5 Tips to Beat Your Holiday Sugar Cravings

It’s the holiday season again, bringing festive good cheer, celebrations with friends and family and usually more delicious sweet treats than you can handle!

So before we launch into the negative effects of too much sugar (and, of course, give you some healthy alternatives!), we want to give some background of the sugar addictions we have in this culture.

Since the beginning of civilization, sugar has been directly linked to feelings of love, comfort, joy and celebration. The very first thing a baby tastes is their mother’s sweet milk, so we all have a very basic and immediate trigger with sugar and love as well as basic survival. Hunter gatherers didn’t come across many sweet foods; when they did, they knew it meant fat, calories and energy (i.e., survival as well).

So we’re sort of hardwired to crave sweets. We also crave sweets when we’re deficient in certain nutrients, especially chromium, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur and tryptophan. Don’t beat yourself up about sugary indulgences; the guilt and worry is way more toxic to your body (and your mind!) than anything you’re eating. We promise. Let go, savor and enjoy every delicious mouthful, and then make sure you get your greens in to balance it out. Some other tips to follow are:

1. When a sugar craving hits, try eating whole fresh fruits, nuts, non-gluten grains, sweet potatoes and dark green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach to balance the body and lessen the cravings.
2. Boost overall intake of protein and fats since our bodies are biologically programmed to use those as fuel first. So lots of beans, dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, coconut, olives and spirulina are all great choices to keep you nourished, satiated and energized. Your body will be able to run longer and more efficiently with these as the primary sources of fuel rather than any kind of sugar that spikes insulin and then quickly brings about a crash and interferes with fat burning.
3. Sugar also affects overall immunity by wiping out beneficial bacteria in the gut. So along with taking a strong probiotic during the holiday season (we recommend at least 40 billion organisms daily), it’s good to limit sugar intake as much as possible.
4. If you do choose to indulge in sweet things, try choosing ones that minimally spike blood sugar, like whole fresh fruit, coconut nectar and brown rice syrup, or even better, stevia, which is a natural herb that has zero effect on glycemic levels.
5. ‘Tis the season for giving, sharing, celebrating and being joyful. Offer tons of gratitude that you’re able to make choices for your most vibrant health and direct your energy toward your friends and family rather than stressing about a few sweet treats.

Life is inherently sweet on its own and you’re one of the sweetest things in it!

Happy Holidays!

Jenny Nelson is a Clean Wellness Coach and Alejandro Junger, M.D. is author of “Clean:The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself.”

Photo credit: Sharyn Morrow

Sugar Addiction: A Nation In Need Of Rehab

Imagine how American society would function if drug dealers pumped 150 to 175 pounds of heroin per person per year into the veins of the elderly, the middle-aged and the young alike. Legally.

Well, sugar, an addictive substance that speeds along the same brain pathways as heroin, enters the food supply in those quantities. The result of this sugar surge is that more than one in three adults now has either Type 2 diabetes or its harbinger, pre-diabetes. Include those under age 18, and 105 million Americans are harboring a life-threatening blood-sugar disorder.

As with any addiction, the sugar situation will only worsen barring drastic intervention and widespread lifestyle changes. Consuming too much sweet stuff is lighter fluid for Type 2 diabetes, and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that by 2050, the disease, in its full form, will inhabit as many as one in three U.S. adults. Add in the far more numerous pre-diabetics, and you may be hard-pressed to find anyone with healthy glucose metabolism by the middle of the 21st century.

Many of these blood-sugar cripples won’t be capable societal contributors. They may be little more than sugar smack-heads. They’ll bankrupt our healthcare system with their chronic fatigue, dialysis treatments, amputations and the numerous other diabetic complications. A society with such an overwhelmingly diabetic population will no longer be viable economically, a much scarier prospect than that predicted in the dystopian novel, “Brave New World”, where addicts merely crave the comparatively less harmful Soma and then go do their assigned tasks.

Most Americans keep right on eating and drinking boatloads of sugar because, after all, they’re sugar junkies. I witnessed this phenomenon when I saw my father for the first time in 20 years in early 2008. He was lying in a hospital bed looking nearly cadaverous. His entire right leg had been amputated; his teeth had disintegrated amidst swollen gums. Despite this wretched condition, his mood brightened only when orderlies wheeled in a meal of mashed potatoes (along with chicken) and fruit, both of which quickly convert to glucose in the bloodstream. His fix had arrived. He was dying of diabetes, and yet his “caretakers” were still pumping him full of diabetes-friendly carbohydrates.

What’s more, my father openly longed for the bottle of root beer that was stashed away in a cabinet across the room, a scene I describe in “Sugar Nation”: He still indulged this diabetic’s poison even knowing that too much sugar cost him part of his body. This scene reminded me of a drug addict who has seen his life destroyed by the substance he can’t refuse. Only the worse off he becomes, the lousier he feels, the more he craves the very thing that sentenced him to this hell on earth.

How can the white stuff that kids and adults alike sprinkle on their cereal have this narcotizing power? Researchers at Princeton University have studied the effects of sugar on the brain chemistry of rats, and what they’ve found is that their subjects exhibit all the effects of heroin addiction. Sugar does this by triggering the release of the feel-good brain chemical dopamine in the section of the brain normally associated with addictive behaviors. The dopamine release produces a drug-like “high.” Yet the brain adapts. So it takes more of the substance—in this case, sugar—to produce the same effect.

According to lead researcher and Princeton psychologist, Bart Hoebel, PhD, “Our evidence from an animal model suggests that bingeing on sugar can act in the brain in ways very similar to drugs of abuse.”

Lessening the sugar stimulation only makes the body want more dopamine. Remove the substance altogether, and the sugar abuser experiences physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms. The body is addicted. Twinkies aren’t classified as a controlled substance, but for the glucose intolerant, perhaps they should be.

But there’s more to it in the case of my father and the rest of us who have reactive hypoglycemia, an underreported pre-diabetic condition in which blood sugar spikes in response to a heavy carb load. Then the pancreas overreacts by secreting too much insulin, too late, like an over-eager rookie cop coming across a crime scene after the fact. This insulin response drives blood sugar below 70 milligrams per deciliter, making your body crave quick-energy sugar not just for pleasure but also for survival. At this point, it’s not just your brain that’s craving glucose; cells throughout your body demand it, too.

I’d challenge anyone to find a drug whose effects are more powerful than a blood sugar drop from 160 to 50 in half an hour—the scale of my descent on a glucose tolerance test when I learned that I was pre-diabetic. Before I learned to avoid the sugar trigger, fatigue didn’t set in gradually; it hit with a whoosh. I felt as though I’d been shot by a tranquilizer capable of taking down an elephant in the wild. I’ve never taken narcotics recreationally, but I have used Vicodin after surgeries, and the feeling of that drug reminded me of a carb-induced blood-sugar crash. If that prescription pain med came in the form of a jelly doughnut, rather than a pill, you’d have some idea of the hold sugar had on me during childhood and throughout much of my adult life.

The good news is that there are simple rehab solutions to sugar addiction. I know, based on personal experience. Breaking the cycle means avoiding crashes. To do this, you need to eat protein, healthy fats, and fibrous vegetables for breakfast, a meal normally stocked with simple sugars and other fast-acting carbohydrates. Know the code names that are used to disguise sugar on food labels: dextrose/maltodextrin, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, molasses, sucrose and xylose. Avoid the foods whose packages list them. Better yet, switch from packaged to whole foods. Exercise daily, which not only helps usher sugar out of your bloodstream, but also produces good-vibe brain chemicals of its own, called endorphins.

So, we can change our fate. We know what to do to prevent this epidemic that will cripple us as individuals and as a society. But the question is: Will we take action before it’s too late?

Jeff O’Connell is the editor-in-chief of Bodybuilding.com and the author of “Sugar Nation” (Hyperion, 2011).

Photo credit: Dave Hoffman

Natural Sweetener Smack Down: Agave

Human beings are built with a taste for sweetness – it’s in our DNA. We crave sweetness because mother’s milk is sweet, and we’re programmed to crave sweet carbohydrates so the human species will survive. When we were all still living off the land, hunting and gathering in the wilderness, sweet foods were safe to eat – poisonous foods are generally bitter.

In the last 200 years, humans have gotten really good at growing crops that can be made into sugar. The cheap, abundant bags and bottles of sweetness have led us into a dire health situation. Americans get most of their calories from sweeteners. They also get many diseases from added sugars. Sugar isn’t bad, it’s just that we tend to eat too much of it.

The current epidemics of diabetes, heart disease and obesity are directly linked to humans’ recent ability to produce huge amounts of refined carbohydrates from corn, sugar cane and, to a lesser extent, maple trees, honeycombs and cacti. But some sweeteners make life interesting, food taste good and birthday cake delicious.

It gets confusing when we try to wade through all the conflicting information about how much sugar is safe to eat, which sweeteners are healthier and which ones are dangerous over time.

Now, let me start by saying that I don’t think you’re going to keel over if you have a cup of coffee with two packets of white table sugar. But do that three times a day for 20 years and you’ll start to see some health problems develop.

I do my best to use more natural sweeteners. “Natural” and “unprocessed” are loaded terms. By “natural,” I mean less processed and as unrefined as possible. I try to use sweeteners that are made from plants and are only slightly cooked, dried or crystallized using as few steps as possible. If I can’t understand the process it took to create something, I’m less likely to eat it. I also avoid sweeteners that were made in a lab or chemically derived like Splenda, aspartame, saccharin, high-fructose corn syrup and so on.

That being said, I love a good dark chocolate or a creamy rice pudding and I’m only human after all – so I do enjoy desserts. I just eat a lot less sugar than I used to, and I feel better now than I did in my early 20s.

So, I’m putting together a series on natural sweeteners to help people understand the benefits, drawbacks and uses of the different options lining the health food store aisles.
The first contender had a meteoric rise to fame in the health food world since its introduction in the last 10 years, but is currently experiencing a negative backlash.

Agave, alternatively known as “agave nectar” and “agave syrup,” comes from cactus native to Mexico. If you took that same syrup and fermented it, you would eventually get Mexico’s other famous liquid, tequila.

In small doses of less than a teaspoon, agave was believed to have little effect on blood sugar levels, and was thought to be safe for diabetics. However, people rarely use less than a teaspoon of sweeteners, and there are other factors that should give diabetics pause. Agave is also very high in fructose – about as high as high-fructose corn syrup. Since all that fructose is hard for your liver to metabolize, anyone with liver issues should avoid using agave as their main sweetener. Fructose elevates triglycerides and gets stored as body fat. So if you have high cholesterol concerns, avoid agave.

Agave isn’t made from corn, which is a common food allergen. Also, high-fructose corn syrup has been shown to contain traces of mercury from the processing facilities where it is produced. Unlike other metals and trace elements (copper, zinc) you don’t need any mercury in your body! Now the Corn Refiners Association is trying to get permission from the federal government to change labeling laws so high-fructose corn syrup can be labeled as “corn sugar,” which would be much more appealing to consumers. Corn sugar – sounds safe and friendly, doesn’t it?

So when it comes to using agave, I prefer to use it in small amounts for recipes that need a good liquid sweetener that doesn’t add extra flavor. Maple syrup is often too maple-y, and brown rice syrup is too thick for some recipes. I like to add agave to my Iced Teeccino Latte in the summer, and here’s my recipe for this delicious caffeine-free beverage

Iced Teeccino Latte
-2 tablespoons Teeccino or 2 Teeccino bags
-2 cups unsweetened rice, hemp or soy milk
-2 teaspoons agave
-1 cup ice

Place the ground Teeccino in a tea strainer and set in a tea pot or 20 ounce mug.

Pour the milk in the pot or mug and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The milk will absorb the flavor of the Teeccino while chilling.

Remove the pot from the refrigerator and remove the tea strainer.

Pour the steeped Teeccino milk into two glasses. Add 1 teaspoon agave into each cup and stir well to melt the agave.

Add ½ cup ice to each cup and serve chilled.

For more information on optimal living, visit http://deliciousvitality.com/.

Photo credit: elena’s pantry

Do Milk and Sugar Cause Acne?

It’s confirmed. Dairy products and sugar cause acne.

As our sugar and dairy consumption has increased over the last 100 years, so has the number of people with acne. We now have over 17 million acne sufferers, costing our health care system $1 billion a year. Eighty to 90 percent of teenagers suffer acne to varying degrees. The pimply millions rely on infomercial products hawked by celebrities, or over-the-counter lotions, cleansers and topical remedies. Recent research suggests that it’s not what we slather on our skin that matters most, but what we put in our mouth.

Many have suggested a diet-acne link, but until recently, it has not been proven in large clinical studies. Instead, dermatologists prescribe long-term antibiotics and Accutane, both of which may cause long-term harmful effects. In 2009, a systematic review of 21 observational studies and six clinical trials found clear links. Two large controlled trials found that cow’s milk increased both the number of people who got acne and its severity. Other large randomized prospective controlled trials (the gold standard of medical research) found that people who had higher sugar intake and a high glycemic load diet (more bread, rice, cereal, pasta, sugar, and flour products of all kinds) had significantly more acne. The good news is that chocolate (dark chocolate, that is) didn’t seem to cause acne.

The dietary pimple-producing culprits—dairy and sugar (in all its blood-sugar-raising forms)— cause spikes in certain pimple producing hormones. Dairy boosts male sex hormones (various forms of testosterone or androgens) and increases insulin levels, just as foods that quickly raise blood sugar (sugar and starchy carbs) spike insulin.

Androgens and insulin both stimulate your skin to make those nasty, embarrassing pimples. One patient recently told me he would give a million dollars for a pill to cure acne. He doesn’t need to. It seems that, for many, the cure to acne is at the end of their fork, not in a prescription pad.

While pimples are not as simple as too much milk or sugar in your diet, both have a significant impact. Nutritional deficiencies, as well as excesses, can worsen acne. Correcting common deficiencies, including low levels of healthy omega-3 anti-inflammatory fats, low levels of antioxidants such as vitamin E, zinc and vitamin A, and including an important anti-inflammatory omega-6 fat called evening primrose oil all may be helpful in preventing and treating unwanted pimples. I will explain how you can correct and incorporate all of these nutritional elements of your diet and outline some supplements that will help you fight acne in a moment.

But first it is worth taking a deeper look at milk and sugar.

Stay Away from Dairy and Avoid Acne
One scientist referred to milk as a “complex aqueous, suspended fat, liposomal, suspended protein emulsion.” What we know that milk is designed to grow things—namely, babies—and in the case of cow’s milk, calves. It is naturally full of what we call anabolic hormones (the same ones that bodybuilders and A Rod use to grow big muscles, and that cause bad acne). These are mostly androgens (like testosterone) and growth hormones, including insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). There is no such thing as hormone-free milk.

Here’s a short list of the 60-some hormones in your average glass of milk—even the organic, raw, and bovine-growth-hormone-free milk:

• 20 α-dihydropregnenolone
• progesterone (from pregnenolone)
• 5 α-pregnanedione
• 5 α-pregnan-3 β-ol-20-one, 20 α- and 20 β-dihydroprogesterone (from progesterone)
• 5 α-androstene-3 β17 β-diol
• 5 α-androstanedione
• 5 α-androstan-3 β-ol-17-one
• androstenedione
• testosterone
• dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate acyl ester
• insulin like growth factors 1 and 2 (IGF-1 and IGF-2)
• insulin

This is what our government suggests we drink in high doses—at least three glasses a day for me, a healthy adult male, according to the choosemyplate.gov website. Those guidelines have been strongly criticized by many, including leading nutrition scientists from Harvard such as Walter Willett and David Ludwig.

The famous Nurse’s Health Study examining health habits of 47,000 nurses found that those who drank more milk as teenagers had much higher rates of severe acne than those who had little or no milk as teenagers. If you think it is the fat in milk, think again. It was actually the skim milk that had the strongest risk for acne. In other studies of over 10,000 boys and girls from 9 to 15 years old, there was a direct link between the amount of milk consumed and the severity of acne.

It appears that it is not just the anabolic or sex hormones in milk that cause problems, but milk’s ability to stimulate insulin production. It actually may be the lactose or milk sugar in milk that acts more like a soft drink than an egg. Drinking a glass of milk can spike insulin levels 300 percent. Not only does that cause pimples, but it also may contribute to prediabetes. This is true despite studies funded by the dairy council showing that milk helps with weight loss. The question is compared to WHAT diet—a diet of bagels and Coke, or a healthy, phytonutrient- and antioxidant-rich, plant-based diet with lean animal protein?

Stay Away from Sugar, Refined Carbs, and Pimples
If a glass of milk causes pimples, that may drive you back to your Pepsi. But not so fast. Recent studies also show that sugar and refined carbs (a high-glycemic diet) cause acne. More importantly, taking kids off sugar and putting them on a healthy, whole foods, low-glycemic load diet resulted in significant improvements in acne compared to a control group eating a regular, high-sugar American diet. In addition to having fewer pimples, the participants lost weight, became more sensitive to the effects of insulin (resulting in less pimple-producing insulin circulating around the blood). They also had fewer sex hormones floating around their blood that drive pimples. We know that women who have too much sugar and insulin resistance get acne, hair growth on their face, hair loss on the head, and infertility. This is caused by high levels of circulating male hormones and is called polycystic ovarian syndrome, but is a nutritional, not gynecologic, disease.

But the dietary influences don’t stop there. It is not just sugar, but the bad fats we eat that may also contribute to acne.

Get an Oil Change
Our typical Western diet is full of inflammatory fats—saturated fats, trans fats, too many omega-6, inflammatory, processed vegetable oils like soy and corn oils. These increase IGF-1 and stimulate pimple follicles. Inflammation has been linked to acne, and anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats (from fish oil) may help improve acne and help with many skin disorders.

Balance the Hormones that Cause Skin Problems
The link is clear—hormonal imbalances caused by our diet trigger acne. Our diet influences sex hormones like testosterone, IGF-1, and insulin, which promote acne. The biggest factors affecting your hormones are the glycemic load of your diet (determined by how quickly the food you eat increases your blood sugar and insulin levels), and the amount of dairy products you eat. The good news is that eating a healthy diet and taking a few supplements can balance those hormones. Exercise also helps improve insulin function.

How To Prevent and Treat Acne
Nine simple steps will help most overcome their acne problems.

1. Stay away from milk. It is nature’s perfect food—but only if you are a calf.
2. Eat a low glycemic load, low sugar diet. Sugar, liquid calories, and flour products all drive up insulin and cause pimples.
3. Eat more fruits and vegetables. People who eat more veggies (containing more antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds) have less acne. Make sure you get your 5 to 9 servings of colorful fruits and vegetables every day.
4. Get more healthy anti-inflammatory fats. Make sure to get omega-3 fats (fish oil, or a vegan source of omega-3 (such as this one)
5. and anti-inflammatory omega-6 fats (evening primrose oil). You will need supplements to get adequate amounts (more on that in a moment).
6. Include foods that correct acne problems. Certain foods have been linked to improvements in many of the underlying causes of acne and can help correct it. These include fish oil, turmeric, ginger, green tea, nuts, dark purple and red foods such as berries, green foods like dark green leafy vegetables, and omega 3-eggs.
7. Take acne-fighting supplements. Some supplements are critical for skin health. Antioxidant levels have been shown to be low in acne sufferers. And healthy fats can make a big difference. Here are the supplements I recommend:

-Evening primrose oil: Take 1,000 to 1,500mg twice a day.
-Zinc citrate: Take 30 mg a day.
-Vitamin A: Take 25,000 IU a day. Only do this for three months. Do not do this if you are pregnant.
-Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols, not alpha tocopherol): Take 400 IU a day.

8. Try probiotics. Probiotics (lactobacillus, etc.) also help reduce inflammation in the gut that may be linked to acne.
9. Avoid foods you are sensitive to. Delayed food allergies are among the most common causes of acne—foods like gluten, dairy, yeast and eggs are common culprits and can be a problem if you have a leaky gut.

Following these simple tips will help you eliminate acne and have that glowing skin you have always dreamed of. It’s much cheaper (and safer) than expensive medications and dermatologist visits. Improve your diet and take acne-fighting supplements, and you will watch your pimples disappear.

For more information on how to optimize your nutrition and improve your skin, see http://drhyman.com/.

Now I’d like to hear from you.

Have you struggled with an acne or skin problem? Have you noticed any link between your skin? What seems to be a problem for you?

Why do you think we are encouraged to consume so much dairy when the risks to our health (and our skin) are so high?

What other steps have you taken to fight acne? What has worked? What hasn’t?

Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Sources for this article can be found here.

Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt

Five Ways You’re Addicted to Sugar But May Not Know It

It’s true! Some of us were born sugar lovers and we search high and low to get our hands on the sweet stuff, while others of us unknowingly feed a hidden addiction. For most of my adult life, I was a raging sugar addict but didn’t know it. My mindless consumption of sugar manifested in a handful of sneaky ways.

Check out my tips for combating the five most common ways sugar sneaks into our daily dishes.

Sugar Lurks Everywhere. From the Pinkberry treat you enjoy on hot summer afternoons to the peanut butter you spread on your whole-wheat toast every morning. Manufacturers know that sugar is addictive so they lace their food with it, keeping you coming back for more.

Take back your power: Check labels and read the ingredients on packaged foods to rule out hidden sugar often disguised by words that end in “ose” like fructose, sucrose and glucose. Don’t be fooled by the health claims on food labels. Those are often just advertising.

The Daily “Desk Doldrums” Set In. Whether it happens to you mid-morning, mid-afternoon or both, you can practically set your watch by the desk doldrums, that feeling of low energy and tiredness that sends you bee-lining for the nearest Starbucks or office vending machine. After a sugar-laden breakfast or lunch, your blood sugar levels may have trouble stabilizing. They rise sky high after a meal, then dip low a few hours later leaving you zapped of energy and craving a dip into the candy bowl.

Take back your power: Have a breakfast or lunch that includes whole grains, which are energetically grounding and release slow, sustained energy rather than a surge all at once.

The Post-Meal Sweet Craving. Sometimes you give in, other times you don’t, but you find yourself craving something sweet after every meal. Eating establishments have practically programmed our brains to think about sweet after savory with their creative and timely presentation of the dessert menu upon completion of the main event. It’s hard to resist. Because our bodies naturally want to maintain homeostasis, they often look to balance overly salty tastes, typical of the standard American diet and restaurant food, with its complementary taste: sweet.

Take back your power: Next time a sweet craving sets in after a meal, drink a glass of water and wait 30 minutes. Often it dissipates. Sipping herbal and peppermint tea can also counteract a sweet craving.

Stress Makes a Meal Out of a Slice of Cake. After a long day at the office, an argument with your boyfriend or even during your monthly cycle, the prospect of a slice of cake for dinner isn’t often that far out of the question when given a fork, a comfy sofa and some reality television. Knowing your triggers can be an important first step in breaking this cycle.

Take back your power: At the first sign of uncomfortable emotions, ask yourself what you really need. Maybe it’s a long walk, a massage, a hug or a phone call to your best friend instead.

Bloating, Constipation, Fatigue and Break Outs Become a Way of Life. Chronic symptoms like bloating, body aches, digestive dysfunction and skin break outs can be a sign of candida overgrowth (Candidiasis) – a surplus of yeast in the gut flora caused by factors such as repeated antibiotic use, long-term use of oral contraceptives, a diet high in sugar and carbohydrates, use of drugs and alcohol, high stress levels or a combination of the above.

Take back your power: If you suspect you may have Candidiasis, speak with an integrative doctor or nutritionist who specializes in the condition for support with diet and supplements that can bring your body back to a healthy state.

What are your creative tips for curbing sugar cravings?

Marissa Vicario is the founder of Marissa’s Well-being and Health (MWAH!). As a certified holistic health coach, Marissa works with urban professionals who want to lose weight, control cravings and feel more energized without dieting. She also lectures on corporate wellness and teaches cooking classes.

Photo credit: Bob.Fornal