Why Going Sugar Free Isn't Everything

After reading Suzanne Moore's article documenting her 14-days or sugar-free dieting over on the Guardian I'm frankly a bit worried. 

“A workable, affordable diet that is not downright antisocial is now the thing I crave most of all.”

Thank you Suzanne, this short sentence says it all! What kind of example are we setting our children when we rid the house of all fruit, most root vegetables and grains? There are benefits to going sugar-free for a short spell, the main one being that we fairly quickly become aware of just how much sugar we are consuming without knowing it and this hopefully enables us to make more informed choices in the future but let’s not kid ourselves that this diet (way of life being the true definition of the word) is sustainable in the long term. And, how healthy is it really? The body craves/needs balance - a balance of the three major micronutrients; carbohydrates, protein and fat and that can only be achieved when we have a varied and colourful diet full of largely-unprocessed foods. A little of what you fancy - as our great grannies were wont to say - is in my view, the sustainable route to improved all-round health and happiness and if that means the occasional sweet indulgence which may not tick all the healthy boxes but sure as hell ticks the happiness box, what possible damage can that do? And please, whatever you do, don’t ever regard fresh fruit as the enemy - it is packed with fibre, vitamins, minerals and health-protective plant chemicals and it’s natural sugars go a very long way toward satisfying our hard-wired need for a bit of sweetness in our lives!

Have you tried going sugar-free? Let me know your thoughts using the hashtag #DietNotDepravation

It's Clearly Time to Find a Few Hot Drink Alternatives!

Oh dear, what are we to do when the weather is cold and miserable and we need a warm and comforting cuppa with a sweet edge? While the high street coffee chains are deliberating how they are going to defend themselves against the barrage of media coverage regarding the crazy amounts of added sugars in many of their tea, coffee and chocolate hot drink concoctions (click here for a detailed analysis which makes pretty scary reading), best advice right now is to give most of them a very wide berth and get hooked on some tasty alternatives that won't crank up your daily sugar consumption!

Try some of these - many of which provide natural sugars from fruits, milks and raw ingredients and where sugar is occasionally added, be confident that it's no more than a couple of teaspoons:

• Hot Spiced Fruit Tea. Stock up on fruit tea bags (there's a huge variety out there) and infuse them for at least 10 minutes (the longer the better) with your spices of choice (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, chilli flakes etc). For a little added sweetness, sling in a teaspoon of raw honey or pure maple syrup and stir well.
• Hot Lemon and Ginger. Warming and great for the digestion. Add a pinch of sea salt, a good grating of fresh ginger, a generous squeeze of lemon juice and a teaspoon of raw honey to a mug of boiling water, let it all infuse for 5 minutes and sip slowly.
• Hot Apple Cider. Make this one at home and flask it if you are heading to work or are out for the day. Place chopped apple, orange segments, half a cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of raw sugar or molasses in a pan, cover with water and simmer very, very gently for 30 minutes. Strain and flask.
• Hot Chocolate. Heat a mug of nut milk (almond or oat milk are great as they are naturally-sweet) and gently stir in a couple of heaped teaspoons of dark chocolate granules (Green & Blacks are a good choice). For a little indulgent addition, grate some very dark chilli chocolate over the top.
• Fat Coffee. Filling, energising, fat-busting and some might say 'addictive' as an alternative to your morning cuppa! Click here for my recipe.
• And... What About Soup? Simply the best comforting hot drink there is when you are cold and need a nutritional hug! One that is super-quick to prepare, easy to transport and brings a lovely natural sweetness with it, is my Very Quick Tomato (click here for recipe).

Sugar Free Farm - The Final Episode

Well... it's all over now and the celebrities have been back home for 6 weeks (or possibly a great deal longer, as we can never be quite sure when the series was filmed!) and it has to be said that they all looked pretty cheerful when they reached the finishing post.

To a man/woman, they felt better, had more energy, lost weight and liked what they saw in the mirror a great deal more than they had when they arrived and... they all took away a wealth of information about not just how much damage a sugar-laden diet had been having on their health but also how much more damage is likely to occur if they continue down that road.

All good so far and I earnestly hope that they all manage to use what they have learned to allow them to 'cook and eat fresh' at least 80% of the time and keep an eagle-eye on the rather-too-many foods and drinks that we are all surrounded by which threaten our sugar-busting resolve on a daily basis.

It's stressful but not too difficult when we are being 'policed' on a minute to minute basis as the celebrities were at the farm but it's a great deal harder when we are left to our own devices!

What was not discussed in any great depth was the ruinous effect stress can have on our eating habits. You are having a bad day, bad days prompt stress and ongoing stress prompts elevated levels of the hormone, cortisol which not only increases our appetite (particularly for sugary, starchy foods) but also encourages the body to store fat. Bad news all round!

However, the good news is that it's not all about exercising iron-discipline and willpower - there are ways to keep cortisol levels in check and manage the often desperate need to hoover down a Krispy Creme doughnut (or in Mark's case a tub of M&Ms!) Here are few very important and helpful pointers:

ALWAYS HAVE HEALTHY SNACKS WITHIN REACH. Sugar-free nut and seed bars, a small tub of hummus and some raw vegetable sticks, fresh fruit with hard cheese, miso soup sachets, a 'fat ' coffee (click here for recipe), a cooked chicken drumstick and half an avocado, a small tub of natural cottage cheese and a handful of baby tomatoes, a couple of oatcakes with nut butter, a boiled egg and a slice of cooked ham, a mixed bean salad, a protein-rich smoothie (click here for recipes) or a small bar of very dark chocolate and a handful of berries.

WORK OUT WHEN YOUR ENERGY DIPS GENERALLY OCCUR. There is often a pattern (for some it's mid morning, for others it's late evening but the most common is mid afternoon). The secret is to be ahead of the game and have a snack 10 to 20 minutes before you know it's likely to occur. Once you get into this habit, you will be amazed at how little you actually need to eat to get back on track.

GET MORE MAGNESIUM INTO YOUR DAY. This essential mineral is a real winner when it comes to controlling stress-induced cortisol elevation. Aim to include some of the following magnesium-rich foods in as many of your meals and snacks as you can throughout the day: spinach, chard, pumpkin seeds, natural yoghurt, almonds, back beans, avocado, figs, dark chocolate, bananas, salmon, cashew nuts, goats cheese.

EXERCISE DAILY. Endless studies reveal that one of the best ways to manage stress and blunt elevated cortisol levels is regular exercise - and it doesn't have to involve copious hours of pounding the pavements or hitting the gym. Just 20-30 minutes a day of whatever type of exercise suits your timetable (walking, jogging, running, cycling, trampolining, dancing, exercise videos etc) makes an impressive difference.

GET A GOOD SLEEP PATTERN GOING. Possibly the biggest threat when it comes to stress-control and blood sugar management is lack of sleep on an ongoing basis so we have to do everything we can to get our recommended 7-8 hours per night. Easy in theory but monumentally-difficult in practice! Try this for a week: go to bed at around the same time every night (11pm latest), make the room as dark as possible (or wear a sleep mask), don't watch TV or have any form of reader, mobile phone, tablet or laptop in the vicinity, focus on going straight to sleep (really concentrating on your breathing helps to clear you mind), set your alarm for the same wake-up time every day, get up as soon as it goes off (don't press the snooze button) and immediately open the curtains to let whatever daylight is evident into the room. What you are trying to achieve here is to ensure that you work, as much as is possible with your natural circadian rhythm where the body benefits from the practice of sleeping when it is dark and being awake during daylight hours.

CONSIDER A SUPPLEMENT IF SUGAR CRAVINGS STILL REGULARLY INVADE. I have already mentioned the importance of good levels of magnesium in your diet but the mineral, chromium also contributes to normal blood glucose balance so if you are struggling with ongoing stress and fighting the need for sugar, try a good quality blood sugar control complex. I like Biocare's Sucroguard www.biocare.co.uk which is a blend of key nutrients involved in managing glucose levels and ensuring that cells are provided with energy.  

What did you think to Sugar Free Farm? Let me know using the hashtag #SugarFreeFarm

Sugar Free Farm - What Have We Learned So Far?

I am determined to take a positive view on this new celebrity show despite the fact that so far, after just one episode, the best bits without question, were the looks on the faces of the resident farm workers who are clearly totally bemused by the whole thing! Let’s hope that at some point during the series we get some feedback from them as this will likely make great TV!

But back to the aim of the programme as I see it; to make us crucially-aware of the effect that too much sugar (in all its different guises) has on our bodies and brains so that we make every effort to greatly reduce our intake and dependence on it and adopt a healthier lifestyle which includes cooking and eating fresh foods which deliver the kind of nourishment we need to feel better, look better and live longer.

Poor Jennifer is certainly not having the best time in the early stages and is a fairly classic example of how going cold turkey equals misery if your diet has been loaded with sugar for some time BUT she had medics in attendance, was able to go to bed and nurse her pounding headache and aches and pains and by the time she reappeared, the important others had prepared a deliciously-healthful dinner for her to graze on!

IMPORTANT NOTE NUMBER ONE: don’t even consider this course of action unless you know you have a few days where no-one and nothing is going to interfere with your misery! You simply won’t make it through a demanding day without sobbing into your super-green smoothie and making a beeline for the paracetamol.

However, if episode one has stirred your stumps and you have determined on the back of the evidence (courtesy of the copious bags of sugar!) that there’s way too much of it in your life and it’s time to seriously clean up your diet, here are a few breakfast/early morning snack suggestions to get you well on the reduced sugar road before you tune in to next week’s programme and watch the inevitable mood swings which may rock the boat more than just a little! And I will be back with another unbiased crit and more helpful tips…

Click on any of the images below to take you to my recipe page where you can download, save and print off those that are going to fit comfortably into your life this week.

What did you think to Sugar Free Farm? Let me know using the hashtag #SugarFreeFarm