Can You Say ‘No’ to a Sugar-high?

Watermelon… Sugar… 

I bet you know what comes next in this popular song. Love it or hate it, at some point you’ve probably sung along – as if you’ve lost control of your senses! Funnily enough, sugar itself has a similar effect on your brain. But is a sugar-high really inevitable?

 

I’d like to start with a surprising story.

A customer had requested organic sugar, ‘the best kind’. He seemed dubious about using coconut sugar or yacon syrup as an alternative, and insisted on cane sugar. On further questioning, he indicated he needed it for his 2 month-old-baby. Baby S was lethargic in the hot weather and didn’t seem to like the taste of water, so he planned to sweeten the drinking water, to improve the taste and give baby a bit of pep.

So far so dire.

It doesn’t often happen that I’m rendered speechless, but words failed me when he revealed he had been given this crap advice by his GP; a trained healthcare professional in a position of power and trust!

How can this even happen?

 

What the paper’s say.

Open any newspaper and you’ll find headlines shrieking about the rise in cases of diabetes, heart disease and obesity in adults; that more young children are classified overweight and obese than ever before, particularly in socially deprived boroughs. Right now, Public Health England is encouraging parents to reduce the amount of added sugar in their children’s diets, by limiting the quantity and calorie content of their daily snacks.

Surely any trained professional would be aware of the negative link between sugar consumption and the long-term health of their clients?

 

Could your sugar intake be part of the problem?

Perhaps you haven’t given this much thought before, and are wondering why I believe it’s so important. Why would I encourage you to take note of the amount of added sugar in your daily diet?

This isn’t a case of sensationalism, or demonisation – I honestly think that there is some useful information which is often overlooked. That when it comes to the connection between your diet and health; your success at achieving and maintain a healthy weight; your efforts to stabilise your energy levels throughout the day; your attempts to manage the risk of developing diabetes, obesity and heart disease; and the types of every-day foods which you eat without a second-thought, then it is crucial to know the real story about sugar.

 

Food for thought, or simply feeding an addiction?

I would like to share this short TEDEd video by Nicole Avena – it’s an eye-opening tale of how sugar affects your brain. (Age is irrelevant, but once you watch it you’ll see why I was so disheartened by my client’s desire to feed a tiny baby sugar-water.) Take a look, I’d love to hear what you think…