That Easter after Choccy come-down is real… isn’t it??
During April we are going to tackle head on the role that sugar plays in our health & healing. Each year, we try to give you all some encouragement around nutrition in this month of Easter, but this year we thought we would take it a notch upwards and really dive into HOW sugar impacts our health and healing.
Sugar is a drug.
And like all drugs, it can really become a daily habit that we don’t realise we are using. It is hidden in a lot of the foods we eat these days, particularly anything that has a shelf life. We often think that if it doesn’t say sugar on the label, that we are home and hosed, but we actually know that it is disguised under many different labels. Here is a list of some common solid or granulated sugars that are added to foods we consume:
Beet sugar, Brown sugar, Cane juice crystals, Cane sugar, Castor sugar, Coconut sugar, Confectioner's sugar (aka, powdered sugar), Corn syrup solids, Crystalline fructose, Date sugar, Demerara sugar, Dextrin, Diastatic malt, Ethyl maltol, Florida crystals, Golden sugar, Glucose syrup solids, Grape sugar, Icing sugar, Maltodextrin, Muscovado sugar, Panela sugar, Raw sugar, Sugar (granulated or table), Sucanat, Turbinado sugar, Yellow sugar
In fact, there is an article you can find here that outlines all of the latest names that sugar can be hidden as on labels. It’s often easy to say I won’t eat sugar, and stop the chocolate, the lollies and the sugar in your coffee, but there are so many hidden elements too.
This month, we would love to see you slow down your sugar consumption. Stopping cold-turkey can be a lot on your system, particularly if you were consuming a lot of the stuff. But making some small daily changes will build up over time to improve your health and the hold that sugar has on you.
What is the link between Sugar & Inflammation…
Sugar and Inflammation are a known common link together <<First Name>>,and we are going to simplify the science for you so it all makes a bit more sense. Research is always emerging that tells us a consistent message about sugar and inflammation. here are some simple ways it impacts your health.
Chronic long term sugar intake can result in obesity and weight gain around the abdomen. This is known to increase your risk of stroke and heart attack.
People with higher sugar diets have an increase in inflammatory markers in their blood work. The theory is that sugar stimulates the production of free fatty acids in the liver, and when the body digests these acids, the inflammation markers are produced.
Some sugars are worse than others. Yep… sorry but the sugars in those soft drinks are known to be the worst, quickly followed by high sugar foods. The ‘best’ sugars to consume are fruit sugars in their natural form (that means it still looks like fruit).
We don’t know about you, but we all felt a different kind of inflammation after Easter weekend. Dr Ali feels it in her face, like a tiredness she just can’t get rid of. Dr Kate feels it in her fatigue after exercising, Carla feels it in her hands, and Anna feels it in her head. Where do you feel it?
Have you checked in with your body and discovered where it feels a bit ‘not right’ since Easter? Ask it the questions and see what it tells you.
