What do tomato sauce, chocolate chip cookies, soft drinks and most breakfast cereals all have in common? These products all contain sugar. This is why it is so unsurprising that over-consumption of refined sugar has been identified as the main cause of obesity and chronic illnesses such as diabetes. It is likely that in every meal or snack throughout the day where we consume processed foods – we are eating sugar without even realizing it. As of March 2019, South Africa has officially been ranked by the World Health Organisation as the unhealthiest country on the planet. The 10 measures used for this ranking were healthy life expectancy, blood pressure, blood glucose (diabetes risk), obesity, depression, happiness, alcohol use, tobacco use, inactivity (too little exercise), and government spending on healthcare. The statistics show that South Africans, between the ages of 30 and 70 have a 26% probability of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer or diabetes. The WHO also found that more than 28% of South African adults are obese - the highest obesity rate among sub-Saharan African countries. The most common cause of obesity is a disruption of what we call energy balance. Simply put, the energy balance equation looks like this: Energy in + Energy used = Body Composition Outcome If your energy in (kilojoules/calories consumed through food and drinks) exceeds your energy used (for daily life and exercise) you will be in an energy positive state causing your body to store the excess energy as fat. If this is your normal state through your life – eventually this positive energy state will lead to being overweight or obese. A very easy way to achieve this positive energy balance is through consuming processed foods with added sugar. The American Heart Association suggests that women and children between the ages of 2 and 18 restrict their added sugar intake to a maximum of 25g/day and men to 37.5g/day. To put that amount in perspective lets look at the sugar content of a few of our favourite foods: As you can see from the table above, the not so sweet truth behind your sweet tooth is that often with one meal or drink you will use up most of or max out your healthy daily sugar limit. If we had to tally up how much sugar we eat on average daily between the sugar in your coffee/tea other beverages and added sugar in processed foods I am sure most of us would be exceeding the limit.
But why is exceeding your recommended sugar intake so bad for you? Besides the fact that it can lead to obesity, here are some of the other reasons: 1. High-sugar diets have been associated with an increased risk for heart disease: Heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. High-sugar diets can lead to obesity, inflammation and high triglyceride, blood sugar and blood pressure levels which are all risk factors for heart disease. It was found that in over 30,000 people those who consumed 17–21% of their kilojoules from added sugar had a 38% greater risk of dying from heart disease, compared to those consuming only 8% of kilojoules from added sugar. 2. Diets high in sugary foods and drinks have been associated with developing acne: Sugary foods quickly spike blood sugar and insulin levels, causing increased androgen secretion, oil production and inflammation, all of which play a role in acne development. A study in 2,300 teens demonstrated that those who frequently consumed added sugar had a 30% greater risk of developing acne. 3. Eating too much sugar increases your risk for developing diabetes: Obesity, which is often caused by consuming too much sugar, is considered the strongest risk factor for diabetes. Prolonged high-sugar consumption causes the body to become resistant to insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas that regulates blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance causes blood sugar levels to rise and strongly increases your risk of diabetes. Studies have also shown that people who specifically drink sugar-sweetened beverages, including fruit juice, are more likely to develop diabetes. 4. Over-consumption of sugar increases your risk for developing cancer: With the over-consumption of sugar the risk of developing cancer increases. Sugar consumption increases inflammation in the body which promotes cancer growth. Insulin resistance developed through eating too much sugar also increases your risk for developing cancer. Most of us love sweet things and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it is in the best interest for our health that we keep the sweet tooth at bay and bring some awareness to how much sugar we eat every day. Sweets are treats not food! And a treat is only a treat if it is something we seldomly eat!
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What is your relationship with food? Are you guys going steady? Still figuring things out? Going through good and bad phases? On the verge of a big mac breakdown? Is it “complicated” or are you just cruising through unaware? Seriously though, have you ever contemplated the relationship you have with your food and nutrition? If not, maybe it is time to do so or to reassess it at the very least. Humans are complicated biochemical vessels of life and most of the time I write about what the research says about keeping your vessel of life alive in the healthiest ways, but as important as it is to get enough sleep, water and nutrition in your day – one really important factor involved that doesn’t get focussed on that much is the human experience of food. How we think, approach and view food is so important in our daily lives. Without food and water, we will die, there is no doubt about it, so the relationship you have with food is arguably the most important one you will ever have. So really now, what is yours like? Do you think it is good? Is it healthy? Some of you might be thinking at this point that this is a load of nonsense – I mean you don’t fight with your food to put the toilet seat down or to stop nagging you about mowing the lawn, so how is this a “relationship”? Have you ever had the guilt after over indulging, the need to reach for comfort foods when you are sad or the desire to celebrate a life event like your birthday or wedding with incredible meals and treats? If you’ve experienced any of that then like it or not, you do have a relationship with your food. These are all emotional connections we establish with food and create our eating habits around. Eating habits are influenced by so many factors from when we are young like social media and fashion trends. Perhaps after reading last month’s entry about food myths you might know now that not everything that is thrown at us through marketing and social media is true but that it affects us and our food choices regardless. Every time we prepare a meal, go grocery shopping or eat out we make a choice. We buy what we crave, what we think we should eat, what the marketing on the packaging tells us to. There is never a moment where we don’t decide what to eat and how much of it. Even as a baby we reject green mushy vegetables like they are poison. This is why we need to understand what our relationship is with food and how it affects our health. For example, a common food habit is for children to be raised to finish their plate of food and not eat until they are full. This is built around other teaching moments like gratitude for the food provided, not wasting and making sure they get their veggies in. But this small food habit often creates a food culture that promotes obesity as we grow up. When faced with ridiculously large portions of food at restaurants this inherent habit to eat until all the food is gone takes over instead of consciously eating until you are full and taking the rest for home for later. People who have this habit are therefore more likely to overeat and thereby become obese. On the other side of the spectrum, there are habits in the household that have the potential to create under nourished individuals. Children often adopt the same food habits as their parents. Parents who survive on coffee and potato crisps will often create children who will do the same. “Do as I say and not as I do” only lasts so long. Young adults are often the most impressionable where this is concerned. As kids grow up and start to form opinions about their physical appearances, they look to their parents to understand how they should feel about themselves and the foods they eat. Regardless of what your current relationship is with food, what you eat and how you think about it here are three steps we can all benefit from practicing to ensure that we have a healthy food relationship: 1. Eat consciously and mindfully: After a long day we can often find ourselves scoffing down our food to satisfy our hunger instead of savouring the meal and enjoying everything it has to offer. We distract ourselves by watching TV while we eat or scrolling through our Instagram feed at our lunch hour instead of being in the present while we eat and experiencing the meal. This is a small trick that can lead to you craving fewer snacks after eating a meal as you’ve satisfied your emotional need for food along with your physical one. 2. Ask yourself why you want to eat something when you crave it: Sometimes I have a really strong craving for a nice grilled steak – sure, it’s delicious and that’s definitely a good reason for wanting it, but sometimes I think of why I want that particular food. In this case it can often be because I have not been eating enough protein. Sometimes when I feel like I need a chocolate it can be because I haven’t been sleeping enough and I crave that sugar high. In the case of a giant burger or a packet of chips it can often be because I am emotional about something and are in search of comfort food. Asking this simple question of “why do I want that” can greatly improve your relationship with food and your health in general, because it gives you the chance to start listening to your body’s cravings as a form of communication and to make better decisions about what to eat or do in some situations. I know that if I have an emotional craving that the food will not help me – that I need to understand the turmoil I am experiencing and work through it. Cravings are a source of communication for the human body - all we have to do is understand that they are not always about food, so ask yourself about yours next time you have one. 3. Practice gratitude for your food and your body: While this may seem like an obvious one and irrelevant to you because you say grace before you eat and thank you to whoever prepared it or bought it or both, the truth is that gratitude is a practice we should follow with the utmost devotion and care. Teaching children from young ages to appreciate where their food comes from, the work that it takes to produce a single apple or the sacrifice that goes into the chicken McNuggets that they get in their happy meal is something we need to do so that we don’t take what we have for granted. We only have one body in this lifetime (at least until the robots take over and we all become cyborgs) so it is up to us to nurture and love it the way it needs. That means a healthy diet and an active lifestyle – simple as that! |
AuthorDanielle Gemeliaris has been dancing for half her life and has always been passionate about food, nutrition and the science behind them. The knowledge she gained through her studies, as a dancer and her experience as a health and wellness coach through Herbalife, has made her uniquely qualified to help dancers better understand nutrition and the role it plays in their lives. She hopes to offer the readers of this blog the opportunity to gain a basic working knowledge of nutrition, the role it plays for dancers and learn how to make better more informed food choices in the future. Archives
April 2019
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