Happy Valentine’s Day! Oscar and I are wishing you a day full of hearts, romance and maybe a sweet or two.
I may be showing my age, but does anyone else have fond childhood memories of handmade Valentine cards, doily-covered shoeboxes and home baked sugar cookies, cut into hearts and thinly drizzled with powdered sugar icing?
At the risk of sounding grumpy, it seems like we’ve taken yet another fun and innocent holiday and turned it into an excuse to binge on junk food. When did homemade cards get traded in for cupcakes piled with inches of hydrogenated oil-laden frosting? Or heart shaped boxes laden with mass-produced chocolates?
Is this a conspiracy? Are we addicted to sugar? I know at times in my life I have been! Not to spoil your Valentine’s Day fun, but here are five clues that you may have a sugar addiction:
You have food cravings
Your energy crashes mid-afternoon
The way you eat affects your health, weight or work
You turn to certain foods to find pleasure or numb negative feelings
You binge eat, especially on sweets or highly processed foods
No judgment.
You’ll certainly get none from me! At one time in my life I would have answered yes to all of those statements.
Food cravings? Check. I was a regular in the Brach’s Pick a Mix aisle at Hy-Vee.
Mid-afternoon crash? Yep. I often fell asleep at my computer. Of course, this could have been more closely related to my job as an actuarial analyst.
Eating habits affecting my health? Uh, I was in my 20’s and exercised regularly, yet my blood work exposed elevated triglycerides and a cholesterol level of over 250.
Use food for pleasure or numbing? I would mix a batch of chocolate chip cookies just to eat the dough.
Binge eat? Well, how can you stop at just one pan of brownies?
Only curiosity.
And then I got curious, really curious. It was hard, and took me much longer than I wanted, but I sorted out my sugar addiction once and for all. And you can too.
WTF?
Everyone is different, but what the heck was causing me — an active young woman with a successful career, a new marriage and a house full of healthy food and fancy cooking equipment — to eat froyo topped with Oreos until my stomach hurt? Looking back now, it’s obvious: I was unhappy in my so-called perfect life, and used sugar to sweeten it. Before long, I became addicted.
Is sugar really that addictive?
Many health professionals and scientists say yes. This can be simply explained: when we eat sugar, opioids and dopamine flood our brains and our blood sugar spikes. In other words, we get a sugar rush. Once this high wears off, we want to re-experience it, so we reach for the gummy bears again. (They are fat-free after all.)
The more sugar we eat, the more we need to feel the same rush. It’s pretty f*cked up, and also a classic definition of addiction.
What begins as a well-intended coping mechanism can end up as a full-fledged sugar dependency or binge eating disorder.
But sweets are often seen as a token of love, nurturing and affection.
I agree. But the problem today is sugar is in everything. The sneaky white stuff is in our crackers, our spaghetti sauce and our whole grain bread. It is this hidden sugar that is what’s sabotaging us.
How to break up with sugar
Cut out added sugar. Enjoy sugar intentionally and where it’s meant to be. Mindfully savor a cookie baked by your grandmother, instead of mindlessly ingesting the hidden added stuff in processed foods. For example, popular non-dairy beverages used by many coffee shops can contain as much as 8 grams of sugar, per cup. So, if you order a venti latte (20 ounces) the added sugar content is creeping up on 20 grams – that’s a whopping 5 teaspoons of sugar! Health experts recommend we consume no more than 6-9 teaspoons of added sugar, per day.
Make a nourishment menu of 10 ways to experience sweetness in your life that are not sugar enhanced. Some examples would be a cup of herbal tea and a bubble bath or a relaxing yoga class with friends.
Get real about your life. Are you living a fulfilling and satisfying life? Or are you using sugar laced sweets, junk food or booze to give yourself a pleasure hit.
Enjoy your Valentine’s Day, and I’d love to know how you find sweetness in your life, without the sugar.
If this is something you struggle with, reach out. My 6-week Sweetness without Sugar coaching program can help you curb your cravings and find fulfillment without reaching for the sweet stuff.