Week 4 – Why Sugar Sucks (the life out of you)

Aim of the week – Get sweetness in other ways!

We humans love sweet things. Even before we started refining sugar, we sought out foods with sweet tastes.

But do you notice that your craving for sweet things can depend on other things… ?

Do you crave sugar if:

- you have a day when you are fully absorbed in a project?

- you have been drinking plenty of water?

- if you have kept your coffee levels to 1-2 coffees only and after food?

- you have been eating sweet vegetables like pumpkin and sweet potatoes?

Or do you crave sugar if:

- you did not get enough sleep?

- you are bored with your work or overwhelmed with it?

- if you have been eating a lot of animal proteins?

- you are feeling sad or angry with something else going on in life?

Yes all of these things above are clues around our cravings for sweetness but we also have to be aware that sugar is very addictive – when we have a little bit we want more and when we come off it symptoms like headaches and irritability can be VERY high for 2-3 days…

A short explanation on what sugar is…

Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that occurs naturally in foods such as grains, beans, vegetables and fruit. When unprocessed, sugar contains a variety of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and proteins. When brown rice or other whole grains are cooked, chewed and digested, the natural carbohydrates break down uniformly into separate glucose molecules. These molecules enter the bloodstream, where they are burned smoothly and evenly, allowing your body to absorb all the good stuff.

However refined table sugar, also called sucrose, is very different. Extracted from either sugar cane or beets, it lacks vitamins, minerals and fibre, and thus requires extra effort from the body to digest. The body must deplete its own store of minerals and enzymes to absorb sucrose properly. Therefore, instead of providing the body with nutrition, it creates deficiency. It enters swiftly into the bloodstream and wreaks havoc on the blood sugar level, first pushing it sky-high—causing excitability, nervous tension and hyperactivity—and then dropping it extremely low—causing fatigue, depression, weariness and exhaustion.

It also has a negative effect on our immune system leaving us vulnerable and open to getting sick…

Can you imagine if this is what is happening for an adult – what it can be like for a child… ?

Yet children are given sugar as a reward, as a treat, as a present… there is something that has gone very wrong here.

So what can you do to help reduce the sugar cravings?

· Drink plenty of water

· Get to bed earlier and give yourself enough rest

· Only drink coffee after food

· Use more spices when cooking to satisfy your taste buds

· Use sweet vegetables and fruit while cooking – sweet potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, peppers all give your body sweetness

· Use non-refined sweeteners like high quality honey, maple syrup of coconut sugar

· Fill your life with the little things that give you pleasure (see below)

Top tip: What gives you pleasure in life? Write a list of 30 things that you absolutely LOVE to do… if you had a day to yourself with no pressures what would you do…

Use the list attached to fill in your pleasures and this week make sure you do some every single day…. J

Recipe(s) of the week

This is all about having sweetness without sugar!

Fig and Apple Crumble with Cashew Vanilla Cream

Ingredients

· 5 apples with skins still on - chopped into small pieces

· 10 figs – sliced (or if not the season use pears or cherries or berries or whatever!)

· teaspoon cinnamon

· 225g oat flour (oats put into a blender until they become flour)

· 50g butter or coconut oil for vegan option

· 75g coconut sugar

· 1 mug cashew nuts soaked overnight in 1 mug water

· half teaspoon vanilla powder

Directions

· Heat oven to 180 degrees

· Cook the apples in small amount of water with cinnamon until soft

· Make crumble by rubbing the butter or coconut oil into the oat flour until fine crumbs. Mix in the coconut sugar.

· Place the slices of fig at the bottom of an oven dish. Cover with cooked apples and then the crumble mixture and bake in the oven for 30 mins.

· In the meantime - drain the cashew nuts and put in blender with vanilla - blend into a smooth cream adding a bit of water or lemon juice if needed.

Banana Ice Cream

Dairy free ice-cream made in minutes (as long as you have some frozen bananas already in the freezer... I like to keep a little supply in there!)

Ingredients

· 2 frozen bananas

· half cup of almond or oat milk

· pinch of vanilla powder (optional)

· pinch of cinnamon (optional)

· Other ideas: few walnuts, blueberries, spoon cocoa powder, some dark chocolate pieces....

Directions

· Simply put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth - serve straight away

Oat and Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

· 80g almond butter

· 80g apple sauce (I cooked and blended some eating apples)

· 1 tsp vanilla

· 80g oat flour (put oats in blender and you get the flour!)

· 40g whole wheat flour (or use more oat flour if you want gluten-free)

· 1tsp baking powder

· 1/2 tsp cinnamon

· 75g rolled oats

· 75g raisins

Method

· Set oven to 200 degrees. Line two baking tins with greaseproof paper

· In large mixing bowl - beat together almond butter and apple sauce with a fork - add vanilla

· Add oat flour, what flour, baking powder and cinnamon - mix well. Stir in oats and raisins to create stiff dough

· For messy results, ask a toddler to roll dough into balls and put on tray! Or do it yourself ;-) Flatten cookies a bit (they don't spread much during baking)

· Bake for 10 mins - cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack

· Enjoy...

You can find lots of sweet recipes here