I've been putting off writing this post for some time because I wanted to write about processed sugar and why it is so detrimental to our health but I feel like it's been done a million times over. By now I really hope you have read about it! Several years ago I watched an amazing documentary called "Sugar Coated". It was quite fascinating! It described some of the ways that sugar became a staple in our modern day diets and fat was given a bad rap. They said the sugar cover up was akin to the tobacco scandal.
I loved Jamie Oliver's Food revolution when he filled the bus with "sugar" - signifying how much sugar the children consumed in sweetened milk products alone! I think the most troubling part of that was how small the group of parents was that came to see it. People still seem to think sugar is no big deal! We are facing an obesity and diabetic epidemic because of bad diets and unhealthy lifestyles and our kids especially are eating way too much sugar!
And when I say sugar, I'm including refined carbohydrates. These are causing our insulin levels to spike and this stresses out our bodies in so many ways.
Besides making you store fat, (and make you full of inflammation thus causing pain and flair ups) it also causes cardiovascular problems, fatty liver disease, cognitive decline and a crap ton of other issues. AND it's been scientifically proven that it does feed cancer!!
I think sugar is definitely one of the worst things in our diet. I heard something interesting about how ingesting any white powdered substance (think sugars and flours) will light up the pleasure centers in our brains and we will become easily addicted to them! In fact, the higher the glycemic index, the more addictive it is! Sugar is 8x more addictive than cocaine!
Sugar is in everything processed - even things you wouldn't expect. Sometimes it takes a keen eye to spot it- disguised as maltodextrin, corn syrup, dextrose, syrup, and I actually found a list of over 90 names for it. Speaking of maltodextrin...this is another thing to avoid because not only is it derived from genetically modified corn and refined into a white powder, but it is even higher GI than sugar itself!! It will spike your blood sugar and disrupt your gut flora. Also highly inflammatory. The way foods are labelled when maltodextrin is an ingredient baffles the mind. They do not have to include the amount of maltodextrin under the sugar label because it is technically just a filler.
And that doesn't let sugar substitutes off the hook either!! They are even worse. Sugar substitutes are a chemical shitstorm and therefore very hard on the liver but they also mess with your hormones and eventually cause weight gain as well because they end up making you crave more sweets!
Without getting too nerdy, I also want to add that most times if you're craving sweets that could mean that your body is low in potassium. See the body is a complex machine. Our hormones regulate the amount of sugar in our blood and wants to maintain an equilibrium there. When blood glucose goes up, pancreas produces insulin to bring it back down. When blood glucose is low, the liver provides glucose from the glycogen stores that it has made. So when we eat, the body does one of 3 things- uses the glucose from our food immediately for the bloodstream to maintain blood sugar levels, or stores the sugar into the liver by bonding the sugar with potassium to save as glycogen for when we will be using it. and third when blood sugar is high and we don't have enough readily available potassium to bind with sugar to store as glycogen then it will store it as fat. We need approximately 7 cups of vegetables a day to have enough potassium for this process to prevent those fat stores. In addition to bananas: avocados, acorn squash, watermelon, spinach, coconut water and even fish, like salmon, are all great sources of potassium!
The biggest take away from all of this should be to adopt a healthy diet by avoiding all of the processed white powdered things. Fill the gaps with plenty of whole fruits and vegetables.
Did you see how much sugar is in that bottle of ketchup? Or the horrid ingredient list I found on the bottle of teriyaki sauce?
I have recipes that you can use to easily swap these out!
For ketchup:
In a blender, combine until smooth:
-1/2 cup pitted dates (if you dont have a powerful blender you may need to soak the dates ahead of time for 30 minutes in hot water first to soften them)
-a small can of organic tomato paste
-a regular sized can of organic diced tomatoes
-1 TBSP of apple cider vinegar
-1/2 cup of water
-1 tsp each of salt, onion and garlic powder
A pinch of cayenne.
When blended, simmer in a small pot stirring constantly for about 15- 20 min.
Keeps for a few weeks in fridge.
For a quick teriyaki sauce the other day I used 3 simple ingredients:
- 1-2 tbsp of honey or maple syrup (obviously less is best here but quality counts)
- 1/4C of coconut aminoes
-1 tbsp rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
Add to stirfry at the end and incorporate while cooking. Adjust ratios based on your taste preference. You can also swap the vinegar for orange juice.
For more depth be sure to add ginger and garlic to your stirfry!
These recipes are much better for you than the ones I've pictured here that have terrible ingredients and way too much sugar!
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