Sugar, Part Two: “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
Last month this article touched on the addictive quality of sugar. Enjoying sweets is normal, but the craving for more sugar can bring complications. Even if we don’t drink sugary soft drinks every day, we may reach for “healthy” cereals or juices, not realizing that they are loaded with sugar.
According to the American Heart Association, we don’t need added sugar to be healthy, but the naturally occurring sugars contain a variety of nutrients that we do need. For example, as well as fructose, fruit also contains fiber and various important vitamins and minerals.
One clue that we might have a sugar habit is if we frequently use sweets to cope with stress, boredom, depression, and anxiety. This can make us less able to feel our emotions or deal with them properly. Other common symptoms include headaches, fatigue, cravings, muscle pain, nausea, bloating, and insomnia. We may want to discuss these symptoms with a medical practitioner. It’s a bad sign “if you eat sugar and junk food compulsively, even though you realize the negative consequences,” says Dan DeFigio, author of Beating Sugar Addiction For Dummies.
How do we break a sugar habit? One way is by cutting back a little at a time. Take small steps. And you probably know most of this, but check it out: eat a balanced diet, prepare healthy snacks in advance, get exercise, sleep well, drink enough water. Be discriminating, read labels, and be suspicious of words that disguise sugar. Labels can be deceiving; there are at least fifty-six names for sugar! Advertising and food promotion contribute to a belief that added sugar is okay. It’s a modern battle: profit vs community health. TOPS is here to help you.
This story started long ago; as mentioned last month, Europeans began to demand sugar for use in food and medicine, and to sweeten newly discovered beverages like coffee and chocolate, and there were many people who were willing to supply it. The demand for sugar drove the early slave trade. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs accumulated ill-gotten gains from their sugar plantations and built some of the manor houses we now admire. Like another addictive product, opium, the history of the harm it has done is heavy.
Sometimes we need to consider topics like history, economics, and politics for our own well-being. Some industries, like “Big Sugar,” are almost up there with “Big Tobacco ” in the harm they are doing to our health. In the end, our health is what matters, and consuming too much sugar contributes to obesity and all the negative health effects related to it. It’s worth repeating the suggestion to watch master-chef Jamie Oliver on his take on sugar: YouTube.com (Jamie Oliver Sugar Rush).
We’d love to see you at TOPS. We know that habits are very hard to break. We’d love to help you find new, healthier habits. Our non-judgmental, encouraging, friendly members meet every Wednesday morning at the Community Centre, from 9:00 to 10:00. We’re a low-cost, international self-help program that welcomes everyone. Check out our website at www.tops.org. (Our first visit is free.) If you want to join us, please call .
Do you need a ride? Call MI Assisted Living Society .
Submitted by Amber Harvey
References:
WebMD sugar addiction:- https://tinyurl.com/4fhrjcnh
Jamie Oliver and obesity: https://tinyurl.com/4f266ytn
CTV sugar study report https://tinyurl.com/yfdbm4jv