess
what? They are both PLANTS! In fact I grow stevia in my herb garden.. and WOW
are those leaves SWEET! (like putting a mint leaf in your mouth.. its SOOO
MINTY! Well stevia is the same experience. You put a leaf in your mouth and
WOW! ITS SOOO SWEET!)
For stevia (granules, liquid etc).. the extraction process requires some
distilling.. which creates a “slight’ aftertaste that does not exist in the
plant itself.. for monk fruit there is
no aftertaste.. however its EXTREMELY Sweet. (even more so than stevia) so a
little goes A LONG way!!! Both work great as substitutes for sugar and are
commonly used in healthier products as an alternative to sugar. Happily both
Stevia and Monk Fruit do no affect the glycemic index and so the label will
read “0 sugar”.
Moving forward lets look briefly at a few other safe sweeteners.. these all do
affect the glycemic index tho and so should be used mindfully.. (remembering
that no more than 24 g of sugar in a day bit)
Honey – Raw, unfiltered (try to get it from local farmers markets and or seek out organic) because unfortunately there are a lot of unscrupulous manufacturers out there that will put all sorts of things into a bottle and label it “honey”.. so stick with the real stuff.. that’s actually good for you! (assorted vitamins and amino acids abound in honey not to mention all the anti allergy help if its local!) I personally use honey in my coffee, make salad dressing with it, and top my musleix/kefir and blueberries with it (just a teaspoon at a time and not every day)
Maple syrup – again.. I’m talking about the “REAL” stuff (not log cabin!) nature makes its own sugar so why not take advantage of it? You can cook with this, put it in your coffee.. all the places you would use table sugar!
Agave Syrup – this one is a little bit of a double edge sword so you have to be more cautious.. Agave can be used like sugar, honey, maple syrup.. its got a slightly different sweetness and so works well when sometimes the others don’t.. From what I gather.. Agave syrup originated somewhere in the desert reaches of central America.. Basically its from a cactus.. and the sweetness has been extracted to make a tasty syrup.. (and tequila!) .. the locals in these areas used agave syrup as their sweetener for generations.. and then somewhat recently.. the north American manufacturers figured out that more and more people are looking for “healthy” alternatives and so started making this stuff and selling it.. Here enters the problem.. and you may have already picked up on this.. American manufacturers do NOT have our best health in as their priority.. they have profit as their priority.. and so these manufacturers have figured out how to over process and over refine this simple natural sweetener into something the body does not recognize (just like high fructose corn syrup! EEEK!) .. so.. I DO use and support the use of Agave Syrup.. with the caveat that it be organic (no chemicals) .. and as minimally processed as possible..
Xylitol and erythritol are two other names that pop up constantly.. these are “sugar alchohols” and as such teeter on the edge of not so great.. further that.. Xylitol if its NOT organic is made from GMO corn which is loaded with glyphosate (roundup) and is therefore on the NEVER EVER eat list.. (glyphosate is showing up in non hodgkins leukemia patients.. so avoid anything made with GMO corn and all the other mass produced crops like the plague!) Sugar alchohols don’t affect the glycemic index and so are “0 sugar”.. the biggest issue with these is that they “trick” the brain into thinking its super sweet sugar and so cravings get created for more excessively sweet sugar.. in addition, these sugar alchohols also trick the brain into thinking that it hasn’t eaten.. and so the hunger hormones persist and people end up eating more than they need….. all of that is obviously a very slippery slope.. Xylitol and Erythritol do bake pretty well .. so I do use ORGANIC (no chemicals/no glyphosate) Xylitol to make things like buttermilk pie and peach cobbler .. these are also better than the alternative options for people who are dealing with diabetes.. (Stevia and Monk Fruit are much better options tho!)
So now that we have a list of “KIM APPROVED” sweeteners.. lets hit the list of RUN SCREAMING IN THE OPPOSITITE DIRECTION if you see these on the ingredients label..
The top of the chart is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.. (just keep “pure evil” in mind when you see it!) .. this stuff starts out life as corn.. (duh).. but the type of corn that is inedible.. because its engineered to grow specifically for corn by-product processed ingredients. (I actually have a book with a list of over 200 ‘things” that this type of corn is made into.. things like dextrose, xantham gum and caramel color are all corn derivatives! But I digress).. these corn crops are also engineered to be “round up ready” .. as in the fields are sprayed / drowned in roundup in order to keep the weeds at bay.. while the crop grows on.. the roundup absorbs into the meat of the plant and becomes part of it.. so issue number one with HFCS (and any other ingredient that comes from this type of corn).. is that you are filling your system with glyphosate! (as mentioned above.. this is showing up in cancer cells.. and there is a dramatic increase in this type of cancer as well..) Issue number two is that the body has NO idea what this over processed, over refined, chemical filled substance is.. and so as it passes through the body.. our immune system reads it as an “invader”.. and attempts to protect the body by surrounding the molecules of HFCS with inflammation .. which creates an environment of systemic inflammation.. (aches/pains, insomnia, brain fog, stubborn weight, autoimmune conditions, skin issues, allergies etc are all influenced by this type of inflammation) naturally HFCS also affects the microbiome supporting and feeding the growth of “bad gut bacteria”.. AND it also “Tricks the brain” as its way more sweet than our systems know how to process and so our brain wants MORE of this sweetness at the same time that the bad gut bacteria is sending up cravings for more junk food..
Now that we have the granddaddy of evil food exposed.. I’ll touch on other not good sugar..
Table sugar being the most obvious.. sadly .. what started out as a good product (hey cane sugar is a plant too right?) has become something bad. This because unfortunately those food manufactures got their hands on it and bleached it, chemicalized it, refined it, processed it, and stripped it of anything recognizable as “natural”.. leaving a product that the body has no idea how to identify and once again.. you are set up for systemic inflammation.. so given all the other easy “better/good” sweet options out there.. just stop using the stuff.. it is not serving your body..
Brown sugar/cane sugar are basically less bad than white table sugar. They have not been refined as much and so are slightly more recognizable to the body.. but still not great options.. if my only choice is white table sugar or brown sugar.. I’ll go with the brown every time..
What about all those other “sugars” that I see Kim?
You are right! Nature is FULL of sugars naturally. It is the “energy” of the system that it comes from..
Glucose is the sugar that the human body needs for energy..
it is created within our systems from the carbohydrates that we ingest.. carbs
can come from “simple” sources like bread, cookies, crackers, simple pasta,
white rice, tortillas, chips etc.. These sources have no nutritional value and
break down to sugar upon entering the body.. creating a load of sugar that the
body does not need and setting up for toxic levels and systemic inflammation..
so you are best off not eating these things or at a minimum limiting yourself
to rare occasions.. Added sugar falls into this category.. so candy and other
overly sweet things should be very limited.. the body after all only needs so
much glucose.. excess gets stored as fat and who needs that?
Complex carbs on the other hand are NOT BAD and are in fact NEEDED! Things like
sweet potatoes, organic oats (non organic are packed with chemicals! So get
organic only!) Brown rice (not white!), quinoa etc are all great sources of
these good carbs.. they have lots of fiber within them as well which is also very
important for good digestive health.. the fiber helps to slow the digestion
which helps slow the sugars so your body is not overwhelmed with too much too
fast.
Fructose is Fruit sugar… lets jump back to that glass of orange juice.. when you drink the juice it is extracted from many pieces of fruit.. with none of the fiber that is in that fruit.. so all you get is the sugar.. alternatively.. if you eat an orange.. yes you are eating the fruit sugar contained within that ONE orange (vs many). however you are also getting all the fiber.. which helps the body to digest it all more slowly and so the sugar does not have the same crazy affect on the body.. furthermore.. not all fruit sugar processes in the body in the same way.. things like blueberries and cantaloupe have much lower glycemic index affect.. while grapes and mango are much higher. So YES eat your fruit (vs drinking it).. just limit how much and when.. 2 or so servings of fruit a day is excellent.. preferably in the earlier part of the day (so your body has time to use all the sugars as energy!).. Smoothies are great because you get all the fiber in the fruit .. The rest of your “fruits and veggies” ought to focus on the veggie side.. (it is recommended that our daily intake should be 7-9 servings of fruit and vegetables a day!)
Lactose is “milk sugar” – so when you buy milk.. or dairy of any kind.. you will see naturally occurring sugar.. this is not bad.. what is bad is when the manufacturer has “added sugar’ which you will be able to see on the nutrition label .. when you see that. Put the container down and find a different brand with “no added sugar”..
People who are “lactose intolerant’ do not have the enzyme needed to break this type of sugar down.. so some people are better off with out dairy. Others can tolerate it but may chose to avoid dairy anyway (the dairy industry is rampant with chemicals too.. so if you do drink milk, eat cheese, yogurt, ice cream , butter etc.. ) seek out organic (no chemicals), grass fed/pastured cows (these are happy cows that are raised in humane ways in a sustainable way..) better for your body.. better for the cows <3
So here we are.. a little brain weary and probably craving some chocolate? J
(btw.. small amounts of occasional Dark chocolate 85% or greater is actually “good” for you!)
Ultimately the point of this message is to give you some
clear direction to help your body help itself! So much chronic illness is tied
to too much sugar.. don’t you think that’s an easy problem to solve??
So your challenge, if you choose to accept it..
is to read your labels, kick all the artificial, processed and simple
sugars to the curb, seek to stay at or under 24g of natural sugar a day and eat
your veggies!!!
If you would like some accountability in making these changes in your own
life.. contact me! As your healthy life coach we can uncover where your bad
habits lurk, the cause of them, how to break those old habits while we seek to
understand and cure the causes and then create new awesome healthy life happy
life habits!!!