Vigilance

Over the years I’ve developed certain health habits that ensure I usually feel my best. It’s a challenge to stay disciplined, easy to falter.

Recently, I experienced the natural consequences of lightening up on my regimen.

It all began with a trip to Guatemala this summer. I accompanied an 83 year old teacher as she presented at schools and conventions throughout the country.

Many wonderful people hosted us in their homes. I resolved to be gracious and eat what was put before me, like my mother taught me.

I ended up eating more corn, dairy and sugar than I usually do. In fact, I came home with a full-blown sugar addiction.

How do I know ?

I found myself yearning for ice-cream cones, and indulging those cravings! I usually don’t eat ice-cream!

I couldn’t say no to chocolate. My friends know I love it and they love to accommodate me but all that sugar-laden milk chocolate hurt me.

I gained ten pounds.

My energy is down.

I’ve had two colds since I got home.

So I’m back to my vigilance. The last few days as I nurse my second cold in two months, I veered from sugar. Oh I thought about that box of home-made chocolates in my cupboard but I’ll save those for sharing with company.

While “I didn’t eat that much” sugar, I was woken up by how little it took for me to develop a taste for it.

Lots of people tell me they “don’t eat that much sugar” but when we talk about what they’re eating it’s far more than they think.

Some researchers claim we North Americans eat our weight or more in sugar each year! Knowing how pervasive it is in our food supply, I’m not surprised.

What I learned is a little sugar leads to a lot.

If I had to do it over, I would still be polite and eat the food I was served with gratitude. Maybe smaller portions. And employ vigilance and discipline when I get home.

How do you stay on course with your healthy lifestyle?

Shelley Goldbeck, DTM is a Thinker, Writer, Speaker,  and Serial Entrepreneur with a passion for eating healthy food. Shelley grows her own food and avoids processed food when she can. 

 

What to do with Halloween Candy

Lego PumpkinsHappy Halloween! The little munchkins will be vibrating in anticipation all day and then vibrating all weekend from the sugar rush.

In our family we are fully aware of the evils of sugar. We used to think it was harmless, that a binge on baby chocolate bars once a year wasn’t so bad.

Only it was never one night. We’d buy crates of individually wrapped candy in late September. By mid-October, we were out, except for the one kind in the variety pack that we don’t like. (You can never buy a variety pack with all the types you like; there’s always a dud!)

We’d buy three more crates, give out one, and have the other two consumed within days of Halloween.

When my children were small there were always battles over the candy. One year I rationed it. That was received like snow in June. So then I decided to let them gorge themselves on Halloween and then ration the rest. That was mildly successful: the gorging part was popular; rationing spawned battles.

My Grandtoys are gluten and dairy-free so Halloween has changed. Where most kids love to get chocolate, my little ones can’t eat it, unless it’s dark chocolate. Twizzlers are made with wheat, so they can’t have them. Half of what they collect needs to be given away.

Then there’s that sugar problem. I once had some Skittles left over from Halloween. I would give the Grandtoys each a package after dinner. The youngest would almost immediately start spinning, acting up, poking her sister. Whether it was the sugar or the food colour, I’m not sure, but the rest of those went in the garbage.

“No Halloween” is not a viable option but there are things one can do.

  1. Walk the talk: I don’t eat sugar so I feel off when I give it to others, especially children. So what to give? This year we have one box of baby chocolate bars, some bags of cashews and for the discriminating palates of my Grandtoys, packs of seaweed. Yes seaweed! They love it! Some years we’ve given fruit leather, still sugar, but with fibre and some nutrients.
  2. Halloween parties: This year, my Grandtoys’ cul de sac is throwing a Halloween party. The focus will be on fun, not on collecting too much candy. There will be some, of course, but my daughter’s battle over candy will be minimized.
  3. Buy your children’s candy. This is a fabulous idea I heard about a couple years ago. A mother gave her child $50 to surrender the majority of the candy. I think she let her keep a few pieces. The child gets to have fun collecting candy but doesn’t suffer the negative effects of all that sugar.

I long for the days when an apple was an appropriate contribution to the pillowcase. I wonder if it was candy manufacturers that put razor blades in apples and started the fear mindset. It soon became common knowledge that it wasn’t safe to eat Halloween apples.But poison in the form of sugar with artificial colours and flavours is okay. Aargh!

Have a safe fun Halloween. Do what you can to avoid overdosing on sugar. Your body will thank you.

To learn more about sugar, read past blogs My Sugar Story.

How Sweet It Isn’t: What happened to me when I gave up sugar – Part 1

“For my daughter’s recent cookbook, I wrote my sugar story.

 I promised not to share it with my readers until her book was released.
Buy it here
rachelscookbook
Now here is my story. (It’s long so we’ve broken it into 3 segments.)
I would love to hear about your struggles/victories over sugar!”

 

 

My Year Without Sugar and How my Body Reacted

Truly, it’s not surprising that I have a sugar addiction.

It is surprising to me that I refer to it now as an addiction. Like any addict I lived in denial for years.

From a very young age, my loving paternal grandmother showered me with sugar. She entered puberty at the onset of the Great Depression, with its scarcity of sugar. The greatest gift she could give was food, especially sugar.

The only sweetener she had regular access to growing up was honey and that was reserved for medicinal purposes. My great-grandmother was a closet alcoholic so any sugar that came into the house was diverted to a crock in her bedroom for fermenting fruit.

Then came World War II and the rationing of sugar. By then Grandma was married, poor, and homesteading. Grandpa demonstrated his love by keeping bees, which ensured an extra large sugar ration (for the bees) and abundant honey (for Grandma).

By the time I was born, my immediate ancestors were as well off as they had ever been. And that meant abundant food. Not fancy food. Mostly homegrown food. But the one thing that was prevalent was sugar.

Do you know how easy it is to shower (grand)children with sugar love?

Grandma always served three desserts. Desserts were planned and prepared long before the main meal. She might serve chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream and raspberry Jello. Or she would offer a choice of two kinds of pie, always apple, and sometimes raisin, cherry, or saskatoon (or a slice of each) with ice cream. She may also have had homemade cookies in case you didn’t get enough sugar. And there was nothing like a cup of hot chocolate to soothe the soul!

Sunday after church we would stop at the North Hill Store where we each got to spend one of our two dimes; the first dime had already fallen dutifully into the collection plate. We often chose a bag of penny candy painstakingly selected and ceremoniously placed into the tiny paper bag by Mr. LaBarre. He had a soft spot for us as we were purportedly well-behaved for children, and he would sneak in an extra piece or two of our favourites. Sometimes we would spend our money on a cream soda, orange or grape crush and a bag of chips or a chocolate bar.

Looking back it’s not at all surprising that I associate sugar with pleasure. Grandma was devoted to me and she showered me with love and sugar. Love and sugar go together. Pleasure!

Much of my energy as a child went into securing sugar. Within moments I spent all found-money at the corner store. I invariably inhaled my portions; my brother would slowly savour his sweets or even hoard them for later, which meant that I had to concentrate on how I might manipulate the treasure from his greedy grip. Occasionally that would result in his sharing or even surrendering entirely. (Not likely).

I was a sugar pig.

Processed food became mainstream when I was a child. Like other 60’s mothers, my mother bought into their promise of convenience, although her limited budget prohibited her from completely stocking our shelves with junk. Kool-aid, Tang, and cereal (with toys inside the boxes) were all part of our diet, at least sporadically.

Luckily we were poor and we grew our own vegetables, raised our own eggs, picked and put-up wild berries, and supplemented our homegrown chicken diet with meat from the odd deer that Dad would bag in the fall.

I developed a taste for fresh vegetables from the garden. A favorite activity was playing hide and seek in a pea patch on a hot afternoon. I would munch on peas while I hid or even as seeker, (one can become quite famished playing hide and seek!)

I liked the raspberry patch even more. As sweet as fresh peas can be, there’s nothing like ripe raspberries picked while the dew still clings like blobs of transparent mercury on the knobby surface of the berry. They’re especially good when they’ve been sun-warmed for a couple hours. Heaven is gumming a handful of raspberries (not chewing to avoid lodging their tiny seeds into your teeth) and letting the sweet syrup trickle down your throat.

My infatuation for sugar led to my childhood dream for the future: that I would live in Calgary (check), that I would have my own car (check) and the back seat would be filled with cinnamon buns and chocolate bars! I’ve likely eaten enough chocolate bars to fill many backseats!

By the time I turn 21, I am married, pregnant with my second daughter. I’m in Safeway with my toddler in the cart. In the produce department I admire the fresh peaches. But alas! They are expensive. I begin to push away.

I look into my cart.

I see doughnuts. I see cookies.

Like a bolt of lightning I am struck by the notion that if I put back the junk, I can afford the peaches.

That epiphany changes the course of my shopping forever. I begin allocating more of my grocery budget to fresh whole food. I bake our treats, usually substituting some whole grain flour for the white flour and cutting the sugar at least in half. Nobody ever notices. If they do they don’t say anything or stop eating what I make.

I actively guard my children from too much sugar. It‘s not always easy in the face of my Grandma (whose sugar showering continues with my children) and my in-laws, who are of the same generation as my grandma. I am often accused of being a mean mom when I forbid sugar or even when I simply limit it.

“Awww!” The guilty (great-)grandparent whines when I declare “no sugar to be sent home!”

“I just made these lovely squares.” (to child) “You like the mocha balls, don’t you?”

I remember once getting into the car after visiting Grandma and my girls are giggling in the back seat. What’s so funny? Despite my orders that the girls are not to have candy, Grandma has sneaked them each a chocolate bar as we slipped out the door.

I grouse but inside I smile because I know exactly how those girls feel. I know the feeling of being in cahoots with Grandma. I know that a loving heart committed the crime. I know the rush of pleasure: love in a sweet package!

Even if sugar is poison, is it really a sin when it comes from such great love?

At their dad’s parents’ house, cookies, cakes, and squares are served up to five times per day. (Mid-morning coffee, dessert at noon, mid-afternoon snack, dessert at supper, and bedtime snack!) Only breakfast doesn’t include them but sugar is well-represented with toast and jam, pancakes and syrup, and/or porridge with brown sugar.

I remember stuffing myself so full at their Sunday dinners my stomach would protest painfully. My sister-in-law would hold her abdomen and cry in agony, “I am so full!” Our gluttony often struck me as hypocritical in this evangelical Christian home. But I didn’t stop.

My girls’ grandpa thought bonding time with his granddaughters was a trip to the Co-op coffee shop for a long john (a huge block of a donut covered in chocolate or maple icing). They did too.

I saw them developing the same addiction to sugar that afflicted me. One long john contained more than their full day’s allowance of sugar, fat and calories and contributed almost no nutrition.

But I couldn’t really blame them for their attraction to doughnuts…

…..continued next week

Do or D-I-E-T

dietDiet has two distinct meanings today. We tend to think only of “restrictive (in some way) plans for the purpose of weight loss”.

Diet also (perhaps more correctly) means “a way of eating” from the Greek word ,diaita meaning a “way of life”.

There’s a clue. To be successful we need only to seek food that supports our desired way of life.

And there lies the problems with diets, of the former connotation. They don’t work because they are the antithesis of “a way of life”.

Let’s explore: D-I-E-T

D: Deprivation, not generally an ingredient in success!

When I used to decide to “go on a diet” to “lose a few pounds” the first thing that happened was intense cravings for the very foods that I had foresworn. I’d scour the cupboards looking for partial bags of chocolate chips or go spelunking in the freezer for a forgotten bag of Christmas cookies.

Prohibition doesn’t work. Saying you can’t have it is entirely the wrong approach.

I know that bread bloats me, makes me feel like I have a rock in my gut, and makes the scale go up as much as eight pounds. My body is telling me bread is poison.

I no longer “can’t have bread”. I “choose” not to eat bread because I would rather not experience those symptoms. That attitude adjustment has made it easier to avoid bread.

Diets don’t work because they start with deprivation.

I: Impossible: most diets are impossible to sustain, contradicting the age-old wisdom that what we eat is integral to the fabric of our lives, diaita!

Diets fail to help people reconnect to their food. Sustainability becomes impossible.

Many popular diets are effective until the restrictions are lifted and their clients find themselves back on the weight-loss roller coaster.

Diet companies make billions of dollars each year selling their products. They have no motivation to help you understand why you overeat. If you knew the secrets, they would lose your future business.

Shareholders would not be Impressed! If you have troubles sticking to a diet, you’re not alone. They are impossible!

 E: Elusive: the goal is elusive because it’s the wrong target.

We are not sick because we’re fat. We’re fat because we’re sick.

Weight loss isn’t the goal. It’s the by-product of improving our health.

We have poisoned and continue to poison ourselves on many fronts. Our food, air, and water assault our systems continuously. Our bodies are ill-equipped for the constant bombardment.

When we diet and lose weight, we often feel lousy or downright sick as the toxins leave their fat-cell barracks. Without understanding the process, dieters give up when they have these symptoms. Knowing why they feel distress can help them persevere to the rewards of good health.

If your weight loss goals are elusive adjust your target. Cultivate an environment of good health and the pounds will fall away.

T: Temporary. Most diets simply can’t last.

Many diets impose limits all but guaranteeing participants will fail. Especially grievous are the meal replacement programs.  Dieters struggle to eat in the real world. Instead of blindly replacing meals, “drinking” their calories they would benefit from learning more about making healthy choices.

Ironically, most meal replacements are rife with sugar, an addictive drug for those trying to be healthy and reach a healthy weight.

Sadly, there’s simply too much money at stake for diets to go the way of the dodo. If people knew about diaita , the secret they truly hunger for, the diet industry would suffer greatly.

But then perhaps demand for organic produce would rise and the economy would make up for lost diet revenue. One can dream!

“Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we diet!”

Is this your New Year’s vow, year after year?

If D-I-E-T as a “restrictive eating plan for the purpose of losing weight” is in your lexicon, I urge you to rethink your approach. Choose a way of life, a diaita. Your eating will follow and your body will repair itself.

Finally, here are a few Tips for Adopting a Better Diet:

  1. One thing. Don’t try to change decades of bad habits in one day/week/month. Pick one new thing at a time. It can be “eat more fruit” or “eat more salad” or “replace chips with popcorn”.  Everybody can do one thing. Then pick another. In no time your bad habits are changed.
  2. Choose food that is processed as little as possible. Cooking, freezing, drying are all examples of processing though some are less damaging to food than others.
  3. Reconnect with your food. Know your farmer. Get your hands dirty and grown your own.
  4. Read labels and understand that food manufacturers actively seek to fool you into thinking their food is healthier than it is. They use hollow language like “natural”, which means nothing. They use five types of sugar so sugar doesn’t have to be listed as the main ingredient. Buyer beware. Vote with your dollars: refuse to buy products that threaten your health.
  5. Buy ingredients, not products with ingredients. Do not be fooled by low-fat, low-calorie, low-sugar claims. These words typically describe “foods” with the least nutrient value. Low fat products usually have more sugar; low calorie foods often are filled with inedible ingredients and low sugar means sugar substitutes, which the body thinks of as poison.

Finally don’t despair. Changing a way of life takes practice and involves repeated missteps as you carefully pick the best stepping-stones. You will slip but the definition of success is falling down seven times and getting up eight times.  Never say diet!

Chocomole – Chocolate Avocado Pudding

chocmoleMy family is deeply affected by certain foods. We have gluten sensitivity, diary allergies, and we are careful about processed food including anything with sugar in it.

As a result birthday parties and other family celebrations require careful planning. We can’t just buy a cake and our traditional family recipes need to be significantly modified.

We are learning to think about food differently. Why do we need cake to celebrate? Shouldn’t we celebrate with the nutrition of whole real food?

Last evening we celebrated my daughter’s birthday with a family dinner. I was charged with bringing dessert.

As I have avoided sugar since the Christmas chocolate and goodies ran out in early January, I wasn’t thrilled about bringing a cake, imposing that unhealthy item on my health-conscious family. Even a gluten-free dairy-free cake needs sugar to make it palatable.

I had read about making chocolate pudding out of avocado and I wanted to try it for the party. I found numerous recipes online and I decided to create my own using those recipes as a guideline.

I have to say, I really outdid myself. My youngest grandtoy, J____, licked her bowl clean and then eyed the two extra servings on the platter. When Mommy said no, J____ was choked.  Peace was restored when I told her I had brought the extras so she and her sister could take them for lunch the next day.

Chocomole is creamy (because of all of that healthy avocado fat). The maple syrup sweetens it without all the harmful effects of white sugar. The antioxidants of the dark chocolate are preserved because they’re not heated.

In my opinion Chocomole is better than conventional chocolate pudding: no “cow” aftertaste and mucous buildup in my throat that I usually get when I eat dairy products.

I’ve been thinking about how I can use avocado to make other “puddings”. (If you have ideas, do share!)

Nobody would ever guess that this dessert is actually good for them. I urge you to try it for yourself.

Bon appetit!

Avocado sliced in halfMy Chocolate Avocado Pudding “Chocomole”

adapted by Shelley Goldbeck from four recipes

  • 4 avocados, ripe and soft
  • ½ cup coconut milk (or almond/rice milk)
  • 1 ounce of dark chocolate (72% or higher), high quality, dairy-free, melted
  • 2 heaping Tbsp. high quality cocoa powder or to taste (you may use all cocoa if you don’t have
    • dark chocolate squares)
  • 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • pinch Himalayan sea salt
  • ¼ to ¾ cup maple syrup, to taste. (Or honey or agave; I expect you would need less of these).
  • (I add sweetener last, in increments, to avoid making it too sweet).

Portions depend on the size of the avocados.  I used medium.  Process until smooth, occasionally scraping down sides. Taste and add more cocoa powder, required. Add more sweetener, to taste, and milk, if you’d like it looser. Divide between serving cups and serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve. Keeps in fridge 24 hours. Make 8 to 10 ½ cup servings.

Garnish with fresh berries or toasted almonds.