TGG005: Developing a Healthy Relationship with Sugar
FOCUS OF THE WEEK: SUGAR
First things first: stop blaming yourself for loving sugar, it's programmed into you.
For most of history our diets were primarily composed of plants. As Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari explains, "A typical forager 30,000 years ago had access to only one type of sweet food – ripe fruit. If a Stone Age woman came across a tree groaning with figs, the most sensible thing to do was to eat as many of them as she could on the spot, before the local baboon band picked the tree bare. The instinct to gorge on high-calorie food was hard-wired into our genes." It’s why we scarf down an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s in one sitting. But back then we were eating only about 22 teaspoons of sugar annually. Today, we’re consuming 34 teaspoons daily. Our once plant-based diets have become carb-based and we find ourselves in the largest obesity epidemic in the history of mankind.
I've always wondered how the Geico caveman maintained that lean, chiseled look.
Out with the fat, in with the new!
How did we get here? By demonizing fat. In the 1960s scientists were paid off to downplay the link between sugar and heart disease, shifting the blame to fat. The idea seemed sensible enough: eating fat makes you fat. In making fat the enemy, food companies replaced the fats in foods with chemicals and added sugars. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo! A nation of hidden sugars was born. From our yogurts to our BBQ sauces to our soups, the foods we eat are loaded with hidden sugars. The average serving of tomato sauce has more sugar than a serving of Oreos! We made fat the scapegoat, and now we as a country are 70% overweight.
Wait a second, if sugar is this dangerous shouldn't the government have our backs?
Yup! Like a middle school relationship, sugar is complicated. As noted in my last newsletter, nutritional science is young in comparison to other fields like psychology. We don’t yet have the kind of large scientific consensus on the link between added sugars and obesity as we do with cigarettes and cancer. Part of the reason is nutritional studies are inherently difficult to conduct. They have a small number of subjects and lack controls and randomization, because people simply don't want to change their diets for prolonged periods. What's more, sugar is intrinsic to many foods we consider healthy (including some veggies). So it can’t be regulated the same way as other products.
While many experts wholeheartedly believe sugar should be considered a drug, others are skeptical about sugar’s role in the obesity epidemic. And Big Sugar – the powerful alliance of cane sugar planters and beet sugar planters – capitalizes on this complexity. Just like the tobacco industry, Big Sugar has cast doubt on the science and heavily funded advertising that deflects attention from the product's harm.
Your body on sugar
What exactly happens when you eat all that sugar? Let Dr. Hyman explain. When you take that bite of Frosted Flakes, you turn on insulin in your body. Insulin is the fat storage hormone directing fat storage into the cells around your abdomen. When it's turned on, three things happen: it stores fat, removes fuel from your bloodstream (thus making you feel super hungry), and slows down your metabolism because you think you’re starving. This chain of events happens every time you eat something that quickly raises your blood sugar.
So is the best way to enjoy sugar to simply throw myself out the window?
There is good news – It’s okay to eat sugar! After all, sugar is part of our culture. It’s grandma’s lemonade on a summer afternoon. It’s a wedding cake newlyweds awkwardly and adorably feed one another. But until public health officials provide the necessary legislation – banning junk food ads on TV, taxing soda, revamping dietary guidelines – we need a strategy to combat our cravings so that we can live the long, healthy lives we deserve.
The game plan: Cutting sugar in 8 steps
Dr. Mark Hyman says we’re killing ourselves by drowning in hidden sugars. To break from the addictive cycle of cravings that sugar creates, he believes we should detox from sugar for 10 days. He curated his detox plan into a book called The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet. Let’s take a closer look at some of my favorite ideas he offers.
1. Don’t drink your calories. Beverages are the largest source of added sugars in our diet. Think: sodas, sports drinks, iced teas, energy drinks, juices. Liquid sugar calories are worse than solid foods with sugars, as liquids mainline the sugar straight to your liver. Give soda the boot. It may actually be the caffeine or carbonation that you’re attracted to. Try swapping soda for seltzer with lemon juice, LaCroix, or kombucha.
2. Protein at every meal. Protein balances blood sugar and insulin while cutting cravings. Kick off the day with a protein shake or whole farm eggs. Nuts, seeds, fish, and grass-fed meat are all solid sources of protein. Keep in mind: 1 serving size is 4-6 oz., or the palm of your hand.
3. Have as many of (the good) carbs as you want. Veggies are actually carbs, and they’re all you can eat. The catch? Only eat non-starchy vegetables, like the broccoli family (kale, collards, cauliflower), asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, peppers - the list goes on.
4. Fight sugar with fat. As Hyman notes, “Fat doesn’t make you fat, sugar does.” Fat balances blood sugar, keeps you feeling full, and fuels your cells. Make sure you have some good fats like extra virgin olive oil, coconut butter, avocados, and omega 3’s from fish at every meal. When you get hungry, try snacking on nuts and seeds. All the cool kids are doing it.
5. Be ready for emergencies. This one is so important. Think of how often you find yourself in a food desert – driving somewhere far and passing an endless sea of fast food places, hungrily wandering the airport after your flight gets delayed a second time. Be prepared for times like these by always carrying good snacks like nut butter packets, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and turkey jerky. You eliminate the opportunity to make a bad choice.
6. Chill out. Feeling stressed gets your hormones all out of whack. Cortisol levels rise, causing hunger, belly fat storage, and in the long run, type 2 diabetes. But by breathing deeply – in to the count of five, out to the count of five – you can activate the vagus nerve and shift your metabolism from fat storage to fat burning mode. Try taking five deep, slow breaths (I like to watch my belly fully expand) before every meal.
7. Be gone, inflammation! Inflammation can lead to blood sugar imbalances, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, and type 2 diabetes. Common inflammatory foods are sugar, flour, trans fats, gluten, and dairy. Try eliminating gluten and dairy for ten days and see how your body reacts. Weirdly enough, just as women are often attracted to guys who are a-holes, our bodies often crave foods we’re allergic to. Wean yourself off them and see whether you have some hidden sensitivities.
8. Hit the hay. The amount of sleep you get impacts your appetite hormones. Even getting two hours less of the recommended eight hours of sleep has been linked to an increase in hunger hormones and strong cravings for sugar and refined carbs... which explains why the only thing I crave the morning after a late night out is a big ole greasy breakfast topped with ketchup and hash browns. In fighting the urge to overeat, sleep is your greatest ally.