Well, I won’t keep you in suspense. The message has to do with sugar.
You may be thinking that everyone knows that sugar is bad. And that seems to be true. But not everyone stays away from him. And that’s a problem, or at least a problem waiting to happen.
Don’t connect the dots
When I was training to be a life coach, one of the instructor trainers was 40-50 pounds overweight. One day she said, “I’m addicted to sugar, but I’m fine with it.”
This woman clearly did not link her sugar addiction to her weight or any of the health problems she had. That is what I would call not connecting the dots.
Cravings that never go away
I get newsletters with articles about sugar cravings that “never seem to go away.” The various authors present themselves as nutrition experts. As a solution, they usually recommend products that you can buy. – that taste just like chocolate and take away sugar cravings.
Apparently, whatever these experts do with their daily eating plans doesn’t stop food cravings from coming back.
Fact: Sugar cravings absolutely DO go away over time, potentially permanently, so it’s a red flag to me if a nutrition “expert” doesn’t know how to make that happen for themselves or their clients.
Falling for sexy sneaky sugars
The list of these is quite long: agave nectar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, fruit (yes, fruit), fruit juice, honey, monk fruit extracts, date paste, and more.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to find out that someone who uses these sneaky sugars is addicted to them or has cravings that never seem to go away completely. After all, they are sugar.
Which brings us to Paleo menus
I’m on a lot of lists and often get Paleo dessert menus and treats that use some of the tricky sugars listed above. They are delicious, we are told.
My wisdom on this is simple: “Delicious” is suspect.
And sugar is sugar. That’s definitely not what anyone wants to hear, but it’s true.
Fruits and vegetables
What can I say? I wish people would stop lumping these two together. It makes them look equally healthy, and they’re not.
Fructose, the sugar in fruit, is a particularly harmful sugar. In fact, it’s what makes sucrose (half fructose, half glucose) the crap we know it to be. In the scientific literature, all researchers seem to know this. If only the rest of us were willing to accept that!
A couple of servings of fruit a day is probably fine for most people. A serving is ½ cup or 1 medium fruit.
However, some fruits can trigger an addictive reaction in some people. Self-awareness and honesty with oneself are key survival tools, and far better than accepting any conventional push toward trending sugars.
I had to change my message
Several months ago, when I joined a women’s networking group, I made the mistake of presenting myself as a sugar addiction expert in my 30-second presentation. It led to nothing but fear. People are afraid of dealing with sugar addiction, most likely because they know what happens when they go without sugar for an extended period of time.
But I’ll end with this important message because it really matters more than ever:
• Sugar is at the heart of the obesity epidemic. Not fat, not supersize.
• Sugar increases appetite.
• Sugar leads to the consumption of extra fat. Many foods that are high in sugar contain fat. Fat also makes sugar taste sweeter, so foods that contain both sugar and fat encourage overeating, and calories can add up quickly.
• Sugar can increase blood pressure. More than salt.
• Sugar can increase serum cholesterol. More than fat.
• Sugar can raise triglycerides. More than fat.
• Sugar can cause type 2 diabetes. Yes it can.
• Sugar can contribute to mood swings, anxiety, depression and other mood problems.
• Sugar can interfere with optimal brain focus and work productivity.
I contend that it can be easy to give up sugar if you know how, and get rid of cravings in the long run.
