Sweet Enough

THE HIDDEN TRUTH

It's everywhere. Sugar. It's in our drinks, our sauces and even in our bread. Everywhere we look, it can be found....lurking. There are different forms and alternatives to table sugar like honey or stevia - but having sugary foods in high doses can still affect our weight and energy levels so they are best avoided where possible or good alternatives found instead.

Always Read The Label  

Next time you're in the supermarket - take some time to check the labels and you'll see how much sugar there is in a lot of our supermarket goods. Thing is, we can make a lot of our meals fresh with pure natural ingredients and we don't need the extra sugar added. It really is simple and just as convenient to make highly nutritious and tasty sauces/meals using an array of fresh herbs and spices. We now have a fresh selection on hand and make up for a few of the extra ingredients that tend to have a shorter shelf life by buying in a tube/jar or frozen. It's amazing how varied you can be with some passata, basil, garlic and other fresh herbs to hand. I watched a BBC TV documentary last night about eating well for less where a family were spending a fortune on their family meals - opting for convenience meals and sauces rather than making their own.

Coming from a background of packaging design, I am well aware of the importance of good packaging to draw in the consumer, so this TV show should be a real eye-opener for anyone swayed by the packaging when making food choices and like this reminder has done for me, should spur us all on to make our own fresh food more often going forward...

Just Desserts
I met with some friends for Sunday lunch today and usually where I would have had a few pints, some wine and eaten a hearty roast, I swapped out my alcohol for a (very watered down) lime cordial and soda. My meal choice was Paleo, chicken wings and whitebait followed by duck breast with sweet potato mash, cabbage and carrots. All very good. However, when it came to the desserts - I did get a bit of a twinge as I was reminded of the dessert 'treat' habit kicking in. I think it's been ingrained in me from a kid to finish your plate of food, the dessert was offered as a reward and I'd always manage to eat the 'treat/reward' even if I was already full.

Rather than succumb to the lure of a pub pudding, I sneakily ate a piece of the Paleo banana cake that my partner and I baked the day before instead in exchange for the sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. Now, a cake is still a cake. Nuts are high in fat and this cake had a lot of almonds in it. But, compared to the high-in-sugar alternative, it was still better to eat a small slice of this banana bread. I had also factored in that the 1 hour's exercise that day and possibly, slightly lower calorie intake for the whole day allowed me a small amount of dessert and I didn't have to sit and listen to the others smacking their lips...!

Cut Out The Cr@p

REMOVING TEMPTATION

I received my first challenge email from Robb Wolf's 30 day challenge yesterday, which said to have a bit of a clear out at home - hope he doesn't mind me using the screengrab here. Please click on the above link to get on this 30 day challenge too.:

Sugar Is Bad!

Correction....sugar is bad in high quantities, particularly fructose syrup which is in so many foods now and a major factor in high levels of obesity. I watched this rather amusing and very informative video from Dr. Robert H. Lustig yesterday regarding hidden sugars in our food and the terrible problem faced in America with their foods administrative body failing to halt fructose consumption. The video clip is well worth watching and he has a book too, which I may get round to reading...or I may just stick to avoiding sugar instead....It seems to back-up what I've already learned/understood, there's too much sugar in our diet so it's best to just avoid processed food because it contains harmful additives like high levels of salt & sugars like fructose. I'm also going to look more into the Paleo diet - as Robb doesn't tell me what exactly what to throw out - all sauces?! (however, just looking at the labels gives a good idea) - this downloadable pdf may help.

So I've suddenly been pulled into this Paleo diet. Been watching a few video clips and reading up on leaky gut syndrome and the benefits of cutting out all the harmful processed (and often tasty) foods that are causing illness. One claim that I heard in the video by Dr. Robert H. Lustig, was that Paleo diets can reverse type 2 diabetes! Diet can affect mood, potentially leading to depression and also have an adverse effect on your joints, even causing/inflaming arthritis...I also watched this video on TED (I love Ted - it has some great inspiring stuff on there) - this woman claims to have reversed MS by changing her diet....well worth watching too:

The diet says to cut out fruit juices - I've heard this before, because you're not chewing and mixing the enzymes to properly digest the food and losing the full benefits of eating the fibre. However, I still like to try and get in a bit of a 'tonic' before cycling to work or taking on some light food before doing yoga. I enjoy having a glass of something which has healthy/fresh food sources in it, so I'll chose a veg smoothie/juice instead. Re. what's really good for you - it's tricky knowing what to believe, everyone's an expert on the internet these days! I've had a read through books and online, spoken to people that I can see are living proof of what it means to be healthy and come to the conclusion that I'm surely going to benefit by taking these 'superfoods' in to my system once or twice a week in a drink form. I usually have a spinach, banana and coconut water juice smoothie. I add a sprinkle of chia seeds and a splash of fish oil. I know I can also add apple, celery, avocado etc. - I'll find a few different ones to try and post later on. If you're interested to read a bit more on the healthy benefits of these few I know about already, click on the pictures below...