The info in this blog is knowledge I've acquired over the years from various sources like books, podcasts & blogs. I'm constantly adding to this knowledge in my mission to become the 1st super healthy 100-year-old who can do backflips. As I learn more, I will update this blog as necessary to reflect any new findings.
SUGAR THE EVIL FACE OF CARBS
If you haven’t read the lawless carb blog by now, dietary carbs don't make you fat, excess sugars do. When you consume too much excess sugar, it gets stored in your fat cells. It is the underlying cause of our society’s expanding hips.
This is a largely new phenomenon though. Sugar has only been causing havoc on people's health for centuries. This isn't that long when you consider the fact, we've been around for over 5 million years. With rising rates of obesity, diabetes & heart disease, amongst other chronic illnesses, the 1 ingredient commonly at the scene of the crime is sugar. Yet there's still a big debate about its complicity amongst so-called health experts. In the past, they've pointed the finger at fat. Currently, the finger is being pointed at carbs. Technically sugar is a carb so this does make some sense. The issue is this idea has led people who only read headlines & don't fact check to think that ALL carbs are bad (I even fell victim to this trap). Even if they do attempt to fact check, it’s easy to get lost & further confused by all the misinformation out there. Hopefully, this blog will bring some clarity & shed some light on the evil face of carbs.
MY SUGAR AFFLICTION
I'm a recovering sugar addict. Ok, it probably wasn’t that deep, but I did consume ridiculous amounts of sugar in my youth. Frosties was my go-to breakfast. Dr Pepper was my go-to drink. Galaxy Minstrels or Cadbury hazelnut chocolate bars were my go-to walking to school snack. Double chocolate muffins were my go-to lunch snack. Skittles were my go-to walking home from school snack. Chocolate digestives were my go-to evening snack with tea (craving a snack yet?). That was just my basic snack routine. I've missed out the all the miscellaneous snacks I ate between meals/snacks to satisfy my sugar cravings. My snacking habits were out of control. Those habits also lingered well into my young adulthood.
The dangers of sugar are not something that seemed to be common knowledge 20 years ago. It wasn't taught in schools & no one in my family was informed enough on the topic to educate the rest of us. Everyone around me was consuming sugar like it was going out of fashion. It wasn’t until I was working at my first job after leaving university that I had my 1st encounter with a sugar hater.
Her name was Eileen. She was making everyone tea & coffee & it was my turn to specify what kind of coffee I wanted. I nonchalantly requested a white coffee with 3 sugars. To my surprise that request was met with a disapproving look of disgust. Her reaction was akin to what you'd expect if someone took a dump in the middle of the office for no reason (to be fair the same reaction might still apply if you did that with a valid reason). She proceeded to lecture me on how bad sugar was & how it was the spawn of Satan. I didn't really engage or object because I was new & sleepy & wanted that coffee asap. However, that look of shock & horror as a result of asking for 3 sugars did stick with me. That look was enough to spark my curiosity & lead me down a sugar shaped rabbit hole after work that day. I ended up watching a documentary called the sugar documentary & it was a game-changer. It also left me feeling extremely betrayed. Like my whole life had been a lie up to that point, which it had with regards to sugar. I believed sugar was life's harmless, innocent, delicious energy source bundled into treat sized packages. I never could have imagined that something so delicious could be so destructive to my health & slender hips.
I had no idea how addictive it was.
I had no idea how deadly it was.
& I had no idea it was being added to all the foods. This is a slight exaggeration, but it is added to a lot of food unnecessarily by companies taking advantage of its addictive nature.
I was very active as a child & was also blessed with a good metabolism so I never had any issues with my weight. Weight gain isn't a universal barometer for good health though. If you have no frame of reference it's hard to gauge how unhealthy you actually are. It wasn't until I started minimising my sugar intake off of the back of "that look" & the sugar documentary that I realised the effect my consumption was having on me.
THE EFFECT OF SUGAR
Sugar stimulates our pleasure centre in our brains. With long-term stimulation of the pleasure centre leading to addiction city.
When you consume sugar, it triggers the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. This is the same area of the brain implicated in response to consumption of heroin & cocaine. That’s right sugar triggers the same response in the brain as heroin & cocaine. The dopamine release then makes you experience pleasure. & as the feeling of pleasure is nice, it makes you want to eat more sugar. It’s a vicious cycle. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the more you consume, the more tolerance your brain builds up to the signalling.
When I reduced my sugar intake, I experienced some withdrawal symptoms in the form of restlessness & intense sugar cravings. This only lasted a few days but those torturous 3 days made me realise that sugar is no joke. Tolerance & withdrawal constitutes addiction so make no mistake; sugar is addictive.
THE HIGHS & LOWS OF SUGAR
There is a measure for how much a particular food increases your blood sugar level: the glycemic index, or GI. When sugar in food gets converted quickly, it causes a spike in insulin, which your pancreas releases to prompt cells to absorb the glucose. This is why we have low glycemic foods (rapid rise & fall of blood sugar) & high glycemic foods (gradual rise & fall of blood sugar).
High sugar intake causes our blood sugar level to spike rapidly. When our blood sugar crashes, for us that's like an emergency state for our biology. Low blood sugar means reduced brain function. We start feeling groggy & tired & in terms of survival in the conditions we evolved in, you won't be sharp. & If you're not sharp you can fall victim to predators, which would not have been ideal in hunter-gatherer times our brains are adapted to. The only thing the brain cares about is our survival so it increases your cortisol (aka stress hormone) levels to lift your blood sugar back up again. This is so you're more alert, sharp, & prepared for any potential attacks. When we consume high levels of sugar throughout the day, your physical/emotional state is in constant flux. You'll feel up then down, & when you crash, you'll want to feel up again. These hormonal responses are extremely taxing on the mind & body.
I remember my biggest crash would always occur around 3 pm. It would come out of nowhere & it's what I imagine taking a punch from Mike Tyson would feel like. In response to those crashes, I’d be loading up on caffeine & raiding the biscuit jar in search of more energy to get me through the day. Being so reliant on all these different stimulants was no way to live. I felt no better than a functioning crack head. Not to throw any shade on crack heads though. I just value my independence to the point where I don't want to be reliant on any substances.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF SUGAR?
We as humans aren't prepared to deal with our current level of exposure to sugar. We're used to coming across some honey or fruit every now & then. This is why having access to unlimited sugar resources all day every day, is proving to be so problematic.
There’re essentially 2 types of sugar. Naturally occurring sugar & added sugars.
Fruits, vegetables & whole grains contain naturally occurring sugar. This type of sugar is okay to consume.
The real menace in the dietary world is added sugar. Added sugar includes cane sugar as well as the concentrated sugars found in products such as:
- Sweets
- Cakes
- Cookies
- Pies
- Sweet rolls, pastries, & doughnuts
- Dairy desserts, such as ice cream & yoghurt
- Sugar-sweetened drinks, such as soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, & juice drinks
These types of food contain no essential nutrients. No proteins, no essential fats, no vitamins or minerals- just straight calories. This is why they are often referred to as “empty” calories. These added sugars are a menace linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension & even cancer.
WHY NATURAL SUGARS AREN'T SUCH A MENACE
Naturally occurring sugar is almost always found in foods that contain fibre, which slows the rate at which the sugar is digested & absorbed by the body. Another reason the fibre, sugar combo is so effective is because it limits the amount of sugar you can consume in 1 sitting.
A typical apple contains roughly 19 grams of sugar & 4 grams of fibre (approx. 20 per cent of a day’s worth of fibre.) Not many people would eat 3 apples in 1 sitting. Alternatively, plenty of people can drink a 500ml bottle of coke, which has 55 grams of ADDED sugar – roughly the amount in 3 apples. & to make things worse, coke has no fibre. The magic ingredient that limits how much you can consume, & how quickly sugar gets released into your bloodstream for energy increasing your blood sugar in the process.
HOW MUCH SUGAR IS RECOMMENDED?
According to the World Health Organisation’s guidelines, adults & children should consume no more than about 6 sugar cubes or 6 teaspoons/25 grams daily of ADDED sugar.
How to quantify sugar: 1 gram of sugar = 4 calories & 4 grams = 1 teaspoon of sugar. So, 40 grams of sugar = 160 calories & approx. 10 teaspoons of sugar per serving.
For more context, some examples of food & their sugar content in cubes are below.
I want to emphasise again that not all sugar is bad. Naturally occurring sugars found in fruit, vegetables & milk, we don't need to cut down on. It's just added sugars which are illness.
HOW I QUIT SUGAR
My strategy for dealing with my sugar addiction was to 1st go cold turkey on adding those 3 sugars to my coffee (baby steps). I did not enjoy those first few coffees but by the end of the week, my taste buds had adjusted. I find this to be the case with most of the changes I've made to my diet in the past. Whether it's incorporating healthier food options I previously hated into meals or adopting time-restricted eating times. It sucks at first, but then your body just adapts to the new conditions.
Once I'd mastered the no sugar beverages; instead of simply applying this logic to foods, I went extreme. I basically created a narrative in my head that added sugar was like heroin & then avoided it at all costs. This meant no sweets; no baked goods, no desserts, no sugary drinks, no processed foods.
Sugar is literally hidden in all the foods though so I also had to get good at reading nutrition labels. & by get good I just mean start reading them. My basic rule ended up being to avoid anything which listed words that looked like gibberish. Based on the logic that if you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't be eating it. Labels are confusing as sugar has 56 different names. I've listed the most common below:
- Anything ending in syrup
- Anything ending in juice
- Anything ending in sugar
- dextrose
- fructose
- glucose
- honey
- lactose
- maltose
- molasses
- sucrose
- Sucanat
- Diastatic malt
- Ethyl maltol
- Maltodextrin
WHAT I ATE TO SATISFY MY SWEET TOOTH
Snacks in the form of fruit like mangoes or watermelons or berries. Or fruit in the form of snacks like date bars, or date balls or date bites. If you don't like dates, fruit snacks might not be for you.
Ultimately, your body doesn’t need sugar, it isn't a health food as it provides no nutritional benefits. But if weight gain is something you want to avoid, simply cutting out sugar won't do it if you're still consuming ultra processed foods elsewhere. The aim is to supply the body with the essential nutrients it needs to function. This is what we should be focusing on supplying our body with, nutrient-dense foods. Even though I've likened sugar to heroin, this is a slight exaggeration. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have any at all as long as you're capable of exercising the magic word... moderation.
For anyone not looking to give up the sweet stuff but would like to utilise more natural sources, see below.
Here’s a list of the best natural sweeteners.
- Honey – made by bees from the nectar of flowers during pollination. It's rich in antioxidants, minerals, & amino acids. Honey also has excellent antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties.
- Yacon Root Syrup – Yacon is the tasty secret of the Peruvian culture. Aka “the apple of the Earth” because it's delicious. It can be eaten as is or turned into pour-over sweeteners & powders. Low glycemic & low in calories. Rich in a type of fibre called inulin, which helps to optimise healthy bacteria & is an excellent prebiotic.
- Maple Syrup – Our ancestors used it as both food & medicine. 1 of the few WILD foods that are readily available to health-minded individuals. Maple syrup is actually higher in minerals than honey, & provides a rich source of manganese & zinc which are critical for male reproductive health. Make sure you purchase 100% pure maple syrup.
- Dried Fruit – Can be used to sweeten your food & drinks. My go-to is the longevity icon, the dried goji berry. I'm a goji berry fanboy as it provides 19 amino acids, beta-carotene, zinc, iron, calcium, selenium, polysaccharides & loads of other words you've probably never seen before. Other dried fruit commonly used as sweeteners are dates, raisins, mulberries, dried cranberries, & dried apricots.
- Stevia – originates from a leaf in the rain forest of Paraguay in South America. It's a low glycemic, carb-free, calorie-free sweetener that’s been used for centuries to promote good health & energy. Sounds too good to be true right? Well, there's more. The stevia leaf is actually 100 times sweeter than sugar minus all the illness (e.g. diabetes, obesity, & cancer).
Disclaimer: LOLA does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.