I’m Not That Sweet…and a Dialogue Between Mr. Pancreas and Mr. Cell…and a Recipe!

In a few days I will be heading off to an organic farm to try my hand at working the land! I am super excited to learn more about growing food, but being away from home also means that I don’t know what I will be eating for the week I am away.

Traveling can be a challenge for me because I avoid many of the ingredients that are ubiquitous in most foods. One of these ingredients is sugar, and of all things I avoid, it is probably the most prevalent. Sugar is found where you expect it to be, in pop, cookies, candy, cake, ice cream, muffins, granola bars, commercial cereal, and most other sweet things. But it is also, in surprisingly high amounts, found in places where you might not expect it: Canned soups, salad dressings, condiments, bread, crackers, pasta sauce, frozen entrees, etc. The list goes on. Needless to say, if you want to avoid sugar, you end up making a lot of things from scratch (which isn’t a bad thing).

So why the hate-on for sugar?

For those of us who live in developed countries, we are estimated to consume about 120-140 lbs of sugar per person, per year. That is about 240 to 280 cups of sugar in a year, if you need a visual. In the first half of the 1800s, we were consuming about 10 lbs of of sugar per person, per year. Humans have not evolved to keep up with this fast-increasing rate of sugar consumption, and as a result, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other diet-related disorders have sprung up in tune.

Occasionally, I will have dessert, and that is where sugar belongs. What bothers me is when I find it in things like salad dressing. Or soup. Hey! Can’t a girl get a break? What the %&!@ is sugar doing in these products? No doubt, it is there because of consumer demand. Everything is so sweet these days that our very taste buds have become accustomed to expect sweetness in all foods in order to be satisfied. Of course, just as this expectation is learned, it can be unlearned too. Once you get unhooked (this can take a few months), you won’t believe how sweet something like a Quaker granola bar is. They make my cheeks pucker!

The sneaky thing about sugar is that when we have it, we tend to crave more. Let’s say for example you had a big bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup for lunch. Or maybe a big salad with Kraft french dressing. I guarantee that within ten minutes of finishing your meal, you will be craving more sugar. Most people have dessert not in the spirit of celebration (which is how it deserves to be enjoyed), but because they have an itch. They don’t feel satisfied until they get a solid hit of sugar.

And then what happens?

After consuming sugary or high-carbohydrate foods, many will experience either fatigue, irritability, or restlessness, and often more carb/sugar cravings. It the cycle that never ends.

SCIENCE LESSON!

When we consume sugary foods, high amounts of sugar (aka. glucose) quickly get into our bloodstream. When our blood sugar is high, we may feel energetic and almost “high”. The body doesn’t like large amounts of glucose in the blood. Its goal is to get the glucose into the cells where it can be converted to usable energy. In order to “open” the cells, the body needs a “key”. This “key” is a hormone called insulin, released from the pancreas, which opens cells specifically to let the glucose from the blood into the cells. When the pancreas detects sugary blood, it says, “Holy bananas! Send out the insulin troops! We’ve got a big load to clear up!”. Regularly consuming lots of sugar makes the pancreas “on edge” and overactive, so it will often secrete too much insulin, causing a steep and rapid drop in blood sugar. When our blood sugar is low, we often feel sluggish, tired, cranky, and hungry. To perk ourselves up, what do we reach for? Sugar! And so the process begins again.

This is describes a condition called Reactive Hypoglycemia, which is a precursor to Type II Diabetes. Diabetes occurs when the cells get fed up with overactive, insulin-crazy pancreas, and say, “No. We are tired of you, Insulin. We will not open up our cells walls to let the blood glucose in. Blood Glucose, you can stay where you are, and cause tissue damage.”

To reduce sugar in your diet, start by becoming aware of the sources. Read ingredient labels! This is tricky, because a sugar by many other name is just as sweet. Glucose, fructose, beet sugar, date sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, dextrose, barley malt, maltose, maltodextrin, galactose, caramel, sorbitol, treacle, molasses, lactose, and maltitol (among others) are all names for different types of sugar. Basically, anything with the word “sugar” or “syrup” or the suffix “-ose” in it is a sugar.

Try as much as you can to choose products with no extra sugar, or make things from scratch. When looking for treats, celebrate and go for the real stuff, or make your own by using whole food sources of sugars such as fruit or stevia. Stevia is an extremely sweet-tasting leafy plant native to South America. The extract from this plant (found in powdered or liquid form) has no effect on blood sugar. It is not a perfect alternative because it has a mild aftertaste, but when used in small amounts it lends a convincing sweetness to baked goods and treats.

The following recipe uses both whole fruits and stevia as sweeteners. These muffins are delicate and not very sweet. They are suitable for breakfast (with a smear of nut butter) or for snacks, and they are gluten-free and have tons of fibre! And they are quick! I can put together the ingredients in the time it takes me to preheat my oven!

Not-That-Sweet Orchard Fruit Muffins:

3 medium/4 small pears or apples, chopped

3/4 cup non-dairy milk*

2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

10 drops of stevia

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup ground flax seed

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp of cinnamon (optional; best with apples)

*If you don’t have non-dairy milk, you can just use 3/4 cup of water blended with 1 tsp of almond butter

Directions:

-Add chopped fruit, non-dairy milk, butter/oil, vanilla extract, and stevia to a blender and puree until creamy.

-In a big bowl, add flour, flax meal, walnuts, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir until mixed.

-Add liquid blender mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until all is incorporated.

-Scoop mixture into a greased muffin tin.

-Bake 350F for about 20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Have a sweet day, friends!

Take care,

Alex