New Series: Food for Mood Monday

"Let your Foods be your medicines, and your medicines your food." Hippocrates c.460 - 377 BC Father of Modern Medicine

Sweet, Sweet Sugar...  

Welcome to the first in the series of Food for Mood Monday.  This is a long one so go get a coffee before you get comfy!

I've said before that there is a direct link between sugar and depression.  After some further research, I think I will reword this to there is a direct link between Mood and blood sugar balance.  However people with depression are especially vulnerable to sugar's evil power.

Let's face it, sugar yeilds quite a strong power over us.  All the good stuff is loaded with sugar - cake, ice cream, custard, tim tams, snakes, red skins... you get my drift!  

© Amaviael | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

Last Sunday night there was a story on the evil white stuff on 60 Minutes (Sweet Poison, Sunday 10 June 2012) that outlined the dangers of sugar in our diet.  It focused on processed sugar, but there are so many forms of sugar that if you really want to eliminate sugar from your diet, you really need to do your research to decide how far you want to do.

So what's wrong with sugar?

It wasn't until the 18th Century that sugar production began to increase considerably, however it was still considered a luxury and the high taxes applied made it expensive.  Therefore humanity's consumption of sugar was still quite small.  However as technology improved cost of production and expanded the availability of sugar, so did our waistlines - expand that it.  We have become so accustomed to sugar that it is in everything.  We expect it to be in everything and our taste buds do not really like anything that it too sour.  The average Aussie consumes approx 44kg of sugar per year, the average American approx 75kg per year. So in 150 years we have gone from eating no added sugar to more than 1kg per week; and the more we eat it the more we want it.

These numbers alone don't tell us that sugar is addictive.  Researchers say that sugar and that blissful sweetness on the taste buds stimulates the brain by activating the same chemicals and receptor sites in the brainthat are stimulated by the ingestion of heroin and morphine.  Well!  If that wasn't enought....  

We know that sugar causes peaks and troughs in our blood sugar levels.  The peaks are our short lived highs after consumption and the troughs are the crashes that follow, often with devasting effects that I am sure many a parent can attest to after a birthday party!

Symptoms of a sugar crash can involve fatigue, irritability, dizziness, insomnia, poor concentration, forgetfulness, excessive sweating (especially at night), excessive thirst, digestive disturbances, blurred vision, depression and crying spells.  Sound familiar anyone?  

The research isn't saying that if you do not have any symptoms of depression but suddenly start to consume larger than normal amounts of sugar you will wake up with depression tomorrow.  No, rather they are saying that consumption of sugar in general can trigger a depressive episode amongst susceptible people or worsen depression in those already suffering. 

When we eat sugar, several things happen in the body.  Firstly when it enters the blood stream insulin is produced in the pancreas to try to break it down.  Sucrose (table sugar) is broken down into Glucose and Fructose.  Glucose is the body's fuel and we need fuel to function.  Fructose does nothing in the body other than head over to the liver where it is converted into fat - hence the increase in our waistlines!

When we eat too much sugar an excessive amount of insulin is produced which in turn leads to a dramatic drop in blood sugar levels.  Low blood sugar results in the symptoms described above as well as a craving for more sugar, at which point the cycle can begin again.  Yep, that was me!

© Dkgilbey | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

At my worst, I could sit in my office and chow through a whole packet of snakes or jelly babies without thinking.  I would crave it all morning and then I would give in, cos my belief in my emotional eating would tell me that it would make me feel better.  At that point, I was eating to feel better, if only for a few minutes, just so I could remember what it felt like to feel good.  Then the guilt would set in, BUT THAT IS A WHOLE OTHER POST!  Now, I realise that was only part of it.  I was addicted and the nature of addiction would lead me to an ice cream after lunch, and a flavoured yoghurt after dinner.  Lets not go into the sneaky stuff that I ate when no one was watching...

Ok, so after the body has released all that insulin, the next thing that the body will do is suppress the effectiveness of a growth hormone called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) that is naturally present in the brain.  People with depression and other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia generally have critically low levels of BDNF.

Thirdly, a set of chemical reactions are triggered that can lead to chronic inflammation in the long term.  It is believed that this interupts the functioning of the immune system and causes chemical imbalances in the brain which can be a major factor in depression. 

Lots of refined sugar and refinded carbohydrates (white bread, pasta, rice, anything processed really) in your diet not only supplies very little in the way of nutrients, they also use up the all important mood enhancing B vitamins; turning each teaspoon of sugar to energy needs B vitamins.  Sugar also diverts the supply of chromium, another nutrient involved in elevated mood.  This mineral is vital for keeping your blood sugar level stable because insulin can't work properly without it. 

What about me?

 

When I ate added sugar in the form of processed foods such as cakes, biscuits, lollies - tons and tons of lollies, milk chocolate, sugar added to my tea and coffee, cereal etc, I didn't realise just how much of an effect this all had on me.  The obvious affect is weight gain, especially in the last 12 months.  So not only does the sugar affect me through various chemical reactions leading to a worsening of my depressive symptoms, but the feelings I experienced as a result of my weight gain also led to a worsening of my depressive symptoms.  Talk about vicious circle!

© Patf37 | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

I was still able to function and do all the things I needed to do, but I always felt like I was living on the edge, about to break down any minute.  In the last 12 months in particular, I was always exhausted, always hungry, of course I was irritable, my concentration did not exist as did my ability to remember anything short term.  My vision was often blurry, which worried me to no end and then there are my digestive disturbances.  We have looked at gluten intolerance, candidiasis and fructose intolerance, and now looking at IBS.  

Finally, I sweat REALLY badly.  REALLY, REALLY badly.  Definitely noticeably escessive - to the point that together with a few other symptoms, my doc considered for a while that I might be going through early menopause.   Arrrgghh, I am only 36!  The only other reason considered for this was the increase in dosage of my meds.    

But now...

 

Cutting out sugar has improved ALOT of these symptoms.  Well it is wintery in FNQ, and I am sweating less now anyway, so we will have to wait and see when summer comes for that one!  However for everything else, the better I get at resisting temptation and reducing sugar in my daily diet, the better I feel.  

For those that know my business, you know that we are food manufacturers that produce a range of sugars blended with vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Does that make me hypocritical now?  Well, maybe a little bit, but in all fairness, I can't delete these products from our range as I am not the only person in our company!  However if you know me then you know my philosophy on food, labelling and the like.  We don't lie about what is in our products whereas alot of other food manufacturers exploit our sugar addiction by lacing it through ‘non-sweet’ products, such as bread, sauces, soups and cereals.  At Daintree Vanilla & Spice we absolutely believe in real food and real flavours and using all of our senses to experience food.  I hope that clears that up, in case you were asking!

So where to from here? 

 

If you decide to give up sugar, my advice to you is to do your research first and talk to your doctor or a health care professional.  There is so much to know because sugar appears everywhere in everything in so many different forms and names.  The absolute BEST book to read, and I know I have said this before but it really was a life changing read for me, is Sweet Poison - How sugar is making you fat or any of the other two books by David Gillespie.  Another good recommendation is Potatoes not Prozac, which I haven't read yet, but I am on the waiting list at the library!  There is information on the internet, and there are a few ok sugar detoxes or elimination diets on the net too, but I am  not a fan of these because (a) you need to hand over money to get access to them (I don't mind paying for a book, but not access to a diet) and (b) you really need to involve your doctor in this.  You need to take your time with it before you start withdrawal because you need to know what you are doing and you need to be prepared for withdrawal as it could take some time to get the evil white stuff out of your system.  

And you WILL fall off the wagon.  It is a given, but don't beat yourself up about it, there are only so many times you are willing to go through withdrawal before you realise it really isn't worth it.  

So, to recap, my top three tips if you decide to give up sugar:

1. Talk to your doc or health care professional
2. Read and research - read one of the books I mentioned above & learn about sugar
3. Learn to read labels - ingredient lists and nutrition panels - don't rely JUST on the nutrition panel.

I have to say now that I am on the other side of withdrawal, I am feeling so much better.  I have lost a few kilos, but to be honest it isn't why I am doing it.  I feel mentally clearer and stable.  I don't feel clouded and overwhlemed by food and I am not thinking about it all the time.  I can go longer without eating things, so I don't feel like I am eating 24-7 and I am not comfort eating anymore.  I still sometimes look at a bread roll or a slice of white bread and wistfully think back to the days of yore, but that is happening less and less now.

Best of all, my concentration is better, my forgetfulness is improving, the dizziness and blurred vision is gone and I just feel...better, all round.

I hope you get something out of please and I would love to hear your thoughts...

Yours in a sugar coma,

Mummy in Disguise

                               xoxo 

I better Reference some pages now:


http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/07/13/why-sugar-is-dangerous-to-depression/
Therese J. Borchard, Psychcentral.com


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-depression-cure/200907/dietary-sugar-and-mental-illness-surprising-link
Stephen Ilardi, Ph. D, Psychologytoday.com

http://suite101.com/article/sugar-and-depression-is-there-a-link-a274172 
Caroline Petvin, Suite101.com

http://www.three-peaks.net/annette/Processed-Sugar.htm 
Annette Nay, Ph.D, Three-peaks.net

http://www.foodforthebrain.org/content.asp?id_Content=1635 
Food for the Brain