Dear Sugar, Would you like a date?
For many of us, December is a time for holiday sweets. Recipes pass from generation to generation. Gifting of homemade favourites is a sure way to show someone you love them. One of my favourite holiday memories is decorating dozens of my mom’s Italian cookies; a tradition I now do each year with my own children. Giving and receiving of sweets brings joy and comfort to the holiday season and we would be remiss to turn down an offer of homemade cookies and candies.
Unfortunately joy and comfort aren’t the only gifts these sweets bring. Foods high in processed sugar have limited nutritional content, and can lead to a multitude of health concerns when eaten often. Excess processed sugar can cause tooth decay, immune dysfunction, hyperactivity, mood swings/anxiety/depression, and heart disease. Processed sugar consumption can also slow calcium metabolism which can initiate bone loss and arthritis, and it acidifies blood, destroys vitamins, and depletes the body of minerals.
That all sounds awful, doesn’t it! I’ve just turned a beautiful story about my family tradition into a nutritional nightmare!
Stay with me and I’ll sweeten up this story for you…
Not all sugar should be avoided. Naturally occurring sugars in food are necessary for our bodies to function. Sugar activates insulin production of the pancreas, allowing our body to use glucose (sugar) for energy. It provides fuel for our muscles, nerves, and brain and is a principal source of energy for all bodily functions.
It’s the addition of processed sugar to foods, creating high glucose levels in the blood, that may cause damage. Our immune system can become weakened, decreasing the reactivity of our white blood cells. This means our white blood cells may not be able to do the work they need to do when processed sugar floods our system. White blood cells protect us from invaders (germs that enter the body) and from different diseases. They are responsible for acting against parasitic infections, central nervous system diseases, and allergic responses. I like to think of them as our soldiers, ready to fight for our well being. The better we take care of them, the better they can fight for us.
Drinking a 12oz can of coke and 4 cookies is about 100 grams of processed sugar. This much sugar at one time will reduce the reactivity of your white blood cells by 40% for 4-5 hours.
Although we don’t have a lot of guidance from the Canada Food Guide when it comes to recommended limits for added sugar, the WHO (World Health Organization) recommends aiming to limit free (added) sugars intake to less than 5% of total calories. This means that that can of coke and 4 cookies would be the only added sugar you eat in a day. An unlikely scenario when you think of all the foods you eat that contain added sugar (cereal, bread, salad dressing, granola bars, spreads).
We are inundated with “good cheer” in the form of holiday sweets. Many special recipes remind us of cherished memories when we connected with family or celebrated birthdays, and holidays. By eating these foods, we relive these feelings of love and security. That’s a good thing!
Thankfully, alternative sources of sugar are plentiful and can give just as much, or more, joy and satisfaction when eating foods baked or cooked with them.
Whenever I can, I use dates, honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar in place of the more processed white sugar. Over the years, I’ve experimented with Christmas cookies, birthday cakes, and everyday snacks. Except for those traditional Italian cookies, I’ve significantly reduced our use of processed sugar.
Dates are one of my favourite alternatives. Being a whole food, they are digested and absorbed more slowly, causing less of a spike to blood sugar levels. They contain folate, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, and antioxidants. With their high levels of potassium, they help our bodies slowly absorb and regulate sugar in the bloodstream. I love that they are a rich source of beneficial phytochemicals. These biologically active compounds found in plants are known to have numerous beneficial effects including Immune system stimulation, prevention of DNA damage, decreased growth rate of cancer cells, and improved hormone regulation.
As a holistic nutritionist, I recommend 1-2 dates as a replacement for times when you feel peckish and want a little something sweet. I personally keep a jar of date syrup in the fridge, using it to sweeten salad dressings, or add as a replacement for sugar in recipes. As a general rule when substituting date syrup for sugar; use 1 1/3 cups of date syrup for every 1 cup of sugar the recipe calls for, and reduce the amount of other liquid ingredients by 1/4 cup for every 1 cup of date syrup used. You can also purchase date sugar to use as a 1:1 sugar substitute.
For additional ideas on how to decrease processed sugars from your diet, I recommend:
Chewing whole vegetable foods well. This brings out their natural flavour and sweetness. Complex carbohydrates such as grains, legumes, and vegetables become sweeter the longer they are chewed.
Sweetening desserts with dates, fruit, maple syrup, molasses, or honey, or stevia.
Eating sweet vegetables such beets, jerusalem artichokes, carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips for dessert, or in dessert. Raw carrots can be especially helpful for sugar cravings.
Adding micro-algae, an excellent source of digested protein, for quickly regulating sugar metabolism: spirulina, chlorella help reduce sweet cravings
Eating something sour, pungent, spicy to diminish cravings
Discussing with your healthcare specialist whether or not added sugar should be in your diet if you suffer from a chronic illness, severe inflammation, or a compromised immune system
Sugar is seen by many as a symbol of love, and is often used during the holidays to connect with each other. Handmade gifts are like a warm hug and these days, it’s more important than ever to express how we feel for each other.
Choose your sugar consumption wisely. When making handmade sweets try substituting whole foods. If you decide to eat a holiday cookie with processed sugar; relish the sweetness, be thankful of the love that went into making it, and cherish the memories that accompany it.
Eating with intention will give you, and the giver, the greatest possible gift.
Contact me learn more about how I can help sweeten your life while decreasing processed sugar.
“You can be miserable before you have a cookie and you can be miserable after you eat a cookie but you can’t be miserable while you are eating a cookie.”
This post is for information purposes and is not intended for diagnosis, to treat, prevent or cure any condition. Please consult with your health care professional before making any changes to your current lifestyle.