Having travelled best part of the month I felt a sigh of relief as I arrived home. Finally I was in control of what to eat again, when and how it is prepared. My biggest obstacle when travelling is avoiding badly cooked, processed foods laden with sugars and all the other undesirables the food industry decide to pop in our foods.
I, as always am greatly saddened by the overwhelming amount of people suffering with obesity and ill health but just not really knowing what to do about it. We all know, at least I hope we all do that diets just don’t work, they are too short term. If the results do come, as soon as we relax off the diet the weight piles back on, often even more. The simple fact is that one diet can never be right for everyone.
We are unique, we all look different, behave and react differently, it would not be normal to assume that the same foods can be right for everyone, how can it when we are all so unique. This is why I so strongly recommend metabolic typing to everyone, as its a unique program designed by Healthexcel which, through a series of questions is able to define the foods best suited to your body, those which will provide you with the nutrients that your body needs and let you know the ones to avoid.
The most important thing to pay attention to when dieting is how you feel. As soon as your body has big fluctuations in its blood sugar levels it responds a number of ways. Foggy thinking, feelings of being spacey, listless, fatigue, headaches, change in temperament, feelings of anxiety weight gain and so the list goes on. Most of us are experiencing these things on a daily basis and don’t relate them to the foods we eat.
Sugar is a major contributing factor to most of the problems of ill health we are seeing today. Sugar has been around for centuries and was seen as a treat or luxury item and as it was an expensive commodity was consumed in moderation. Today the picture is completely different with the emergence of mass produced highly processed foods.
Figures taken from the book Sweet Deception written by Dr Mercola show the increase in worldwide sugar production over the past few centuries.
In 1800 245,000 tons of sugar was produced each year
In 1900 8 million tons of sugar was produced each year
By 2004 115 million tons of sugar was produced each year and the numbers are growing.
Whenever I ask people if they consume sugar at least 90% will tell me no. Further investigation into their diet will usually reveal that they are indeed consuming sugar at each meal. It is this that needs to be addressed when trying to bring the body back to health and vitality.
So why is sugar so bad for us?
For a start it raises blood sugars, causing the body to go into a state of emergency, a stress state. Insulin has to be released in order to bring the sugar down in the blood, this is how we gain weight as the body in its stressed state needs to get rid of the sugar and so locks it away for future use – which doesn’t get utilised generally as we keep taking in more and more sugars.
This problem alone contributes to heart disease, high cholesterol and blood pressure, breathing problems, depression, cancer, gallstones, diabetes and obesity.
Sugar puts enormous stress on the immune system, suppressing it for six hours each time you eat it, the last thing you want to be eating whenever you feel under the weather is sugar laden food.
Sugar rips out essential minerals and vitamins the body needs for growth and repair.
Sugar is addictive, the cravings people have coming off sugar and all its disguises is similar to coming off of drugs, cigarettes, caffeine etc. Your body sends out messages to eat more sugar.
Sugar is adored by bacteria and parasites. A lot of digestive problems including food allergies can be helped greatly by eliminating sugars alone. Helping to change the bowel flora to a more friendly environment.
Do a Sugar Audit
Above are just a few reasons to start trying to eliminate sugars in your diets.
Check your labels at home, if you find any of the below in the ingredients you can be assured you are consuming sugar. Don’t forget all alcohol and cigarettes contain sugar and cause major sugar highs...
Glucose, Fructose, Galactose, Maltose, Sucrose, Lactose, Malt Sugar, Honey, Brown rice syrup, Corn Syrup and any other syrup, Cane sugar, Molasses.
Avoid any sodas including the diet sodas, they are not a substitute to water and play no part in attaining health.
Is there an alternative to Sugar?
A great alternative to sugar which is about 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar but mysteriously doesn’t affect blood sugar levels but infact can help to stabilise blood sugar is Stevia. Stevia is a natural herb that comes from South America. It can be found in health food stores and comes in either a liquid or powder form. It can be used in all baking and just about anything you want to sweeten.
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