Do you have a Sugar Daddy?
Do you have a
sugar daddy? Well, I know that I
did. Sugar daddies, life savers and
jelly beans – I used to sleep with all of them!
In all seriousness, until a few years ago, I was a full blown sugar
addict like millions of other Americans.
To tell you the truth, I still am.
I have only recently learned how to kick my bad habit after educating
myself about the dangers of sugar and the cause of my cravings. I knew that sugar caused diabetes, but had no
idea until after I started studying nutrition, that sugar contributes to
cancer, and breast cancer in particular.
The average
American consumes 130-145 pounds of sugar a year! Think about it – that’s a significant part of
your body weight in sugar! When I say
sugar, I’m not just talking about cookies, candy and cakes. Sugar is actually a bigger part of your diet
than you may realize. It’s often hidden
in foods such as ketchup, salad dressing, bread, baby food and peanut butter. It is also critical to understand that
simple carbohydrates such as white bread, pastries, pasta, rice, etc. convert
to sugar very quickly and much faster than complex carbohydrates (brown rice,
fruits, vegetables and legumes), proteins and fats.
“When it comes
to cancer, sugar is like gasoline to your car – it’s fuel.”[1] When we eat or drink sugar, it causes a
sudden spike in the hormone insulin, which can serve as a catalyst to fuel 1/3
of the more common forms of cancer including breast and colon cancer. These cancer tumors have insulin receptors on
their surface. The insulin binds to
these receptors and signals the tumor to start consuming glucose. Every cell in your body needs glucose to
survive, but these cancer tumors use it to grow.
Obesity is also
a major risk factor for breast cancer as a number of large studies have
confirmed this association, including the European Prospective Investigation
into Cancer and Nutrition which reported that obese women have a 31% increased
risk of developing breast cancer than non-obese women. Obese women, especially those with estrogen
receptor positive tumors, have a greater risk of the cancer spreading to their
lymph nodes.[2]
Sugar
contributes to obesity given its addictive nature. Have you ever found yourself only wanting to
eat one cookie or one piece of candy, but then reaching for another and yet another? Does the same thing happen to you when you’re
eating your broccoli? I think not. That is because of sugar’s highly addictive
nature. It is actually eight times as
addictive as cocaine and activates the brain the same way that cocaine
does. As we eat sweet foods, dopamine, a
chemical that controls the brain’s pleasure center is released. People who frequently eat sweet foods build
up a tolerance similar to that of drug users.
That means the more they eat, the less they feel the reward. The result is that they eat more and this is
one of the ways that sugar contributes to obesity.
It is now pretty
clear that reducing our consumption of sugar reduces our risk of breast cancer
and can increase our chances of survival for those of us who already have
breast cancer, but how do we actually accomplish this? The first thing that I suggest is learning
some of the names of different forms of sugar.
Sucrose and anything ending in “ose” is another name for sugar. High fructose corn syrup (this should be
avoided altogether if possible for many reasons and will be the topic of
another blog post), evaporated cane juice and rice syrup are just some of the
other names for sugar. I urge you to do
an internet search for the many other names for sugar. Once you identify them, I advise that you
start reading labels so that you can avoid the sugars that are hidden in
unsuspecting foods, even in the so called “healthy” ones, like Naked
Juices. The average 16oz bottle of Naked
Juice contains the equivalent of over 13 teaspoons of sugar! And don’t be fooled by the label “no added
sugars.” Foods and drinks with this
label often have a lot of sugar, so make sure to read the nutrition label
carefully.
Increasing your
water intake and adding naturally sweet foods to your diet are also great
techniques for reducing your sugar cravings.
Most people have cravings because they’re dehydrated. The next time you’re feeling like something
sweet, try drinking a glass of water and waiting a few minutes to see whether
you still have that craving. A great way
to curb your sugar cravings is to slowly add naturally sweet foods to your
diet. I added sweet root vegetables such
as beets, sweet potatoes and sweet peppers to my diet. I also get my sugar from a moderate amount of
fruit every day.
I’m not saying
that there is anything wrong with having something sweet every now and then,
you just have to make sure that you don’t become addicted to sugar. I’ve found that eating some dark chocolate,
which is filled with antioxidants, satisfies my sweet tooth these days and make
sure to indulge in it every now and again.
So there you
have it. Sugar is very detrimental to
our health and causes obesity, diabetes and is linked to breast cancer, but you
can easily learn to manage your sugar daddies by adopting the simple techniques
outlined above. Good luck and stay
naturally sweet!
posted by Tigerlily Foundation @ 1:57 PM
2 Comments
