Get the Sugar Out for a Healthy Holiday :: Healthy Lifestyles and Natural Weight Loss Information

Get the Sugar Out for a Healthy Holiday
by author Ann Louise Gittleman, MS, CNS

Sugar has been blamed for nearly every known disease and even for the fall of several empires. Those accusations may sound like exaggerations, but they are probably closer to the truth than you realize.

Saying sugar is bad for you is the ultimate understatement. The far-reaching problems sugar can cause are well documented in medical journals throughout the world, and new sugar-disease connections are made each year.

Even as far back as the late 1960s and early 1970s–before I received my master’s degree in nutrition–nutritional pioneers were already warning the public about the dangers of eating too much refined sugar. This information, a basic part of my training, never found its way to the public. It got lost in the 1980s amidst the outcries that all fat was bad. North Americans ended up blaming fat for their health problems instead of sugar, and since then, our country’s health problems have not lessened. They have, in fact, worsened.

Take, for example, heart disease, cancer and diabetes–the three leading killers in North America today. Although the media have presented dietary fat as the villain in the development of these diseases, sugar appears to be the real culprit.

How Much Do We Need?

Sugar is pervasive in our society, not only in obvious forms such as cookies, cakes and candy, but also in just about any other food you can think of. From packaged meats and soups to commercial salt, sugar is there. It’s even hidden in such nonfood items as vitamin and mineral supplements, aspirin, prescription and over-the-counter drugs and various cosmetics.

Our bodies do not need simple sugars at all. Here are the facts: The human body needs about two teaspoons of sugar in the bloodstream at any one time. That small amount can easily be met through the digestion of complex carbohydrates, protein and fat. And those complex carbohydrates don’t even need to include fruit. We can meet our sugar requirements quite adequately from vegetables, legumes and grains.

Cutting down on sugar has to involve a multifaceted approach. It requires developing a "sugar savvy"–knowing where to watch out for sugar and how to creatively and healthfully live without it.

Top 10 Tips to a Sugar-Free Life

Ms Gittleman is also the author of The Fat Flush Plan (MacGraw Hill, 2001). Her Web site is annlouise.com.

Source: alive #230, December 2001

The Fruit of the Vine
Known as the '"nectar of the Gods," wine has heen a staple in many European diets for years and has become increasingly popular here in North America as well. Not only are more people pulling the corks out of red wine and sipping happily, but they are sharing in the health benefits as well.

Good Sugars, Bad Sugars
Our society’s collective sweet tooth is an adaptive response. It goes back to caveman days and it’s what encourages us to eat foods that are high in energy and nutrients.

Home-Cooking Thai-Style
There’s a misconception that Thai food is just a colorful name for "spicy Chinese." The cuisine was indeed influenced originally by the Eastern culture, adopting its tendencies of blending the contrasting tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and salty.

A Bite of Sweet Indulgence
Nothing beats the sweet sensation of chocolate tantalizing your tastebuds. However, we all know the dangers of too much processed white sugar.

Cut to the Mustard
Picture a solitary burger patty (veggie or otherwise) sitting naked on a bun. Somehow, it doesn’t seem complete. Where’s the pizzazz? Where’s the zip? Condiments add excitement to many of our favourite foods.

Sweetening Power of Honey
Honey is known to be very sweet, however, you may be surprised by the relative bitterness of some honeys. The sweetening power of honey is determined by its sugar composition and the rate of dilution.

Unrefined Tastes
Sugar refining refers to a process by which the juice of sugar cane or sugar beets is separated into white sugar and molasses, thereby removing important minerals such as iron, calcium, and chromium.

The Original Diet
The last 80 to 100 years have ushered in a drastically different style of eating in comparison to the diets of our grandparents, and their grandparents before them. No longer are our food sources home and community-based. We have become global eaters, consumers of mass-marketed, highly refined and processed "foods.

Links to Health
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, set a medical precedent in considering the role of nutritients in relation to health and disease. It only took the next fifteen hundred years for the Arthritis Foundation and the United States Surgeon General to come to some of the same conclusions.

Why Take Nutritional Supplements?
While nothing can replace a healthy, wholesome diet, food supplements offer the benefits of a concentrated source of nutrients that food alone cannot provide. No longer are supplements simply compensation for an inadequate diet. Many people are regularly supplementing their diets to ensure an adequate supply of essential nutrients to maintain basic health.

How Sweet It Is
Substituting artificial sweeteners for white sugar seems logical. After all, artificial sweeteners help us enjoy sweetness without the extra calories. However, we know that when we mess with Mother Nature, there is usually a price to pay.

Sip Yourself Well
Next to water, green tea is one of the most popular beverages consumed worldwide. It has been used medicinally for centuries in India and China to remedy headaches, body aches and pains, digestion, depression, detoxification, as an energizer, to enhance immunity, and to prolong life.

Chocolate's Dark Secret
Small amounts of pure chocolate produced by trained, quality conscious chocolatiers is far more delicious and better for your health. Dark chocolate, without the ingredients added for extension of shelf life or taste enhancement, is the best.

Green Energy
In an ideal world, we would all be getting our recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables. The fact remains, most Canadians are not eating the five to ten servings a day required to ensure optimal mental, emotional, and physical well-being..

Drink to Your Health
Do you want to have vibrant energy and good health? Getting the right nutrients in the right amounts is one of the secrets to feeling great. This requires a healthy diet that combines fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, and good fats..

Nutritional Consultants Change Lives
Interest in nutrition has never been higher or more relevant than it is today, and with good reason. Epidemic rates of obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease are just a few of the conditions motivating many to seek advice about preventing and treating these modern-day disorders.

Integrative Medicine
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Andrew Weil, a pioneer and world-renowned leader in the field of integrative medicine. After teaching and writing about natural and preventive medicine for over 35 years, Dr. Weil provides a unique approach to health care, which encompasses body, mind, and spirit.

Nutritional Yeast
Yeasts are a group of microscopic single-celled fungi, relatives of the mushroom. More than 100 different species are known. Nutritional yeasts can be used as condiments and supplements. They are rich in B vitamins.

It's a Sweet, Sweet World
It is widely accepted among medical professionals that high consumption of sugar overstimulates the pancreas and adrenal glands. Extended over a long period of time, this may contribute to hypoglycemia, behavioral problems in kids, fatigue, fluctuating blood sugar levels and mood swings, diabetes and obesity.

Restore Your Body's Balance
Think of your body as its own ecosystem. Like the larger ecosystem of a rainforest, for example, all the elements must be in exquisite balance for every part to function at its best. If one element is out of balance, it throws off the entire system.

Excitotoxins
Many foods are laced with additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG) and aspartate (a component of NutraSweet) and because these chemicals are taste enhancers, diet and vegetarian foods are particularly targeted.

Community Salute to Croft
Much has changed within the Canadian health food industry in the past 30 years. Croft Woodruff has seen it all through the windows of his vitamin shop, Croft's Health Products, in Vancouver, BC.

Go Mad for Mushrooms
The word fungus often brings to mind the fuzz on stale bread and mildew in the shower. Farmers know fungi can devastate such food crops as corn, rice, wheat and rye. But some types are both delicious and healing, valued for centuries as tonics throughout the world.

Natural Supplements
When you take a drug or natural supplement, you sometimes have the choice of the form. Should you take a solid (capsule, tablet, etc.) or a liquid? Solid preparations have become the mainstay in both the health supplement and the pharmaceutical industries. They offer a precise dosage, are stable, easy to carry and practical.

Introducing alive Around the World
At alive, it is our goal and privilege to bring you up-to-date research and information on health and wellness to improve the quality of your lives. Our intent is to raise awareness regarding natural and preventive approaches to healthcare.

Chocolate: Divine or Decadent?
Chocolate and love, chocolate and sex, chocolate and Valentine’s Day—these are indisputably inseparable. There has long been a connection between this rich, creamy confection and our liaisons amoureuses. Can something that tastes so delightfully decadent also be good for us?

A Tribute to Rhody Lake
As I write these words, it has been over a week since Rhody disappeared from her home in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast, BC. Five days later, the search was called off.

A Successful Transition to Health
In the previous two issues of alive, I presented the symptoms and nutritional assessment relevant to Jacqueline, alive’s case-study client. After five meetings over the course of two months, Jacqueline was able to eliminate most of the symptoms that had plagued her for years.

Bottled Water
It seems that anywhere you go these days, you will see people—young and old, fit and not-so-fit—carrying one of many shapes, sizes, and colours of bottled water. Is it just a fleeting fashion fetish or is the portable, packable water bottle here to stay?

Splenda
With increasing awareness about the dangers of chemical sugar substitutes such as aspartame, consumers are searching for a replacement.

Genetic Roulette
On writing the highly acclaimed Seeds of Deception (Yes! Books) in 2003, Jeffrey M. Smith became one of America’s vocal champions against biotech industry claims for the safety of genetically modified foods. His sequel, Genetic Roulette, is an updated and more uncompromising reference work that underscores how “eating genetically modified food is gambling with every bite.”

Nutritional Blue-Green Algae
While many people in North America might not think of eating algae, the indigenous people of Japan and China have eaten it for thousands of years for its nutritional properties. Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA) contains amino acids, vitamins, and trace minerals that tone the immune system, raise energy levels, and improve general health.

Super Supplements for Women
Overall health and well-being is greatly affected by daily nutrient intake from whole natural foods and nutritional supplements. In combination with a positive attitude and physical activity, nutritional status impacts energy levels, moods, mental ability, immunity, and aging.

Creating Health Benefits with Creatine
Creatine is a nutrient that can offer myriad benefits to almost everyone, especially those of us who are interested in maintaining an effective metabolism as we age.

Supplementing 101
To supplement your child with a multivitamin or not to supplement, that is the question. The necessity of adding a daily multivitamin to your child’s diet is a hotly debated topic. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, giving a child a daily multivitamin is only necessary...

Food for Thought
The brain needs intensive nutritional support. Junk food and high-calorie snacks must be replaced with nutrient-dense meals and appropriate supplements. Use well-researched natural health products as an excellent, drug-free way to stay mentally sharp and energetic throughout the day.

Hard to Swallow
As a kid, I couldn’t swallow pills. My mother would have to get liquid versions of any medicines I needed, or crush pills into a teaspoon of jam. She’d be so proud if she could see me now, knocking back supplements the size of exotic beetles with barely a sip of water.

From Pasture to Plate
Catch up with Doe Gregoire at the farmers’ market in Cawston, BC, and this spunky pioneer in organics can tell you more than you ever wanted to know about her apples.

The Yuck Factor
Supertasters have the TAS2R38 gene and twice as many fungiform papillae on their tongues (on whose sides taste receptors are located) than the average person. There is hope in the laboratory to help supertasters enjoy healthy vegetables.

Too Much of a Good Thing
I have a confession to make: I’ve never been one for moderation. I’m the gal who falls for the in-store bonus offer that requires the purchase of three times more product than needed, just to get 10 percent off. I choose the extra-dry formula body lotion even though my skin isn’t that dry, because why not have more of a good thing?

Sizing Up Sugar Substitutes
As rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease continue to expand, so does the sugar substitute industry. Many avoid aspartame by reaching for sucralose. Others avoid sucralose by seeking out the latest in sugar alcohols. The discussions and controversy are ongoing. Which sugar substitute is safe?

Taming the Holiday “Gimmes”
While it is okay to bend the food rules occasionally, there needs to be a balance that sets limits and keeps health in mind. An over-consumption of white sugar and high fat foods is linked to many childhood health problems, including obesity, dental decay, immune system suppression, behavioural issues, and vitamin/mineral deficiencies.

Foods and Your Moods
Ever wonder why certain meals make you feel great, while others leave you feeling sluggish and ready to nap? The answer lies within the way that nutrients from these foods interact with brain chemicals to either enhance our levels of alertness and motivation or to make us sleepy.

Diet Wisdom
As people learn more about the value of proper nutrition, they can become confused by the conflicting opinions they encounter. But giving your body its best chance of achieving good health is really a matter of following seven pillars of health wisdom.

Shopping Savvy
We really are lucky to have so many great organic products to choose from today, but we still need to shop with quality and health in mind.

Nu-Life
When the low-carb diet craze exploded, companies from nearly every food-related industry responded by rushing to develop low-carb products. As these companies scrambled to cash in on the dieting trend of the year, store shelves filled with low-carb cereals, low-carb ice cream, and even low-carb beer.

Puresource
If you have any doubt that public interest in natural health products has been on the rise for years, consider the fact that natural products distributor Puresource was named on Profit Magazine’s list of the 100 fastest growing Canadian companies three times between 1997 and 2000.

Diet and Arthritis
Removing foods from the diet may be difficult, but for some arthritis sufferers it could mean a reduction in their physical pain. The cruciferous group of vegetables including cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts, as well as onions and garlic, are high in sulphur-containing compounds needed for joint repair.

D-lightful News

Riding a Shiny Horse to Health

Breast is Best

Phytoestrogens Boost Fertility

Organika
There are no genies in these bottles, but what you do get inside any package with the Organika label is something the company is very proud to talk about: quality, purity, and potency.

Meaningful Makeovers Part III - Toni eats for her life
Until I started this makeover, I was convinced I had a perfectly healthy diet, but I’ve since learned a lot about what and how to eat. This month I met with Sally Errey, a registered nutritional consulting practitioner. Sally’s job in this makeover is to help me eat better.

Meaningful makeovers Part III - Curbing Carb Cravings
This month I had the appointment that I’ve been dreading the most—the one about food. I suspected that the dietician would tell me things I didn’t want to hear, things I’d already identified as my major problems.

Enjoying Organic on a Budget
Is your wallet looking a little thin these days? Does your palate demand organic? Perhaps cash is tight, but health and taste can still top your priority list.

Uncorking the Truth
Some people are increasing their red wine consumption, believing it is good for them. Drinking more, though, has some definite down sides.

Fermented Nutrients
The word “fermentation” may conjure up images of aged wine or brewed beer. However, fermented nutrients are also important to your health.

Favouring Flavonoids?
Flavonoids have long elicited media and medical interest for their potential health benefits as antioxidants, but in early 2007, the Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) published a review on flavonoids that horrified every dark-chocolate lover in North America.

What’s Good for the Goose…
Somewhere up there on Venus, women’s physiology evolved differently from that of men on Mars. Recent research proves that men and women are very different—and not just in the obvious ways.

Supplements Provide a Safety Net
Conventionally farmed foods are grown and bred for better yield, hardiness during transport over long distances, and eye appeal rather than for optimal taste and nutritional value. These foods also lose nutritive value when processed, cooked, or preserved.

Life’s a Picnic
It doesn’t take much to get me in picnic mode. All it takes is a warm day, bright sunshine, and a blue sky. Our picnic paraphernalia is always within easy reach. Wide-brim sunhats hang on hooks near the door; our beach umbrella and sunblock are in the hall closet.

Old Wives’ Tales
Generations before us relied completely on the wisdom passed down through oral traditions. With the advent of modern science and medicine, this is no longer necessary.

Ladle Up the Organics
Want to keep dinner simple on a cool autumn day? Opt for a flavourful organic soup. If you’re planning to use a store-bought variety, the options are seemingly endless. But how can you make sure you’re getting real organic quality? The most important step is to read the label.

Making Sense of Soy
Soy is the Jekyll and Hyde of the plant world. With reported benefi ts often contradicted by accounts of negative effects, confusion about soy’s true nature abounds. This month we explore the many faces of soy—the good, the bad, and the unknown.

Ch...ch...ch... Chocolate
Feel guilty no more. Chocolate has been reappraised as an elite superfood: Harvard studies and candy merchants alike are excitedly touting its health benefits. But can these claims be too good to be true?

Healthy Foods for Life
Do certain stimuli make you reach for food, even though you might not be hungry at the time? Do you eat as an emotional response? What triggers this reaction?

All Fired Up
What sits unglamorously on your kitchen counter yet stores a substance so valuable that it served as currency in ancient times? It’s your pepper shaker, and the aromatic powder in its belly can dramatically enhance your meals as well as help you digest them.

Protein Powder
The key to maintaining a healthy body weight is not found in a magic pill or a diet book. It is a simple mathematical equation: calories consumed must equal calories burned.

It’s a Umami!
Many people are familiar with MSG—or monosodium glutamate—as an additive in Asian foods. When asked about whether or not they consume MSG, most would respond that they eat only at establishments that do not add this flavour enhancer to their food.

Joy Bauer’s Food Cures: Easy 4-Step Nutrition Programs for Improving Your Body
Are you wanting to make healthy changes to food habits and don’t know where to start? Consider this book as your private consultation with Joy Bauer, nutrition expert for the Today Show and dietary coach to many celebrities.

Perk Up With Protein
Our bodies need protein because it contains amino acids, a nutrient that provides our bodies with a constant supply of nitrogen and sulphur, necessary for the ongoing growth and repair of all our cells.

”Made in Canada, eh?”
Is there an international congregation in your kitchen?

Edible Offenders
We often hear about the foods we should add to our diet: essential fats, organic vegetables, and whole grains. These nutritional superstars top the food charts. On the flip side, what we keep out of our diet is equally important to overall health and wellness.

Biotechnology On Your Plate
We can all rest easier knowing that Health Canada assumes genetically modified (GM) foods are safe—right?

The Spirit of Café Brio
For the past decade, Victoria’s Cafe Brio has planted its roots in a centuries-old tradition of regional cooking.

Twinkie, Deconstructed
Many food books today turn away from comfort flavours and practical meal instructions. This new genre takes a more journalistic approach to examining the components of food production, rather than suggesting which foods should comprise our recipes.

One With the Season
Cooking with fresh seasonal ingredients makes one happier where it counts most: in the kitchen. At One restaurant, in the heart of Toronto’s five-star Hazelton Hotel, Mark McEwan knows the value of happy cooks and has worked hard to develop a strong culinary culture since the restaurant opened in August 2007.

Curry Culture
In the summer of 2003, I stepped off a plane in Toronto and prepared myself for the challenges of university life and living alone in a foreign land.

Probiotic Rescue
Probiotic Rescue is a timely much-needed look at an age-old concept turned media buzzword. (Probiotics are bacteria that benefit the health of our intestinal microflora, and in turn affect metabolism, immunity, and more.)