Sugar Detox
What, me worry?
That is the standard question of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman. But now you are asking the question, “Why would I need a sugar detox”?
There are two reasons you might need a sugar detox. First, you almost certainly ingest a lot of sugar. Second, that has bad effects.
Let’s start with some basics about sugar , and exactly what this article is discussing regarding sugar detox.
The Basics
Our bodies digest food, both for energy and for other nutrients. This article deals with food for energy.
Much of the digested food becomes a chemical called glucose. Diabetics are familiar with testing for blood sugar: that is glucose.
We store some glucose as glycogen, a carbohydrate; but we can only store up to about a pound.
People with diabetes cannot process blood sugar properly; this has serious health consequences. The rest of us convert excess blood sugar to fat, and store it. However, we all use blood sugar for energy for our fast-twitch muscle fibers, to keep our brains happy, and to keep all our cells working.
Low blood sugar levels can cause bad moods and lack of energy. Marathon runners “hit the wall” because they have used all their stored carbohydrate; then they cannot continue running without walk breaks.
Our bodies are tuned to work best within a certain range of blood sugar levels.
Foods are basically made of carbohydrate, fat and/or protein. The word “carbohydrate” means that the chemical is made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Chemists call the simplest carbohydrates “sugars”.
Nutritionally, “simple carbohydrates” include the sugars and also other carbohydrates that our bodies can most quickly digest into glucose. “Complex carbohydrates” take longer to digest. Our diabetic friends are told to avoid foods that digest quickly, because that causes their blood sugar levels to rise rapidly.
Name that sugar
This article uses “sugar” to mean any of the simple carbohydrates that quickly turn into blood sugar.
Here are some common, and uncommon, sugars:
- Dextrose is another name for glucose. It is also found in fruit and honey.
- Fructose is in fruit and honey.
“High fructose corn syrup” started as corn syrup (dextrose), which then is treated to change some of the dextrose into fructose; it is commonly used in soft drinks (soda pop).
- Lactose is in milk. Some people cannot digest lactose; the term is “lactose intolerance”.
- Maltose is processed from starch.
- Melibiose is in beans. This causes the nefarious gas and bloating.
- Sucrose (aka saccharose) is in sugar cane and sugar beets. It is refined into the familiar white sugar, brown sugar, and icing sugar.
- Trehalose is in fungi.
Many processed foods have high concentrations of sugar. Read the ingredients!
- Baked goods, including bread and pastries.
- Candies and sweets.
- Cold cereals.
- Jams and jellies: The sugar is not just sweet, it helps preserve the fruit. (Honey’s sugars are so concentrated that it is about the only non-processed food that preserves itself).
- Ketchup (aka catsup, and many other spellings) and BBQ sauces: This article won’t go into the concerns about searing these sugars onto meat.
- Soda pop.
How does all that sugar affect me?
“Let me count the ways”:
- Your body stores new fat to protect you from too-high blood sugar levels.
- Your digestive organs (pancreas and liver) get stressed when dealing with the sugar spikes.
- You have mood swings. (Maybe you can handle it. But watch a five-year-old for a couple hours after three bowls of sugary cereal: high energy followed by a mood crash).
- Tooth decay: bacteria eat the sugars on unbrushed teeth, and release acids that harm the tooth.
- High blood glucose levels may compete with vitamin C for entry into your white blood cells. If this theory is true, it could lead to a lowered immune response.
- Simple carbohydrates tend to have fewer vitamins or other nutrients. By choosing processed foods, you are unlikely to eat adequately.
How's that for reasons to do a sugar detox? You may also wish to visit The Health Risks of Eating Sugar to learn more about why you should avoid sugar in all its derivatives, and make healthier food choices.
An interesting word is “addiction”. By our nature, we like to eat foods with sweet tastes and that provide a burst of energy. By processing food to concentrate the sugars, we’ve learned to expect sweeter tastes and quicker, stronger bursts of energy. However, our bodies adapt to reduce some of that response (like people adapt to smoking or drinking). So we want yet more concentrated sugar to get the same effect. Hmmm...it does begin to sound like an addiction.
How to Do a Sugar Detox
There are three pillars in a sugar detox program:
- Replace simple carbohydrates with complex carbohydrates
- Avoid artificial sweeteners
- Exercise
Carbohydrates and Sugar Detox
Obviously, avoid known sugars: don’t add sweeteners to bitter drinks; don’t add sugar to your cereal; avoid soda pop, candy, pastries...
Increase your fiber intake. Not only do you feel full with fewer calories, the fiber slows down the digestion of everything else. This stabilizes your blood sugar levels. Fruits and vegetables contain fiber.
Carefully read the package. You will suspect sugar when you see “–ose”. Also check the ratio of carbohydrate to protein and fat. Better yet, depend more on whole foods rather than processed foods.
Be careful about condiments. Read the ingredients in ketchup and mustard.
You might feel bad for a while if you're on a sugar detox, with low-grade headaches, low energy, and mood swings. Think of it as “withdrawal”, and be glad you’re not quitting an illegal narcotic cold turkey. Fight back with water, exercise, and rest to make your sugar detox a bit easier.
If you currently get caffeine from soda pop (again: read the label), you may find that you are fighting caffeine addiction too. Use the same weapons against the same symptoms.
Artificial Sweeteners
This article is running out of room to discuss:
- Acesulfame potassium (“Ace K”, “Sunett”, “Sweet One”) is usually blended with other artificial sweeteners
- Aspartame (“AminoSweet”, “Canderel”, “Equal”, “NutraSweet”) is in many products, but is not recommended for baking since it breaks down under heat.
- Cyclamate (“Sucaryl”) is no longer sold in the U.S., but might be found elsewhere. It is suspected of contributing to cancer and other health problems.
- Neotame is chemically similar to Aspartame. It was approved by the U.S. FDA in 2002.
- Saccharin is suspected of contributing to cancer and other health problems, but is in use in the U.S.
- Sucralose (“Splenda”, “Sucra-Plus”) is in many products. It is stable when heated.
Try to avoid all of them during a sugar detox, or at any time for that matter.
Stevia is an herbal sweetener, rather than an artificially-produced chemical. Use it instead of any sugar or any artificial sweetener.
Exercise
High-intensity exercise uses fast-twitch muscle fibers, which directly use carbohydrate as fuel. One example is lifting weights, in the pattern “3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions, every other day”. Any exercise that increases your breathing and heart rate uses fast-twitch muscles – running, bicycling quickly, etc.
Low-intensity exercise relies on slow-twitch muscle fibers, which directly burn fat as fuel. One by-product is carbohydrate, which becomes available to the fast-twitch muscles. Walking or bicycling slowly enough that your breathing doesn’t change, are examples.
During a sugar detox, you may lack the energy to do high-intensity exercise, or to do as much as you usually do. However, you may find yourself energized by doing moderate low-intensity exercise.
High-intensity exercise burns off stored glycogen. Your body will be able to store some carbohydrate before it has to store fat. (But do be careful about starting an exercise program – you need to consider your general fitness, heart health, joints...but exercise may be very helpful).
