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This morning I bumped into an article called "I went cold turkey on sugar" in the Mail Online.
The reporter had binged on sugar over Christmas and woke up on New Year's Day deciding to cut out sugar of her diet completely. Her habits in the first place were quite bad, as she used to start her day with a chocolate croissant and add sugar to her coffee, and eating sugary foods whenever stressed, moody, tired, bored, etc.
The article makes for an interesting read and I just wanted to write down a few interesting points it makes:
- Scientists from California University
have branded sugar a poison whose sale should be regulated as tightly as
cigarettes and alcohol. ‘A little is not a problem, but a lot kills — slowly’
- Sugar is linked with fertility problems in
women and illnesses such as polycistic ovary syndrome, insomnia and even
raises your risk of dementia and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Scientists at Princeton University found
that the chemicals released by sugar consumption travel the same brain
pathways that heroin does, and that when we’re stressed or sad, the
foods that can produce this feeling exert a magnetic pull — causing us
to eat up to six times more than our normal intake of sugary foods.
-You may think you don’t need to worry
because you don’t eat much of it, but the amount of sugar we consume in
Britain has trebled in the past 50 years, despite a decline in sales of
sugar, thanks to an increase in the amount added to manufactured
products, including most savoury foods from soups and sauces to pizza,
crisps, ready meals and bacon.
- If you look at the label and sugar is listed in the top three ingredients, put it back on the shelf. --> I would even go one step further and go to further down the list. Ideally avoid products with any sugar in it if possible.
- White bread contains 1-2g of added sugar per slice, while wholemeal doesn’t have any. --> check the ingredients list
- The hormonal response to high blood
sugar that crashes is like having a panic attack — you may experience
anxiety, confusion and an inability to concentrate, light-headedness and
fatigue, headaches and irritability.
- A tablespoon of ketchup contains almost a teaspoon of sugar.
- A Which? report found that some savoury foods contain more sugar than ice cream. Over the past 30 years, food manufacturers have doubled the amount of sugar they add to their products. And
most contain the worst kind of sugar — high-fructose corn syrup (often
described as HFCS or glucose-fructose syrup on food packaging)
So definitely some good points there about mainly hidden sugars. Most of pre-made and definitely all processed foods contain sugar! So always always always have a look at the ingredients list.
Another good point made in the article, is that if you do go cold turkey for a little while and/or reduce your sugar intake drastically for a few weeks, you will enjoy natural foods much more, the flavours will be more prominant. But also, if you do eat something sweet, it will feel much much sweeter and you might not even like it anymore.
So why not give it a try for a few weeks ?
If you need help with your diet and weight loss effort, contact me, Anne Iarchy, Personal Trainer North and North West London, on 07880627944 or email me at anne@barnetpersonaltrainer.co.uk
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