Sugar is energy. Eating sugar creates a spike in energy, and if we’ve eaten nothing else, this spike is followed by a crash.
In the digestive process, sugar is like kindling, or dry, highly flammable sticks. It catches the flame quickly, and burns hot and fast. This feels really good, and lasts for a short amount of time. But if no one puts a bigger log of wood on the fire, the kindling will burn out. There’s no more fuel to burn. The heat dissipates, and energy gets very low. This is a disaster for mood. Often, a sugar-crash like this inspires intense cravings for more sugar. So it’s easy to repeat the process again and again, just throwing “kindling” on the fire just to burn it up, until you’re really sick.
Eating too much refined sugar is well known to cause a myriad of health issues. Weight gain, increased risk of heart disease, unhealthy blood pressure, inflammation, diabetes, among other symptoms like low immunity, bouts of acne, and fatigue are directly linked to high sugar intake. It is clear that Americans are already consuming far too much on average. How do we stop?
Ayurveda encourages people to enjoy the foods they prefer, not to resist urges, and to trust their bodies and intuition. This is all lovely, until it comes to sugar cravings. Knowing that refined sugar is a total disaster for the gut, mood, and body, how are we supposed to manage this? Let’s explore.
To break the cycle, introduce more protein and healthy fat. Protein and fats provide the structures we need to maintain energy and good mood in our lives. They are the logs of wood for our digestive fires need for heavy-duty combustion, creating stable, lasting energy in the bloodstream. Without painfully depriving yourself of sweetness, satisfy your hunger with protein! For (inspiration) example: baked lemon garlic fish, seared chipotle chicken breast, steamed sesame tofu over lemon rice with cashews, chickpea chana masala, your favorite high protein dish! In addition, introduce healthy fats, which are essential for stabilizing the body’s energy and healthy blood sugar levels. Try ghee, avocado, olive oil, fish, nuts, eggs, and milk.
There’s no need to deprive your need for sweet.
There’s no harm in indulging. Actually, sweet taste (madhura) is one of Ayurveda’s 6 tastes. It is doted as absolutely essential for every meal. Sweetness helps to balance Vata and Pitta dosha. It is said to provide a gentle nourishment to the mind, strength to the body, and long life.
Sweetness in honey, fruit, raw sugar cane, jaggery, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, maple syrup, wheat, milk, and rice is what we’re talking about here. Sweet does not necessarily mean refined sugar — which is the real killer. Processed sugar (like cane sugar, brown sugar, frutose, corn syrup, etc) hides in nearly all processed foods, whether meant as sweet or savory. It sneaks into milk alternatives, pasta sauces, granola bars, salad dressing, cereals, packaged fruit, even nuts! So the solution is not to avoid sweet things — but to be vigilant about the processed goods we consume, and avoid them altogether when we can. This isn’t as hard as it sounds, nor does it need to be expensive.
Just take a mindful step before the convenience of refined sugar strikes. This will save you money, time, stress, energy, and your health. Plan meals according to your day, so that you eat enough real food before an energy crash. Prepare ingredients so that cooking is easy. If you like batch cooking, try making some meals ahead of time. For instance, bulk-cook a batch of baked chicken or fish in the beginning of the week, which can take less than an hour. Then you have made easy healthy (and cheap) lunches and dinners for yourself as the week goes on. You can do this with a tofu or daal soup if you’re vegetarian. Build your inventory of raw fruits, healthy snacks, and low-sugar deserts like the chocolate covered strawberry recipe below.
Finally, satisfy your cravings with mindful ritual, so that your body knows it can trust you to nourish it with sweetness at a specific time of day. Maybe it’s enjoying chocolate-covered strawberries in the evening after dinner. Or enjoying on honey-infused herbal tea first thing in the morning.
We love you, you got this!
As always, reach out with any feedback, suggestions, or questions!
-Luisa
Translated as The Science of Life, Ayurveda is an ancient Indian method for a peaceful and healthy life that has been used and trusted by many, many people for well over 5,000 years.
You may recognize this from instagram. The author of this recipe, Kimberly Gallagher, is a holistic practitioner who researches the energizing affects of cacao. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 cup cacao butter
½ cup cacao powder
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
20 Strawberries (or so)
Cacao nibs & salt for decoration (optional)
Instructions
1. Place strawberries in the freezer while you complete
the next couple steps.
2. In a double boiler, melt cacao butter slowly.
3. When melted completely, add honey & vanilla, and
whisk until evenly combined.
4. Now add cacao powder and coconut oil to the
double boiler. Remove from heat and stir until melted
and combined.
5. Let cool in the double boiler, off the heat for 5–10
minutes, so the cacao can thicken.
6. Pull strawberries from the freezer and dip them one
at a time into the thick melted chocolate.
7. Place neatly on a flat surface (plate or board) and
return to the freezer.
If you like a thin layer of chocolate on your berries,
then one dip should be fine, and if you like the
chocolate layer to be nice and thick, repeat this
process a couple of times—just freeze your berries for
~10 mins between dipping again so that the previous
chocolate layer is nice and hard before adding the
next.
8. Sprinkle with cacao nibs or salt, or enjoy as they
are.
Enjoy your sweet tooth in bliss!
Adapted from learningherbs.com/remedies-recipes/chocolate-covered-strawberries/
Recipe published by Kimberly Gallagher.
References
Lad, V, (2002), Textbook of Ayurveda, Fundamental Principals, Albuquerque: The Ayurvedic Press.
Voss, G, (2014) Sugar is Killing Us. Here’s Everything You Need to Know. Available at: https://lsa.umich.edu/psych/news-events/all-news/archived-news/2014/06/sugar-is-killing-us–here-s-everything-you-need-to-know-.html (Accessed: 23 May 2024)
5/23/2024
