There is no question that sugar is addictive – and the food industry knows it. That’s why it’s in so many prepared foods, often in surprising amounts, including in yogurts and granola bars that are often touted as health foods, low-fat foods, marinades and BBQ sauces, tomato and spaghetti sauces, ketchup, and salad dressings to name but a few.

Why should you care? Because sugar is linked to numerous health conditions that are growing by leaps and bounds, even among children. To learn more about this, I invite you to read my February 2018 Tip of the Month entitled: “Does Sugar Cause Cancer?”

Foods high in sugar release a reward or pleasure seeking neurotransmitter (chemicals that affect our brain and nerves) called dopamine. Dopamine is involved in many positive behaviours; however, it is also involved in addictive behaviours such as gambling and substance abuse.

Consuming a lot of sugar/sugary foods, desensitizes dopamine receptors, which means that the body gets used to eating a lot of sugar and will crave more of it to get the same ‘sugar high’.

Breaking a sugar habit is no joke. When someone tries to ‘stop’ sugar, they can experience some pretty nasty withdrawal symptoms including migraine headaches and digestive upset such as bloating, nausea, diarrhea, and/or constipation. They can also experience extreme fatigue, mood swings, anxiety, and depression.

I know of some individuals who have successfully kicked their sugar habit by going cold turkey. Sometimes that is the best approach, although also likely the one that will give you the most withdrawal symptoms.

‘Quitting’ sugar doesn’t mean you can NEVER have anything with sugar in it ever again; however, when you successfully slay the sugar monster, you won’t constantly crave sugar. Interestingly, when you do have that sugary treat, it may just turn you off as it will seem sickeningly sweet. You may even have symptoms similar to those associated with sugar withdrawal.

So, while everyone is different, here are 8 things that you can do to tame your sugar monster.

1. Get It Out Of The House

Go through your kitchen (and anywhere else you have sugar or sugary treats stashed), and get it out of there – or better yet, out of the house! There’s the obvious stuff like sugar, corn syrup, soft drinks, cookies, breakfast cereals, and chocolate bars. Then there’s the not so obvious stuff that you might even consider to be ‘healthy’, such as instant oatmeal packs, flavoured yogurts, and granola bars. Read the labels on EVERYTHING and remember that 4 grams of sugar is equal to one teaspoon of sugar. Get the sugary stuff out of the house, and don’t bring any in. If that package of Oreo cookies isn’t in the pantry at that moment when you’re craving them, but a health alternative is, chances are the healthy alternative will win out over the inconvenience of having to drop everything to make an Oreo run. So what do I mean by healthy alternatives? Read on!

2. Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth With Healthy Alternatives

It’s likely that you are going to have sugar cravings; in fact, cravings are a sign of withdrawal. If you can’t power through the cravings, then it’s important that you have healthy alternatives on hand. If you just have to have a fizzy sweet drink, you can find alternatives that don’t have as much sugar, or you can make your own. Try some soda water with fresh squeezed lemon and lime and a splash of maple syrup, honey, or a tiny bit of stevia. If you just have to have that cookie or granola bar, go to a health food store and read labels until you find one that is low in sugar, or make your own. Try my Power-Packed Cookies, or No-Bake Yummy Snack Bars,  or my No-Bake Date/Nut/Coconut/Chocolate Balls .

If none of those appeal to you, then do a Google search of your favourite treat preceded by the word ‘paleo’; for example: ‘paleo chocolate chip cookies’.

In terms of sweeteners for baking or beverages, consider raw honey (local is best), coconut sugar (more nutrients and lower glycemic index than regular sugar), pure stevia, pure maple syrup, xylitol, and dates (a single PITTED date added to a smoothie offers a nice touch of sweetness) or date sugar.

3. Avoid Zero- or Low-Fat Versions of Foods

When food manufacturers remove fat from a food (think 0% fat yogurt or low/no fat cookies), they typically have to add something else to make up for the lack of taste and mouthfeel associated with the fat. That something is often sugar. In fact, eating fat with sugary or starchy foods helps to slow down the rate at which the sugar is absorbed into the blood stream.

Eating low fat foods can increase your craving for sugar. Healthy fats are a sugar monster’s worst nightmare! A high quality coconut oil is a great addition to the diet if you’re trying to kick a sugar habit. That’s because the medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) it contains are a great alternative to glucose as an energy source for our cells, in particular our brain cells. In fact, one of my favourite ways to calm a sugar craving is to take 4 or 5 Mary’s Crackers (or other gluten-free/wheat free cracker), spread a generous amount of coconut oil on each one, and then sprinkle a bit of unprocessed sea salt on top. This satisfies my sweet/salty cravings as my cells and adrenal glands appreciate the MCTs in the coconut oil and 60+ trace minerals contained in the unrefined salt!

4. Buy Real Food!

Sugar cravings are often a sign that the body isn’t getting enough healthy fats, minerals, vitamins (especially B-vitamins which are so easily destroyed in food processing), and fibre. Eating whole foods that contain healthy fats, fibre, and loads of other health-boosting nutrients is satiating and also slows down the speed that glucose enters your bloodstream, preventing roller coaster blood sugar highs followed by roller coaster blood sugar lows (that make you crave sugar to get to them high again!). An added bonus related to buying real food is that you won’t have to worry about deciphering sneaky food labels when the food you buy doesn’t come with a food label!

5. Avoid Artificial Sweeteners

If I ever had a craving for a soft drink (which I NEVER do, even though we used to drink glasses of pop with dinner as kids), I would hands down go for a regular soft drink instead of a diet one. There are many studies now that show that consuming artificial sweeteners actually makes us crave sugar! While artificial sweeteners may trick our taste buds, they don’t satisfy our cells’ cravings for sugar. In fact, artificial sweeteners can interfere with a hormone called leptin, which plays a critical role in appetite regulation (e.g. it tells us to stop eating when we feel we are getting full).

6. Drink More Water

We often crave sugar because our cells are ‘sluggish’ – that is, we feel tired. Our cells can also feel ‘sluggish’ if we don’t drink enough water – and the fact is, most of us don’t. Before reaching for that sugary snack, try drinking a glass of water and wait for 10 or 15 minutes. You may find that it helps diminish or eliminate your craving. Drinking just a couple more glasses of water a day can make a huge difference in so many aspects of our health.

7. Take Supplements That Help Balance Blood Sugar

Blood sugar imbalance and sugar cravings go hand-in-hand. There are many nutrients that can help balance blood sugar, including B-vitamins, magnesium (chocolate cravings may be a sign of a magnesium deficiency), probiotics, omega-3 fish or krill oil, and vitamin D. Not all supplements are created equal, so make sure that you consult a nutritionist (like yours truly) to ensure that the supplements you are taking are going to make a difference.

8. Follow Your Gut

We can crave sugar because our cells are starving for energy, even if we feel we are eating pretty well. Why are they starving? It could be because they’re not getting the energy-creating nutrients they need from the food we’re eating because of insufficiencies with our body’s ability to digest foods and absorb nutrients. This opens another can of worms, and interestingly, one of the top 3 reasons that clients come to see me is to address digestive issues.

The next time your sugar monster is whispering sweet nothings into your ear, I hope you’ll remember some of the suggestions in this blog. Cold turkey or baby steps? What do you think you can do? The important thing is to just start somewhere, give yourself credit for every step you take in the right direction, and if you cave to a craving here and there, don’t stress it. Show the sugar monster who’s boss and keep moving forward to a healthier, more vibrant you.

In the spirit of the recent Academy Awards, and the fact that March is National Nutrition Month, in this month’s tip, I’ve put together a list of five of my blog posts that you have ‘nominated’ as my ‘Best 5 Blogs of All Time’!

I’ve written over 200 blogs since starting my practice, and these five are the ones that generated the greatest interest from my email subscribers and Facebook Followers.

As part of National Nutrition Month, I’m encouraging you to read these blogs if you missed them, and re-read them if you didn’t miss them (you know that old saying that you have to hear/see something seven times before it sticks!). Once you’ve done your reading, I would like to challenge you to incorporate at least one change, based on any one of these blogs, into your daily routine.

Here they are, in order of popularity:

#1 – Sweet Misery – Sugar Balance and Health

This tip was written to raise awareness of the numerous health issues you may be experiencing that are associated with eating sugar and anything that turns into some form of sugar, including grains, rice, corn, starchy foods, and anything that is made with them. It also shares how sugar is hiding in so many foods we buy and offers some tips that can help to balance blood sugar.

#2 – Why I’m Not a Fan of 10-Day Detoxes

In this blog, I share the reason why I’ve never purchased a 10-day detox kit, a few things you might want to consider if you are thinking about buying one, and a ‘Top 10’ list of things you can do to support your body’s natural detox mechanisms that are trying to do the job every day.

#3 – 10 Ways to Eat Water

In this blog, I talk about the importance of getting enough water into our bodies. I also share some thoughts on how much water is enough water, as well as ten high-water-content foods that can help us stay hydrated and healthy!

#4 – 3 Reasons Why I Avoid Potatoes

The title of this blog is pretty self-explanatory! I also share some yummy alternatives to your favourite spud dishes!

#5 – 8 Tips for a Healthy and Tasty BBQ Season

Read/re-read this tip just in time for BBQ season! In this blog, I explain some unhealthy compounds that BBQing meat, pork, poultry, and fish can introduce into our meals and some tips on how to limit or prevent their formation.

During National Nutrition Month, and beyond, take control of what you can!

That is a question that someone asked me recently, and if you look at a lot of the research literature out there, the answer is that a direct link hasn’t been absolutely proven … yet.

What do you think?

Before you answer, I’d like to give you a few things to consider.

I don’t think that any of you would say that sugar is a health food and that people who avoid it should start adding some to their meals and snacks. The reality is that healthy folks, yours truly included, consume sugar in one form or another virtually every day. Sugars aren’t all evil – it’s the various forms of sugar that are problematic. What are some of these forms?

Well, there are the forms found in whole foods, such as natural sugars in fruits and vegetables (e.g. fructose, sucrose, starch), dairy products (lactose), and even meat (glycogen). We can also include the starches found in foods such as rice, grains (including corn), and potatoes that our body breaks down into glucose.

Then there’s the popular ‘white stuff’, aka table sugar, that most of us think of when we hear the word sugar – the stuff that many of us commonly use in baking and/or add to coffee, tea, and other beverages. At least in those uses, the amount of sugar we are using is obvious – and we can control it (which takes a lot of effort for many people with sugar cravings … and dare I say sugar addictions … the topic of an upcoming blog).

Then there are all the forms of sugar that are added to packaged and processed food. I call these ‘hidden’ sugars as sometimes you have to be a detective to figure out how much sugar is actually in these products, as it appears on the ingredient label multiple times, in many different forms, each with a different name. I’ve seen dozens of different names for sugar listed on the ingredient labels of packaged foods. Check out this list from Women’s Health Magazine.

Some of the leading health issues in Canada and around the world are: obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These conditions are often seen together in a condition called ‘metabolic syndrome; however,  There is no doubt that sugar is associated with these health issues; however, there are still contradictory views as to whether or not sugar is associated with cancer – the leading cause of death in Canada according to Stats Can (30% of all deaths).

But those contradictory views may soon be put to rest thanks to a nine-year research project recently published in the journal Nature Communications. This study explored the relationship between sugar and cancer. Some sources say that through this project, scientists have clarified how the Warburg effect, a phenomenon in which cancer cells rapidly break down sugars, stimulates tumor growth. While more research is needed, an October 2017 article in Science Daily stated that “this discovery provides evidence for a positive correlation between sugar and cancer, which may have far-reaching impacts on tailor-made diets for cancer patients” … and of course, that more research is needed.

In the mean time, here are a few things that science has proven sugar is capable of doing to our bodies:

• It can cause inflammation
• It can weaken our immune system
• It can cause obesity

There is little doubt that all of the above play a role in increasing the risk of cancer; in fact, take a look at the diagram below, based on evidence from numerous studies conducted on the relationship between being overweight and cancer. This is serious when you consider the high and ever increasing rates of obesity around the world, especially in North America, and especially among children.

So, while research studies have identified numerous causes of cancer, but have yet to confirm a direct link between sugar and cancer, let’s play a game of connect the dots based on my thought process:

           . . . eating sugar =increased blood glucose levels . . .

          . . . increased blood glucose levels = increased insulin levels . . .

          . . . insulin is a fat-storing  hormone therefore. . .

          . . .  increased insulin levels = increased fat storage . . .

          . . . increased fat storage = increased weight gain . . .

          . . . increased weight gain = being overweight . . .

          . . . being overweight = increased risk of many types of cancer . . .

Did you connect the dots between sugar and cancer?

Having some sugar once in a while isn’t a big deal. The big deal is that once upon a time, sugar used to be a small part of the diet – in fact, not that long ago, it was considered an indulgence affordable only by the rich. Unfortunately, in the current Standard American Diet (S.A.D … how ironic), that is no longer the case – to the tune of a global sugar industry of almost …

… $100 BILLION DOLLARS!!!

Imagine if we had that kind of money for cancer prevention and complementary health care research. Think the sugar industry would dig into their deep pockets to sponsor any of it? If they did, how would the results be presented? Something to think about ….

So, while the powers-that-be duke out whether or not there is indeed a link between sugar and cancer, I’ll error on the side of my health and do my best to watch my sugar intake. If you’d like to do the same, here are some great ways to start.

Take control of what you can.

p.s. stay tuned for my next Tip of the Month where I’ll give you tips that can help break sugar cravings.