Are you addicted to sugar?
Do regularly find yourself craving sweet foods or do you find it impossible to stop after just one or two sweet biscuits or pieces of chocolate? If any of these scenarios sound familiar you may indeed have a case of sugar addiction, in which your drive to eat sweet foods is disrupting your glucose regulation, diet and ultimately your weight on a daily basis.
From a biochemical perspective, there is nothing evil about sugar itself. White table sugar is simply the linking of two molecules (glucose and fructose) to form sucrose. We consume numerous simple sugars in natural unprocessed foods including fruit, dairy foods and even vegetables on a daily basis and have done so for hundreds of years thus far without any significant consequences which would suggest that a little sugar, from natural sources poses no issue in the diet long term.
The truth is though, that when it comes to discussing sugar addiction, we are not talking about fruit. We are talking about far more concentrated doses of sugar found in processed foods, often in conjunction with refined white flour and/or fat, the ingestion of which send the brain into a drug like frenzy likened to that of a hit of cocaine. And, as is the case with regular drug use, the more of this intensely sweet food that we include in our diet whether it be in cake, biscuits, ice cream or chocolate, the more we want and before you know it, you are routinely consuming a large muffin as day in addition to a packet of chocolate biscuits after dinner.
Unfortunately, as food processing techniques have advanced and more and more of our favourite cereals, snacks, sauces and yoghurts have sugar added, so too have our palates developed quite a taste for the white stuff. In fact, it is not unusual to assess a diet that contains nothing but refined white carbs for the most part of the day. A refined breakfast cereal, oats with added sugar or fruit muesli kick start the day, followed by sweetened tea and coffee, a couple of biscuits and large slices of white breads and wraps prior to the extreme sweet craving which will then kick in at about 3 or 4pm. On the surface the diet appears healthy, but a closer look reveals that every single source of carbohydrate is refined and contains added sugars, which leave blood sugar levels unstable and prone to going low late in the afternoon.
The good news is that if you are one of the many for whom this sounds familiar, it is a dietary pattern that is actually very easy to shift. The first step is to eliminate as much added sugar and refined carbohydrates from your diet as possible. This includes the white breads, added sugar to tea and coffee, cakes, biscuits and chocolates as well as sweet sauces, bars and fruit snacks and juices (fresh fruit is in a different category as it also contains the fibre and bulk missing from refined fruit products). If you have been consuming large quantities of added sugar, yes you are likely to have a few withdrawal symptoms but nothing you will not be able to handle. At worst you may get a headache and find yourself a little grumpy but after just two or three days without any added sugar in your diet you will find yourself feeling more energized and free from the cravings which you have been a slave to for so long.
The sugar swap
Fruit Muesli ---> Plain oats
Fruit yoghurt ---> Natural yoghurt
Sugar --- Cinnamon, or vanilla
Milk chocolate ---> 70% dark chocolate
Dried fruit ---> Fresh fruit
Muesli bars ---> Nut based snack bars
Rice crackers ---> Roasted chic peas
Wraps ---> Rye Crackers
Mayonnaise ---> Avocado
Sweet chilli sauce --> Chili sauce
Susie Burrell B Nutr & Diet (Hons), B.Sc (psych) (Hons) is a leading dietician with degrees in both nutrition & psychology. Each month she shares information to assist in nutrition
