This week I'm tackling the sticky issue of sugar – that sweet, white, crystalline stuff that has all the appearance of innocence and delightfulness but which is at the heart of so many of our modern ailments and diseases. I want to look briefly at the history of sugar, its nutritional properties (er... there aren't any), and its role in modern disease. Then at the end I will have a link to an excellent documentary which really uncovers a lot of truth about sugar.
I am no longer a sugar addict but I used to be. In my blog, My Journey to Primal, I described how as a child I loved all things sweet and carby – cakes, biscuits, sweets, puddings and until only a few years ago, I wouldn't have biscuits or cakes in the house because their siren calls would have me in the pantry at regular intervals; I used to have Hob-Nobs dipped in vanilla latte as a mid-morning snack, and I would never, ever go out for a meal without checking the pudding menu first. But now I know not only the enormous damage caused by sugar, but also how it easily piles on the weight so though I do occasionally have something sweet, I have broken my addiction to sugar. I hope after reading this, you also might have a different view of this sweet 'treat'.
A very brief history of sugar
Sugar has been consumed by humans for thousands of years – not in the form that we know it today but as honey, maple syrup, ripe fruit and berries and sweet grasses such as sorghum. From a hunter-gatherer point of view, sweetness in nature usually means that something is OK to eat - (many poisonous plants are bitter) and the human taste has a natural inclination towards sweetness – breast milk is high in natural sugar. But for many thousands of years sugar in any form was a rare and treasured treat that was only occasionally available.
Then around 500 BC, farmers in Northern India discovered that the juice from the sugar cane plant could be treated with heating and cooling processes and turned into the white crystals that we know today. This still wasn't a problem from a dietary point of view as the processes were long and difficult so the refined sugar itself was rare and expensive and only produced in tropical climates. But the industry was starting to grow and by the end of the twelfth century sugar eventually reached Northern Europe. It was reported that Edward 1`s household in 1288 used over 6200 pounds of sugar.
Still this wasn't a problem for the general population as only the very wealthy could afford sugar – it was reported in Queen Elizabeth 1's reign that black, rotting teeth were a sign of wealth and status because it showed you could afford sugar – only the peasants had healthy teeth!
Sadly, from this time, sugar and slavery went hand-in-hand; the work to produce sugar in the plantations of the tropics was appalling - Charles C Mann described it:
“swinging machetes into the hard, soot-smeared cane under the tropical sun, [splattering the field hands] head to foot with a sticky mixture of dust, ash and cane juice”, it was, as Gary Taubes (The Case Against Sugar) describes, 'difficult to find a population poor enough and desperate enough to do the work willingly', so slaves became the answer. By the 1830's, when the slave trade finally came to an end, over 8 million slaves from Africa had been shipped off to work in the production of sugar.
The successful refining of sugar from beets in 1811 which allowed sugar to be produced outside the tropics was another move towards sugar becoming available to more people, as was the industrial revolution which mechanised the processes. From there on, the way we used sugar gradually changed from being an occasional treat to an every day staple. It was used in preserving, bread-making, brewing and baking as well as in confectionery and puddings. By the beginning of the 20th century, all the common sweet treats we know today were in existence – sweets, chocolate bars, sweetened pop and ice cream and it's hard to describe the amount of political and industrial interference and propaganda that has continued to push sugar-loaded snacks and drinks into our lives.
So what's the problem? A bit of sugar never hurt anyone – did it?
This is a question I hear a lot – surely, we think, a little bit of sweetness can't be harmful? And I used to say that too. With fat being posted as the villain of the piece since the late 1970's, we have ignored the disastrous impact of a high-sugar, high-carb diet:
The human body can cope with about 5g of glucose (sugar) at any one time - that's about a teaspoonful. Beyond that amount, sugar is toxic and the pancreas has to produce insulin to quickly bring down the blood glucose (sugar) levels. If we continue to consume sugar-laden food and drinks, the body gradually becomes less sensitive to insulin and the pancreas has to work harder and harder to get blood sugar levels down. Eventually, this can lead to Type 2 diabetes as the pancreas can no longer cope
Higher levels of insulin cause the body to shut down fat-burning; getting rid of the sugar is the body's priority so fat-burning takes a back seat while that's happening. This is fine occasionally, but if it's constant because of a high-sugar, high-carb diet, then the fat will pile on
Sugar and carbs that are not used immediately as energy are converted to fat and stored in the fat cells
High levels of insulin cause your body to try to cram more and more converted carbs into your fat cells which then become swollen and inflamed, then eventually, when they can hold absolutely no more, the fat overflows into your other organs such as your liver, heart and pancreas. This very dangerous 'visceral' fat, as it is called, is linked to diabetes, metabolic syndrome, some cancers and dementia
Because fat-burning has been switched off, your body cannot access the energy you have stored in your fat cells; you can be walking around with plenty of fat for energy but you're unable to use it, so you are always hungry! And because your body isn't burning fat, it will be carbs and sweet things that you crave and so the cycle continues
Despite what the manufacturers will tell you (and governments because of the tax revenues they get from sugar), sugar has absolutely no nutritional value – nothing, nada, nix. It is just calories
Sugar rots your teeth (remember the wealthy Elizabethans with their black molars?). Studies have shown a direct correlation between obesity and poor dental health – both caused by excess sugar. A study published in The Lancet* found that in children, drinking just one sugar-sweetened drink a day increased the risk of becoming obese by 60%
High sugar consumption has been linked to several mental disorders including ADHD, depression and dementia
Sugar messes with your appetite control so the more you have the more you want – it's almost impossible to overeat fat but we can down sugar all day long.
So it's not that innocent is it?
The Low-fat/High-carb disaster
In the 1950's, an American scientist named Ancel Keys sought to prove that fat was the cause of heart disease. In his 'Six Nations Study' he produced a graph which showed a neat correlation between countries with a high fat diet and those with high rates of heart disease – what wasn't shown were the results from the 16 other countries who were studied but whose results were very different - these were conveniently left out of the final report because they didn't fit in with Key's hypothesis.
And to be fair to Keys, in the beginning he himself said that there wasn't a clear link between fat and heart disease but the US government, desperate to do something about the soaring rates of heart disease, decided to push the low fat message. By the late 1970's, the low-fat message had become almost gospel and all of us were trying to make our diets healthier by cutting out fat (see my blog My Journey to Primal). The problem is that when you take fat out of food, it has to be replaced with something and that something is usually sugar – sugar adds 'mouthfeel', makes things taste nice (remember we're hard-wired to like sweet things), and adds in calories which are missing because of the low fat. And over the next decades, waistlines grew, obesity became a major problem instead of a rare condition, and Type 2 diabetes became a major cause of illness and death.
I realise that it's actually incredibly difficult to break away from the 'wisdom' of nearly 50 years but the evidence is overwhelming that sugar, not fat, is the real culprit in so much disease.
So what can I do?
You know I love Primal – not just for the diet which is high in fabulous natural fats, but also for the whole lifestyle of natural movement, intuitive exercise, sunshine, sleep and play, so I am always going to be championing that way of life, but even if you did nothing else, if you just got sugar out of your life, you would see huge improvements in your health and energy. In his book, Sweet Poison, Why Sugar Makes Us Fat, David Gillespie describes how he lost 40kg of weight just by cutting sugar from his diet; he says:
'[I] no longer worry about weight gain at all. I know that I can eat when I feel hungry and stop eating when I feel full and not put on weight. I can eat whatever I feel like eating as long as it doesn't contain sugar. I have no urge to eat when I'm not hungry [and] I no longer feel lethargic or sleep deprived'
But it's not as simple as cutting out fizzy drinks, chocolate and biscuits – nearly all packaged and processed foods contain sugar - often in surprisingly large amounts, so a natural diet of meat, fish, eggs, full-fat dairy, nuts and nutritious fats with lots of fabulous veggies and salads is the ideal. If you're not doing Primal, you might add in more potatoes or rice and maybe some bread,
I'm not going to pretend that it's easy though – if you're a sugar-addict, as I was, the first few days or even weeks can be pretty tough as your body tries to adjust to not having sugar all the time. You might feel lethargic because your body is craving a sugar hit; you might get a headache or have trouble sleeping but it will be worth it.
What about artificial sweeteners?
I think the jury is still out on these. Personally I don't like them or use them but I know some people find that they help, especially in the early days of breaking a sugar-addiction. David Gillespie writes about drinking copious amounts of sugar-free fizzy drinks when he started on his sugar detox. It has to be a personal choice but I think ideally, you need to break the craving for sweetness altogether – if artificial sweeteners help you along that road then go for it.
The good news!
Everyone likes a story with a happy ending don't they?
Once you have got sugar out of your life and adjusted to not having it two good things happen:
You no longer crave or even want sugar – plate of doughnuts on the table – nah; chocolate gateau on the dessert menu – I'll pass; it's incredibly freeing to not have a sugar craving and to be able to refuse sweet stuff because you genuinely don't want it not because you're depriving yourself
You should be able to find your own sugar threshold – that is, you will be able to have a sweet treat occasionally without triggering a nose-dive back into sugar addiction. I find now that I really can take it or leave it – maybe a really nice ice-cream on a hot day or a dessert after a nice meal but I don't crave it and I can happily live without it. Everyone is different and you will need to experiment with 'treats' to find your own threshold, but to be fair, once the addiction is broken, it's just not an issue
So how do I do it?
Just a few tips to help you get going, but David Gillespie's book 'The Sweet Poison Quit Plan' has lots of advice on breaking a sugar addiction:
Empty the pantry of all sugary items – biscuits, sweets, chocolate, cakes, ice cream, jams, honey, even ketchup and BBQ sauces – everything sweet. If you are keeping some in for other family members, ask them to put them somewhere you can't find them – it's much harder to break the habit if you're surrounded by temptation
Read labels – on everything! You would be amazed at how many items contain sugar or variations thereof – manufacturers are getting smart and will disguise sugar by using other names such as molasses, lactose, maltose, maltodextrin to name but a few, but they're all sugar. Positively reject anything with sugar in it
Allow yourself to eat whenever and whatever you want (unless it has sugar in it!); now is not the time to be restricting yourself – you will find that your appetite gradually settles and you are much less hungry
Distract yourself – if a sugar craving hits, try to tough it out by distracting yourself until it goes away; go for a walk, drink water (or sugar-free coffee, tea, pop, squash etc.), phone a friend...
Think of small daily rewards, not sweet obviously, that you can give yourself for each day you go without sugar – put stars on the calendar and celebrate each sugar-free day
Get a sugar-free buddy – it's much easier to do if you have someone else doing it too and you can support each other
So are you ready for a sugar-free life? I absolutely promise you that you won't regret it and once you've kicked the addiction you know you can still occasionally have a bit of cake at a party or an ice-cream on the beach without undoing all your hard work.
Below I have listed some of the books that have helped me kick out sugar plus a link to a brilliant documentary called That Sugar Film; it is quite long and very hard-hitting in places – the young man with the teeth will have you wincing - but I defy anyone to watch it and not change their view on sugar.
Best wishes with your journey to sugar-free, and please let me now how you get on.
References:
*Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective observational analysis, Ludwig et al . The Lancet 2001
Books:
The Case Against Sugar, Gary Taubes – this goes quite deeply into the history and science of sugar so if you like geeking out on science this is a good one
Sweet Poison, why sugar makes us fat, David Gillespie - a more everyday read, Gillespie takes the science but makes it more accessible along with his own journey to sugar-free
The Sweet Poison Quit Plan, David Gillespie's guide to kicking a sugar addiction with some very helpful tips
Documentary:
That Sugar Film
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