Hooked on Sugar

                                  
I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet (get it?....chortle)
For over 6 months now I have been reducing the amount of refined sugar in my diet and in all my baking.  All I kinda knew what that it was soooooooo far removed from its origins that it couldn't be good for us right? RIGHT!



In a nut shell...................Refined Sugar could be classed as a poison. The reason being that it has been stripped of its vitamins and minerals and what remains is pure, refined carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are not like the carbs we get from rice and vegetables. These evil carbs cannot be used by the body, unless they have their vitamins and minerals attached to them. Mother nature gave us sugar cane as a whole and eating it whole makes our body happy.

In an ideal world, we would digest the unrefined sugar from the sugar cane with its vitamins and minerals attached, our body likes this and metabolizes the carbohydrate, producing energy and all is well.
BUT................we rarely get offered unrefined sugar cane, do we? So what happens when the bad sugar hits our stomach?
The stripped sugar creates abnormal sugars that the body has no idea what to do with. These 'toxic metabolites' (you're best googling that one guys) interfere with cell respiration. Meaning they cannot get enough oxygen to survive and function normally. Over time, these cells die, whether it be in the brain, liver or else where in the body, and a degenerative disease is born.
But (another but!), before the degenerative disease is apparent, the body tries to protect itself. So it calls in the calcium from your teeth and bones to help it out. And you know what that means? Teeth like a row of condemned houses and bones so brittle you cant even click your fingers.


Now onto the FAT.
Excess sugar in the blood is stored in the liver until it is fit to burst and then it heads out, as glycogen, and is stored in the lazy parts of the body: the belly, bum, boobs and thighs.  Then when these areas get too big for their boots, fatty acids are released to active organs like the heart and kidneys and this fatty substance begins to get them on a slowmo. White blood cells occur and attack the red cells, our body's response to bugs gets slower. Immunizing super power is at an all time low. If your neighbour 3 doors down has the flu, chances are you'll catch it too .(ok, ok, maybe not quite like that but you get the picture)


Geez I thought I was meant to keep that brief. In all fairness that is pretty brief and not too specific. But I like reading blogs on the hoof and if it were 10 pages long, I'd probably give it a big side swerve.




I watched a film recently, that has inspired me highlight the world of hidden sugars and their dangers. Check out That Sugar Film.

This is one movie where I sat on the couch, jaw open, with the kids, shocked! Completely Shocked! So were the boys.  Kids being given Mountain Dew in a bottle??? Racking up 3 bottles a day of this stuff.  Mountain Dew has 40% more caffeine that coke and 15% more sugar. That yellow drink was my 'fizzy juice' of choice over here (you know those summer days when all you crave is a beer or pop. Admittedly I usually go for the Beer, its more natural , right?) and I even gave it to the boys once as I thought it was 'better' than coke! Doh!  This is all about education, so as long as there is lessons learnt, then we're cool.
Talking about education, I popped this dvd into Hamishs school bag (he's in grade 1), and asked his teacher to take it home and watch it. (we're friends, I wasn't just being weird.) But instead she text me to say, the screening is at 10.45am today!  I had to add that there was some scientific data the kids would go a little glossy over, but other than that, perfect for school. If you go online you can actually buy School Packs !
Over the course of the next few days at school, I was told the kids were analyzing the sugar in their lunchboxes. Asking the teacher how many teaspoons are in my granola bar, chocolate bar, yoghurt etc. And the discussion starts...........................Amazing!!!!
Very Proud of my school, so I am!


Just a little FYI............


Did you know that yoghurt is the demon for hiding sugars! Some have a whopping 24grams of sugar per carton!!! That's 6tsps of sugar in one serving! I'd rather have a snickers.....hey at least the nuts are good for you.  But don't panic too much, as some sugars are from the lactose in the milk, but only a small percentage.
And you think you're doing good by choosing the 'fat free' varieties? NOPE. You bump up your sugar intake by over 50% compared to the full fat Greek yoghurts.  Sneaky eh? Damn, why isn't every just honest!??
At the moment Jamie Oliver is striving for correct labelling on products in the UK. (Go Jamie, Go Jamie!) Because, really, would you purchase a yoghurt with 4tsps of sugar in it for your toddler? Hmmm I don't think so.


Now you know some of the details, I'm assuming you're all like, 'Eh I am so not giving up my snickers or Cadburys Twirl dipped in a cup of tea (my all time favourite). '
Well you don't have to.  I didn't, not right away anyway. But I did start using less refined sugar in things. Substituting it for Honey, Maple syrup or Agave. Which I'm sure the fructose in those also aren't so good for you, but they haven't been stripped of anything, so they are still in true form. I also use coconut sugar which is full of vitamins and minerals and is low glycemic. Ultimate winner!




6 months on and I can honestly tell you that the taste of a sugar laden donut from Tim Hortons gives me the heave. I can taste every spoonful of the sugar and have a seriously sugar low after my rocketing high.  Artificial sweetners jump out at me in pies, biscuits and drinks.  It really is phenomenal the change that my body has gone under. Now I haven't cut refined sugars out completely. I'm sure that is going to be a life long challenge, AS THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!! And I still enjoy anything wrapped in dark chocolate and a piece of Honeymoon slice occasionally. (remember that St Madoes Ladies??)




My ultimate goal is to now change my boys palates. I have a 6 and a 4 year old, and my 4 year old is a sugar monster. I blame that on myself (obviously I buy my kids the food) and a close second, on moving to Canada where sugar is loaded into everything.  Ice Tea is prominent in the 'healthy ish section' (packing in 7tsps of sugar in a 345ml bottle) and packets of Skittles( 1 pack has 10tsps of sugar!!) with more E numbers than I can shake a stick at, at every checkout! Smores are the dessert of choice in the summer and rice krispie squares are a given in lunch boxes. 


So if I could just get them to realise the 'taste' of crappy sugar (that's what I'm calling it now. Not to my kids obviously) that would be a start.  Rather than it just all being classed as 'Sugar', as that's not fair.  All sugars are NOT equal!