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Have fun but go easy on sweets

Avoid sugar overload during the festivals and celebrate the occasion with healthy alternatives
Dr Anjali Mukerjee

If you are reading this with interest, chances are that you have indulged in this festive season and added a couple of tyres around your waist. You probably intended to observe the principles of good nutrition during this festive season, but somehow your intentions failed you; simply because you gave in to the temptation. Or because you honestly couldn’t find anything to eat that wasn’t loaded with sugar or fat! Most festivities are celebrated with a non-stop supply of fattening food, and you end up gaining weight even before you know it, even if you have been careful with your diet. At this point if you are feeling miserable and bloated, don’t be! Don’t despair. Festivities make life fun and fun is an important aspect of health. Occasional indulgences will not make you fat as long as these are truly occasional.

Sweet tooth: You could stay on a healthy diet longer, if it weren’t for those uncontrollable cravings for sweets.

White (refined) sugar is one of the worst foods. It creates mineral imbalances within the body. It borrows more B-vitamins from the body in order to get metabolised and gives nothing in return as it contains no nutrients. Therefore, it is called an anti-nutrient. So if you have a sweet tooth, you will have to take additional B-complex as its stores gets depleted. The mineral chromium also gets depleted when you are consuming white sugar. Since chromium is needed by the body to maintain blood sugar balance, one may experience major mood swings as the body gets deficient in chromium. When our blood sugar level goes down, we experience a `low’ and when we consume a sugary snack like chocolates, pastries, or any dessert, we instantly `feel good’. But this is a temporary. It is not a solution for mood swings. When any food (sugar, flour) is refined and taken out of its `whole’ environment of fibres, minerals, vitamins and enzymes, its `life force’ gets diminished and it becomes limited in its nutrient content.

Fresh fruits like strawberry, apple, banana etc. dipped in melted dark, sugar-free, chocolate (below) are a healthier option than donuts

Why do we crave sugar: Sugar cravings usually arise out of an imbalance in our body. This imbalance could be a result of eating very little food during the day. In such a case, it is natural to crave for sugar as it can quickly satisfy the body’s need for calories as well as compensate for the `low’ which such a person usually experiences. Another reason for sugar craving could be consuming very little protein. Foods rich in protein such as soyabeans, paneer, dal, tofu, almonds help to keep the blood sugar in balance and reduce sugar cravings. But when excess protein is consumed, especially animal protein like chicken, meat, eggs, it disturbs the body’s protein carbohydrate balance and makes the person crave for `something sweet’ at the end of a `meaty’ dinner. Needless to say, that when your sugar cravings begin to rule your life, you develop hypoglycemia, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, immune deficiency, bone loss, yeast infections, herpes, pre-menstrual syndrome, loss of memory and concentration, irritability, bouts of anger, mood swings, depression…..the list is endless.

How to satisfy a sweet craving

Best tip: Make sure you eat some protein (egg whites, soya granules, chicken, fish, dals, paneer etc.) with every meal. It helps reduce sugar cravings.

Eat small, frequent meals: Do not stay hungry for long. Long gaps between meals and large quantity of the main meals cause drastic fluctuations in the blood sugar levels. Due to the long gaps, one ends up feeling very hungry by the time its meal time and gorges onto unhealthy sugary foods. To prevent this, it is ideal to have small yet frequent meals at the interval of every 2-3 hours to prevent the body from going into a roller coaster trip of high and low blood sugar.

Foods rich in protein help to keep the blood sugar in balance and reduce sugar cravings

Eat dry fruits to overcome craving for sweets

Use jaggery in sweets and desserts instead of white sugar

Freeze bite-size watermelon cubes for snacking

Snack on sweet vegetables like carrots to overcome sugar craving

Get moving: Embark on some form of activity that can be either a regimented routine or something fun like dancing, walking the dog etc. Feel-good hormones similar to the ones released after sugar consumption are released after exercise. Thus, the urge to have something sweet can be managed well.

Clear the house of all sweets: Give away those sugary devils or stash them away only to be removed when guests arrive.

Chocolate-coated fruits: Treat yourself with a double dose of health. Dip some of your favorite fresh fruits like strawberry, apple, banana etc. in melted dark (sugar free) chocolate (it is loaded with polyphenols and bioflavonoids) and have it as an after-meals treat. This will not only fulfill your sweet cravings but also add some anti-oxidants and fibre to your diet.

Sorbets: Freeze your favorite fruit juice, blend it and perk it up with lemon juice and rock salt and serve as fruit scoops. These are delicious alternatives to sugary and fat-laden ice-creams.

Frozen fruit: Freeze bite-size watermelon cubes and snack on these when you have a sugar attack. You can also eat fruits like apples, grapes, papaya and chikoos. Remember to eat (chew) them slowly if you want to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Healthy options

n Sweeten desserts with jaggery, honey or dates.

n Eat sweet vegetables. Raw carrots are sweet and juicy and help to overcome a craving if chewed slowly; enough to bring out its natural flavor. If eaten hastily you may not be able to `discover’ its sweetness.

n When the sugar craving is very strong, eat dry fruits like anjeer, dates, black currants etc.

n Taking chromium supplements may help to reduce sugar cravings.

Tips to deal with the post-festive bulge

n Follow a raw food diet for two days. Omit sugar completely& limit salt intake.

n Later, eat a diet, which includes cooked vegetables, fruits, whole grains and pulses.

n Drink 8-10 glasses of water with a dash of lime in it. Water is one of the best detoxifying agent.

n Consume sufficient fibre to keep your body cleansed & light.

n Eat your dinner by 7 p.m. Don’t eat anything after that till you wake up.

n Support your body with helpful nutrients like chromium & the amino acid, L-Glutamine. L-Glutamine helps prevent sugar craving and is beneficial to those who have a sweet tooth.

People who overcome the sugar habit, experience higher energy, emotional stability, improved memory and better health in general. Most of us may find ourselves at the losing end in the battle against sweet craving; however, a little self-control and some of these tips, may help you overcome these cravings. Above all don’t beat yourself up emotionally over a few unwanted kilos.

— The writer is nutritionist, Founder Director-Health Total. She treats obesity & other health-related disorders. Her website is www.health-total.com

HEALTH CAPSULES

Sugar intake causes memory problems

A new study on rats has revealed that adolescents are at an increased risk of suffering negative health effects from sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. The study by researchers at USC, adolescent rats that freely consumed large quantities of liquid solutions containing sugar or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in concentrations comparable to popular sugar-sweetened beverages experienced memory problems and brain inflammation, and became pre-diabetic. Scott Kanoski, author of the study at the USC, said that the brain is especially vulnerable to dietary influences during critical periods of development, like adolescence. Consuming a diet high in added sugars not only can lead to weight gain and metabolic disturbances, but can also negatively impact our neural functioning and cognitive ability. The study was published online in the journal Hippocampus.

Picky eaters may have emotional issues

Parents, take note! Bullying can initiate or reinforce body image preoccupations and possibly lead to a change in eating behaviour in kids, warns a new study. Childhood eating difficulties could be a sign of underlying psychological issues, researchers have found. Researchers at the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital said that difficult eaters could have underlying psychological issues, after they have found that restrictive behaviours can appear before puberty. "Many researchers believe that bulimia only appears at adolescence, but our studies indicate that the problem can arises much earlier," said clinical psychologist Prof Dominique Meilleur. Meilleur and colleagues studyed the psychological, socio-demographic and physiological characteristics of 215 eight to 12-year olds with eating problems. Kids with physical issues that could cause eating problems, such as diabetes or cystic fibrosis, were excluded from the study. The researchers found that the children often suffered from other problems: in particular, anxiety and mood disorders and attention deficiency. More than 15.5 per cent of the children in the study made themselves vomit occasionally and 13.3 per cent presented bulimic behaviours. Psychiatric issues were present in the families of 36.3 per cent of the study participants. The results of this study indicate that 22.7 per cent of the children identify having been mocked or insulted for his or her appearance as a trigger event to the modification of their behaviours. Around 95 per cent of the children in the study had restrictive eating behaviours, 69.4 per cent were afraid of putting on weight, and 46.6 per cent described themselves as "fat."

Beware of charging phone in bedroom

Charging phone in your bedroom could make you put on weight, as the artificial light from phone screens, street lights, laptops or television stops the body generating a hormone that combats obesity, says a new study. The study by the University of Granada said experiments on obese rats found that increased consumption of Melatonin, necessary to regulate sleep patterns and a powerful anti-inflammatory that boosts the metabolism, made them lose weight and also fought type two diabetes. Experts say it can have the same effect on humans. Prof Ahmad Agil, who led the study, said the epidemic is primarily caused by humans’ failure to adapt to modern environments, sedentary lifestyles, higher consumption of high-calorie processed food and excessive exposure to artificial lightning reducing melatonin levels. The hormone is found in particularly high quantities in spices, herbs, tea, coffee, fruit, nuts and seeds. The study was published in the Journal of Pineal Research. — Agencies

Grapefruit juice can help banish weight woes

Washington: Grapefruit juice might be the key to losing weight. According to a study by researchers at University of California, Berkeley, mice fed a high-fat diet gained 18 per cent less weight when they drank clarified, no-pulp grapefruit juice compared with a control group of mice that drank water. Juice-drinking mice also showed improved levels of glucose, insulin and a type of fat called triacylglycerol. Authors of the study, Andreas Stahl and Joseph Napoli, found that grapefruit juice lowered blood glucose to the same degree as metformin, a drug often prescribed for Type 2 diabetes, meaning that a natural fruit drink lowered glucose levels as effectively as a prescription drug. The juice-drinking mice received naringin, a bioactive compound in grapefruit juice that has been identified as a key agent in weight loss. They had lower blood glucose levels than the control group, but there was no effect on weight, suggesting that some other ingredient in grapefruit juice is also beneficial.

The study also found that the mice that ate the high-fat diet and drank diluted grapefruit juice not only gained less weight than their control counterparts, they also had a 13 to 17 per cent decrease in blood glucose levels and a threefold decrease in insulin levels, which reveals greater sensitivity to insulin. (In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas makes extra insulin to compensate for increased resistance to the hormone.) The study did not find as big an impact on mice that ate a low-fat diet. Those that drank the grapefruit juice saw a two-fold decrease in insulin levels, but there was no significant change in weight or other metabolic variables. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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