This week I was in the need for a little bit of health inspo. Usually a trip to the newsagent can satisfy my needs, and this time, the summer special from
The Australian Women's Weekly caught my eye.
It's crammed full of relevant articles... everything from the childhood obesity epidemic to losing weight while you sleep (my kind of diet) to expert DIY pedicures and choosing the perfect workout shoe... as well as delicious looking recipes. It was worth every cent of the $9.95!
I'm continuing my anti-sugar crusade with renewed vigour, in light of all the emerging literature telling me that sugar is, well, evil... it's a major contributor to all things from weight gain to tooth decay, diabetes, premature ageing, depression and yada yada yada. Not a pretty list, and once you do a little bit of reading you can clearly see the direct correlation between the beginning of mass-manufacturing of sugar and the rise in obesity, heart disease and so forth. Heart disease and obesity are relatively new problems for humans, and it's not hard to see why. Back before the food industry figured out how to cheaply mass produce sugar, the white stuff was consumed only as a rare treat, and before that still, humans' saccharine supply came primarily from the odd piece of fruit and a bit of honey. Our bodies are so 'unprogrammed' to consume sugar that, when you do, your brain doesn't even recognise it as food. I KNOW! The reason you can sit and drink a litre of apple juice or put away a whole Family Block in one sitting without batting your lids is because sugar doesn't cause your body to flick on the 'full' switch, like it does when we eat fats, carbs and proteins (by squirting out a hormone to tell us we're full).
It's all very interesting really. I've chosen
not to adopt a super strict NO SUGAR AT ALL EVER policy, because I don't think it's doable for me. But I'm definitely making an effort to cut back, not only the obvious culprits... for me, that's fruit juices, the never-rending supply of work birthday cakes that are always wheeled out at 3pm when you're at your most vulnerable, and sweet, delicious chocolate... but also the hidden nasties such as those in supermarket muesli bars and condiments.
That brings me back to the mag, which has a tidy little article on beating the sugar addiction (the experts say it traps you in an addictive pattern, and is as powerful a drug as cocaine).
If you're interested in reading more on the topic, I've read all of David Gillespie's
Sweet Poison series, and highly recommend them! This article recommends a book called 'I Quit Sugar' by Sarah Wilson, which I'm putting on my reading list. Also super stoked that Sarah has an
I Quit Sugar blog.
