What’s the deal with sugar? - Thriving Woman Project

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What’s the deal with sugar?

Episode 10 • 25th May 2022 • Thriving Woman Project • Wendy Griffith

THIS TRANSCRIPT IS COMPUTER‐GENERATED. IT IS POSTED TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND OR FIND CERTAIN PARTS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN. ALTHOUGH THE TRANSCRIPTION IS LARGELY ACCURATE, IN SOME CASES IT IS INCOMPLETE OR INACCURATE (COULD IT BE BECAUSE OF WENDY’S SOUTH AFRICAN ACCENT?). SO, IT MIGHT GIVE YOU A LAUGH HERE AND THERE!

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You're listening to the healthy and thriving career moms podcast where every week you will learn about healthier habits and hacks to create and support a healthy and thriving lifestyle. As a busy mom. I'm your host Wendy and I truly believe that the best gift you can give to your family and the world is a healthy thriving you. Let's dive in

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Hi lovely and welcome to today's episode, which is episode 10 of season two, the Thrive series and today we're getting stuck into quite a controversial topic, especially for us mums, and that's the topic of sugar. And I don't know about you, but I just feel like it's something that I think about constantly or maybe it's not for you. So I'm really interested to talk more about this today. But before we get stuck in to all the nitty gritty of this juicy episode,

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I just wanted to remind you that the Thrive series which has been 10 episodes of season two, has really been a season to help you really get down into the nitty gritty of things that are going to help move you forward with your healthy habits. So we've looked at everything from morning routine evening routine. How's the breakfasts saving time talking about Mambo now we've spoken about gut health and science your body needs a reset and all sorts of things that are going to set you up for success.

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So if you haven't had a chance to listen to the rest of the episodes from season two yet, or even from season one, I just really want to encourage you to go and do that just binge them all and then reach out to me and let me know what your light bulbs have been from those episodes. Right let's get stuck in to today's subject. So yes, this is such a topic of conversation in the mum circles. I feel like it's almost a bit of a running joke when people are like oh yeah, there we go.

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They are on a sugar high when your kids are you know digested their latest treats and are then running around on a complete sugar high and roller coaster. And I do feel a bit like the sugar police sometimes I do feel like I'm that mom who is constantly concerned and thinking about how much sugar my child is consuming.

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And I think that comes from me actually having done quite a lot of research personally on the subject and really understanding what sugar is doing to the body. Now. I know as busy moms, we've got so much on our plate, we so overwhelmed with so much information, all the things that we should be doing. So, yes, I get that this is just another thing that we have to think about. But I really, really, really feel like this is one of the most fundamental crises that we face with our health in the modern day.

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I know that sounds really dramatic, but I really this just gets me so fired up because I just think as a society we've just become so immune to how much sugar is put into our food, how much sugar our children consume. I even think down to the fact that my daughter is now in reception class, which is like the first year of school here in the UK, and she gets free school dinners. So that's something that I love that she partakes in with her other school friends and they have the

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dinner every day at lunchtime and England we call dinner lunch. It took me ages to work that out as a South African. But yeah, so she has in school dinners, and I just couldn't believe that every single day. The kids are given a dessert and maybe it's something that in your household and your lifestyle. You just always get an author's you always get a little sweet treat at the end. And you know, I get maybe when you sit down for sort of a more formal meal there's definitely you know, starters mains desserts, I get it as a special occasion but the fact that it's every

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single day I say to her Oh, what did you have today? Oh, I have a chocolate cupcake. Oh, I had this Oh, I had that. And I just think oh my goodness, why on earth are we giving our kids sugar to then go back into the classroom and learn afterwards? Because what it's actually doing to their little brains. And I've actually seen some studies that show that sugar stimulates the brain in the same way as the drove cocaine. And you can actually see on the images how the receptors are firing just like it's as if someone is taking the drug cocaine. I just think that is absolutely crazy.

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Now, coming with my soapbox for a moment, because I appreciate I'm very opinionated on this subject and I do I feel so strongly about it. But I just want to caveat all this by saying I'm not talking about sugar in the sense of the natural sugar that we find in fruits and vegetables, or a healthy blended fruit smoothie that you've made at home. Don't get me started on the shop floor ones. I just don't advocate for those at all.

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But it's interesting how so much of our modern packaged food has so much sugar in it. Let's just take looking at it. What's considered a healthy dog. It's okay. You think you're being healthy but if you look at the labels, there could be up to a whopping 18 grams of sugar in that yogurt. And I would say even the kids yogurts especially have got more sugar in them. Now when you consider that World Health Organization actually has a recommended daily amount of sugar being less

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than either 25 grams for a healthy woman and 35 grams for a healthy man. And you look at a dessert size yogurts having 18 grams, it really starts to frame this conversation. Around sugar. And we get

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fooled a lot. I think nowadays about all the clever marketing about the Healthy sugars out there such as coconut sugar and agave nectar and all these sorts of things that you think oh, but under the surface of it all it is all an additional sugar that's not naturally found in foods and its natural form like fruits and vegetables, and therefore it is going to be causing a glucose spike.

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So let's talk about the science and the glucose spike and why that's the thing and why Perhaps you've noticed if you don't notice that you feel quite rubbish after consuming sugar. I know for me, I tend to have a very low sugar diet and it's something that I am very conscious of, because I noticed such a huge difference when I consume sugar and that's either in the form of eating it or drinking it and by drinking it I mean things like alcohol

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because alcohol is full of sugar. So that is something that I've noticed if I actually have too much to drink, I just feel you know, we obviously feel hungover, but it's the sugar. It's just that Oh, I just can't handle it. My body just doesn't know how to process it. Or you could be on the other end of the spectrum where you actually give yourself a lot of hidden sugars in your body and your body has become so used to being on that sugar roller coaster. So for example, you get up in the morning and

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you have a piece of toast or a bowl of cereal for breakfast. So straightaway, those carbohydrates are releasing into your bloodstream in the form of glucose, because that's essentially what we get from food and glucose into the body from the foods that we eat, such as the carbohydrates and vegetables for fruits, breads, cereals, etc. And your body uses us as a source of energy, which is then regulated by your pancreas and small intestines and your liver and the endocrine system,

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which is what actually controls your hormones in your body that regulates also your blood sugar levels by using a pancreas. And so what happens is the pancreas This is the cleverest that produces a hormone called insulin. So for people that suffer with type one diabetes, it's because the body does not produce that hormone insulin. So this is completely out of their control. The body can't produce it so they have to inject themselves with insulin and keep stabilizing their blood sugar levels.

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But what you get obviously then you eat you know you having the steroid having the toast as you get that glucose spike, and then a couple of hours later, you're sitting there either in your home office or in the office and somebody comes around with a pack of biscuits. You're like, Oh, I'm hungry. I really need like that sugar hit now. And so you reach for that next sugar hits. And then a couple of hours later, it's lunch. Again, we're reaching for the sandwiches. We're reaching for the things that are giving

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our bodies that it's a sugar that it needs to keep us on that constant craving for energy for sugar, and we don't even realize it but our bodies have become so addicted. You just try and take sugar away from a child who absolutely loves the taste. of it and you'll see that addicted my child turns into an absolute monster.

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When I say to her she can't have an 18 treats a day because it's too much sugar. And she says Oh, I can have it mummy and I'm like, Well, no, you can't because I actually used personality change before my very eyes which is on sugar. And if you're one of those moms who says oh my child doesn't change that much when they're on sugar.

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If you want to ask yourself Is your child has become so used to the sugar intake and the hidden sugars I mean and things that you might not even realize like the biscuits, the crackers that you give them or the flavors on rice cakes and all those kinds of all those little things and I know there are healthier alternatives and I'm not saying that we completely cut this all out because a lot of it we do as moms for convenience. That is just being absolutely conscious of it.

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Because what happens over time, okay, talking about how we spoke about the how the pancreas produces the insulin, which then helps your body to process through when we eat carbs and food and that excess glucose that your body doesn't need, gets sent to the liver and then your liver is working really, really hard to detoxify. Your body's just having to work so much harder, which is why you end up feeling that like sugar hangover feeling or that literally hungover feeling when you've consumed too much to drink.

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So let's also talk about something that is so prevalent and so so much of a worry in current society, and that's the rise of type two diabetes. So what actually happens is there's the problem as the cells become compromised and the pancreas stops working essentially. And obviously we've talked about why that's so important that the pancreas is working to type two is actually controlled by diet and lifestyle.

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So one in 10 over the age of 40 and UK are actually suffering with type two diabetes, one in 10. Okay, according to the latest statistics, which you can google easily enough, and the scary part is that there are up to around a million people in the UK walking around completely undiagnosed. And it's usually discovered when people reach the age of 14 time fast approaching, and you get your wellness health check that we get here by the National Health Service, when it's discovered, to many people are actually what's called pre diabetic,

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which can be by constantly spiking your blood sugar levels, which is why with your lifestyle to avoid being pre diabetic to avoid developing type two diabetes. The reason is because people don't know what that effect that sugar is having on their body. Or they just, I think sometimes we'll stick our head in the sand and we're like, Oh, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine art like I have used to, you know, sort it out or, yeah, I'm addicted to sugar, what's the harm and actually, it is causing great harm and it is causing serious illness. So when we think that we are eating healthy,

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fat free products, we need to also consider that hit the hidden sugars in it just as we now know as a society FAT or FAT isn't bad for us. There are good fats and there are less good fats for us. They are fats that are not going to serve us such as trans fats. Whereas, like the healthy fats with nuts, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, all those type of things are so much better for us. And it's the same with sugars. So the problem comes in, I think, as moms is we end up often for convenience because we're so busy starting our kids off young with pre packed

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food that is available in the supermarkets because there isn't this as much education around limiting sugar intake because it would actually cause a lot of big companies a lot of grief having to decrease the sugar. So there's lots of clever marketing around no added sugar or sugar from fruits and all this kind of thing that we just think okay, that's fine as far as fine.

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But there's also a lot of big pharma companies out there. Yes, I went there who are making a lot of money from the state of people's health, being pre diabetic type two diabetes. So yes, there is a lot to be gained from a sick nation. So we can't rely on our governments, whatever country you live in, to monitor this. For us. It is our responsibility to monitor it for ourselves, which is why I'm on my soapbox today talking about

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sugar and the importance of why we need to be so aware of it in the context of our health. If you consider back in the 70s and 80s when they you know, the big business heads got together and they deemed that fat was bad for you. And then suddenly it was all about fat free and for decades it was all about that is gonna make you unhealthy and actually, we've discovered that's not necessarily the case. But what they did do when they made everything fat free was put loads of sugar in to compensate the taste

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and to bulk it out. And you look over the last four or five decades what's happened to our health as a society, it is declined at an absolute catastrophic rates. Coincidence? I think not. So we really need to be aware of and really looking at focusing on what I eat or what we call low glycemic food is definitely the way to go. Here's the kicker though. low glycemic means it doesn't spike your sugar levels. So I recommend having say instead of

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having black rice having brown rice instead of having white pastures have more complex carbohydrate pastures, things like brown rice pasta or red lentil pasta or pea pasta, you can get so many different options nowadays, because what this does is it releases glucose into the bloodstream at a slower rate. Same if you think about bowls of cereal is something that immediately spikes your blood sugar levels,

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which is why I'm such a big advocate for having a healthy protein rich breakfast in the morning and specifically why you know if I do have a bowl of oats, I will put a scoop of my protein powder in there because that protein to balance that release of the carbohydrates just hitting my bloodstream so quickly is what offsets that sugar spike. So yeah, even I do have the oats I'll put the protein in. But my favorite go to every morning is my healthy morning smoothie.

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And I have done a whole episode on this in this series about protein in the morning and why that's so important because what it does is it stabilizes those blood sugar levels. It actually gives you more energy fuels you it keeps you fuller for longer. So that's why I'm such an advocate for using a protein supplement or having a high protein breakfast which isn't always practical in the sense of you know, you're not necessarily going to

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have the time maybe to make your eggs in the morning or whatever it is to have that protein and that's why I love using a protein supplements. So something that I've done recently actually is bought myself a blood glucose monitor which is less than 20 quid off Amazon and what I've sought to do is monitor myself every six months for around a week where our insolently check my blood sugar levels up to eating certain foods,

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even healthy foods because you might not realize that there are certain foods that you think are healthy, but that actually spike your blood sugar levels. So while they might be considered healthier foods, you might be causing that blood sugar spike for you and that could be causing that long term effect of maybe the pre diabetes developing into type two etc. So I'll keep you posted on how this goes. And yeah, I just as you can tell, I'm very very passionate about this subject and they are important and I'm not here to shut all over you as a busy mom.

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I know it's difficult. I reach for the convenience just as much as the next month. But I think it is about being wise to how much sugar we consume. And I think that we absolutely are as a society. I get a lot of questions from my clients around what's the sugar of that and one thing I'm always so assured by with using the range of supplements that I do with our lawn is that sugar choice that we make is stevia plants and stevia plant is two 300 times sweeter than sugar so you need to put the tiniest amount in to give you that sweet taste.

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But it isn't a huge amount of sugar that's causing blood sugars five, which is why I absolutely recommend an acronym for it. And this is the other thing is people think Oh sugar is bad sugar. It's not we need a certain amount of sugar in our diet. We need our brains to operate and our bodies to work well. We just have to watch the type of sugar that we're having. So you're gonna get absolutely no sugar that you need if you're eating a healthy balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, and it's

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all the additional sugars that we need to really watch out for. So I hope this has framed the sugar conversation and helps you to maybe understand a little bit more and what I also wanted to say episode is that brings us to the end of our season to thrive series. So we will be back with Season Three for long. But in the meantime, I just really wanted to encourage you to check out all the resources that we have, especially in the show notes, all the different readouts we have, make sure you've gone back and listen to the podcast episodes and if you've got value

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from these two seasons of healthy and driving career mom's podcast, I'd be so grateful if you would share or leave a review. And also it's a final sign on. I wanted to remind you of this free resource all of you are you ready to reset your healthy habits but maybe you're short on time or you're just not sure where to start? You're exactly the person I created by

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private dive mini course for we get your healthy habits and just five minutes a day so you can start to thrive in all aspects of your life and health and the best part is it's totally free to get go to Wendy Griffith dot code at UK forward slash Maven five or go to the link in my show notes for more information.

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Thank you for tuning in today. I'm so grateful for you. If this episode has resonated make sure you visit Wendy Griffith dot co dot UK to discover more of my content and my fantastic free resources for you in private. Or if you'd like to continue the conversation further. dM by Instagram at when you live healthy. I'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep thriving.