Beat the sugar blues: Part one at Her Active Life

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Beat the sugar blues: Part one

Posted May 19, 2007 at 02:30 PM by Seth Braun

Section: Her Health, Her Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Weight Control

This article is written by Mr. Seth Braun, a network guest contributor, natural health expert and best-selling author. Seth can be contacted for a complimentary consultation through his site or at his clinic, (303)-444-2357.

Can you really stop eating sugar in America?

Consider this: The average sugar consumption, per person, in European Americans has increased by nearly 40 times as much as was consumed 200 hundred years ago.

Consider this: Sugar is now consumed most often as corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. This is one of the cheapest, least nutrient dense and most calorie dense foods there is. You can also find sugar listed as sugar, fructose, glucose, sucrose, invert sugar, cane syrup, unrefined cane juice, turbinado sugar, raw sugar, beet sugar and dextrose.

I have never liked the idea that we have to overcome our inherently “bad” food cravings with the force of will. This has never worked for me, and [it] makes me feel like eating healthy is a contest of moral one upmanship, some kind of holiness test.

The fact is, once you know what foods make you feel great and what foods make you feel terrible, it becomes easy to make good choices. Since that is the case, why is it so tough to kick the sugar habit?

Tradition and Celebration
I don’t know of many family reunions where you can escape the sugar connection. . . because that is really where sugar comes up. It has a long history as a celebratory food. That is where the term honeymoon comes from. It was customary in central Africa to cut a slab of honeycomb for the recently married to have after their ceremony. All cultures and traditions use sugar to celebrate the “sweetness of life.” For good reason too, because sugar has a powerful affect on the body and brain chemistry, putting one into a “high” and allowing one to enter into states of joy and euphoria.

That is, [only] if you eat it every few months.

Sugar’s long use as celebratory food continues on, but there are always so many things to celebrate! We live in a fabulously wealthy country and this abundance gives rise to many opportunities to gather and be with friends and family. There are many clergy that hand out candy to the kids in their places of worship. There are millions of grandparents that connect with their grandkids by offering sweet treats.

To me, this is where it becomes really challenging to maintain a balanced blood sugar / insulin level. So what do you do when you visit the family and you are faced with an “obligatory” piece of cake?

1. Have good boundaries
The bottom line is that you have to eat what you want, no matter how much aunt Minnie will be offended. Your health needs to get first priority. Other people’s feelings and your health are not even on the same page as far as priorities go. Of course, be tactful…in fact, always be tactful, it’s the only thing that works.

2. Make substitutions
When aunt Minnie asks for the third time if you want a tiny piece of cheesecake, you can say, “you know, I really would like to have tea and a bit of cheese and apple, that would be so fabulous aunt Minnie.” If she does not have something to offer you, reach into your bag and produce your own with a, “well goodness gracious, would you look at that, I forgot I had that with me!”

3. Go for it!
Once in a while, you really have to go for it. But do yourself a favor and make it really, really worth it. Life is meant to be celebrated and you should partake in that bounty. Eat slowly, choose small portions and eat some protein to keep the [sugar] spike lower. You may even have some herbs ready to counteract the glucose spike as well. You need to be prepared for the effects of the choice. You will need to adjust your appropriate insulin dose as necessary, and there will be affects for the next 24 hours ranging from subtle to annoying.

Photo: ©istockphoto.com/Richard Waller