Sweet Energy

Ever wonder about sugar craving?
Is it will power, mass media & corporate advertising, or something else that makes us want to eat more than the 100-300 “discretionary” daily calories the USDA advises?

Our digestive system has evolved to be finely tuned to recognize sugar as incoming energy to fuel our metabolism and keep us alive-we have taste buds not only on the tongue, but in the stomach, intestines, and likely have receptors  in the pancreas, colon and esophagus which guide our food choices and stimulate digestion through desire for the sweet and aversion to bitter.

Have you ever tried avoiding sugary foods? I’m currently experimenting with avoiding added sugar in my diet, including red wine and dark chocolate-my usual “medicinal nightcaps”. People who know me will be aghast-“Giving up DARK CHOCOLATE??” Not to worry, I’ve given myself a trial of 5 months. I’ll reflect upon my learnings in September 2010 and decide whether I want to continue the experiment!

“OK, sugar and chocolate, but RED WINE???” Yes, the sugar in grapes is what makes making the wine possible (aka fermentation - the sugar in wine is broken down and converted by yeasts to make the alcohol), thus could influence my sugar cravings. Since I consider red wine a part of my regular diet, with the potential for drinking more to satisfy cravings from eliminated sugary foods…well, it’d either become an expensive habit or I’d become totally non-functional, so it had to go, too…for now…

It’s a Practice
A friend sees this sugar-fast as my way of “observing desire and temptation,” a high level Buddhist practice, as it’s believed craving=suffering and that Desire is one of the biggies that get in the way of our happiness. His observation may be true, but in reality I was feeling bloated and gained a few pounds last year that just seem to love clinging to my belly (clinging: another Buddhist concept preventing happiness), in spite of maintaining a mostly healthy plant-based diet (I don’t even know what’s on the menu at McDonalds, or whether Wendy’s still has a potato or salad bar anymore).

One of my life objectives is preventive health so I can enjoy my body and an active and vibrant life, it seems worthwhile to see if feeling bloated and eating sugary things could be related and need to be black listed. Intuitively I decided it would take more than 3 mos to calm those receptors down and get to some sort of baseline. BTW, one of my self-induced incentives is to use a free Iphone App (Lose It!) and count the calories I was tempted to eat (and usually would have) but am choosing not to-in a week I passed up 4,883 calories! It’s so easy to consume more energy than we need, in food and in other ways…

When you don’t have sugar, the mind tries all sorts of things to entertain you. Like I started having visions of an old show my brother and I watched in the 1960s. We saw it on the CBS Children’s Saturday Film Fest with Kukla, Fran and Ollie. It was called “Skinny and Fatty” and I was empathetic with Fatty because I was “chubby” and not athletic. Fatty was the stereotypical unhappy obese kid, who had difficulties with sports and was either bullied or a bully, except for his buddy “Skinny”, who was his motivational coach, a positive thinker, and athletic. They both always triumphed in the end because they teamed up together and took advantage of their unique skills, but But I never wanted to be like Fatty: he seemed to suffer a lot just the same. This is a short and sweet clip (pun intended): Skinny & Fatty clip

Sugar: A simple organic compound composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen-an essential structural component of living cells and a source of energy for animals and humans… sounds pretty harmless, but rationally we know better…yet it’s hard to avoid eating sugar in excess…”Just one more cookie, I deserve it!” (cookies are my downfall)

In a commendable quest to cut calories and weight many people trick their tastebuds with diet soda, sugarless gum and other artificial sweeteners (regular consumers of diet bevs drink more than 3 8-oz servings per day). Paradoxically, there is an association between drinking diet soda and the risk for developing metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. What happens when we feed our gut with artificial sweeteners, or with sugar, and how we are influenced by bitter taste receptors as well as sweet is captured well in this thought-provoking article about sweet and bitter taste receptors, from Science News: Stomach's Sweet Tooth

I see Energywork clients at Puja Wellness Center, which is in Madison and is Ayurvedic (East Indian). It’s a beautiful, relaxing, supportive place to be in, and a good match with what I value, although focused on a different part of the Far East!  Many of their clients have success with Ayurvedic nutrition as a way to be more balanced. If you’ve ever been curious about Ayurveda, I highly recommend their cooking and educational offerings (you get to eat yummy stuff and learn how to make easy recipes), or contact them to set up a consult with Courtney or Katy. Their relaxation treatments are gentle, tailored to each individual, feel good, and work therapeutically at the subtle energy level as well as the physical; their cheerful nurturing presence coupled with professional training and knowledge is very special.

Ayurveda is not new to me; I enjoy the therapeutic and beauty treatments, and dabble in Indian cooking, but to be honest I’ve avoided immersing myself in the dietary aspects as foods to balance my Ayurvedic type are ones I like least: bitter! 

This never made sense to me until reading the Science article, which talks about bitter receptors in our gut, which may trigger reactions convincing the body that it’s satiated (bitter=could be poison, message is don’t eat too much). So, the evidence corroborates what ancient practices and culturally traditional foods have known for many years about balancing energy and health. Will incorporating more bitter reduce my desire for more sweet? In another month I may be willing to give it a try in order to help meet my goal of reducing sugar cravings! Oh, and dark chocolate is considered bitter...

Now that I’ve been time blogging about all this sugary stuff, it’s time to eat a lovely tangerine, and go out to energize with exercise in nature on this nice sunny day!