Stop normalising sugar!

So many people struggle with their weight, and diabetes has been on the rise for many years now with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

What do I think the main (but not only) culprit is for this?

Sugar.

The problem is, it’s become so normal to eat sugar all day long that we don’t even think about it.

If someone smoked some weed or cracked open a beer as soon as they woke up, people would think they have a problem.

But if you wake up and dose yourself with caffeine (a stimulant/drug) and stick a couple of sugars in it, no-one bats an eyelid. In fact, people think you’re strange if you don’t do this?! 

Maybe you’ll have a biscuit with it, then a bowl of cereal… 

You then continue to repeat this multiple times throughout the day. Multiple teas/coffees and usually “snacks” between meals.

At lunch time it’s normal to have a little treat and a can of soda, but again, if you had an alcoholic drink on your lunch break it’d be frowned upon.

This is killing us. And not even that slowly!

And when it comes to kids – take a look around. Obesity is becoming more and more common amongst youngsters too.

Why is it ok to give a kid a sweet when they’ve had a haircut?

Why would you offer OTHER PEOPLES’ kids sweets and soft drinks by default when they come around?! (seriously, stop doing this!)

Why do grandparents (and parents) give their kids sweets daily?

…something you KNOW is bad for them?! (Though maybe you don’t know quite how bad)

Yes, they like them, but that doesn’t mean give it to them!

You’re not being kind by giving kids sweets, no matter how much they want them. You’re actually doing them harm! 

I believe it should be limited to small treats every now and then, not a regular part of their diet (this includes ALL sweets and sugary drinks). 

And the same goes for adults (ouch!).

Stop avoiding [healthy] fats (you need them in your diet), and start avoiding sugar like the plague.

If you’re at all serious about your own health, or the health of your children, you should probably have a little review of how much sugar you’re all consuming and see what you can do to reduce that.

I’d also avoid just replacing it with artificial sweeteners (“Diet” anything). They have their own issues and you’re best off just beating the sugar addiction without them.

There are so many things that you can do to improve your health, but it’s probably best to start by plugging the holes and getting rid of the things that are doing the most harm.

Sugar is one of them.

It’ll require a bit of discipline, some planning ahead, and a learning curve to master this, but it’ll be worth it.

And as for the kids, just tell them no! You’re in charge. Whilst you can control (at least in part) what they eat, why would you feed them stuff that’s bad for them?

There’ll probably be some tantrums (especially if they’re used to eating this junk every day) but it’s your responsibility as a parent/adult not to damage their health.

I realise I may receive some blowback from this, but someone’s got to say it. Don’t shoot the messenger. 

And before you say it, yes, I have kids. They have a “sweetie day” on a Friday with the occasional treat at other times, and they drink water. It’s not cruel, it’s kind, because I know that all they’re really missing out on is a lifetime of sugar addiction.

If you’re interested in getting control of your diet and lifestyle and living a healthier life, check out www.MoveBetter.Club or get in touch.

Mark

The 5 Worst foods in your Kitchen

So you think you’re eating healthily, and compared to most – you might be! But comparing yourself to an unhealthy population, and being in the top half is still far from ideal; and with so much conflicting information how do you know if you’re getting it right?

You might be surprised to find that some of the “healthy” foods you’re buying are actually fattening and bad for you. The very foods that are promoted as being good for you!

Food companies are businesses. They are in"business" to make money, simple. So if they can find a way to reduce costs, increase prices, and sell more products, you can bet they will! (And ethics often doesn't come into it).

So… What are my top 5 worst foods that you might have in your kitchen?

1.       Breakfast Cereal. This is just terrible. It’s loaded with added sugars and sweeteners, and to even be allowed to be sold as ‘food’, the manufacturers have to add synthetic vitamins and minerals to it (because without these, it has zero nutritional value and cannot be called food!). They’ll sell this as a bonus though: “Fortified with…”, “Now with added vitamin…”, and we lap it up like they’ve done us a huge favour! And I won’t even get into how it’s marketed to us but needless to say we're told it's good for us! Also lacking in adequate amounts of protein and fat, it’s incomplete as a meal and totally unacceptable as a breakfast (even if it is “wholegrain” or “high fibre”).

2.       Diet drinks. Cola, Lemonade etc. Fizzy drinks are loaded with sugar which we know is bad (although most people don’t comprehend just how bad!), but replacing them with “diet” versions will have no positive impact on your health! The artificial sweeteners pumped into them, which they HAVE to have to keep them tasting nice, is arguably as bad as the sugar – although we have no idea of all the adverse effects of these sweeteners, some have been linked to cancer, diabetes, obesity, IBS, migraines and more. Bottom line – don’t be fooled, drink water!If your kids won't drink water (ask yourself why - if they've been given other, tastier options, it's no wonder they'll kick up a fuss and refuse to drink plain old water!), try some herbal teas - you can get blackcurrant, lemon, strawberry, mint etc. Just brew them up and let them cool in the fridge. It may take a dozen tries before they'll drink it, but they'll soon get used to it and it'll be far better for them than any other sugary (or "low sugar") drink. Give them the option of that, or water, nothing else. They'll soon start drinking them :)

3.       Low-fat options. We need fat in our diet, period. While some fats are better than others, fats as a whole have been demonised by the food industry to our detriment. Take the fat out of something and it tastes horrible, so they HAVE to replace it with sugar or sweeteners. Low fat=high sugar (or to keep the “calories” down, one of the aforementioned alternative deadly sweeteners!). Fats are essential for every cell in your body to function optimally; be aware of where they’re coming from, but definitely keep them in your diet!Whole milk is better than skimmed. Proper butter is better than margarine. You get the idea...

4.       Granola Bars. Healthy snacking at its best. Take all the cereal problems and squeeze them together into a bar to eat on the go. Advertised as “99 calories” or similar, it’s just a smaller portion of the same! Usually held together with some form of syrup or honey etc. and possibly even topped with a low-fat yoghurt or some other kind of coating.If you want a healthy snack, make up a trail mix of nuts and seeds, or chop up some fresh vegetables like carrots, celery or peppers. Avoid cereals in any form!

5.       Fruit Juice. But fruit’s healthy?! While fruit itself contains sugars, they’re naturally occurring and are accompanied by fibre (the flesh of the fruit) that will aid in digestion and slow down the sugar rush. Still best avoided if weight loss is a goal or you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, but for the most part a healthy food.Fruit juice however has all of the fibre taken away. Squeeze all of the tasty sugar out of a fruit, and you have fruit juice. This is NOT a healthy choice, especially for your children.
Again, you/your children should be drinking water. If you want to add some flavour, use the teas as mentioned above, or squeeze half a lemon or lime into your water for flavour and extra nutrients.

There are no doubt many other insults lying around in your kitchen, but if you can start with these 5, which are among the worst, you'll be off to a great start. Once you've done that, you can start to look at other improvements.
Small improvements add up to big changes over time, with consistency, so take the first step now.

If you need more help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, and Bootcamp classes.