WELLTHY Generation Podcast!

52. Sugar: Accepting It For ALL its Sweet & Sinister Complexities

• Naihomy Jerez • Episode 52

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Can sugar be both a friend and a foe? From the delicious delight of your favorite dessert to the silent saboteur hiding in your everyday meals, sugar has a multifaceted presence in our lives. Join me as we explore the complexities of sugar through my personal experiences and those of the clients I've worked with. We'll unravel the sweet and sometimes sinister role sugar plays in our diets, habits, and emotions. By sharing my own journey with sugar—from indulgence to mindful moderation—I hope to empower you with insights and strategies to make healthier choices for yourself and your family.

In this episode, we discuss how understanding your cravings and the hidden sugars in seemingly innocent foods can transform your health journey. Discover how a shift from ultra-processed sweets to more mindful eating can reduce your sugar cravings over time, and how maintaining a food journal can reveal emotional triggers tied to sugar consumption. I share practical tips on portion control, pairing indulgence with physical activity, and navigating the hidden sugar sources in your pantry. Join me as I equip you with the knowledge to align your sugar choices with broader health goals, ultimately breaking the cycle of sugar dependency for a healthier future.

Thank you so much for listening!


Speaker 1:

Hey friends, welcome back to Wealthy Generation Podcast that's W-E-L-L-T-H-Y. Today I want to talk to you about my journey with sugar. It's such an important part of the health and wellness journey and I feel like it holds so many hats, like sugar itself is used in so many different ways, and I just want to make sure that we are very, very clear about that. We don't want it to be one-sided, we want it to really be as multifaceted and diverse as it actually is, because the truth is that, as much as it tastes good, it brings us pleasure and joy. We commune around it. There are brilliant and delicate and beautiful desserts that are created with it. There is also this other side, where it can cause chronic illness and disease, and it is put in ultra processed foods and in foods with a lot of chemicals, or it's used excessively, or it's added into things that you don't realize that it's in. So it's very important to one like identify when it's used, to identify the quality of of what you're eating that contains the sugar three. What is the purpose? Are you enjoying it anyway? Um, what? What is it giving you and what are you using it for? And also, being so honest with ourselves with the short-term pleasures of it or maybe not, and you're not even realizing it, and also how it affects us in other areas of our life that we might not be realizing.

Speaker 1:

I told a client recently like okay, no-transcript, she does not want to run into things like obesity or diabetes. So, although it provides her with all of these wonderful experiences, it is also true that it can lead you on this path if it's not respected and if you do not realize that there is also this other side to sugar and learn how to make decisions around that. To make decisions around that Because what I explained to her is it doesn't matter how much pleasure it brings your brain and your palate. Your body does not give a crap, because your body still, your internal organs, systems, your metabolic system, still has to digest the sugar as it does. It does not process and digest the sugar differently because you found pleasure from it. It does not process and digest sugar differently because it brought you joy or you deserved it, or it's your right or you're entitled to it. Your body does not give a shit what the emotion is when it comes to having to process sugar in your body.

Speaker 1:

It will still do what it has to do, no matter if you're pissed, no matter if you're happy, no matter if whatever's happening, no matter if whatever's happening, now, you get to have a little bit more of a say, depending on how you're moving your body. That's something a little bit different, but even so, unless you're like a full-on athlete, things like that, like when you're an athlete and when you're moving your body more than a normal person and you're engaging your muscles and you're an athlete, and when you're moving your body more than a normal person and you're engaging your muscles and you're doing all these things, then there are actual calculations that need to get done to make sure that you are replenishing the sugar that you are completely burning through in physical activity. But if we're just like regular people doing regular workouts and we're not overextending ourselves physically, then we don't have the same capacity because we're not burning through it the same way. So when I say, like, even so, we need to do things responsibly right, when I say that your body really does not give a shit how you're feeling, it still is going to process the sugar the way it needs to, okay it, it. It does not matter what the emotion is. So I just want to get into a little bit as to how I, what, what my journey with sugar looked like, because I definitely had this journey and it's something that just about every single one of my clients that's one of their biggest challenges.

Speaker 1:

One because I think it's so hidden in foods, like foods, that you might not expect to have added sugars inside and to, and they have created a sweeter profile around and your palate knows that and your brain knows that and then it starts to crave that with your gut bugs like your gut microbiome and all that. That's part of the reason where you don't even realize these things. And then there's habitual things, like I always have a sweet after dinner and this is how our family, you know, spends time together and does nice things together. Um, when I gather for family events, we put together a whole dessert buffet. Um, things like that. Like it's habitual and you just do things out of habit. Um, so that's that's one reason why you might not even realize what might be happening. And then it transitions from there right. Then it can be emotional.

Speaker 1:

It's one way that you use to comfort yourself, because this is also how you were comforted growing up, and I am so guilty at telling my kids oh, if you don't behave well, you won't get dessert or you're not going to have dessert, right, and I try my best, honestly, as, like a desperate parent, sometimes I'm like, oh, I just need something, and I know that kids really enjoy their sweets, but at the same time, I really want to break that habit for myself and in my family most of the time, and it's just like we just don't have sweets all the time. Or, if you want to have something sweet, have a fruit or like a more natural, not like a processed sweet. That's what I'm trying to say. So when I started my health and wellness journey way back in 2017, I had no idea how much I was dependent on sugar and I wanted sugar and I needed to have certain things around. So that was the first part, and while I was working with my nutritionist, what we started to do was to pick better quality of these sweets, because it's not just about the sweet and the sugar. It's often that these ultra processed sweets have a whole host of other added ingredients and chemicals inside that it's not good for our body and, on top of that, they're overly sweetened, where it's just way too much that they're adding into their products. So, something I did with my nutritionist was pick different, and one of my clients calls them like her bougie her bougie snap sweets, which is super cute, because the point is not to have sweets. The point is to understand how you're having them, understand the full range of what they bring the joyous parts and the disease parts and why you're having them. Like the quality, and why do you actually want them? Are you having them because of peer pressure? Are you having them because it's just habit and you don't realize that you might not even be enjoying it the same way anymore? Right, and because I don't want you to believe that the message is don't have it. I want you to think more deeply about why you're having it, the quality of it, how often and how it's serving or not serving your body. This is more of the point of it, because disease just develops more slowly, and to train your body and to understand your body and your palate, you just have to practice it and be mindful of it.

Speaker 1:

It took me a lot, like many years, to go through this process, just because I didn't even realize what was actually happening. When I started to work with my nutritionist, I was actually pre-diabetic. I didn't even know it and just because I was switching around my lifestyle, I was able to reverse it. And I recently heard on Instagram this person was like diabetes is a lifestyle disease. So if you change around your lifestyle, you can very much reverse or prevent it, which I also believe to a certain extent, depending on what's happening.

Speaker 1:

So one of the first things we did was to switch out my sweets. Instead of ultra processed sweets, I was having things that were processed, but not ultra processed, with a lot less chemicals, a lot less sugar content. I had things like cookies and peanut butter, ice cream just a bunch of different things I had in my arsenal of sweets. I had a fridge full of pints of ice cream. I had cookies and chocolate bars at my office desk and I had hidden ones at home because I didn't want my family to take them.

Speaker 1:

And then, after a while, after I started eating more balanced, after I started being satisfied with my meals, after my metabolic health started to improve, then I realized that the sweets would last me longer and longer and longer. I didn't have to depend on them as much as I thought I did. It wasn't even something that really started to cross my mind. I'm just talking about the part where my body is asking for it and I'm deeply craving it, not necessarily the emotional piece here. I think that they both deserve their own respect and lane. So my body wasn't calling for it as much and I was surprised because my cookies would go stale and my ice cream would get frostbite and my chocolate started to get that white film. So I did not need it as much.

Speaker 1:

It was a natural and gradual process, and whenever I had the ultra processed sweets I would instantly notice a sharp difference on my palate, on my tongue, where it wasn't even pleasurable anymore, it was just too much. So it was this whole weaning process and this whole process of adapting to new products, because that also was a process, because it just didn't taste quite the same. But eventually it started to hit the spot the way I wanted it to, and sometimes I did want the regular old ultra processed cookies or ice cream and things like that. I did want the regular old ultra processed cookies or ice cream and things like that. But what I realized was that I did not need as much as I thought. I did Like I was completely satisfied with just a little bit, and if I went past that it was no longer a pleasurable experience, and that would catch me off guard too, because I was used to just having such large portions of these things. So what I worked on with my nutritionist too, was identifying when I was already satisfied, because, again, the point is not to restrict. If you really want whatever it is that you want, go ahead. But I can promise you, within one to two bites you're going to be satisfied. And by that third or fourth bite you're going to be like, oh my gosh, that's too much. Or you think that you really do want it. You're probably.

Speaker 1:

There was this one time where my whole family was having like a mini ice cream bar or something like that, and I was like, oh, I'm going to have one too, and I was on the fence of whether I really wanted it or not. So I went and I grabbed one, and as soon as something I've had before, so I knew that I enjoyed it. As soon as I took a bite into it, I was like, oh, I really actually do not want this right now. It did not taste as good as I was expecting it to do, and instead of just having it, because I opened it and because I already took a bite from it. I gave myself permission just to wrap it up in saran, like it back in the little paper. I put some saran wrap around it and I put it back in the fridge with one bite taken out. Absolutely, I just did not want it. So then there came another day where I was like, oh, I really actually want this. Today I took out that same ice cream bar with one bite missing and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaker 1:

I enjoyed it so oftentimes it's are we even really enjoying what we're having Is one or two bites enough. This is the process that I would take myself through, and there were times where I would just leave things if I ordered it out, because it just was not as good as I thought it was, or I was just really satisfied with one or two bites. And this has turned into, for example, if I'm out with my partner just sharing things because we both realized that we don't need a whole one. And, trust me, sometimes I do Like. Recently we went to Virginia for an event and there was a Jenny's ice cream shop and you best believe, I got my own cone with two scoops of ice cream, because that is what I really wanted. I did not want to share and I wanted the ice cream all to myself.

Speaker 1:

But this goes back to knowing exactly why I'm doing something and what I'm going to do around it to support my health and the pleasures that something like beautiful ice cream brings, and also the consequences. So something that had happened is that we were going on a walk anyway and we ate the ice cream while walking around. We were enjoying ourselves and we were moving our bodies. So that's part of the whole experience, right? Like, what else in your environment can you do to support what you're eating? There were often times where I would save sweets to and I would have it before I would go exercise, because I knew I was going to engage my muscles, I was going to use my muscles, I was going to most likely use up that energy right. So these are all pointers of how I have walked myself through this journey of being okay, not wanting not, I don't even think is not wanting is being clear on where I stand in my decision if I want to have this sugar right now or not. And something I've done is really set myself up for success with having, like my client says, bougie sweets either at home or when I travel or if I'm going out and I think I might want something sweet, taking that with me and it's one. Being prepared with that and really being clear and knowing if I actually want it or not. Just because it's there doesn't mean that I am automatically going to have one every single day or every single night or in the middle of the day. It really just depends.

Speaker 1:

And something that we also need to realize is are we lacking nutrients, right, like, is it because you're not eating sufficiently or, you know, during the day? Is it that? Is it that you're not having enough vitamins and minerals? Is that your body needs energy? And this is a way for it to ask you for it? Is it the easiest thing that you can reach for to comfort yourself? And we're not actually realizing if there's other things? We're not actually realizing if there's other things. And with that said, are you dehydrated? That's another one. With that said, in what else is it that you need?

Speaker 1:

I also realized that I would crave sweet things when I was tired because my body needed fast, quick energy. It needed quick energy, and the body and your gut, everything is so smart to know that this energy will be fast if you have it. So, essentially, when it was late at night and I was very tired and I was just hanging around watching TV or doing something random, I would automatically want something sweet. And I was just hanging around watching TV or doing something random, I would automatically want something sweet, and I would start going through my cabinets and I would start having a snack and I would start doing all these things and then I realized that I was just actually tired and if I just took myself to bed, then I would no longer be craving those sweets as much, because that's actually what I needed. It wasn't necessarily the sweets first of all. Another thing I would do late at night was to have a small cup of tea instead, because it would satisfy that need for me to have something after dinner, because it was just such a habit for me. But after I realized what was happening too, regardless if I had tea or not, I would then crave something sweet or some food, and I realized that I was just tired. I learned that actually through my nutrition course, that women's bodies have a harder time really discerning if they're tired or if they're hungry, and that was definitely my case. I would automatically assume I was hungry and not honor how tired I was. So I would take myself straight to the fridge and cabinets instead of to bed. But then I started to just take myself to bed when I actually realized that I was tired.

Speaker 1:

Another thing another time where I really like would lean on sweets is if I was overstimulated and this is something new that I found, because I didn't have this language of being overstimulated or needing a break, especially like visually, or like noise, or like craving quiet, um, or like trying to make so many decisions, like so much going on, and all of a sudden I would lean on sweets or desserts where I would want to go get something to help calm myself, to help almost take that break. And I knew that if I had something sweet or if I went to go buy something sweet, I would actually sit down to enjoy it, right, like does that make sense? I would sit down to enjoy it and it would give me that sensory break that I was looking for. And that was the path for me to get that. And I didn't realize that if I sat out in the sun for a little while, if I took a fresh air break, if I moved my body a little bit and got my blood flowing and did some stretching or laying or resting or had some water that would it would have a similar effect. So really understanding where, like what, your needs are and being very clear as to why you are craving these things and leaning on sweets. What else are you getting? How else are you feeling? Because grabbing something sweet is so fast and it's so pleasurable and it's so instant.

Speaker 1:

It kind of numbs or disregards everything else that's happening. So when I'm working with my clients, oftentimes something that I have them do, especially in their food journal, is create a connection with how they're feeling when they're eating. What else is happening? Are they stressed? Are they happy? Did they go through something difficult and they feel like they need a reward? Are they feeling like they deserve this just because they did something hard? It's so many things like are they eating in a rush and is disrupting their digestive system? There can be so many reasons why, especially if we're not present with our food, if we're trying to avoid emotions, if we're trying to find just one solution of what is actually happening when we're choosing to have these foods and this is very important because if the buck just stopped there, like at the pleasure center or you're having this or not, then fine, it's okay and we can keep moving.

Speaker 1:

The thing is that it can also lead to chronic illnesses and disease. The thing is that dysregulated insulin, losing your sensitivity to it, your body's functions, the way that it processes things, the health of your arteries, the health of your heart, the health of your detoxification system, the health of your detoxification system, your liver, right Like all of these things are intricately tied together, and dysregulated blood sugar plays a huge impact and role in this, and this is why it's so important to be clear as to why you're having sweets or not, to be clear and understand how much of it you're having, why you're having it. What is the reason? Do you need it all the time? Because it has such a huge impact that does not just end when you eat it and when it hits your tongue and you feel that little zing. That is just the starting point.

Speaker 1:

This sugar has to go through your entire digestive system, accompanied by a bunch of chemicals. It is ultra processed amounts that are way beyond possible for your body to safely digest. That once, and if we're continuously adding to it, adding to it, adding to it or continuously peppering our bodies with it, then it can become and turn into something that you were not looking for in the first place, which is chronic illness, something that you were trying to avoid in the first place. So being very clear and really leaning into all the positives that eating high sugar or ultra processed sugar or all these sweets is bringing you is equally as important as knowing what it can also lead to, the damage that it can do. That is quieter, that is stealth, that is sneakier, and all of a sudden, bam, you're like worried and you're not feeling well and you're in the doctors and you're like, damn, what happened? So we want to be mindful of what is actually happening. We don't want to ignore, we don't want to push down, we don't want to avoid both sides that are true. One side that is delicious and we get pleasure from it, and the other side that it can cause chronic health conditions.

Speaker 1:

You must understand your bigger, why. You must get to know your habits, your process, why you want it. Read those food labels, understand how much sugar is it that you're actually having, make better decisions around it and if you actually need it, want it, desire it at that time, or is it you're just is part of your habit. One last thing I'll mention on this is that sometimes it's not as obvious how much sugar we're having and how much we desire it, because there might be food products that you use that is not obvious.

Speaker 1:

Sugar containing foods Like it's not candy, it's not cake cookie, ice cream, like things I mentioned on this episode, is very obvious that it's sweets, right, like brownies. Oh my gosh, my favorite dessert is brownie on the mode, warm brownie with ice cream on top, brownie with ice cream on top. So these things are very obvious. Like you're ordering dessert, you're buying sweets, right. You're having sugary drinks. These are obvious things, however, even though I believe that, with drinks, sometimes you might not even realize that what you're having is like has sweets inside. That's exactly my point, though, that you might be having foods and it's not as obvious that they have high amounts of sugar inside, because it's bread, it's yogurt, it's pancakes with no syrup, it's a smoothie. It's a smoothie. It's like even certain savory dishes, like Asian foods. A lot of times they contain a lot of sugar inside.

Speaker 1:

You're having a salad, a salad, my friend, a salad, and you're like I'm doing so. Well, here I am with the torture salad, like torturing myself with salads. I am with the torture salad, like torturing myself with salads and you're telling me I'm having a bunch of sugar. Yes, yes, I am. That is exactly what I'm saying, because, depending on the topics you're putting on there, depending on the salad dressing that you're using, you might as well be having candy bars, all right, so it's so, and this is why then you continue the, either the craving for it or the need for it, or you don't realize what's happening, aside from all the emotional things, right, and it becomes this little game of your body asking for more. And then there's like the guilt and the shame and like I can't stop and I want this and all that. But look at me, I'm having salads. So it's so much more than just the obvious. It's so much more than it just you know, like fulfilling a, an emotional need, is so much more than habit.

Speaker 1:

This is something like one particular thing that is so important to be so well-rounded about because of exactly how I mentioned, that it can cause a lot of diseases. Your body does not give a crap that you're having salad if the salad contains 20 grams of sugar between toppings and dressings, all right. So again, I want you to envision what your bigger picture is when it comes to your health journey, and I want you to think about all the pleasures and the good things that come from it and also being realistic as to what it leads to, and then you can work around finding a middle ground. The point is not to completely get rid of it unless you need to, because that might be the case, and something I told one of my clients is that sometimes we need to stop eating certain foods to allow our bodies the opportunity to heal. Okay, so there's been times where I see my prediabetes like trying to come up again, and I take very deliberate steps to try and not have that happen again.

Speaker 1:

I am extra mindful of what I'm eating and what I'm having and when I'm having it, because the body will heal itself if you allow it the opportunity to. But if we're always reintroducing foods that it's not able to handle at the moment at the moment then we almost put ourselves in a position to lose the privilege to have those foods forever, if, if our bodies cannot handle it anymore. So also know that that sometimes we just need to cut back on things to allow our bodies the time to heal, to detox from it, um, and to learn how to crave and to want different things, and for our brain also to get that mental break, like to calm down from the dopamine hits, and actually find a little bit more clarity to see what it is that you actually need. All right, friends, all right. I hope this got you thinking, reading your food labels, trying to figure out what's ultra processed, heavily laced with sugars and other chemicals, and what is not. And, by the way, by the way, if this is something that you really want support around, I am actually launching my group program, palette reset, and this is going to be exactly the purpose of this program to start to identify what foods it is that is ultra processed, what foods it is that secretly has sugar inside that is keeping you hooked and addicted. What is it, why is it that you're having these foods, how to make actual decisions about food with confidence and how to connect what you're eating with how you're feeling in your body. It is something that you can learn, it is something that you can achieve. It is something that, with having a knowledge base and support and guidance, it can totally be manageable, and it doesn't have to be this all or nothing.

Speaker 1:

Type of situation Like oh, starting Monday, no desserts, no, nothing, I am not going to have anything, even if my family's enjoying it, so on and so forth. And then here comes the weekend and it's like letting it rip again it. You don't have to be on this continuous cycle of of like, on being unsure and believing that you're showing up for yourself and it's actually not in the way that you assume, like these salads that are laced in sugar. So I want to invite you to join the palette reset wait list. With the link in the show notes, the people on the wait list are going to have access to book a consultation call with me starting now. Like, you can go ahead and book a consultation call. In addition to that, the people on the waitlist are going to have first dibs at purchasing the program. The doors are going to open for purchase on October 21st, in a few weeks for the waitlist people, and then everyone else that's not on the waitlist is going to have an opportunity after that.

Speaker 1:

But I'm going to be sending out extremely valuable information throughout this time and I want to invite you to come and join me in the waitlist so that you can start your journey of learning about these foods, learning what's going on in your body and knowing that it's possible again with support and guidance. I've been in your shoes before. I've been in a place where I don't feel like I know what to do anymore and I feel lost and kind of sad because I felt like I had to let go of things I really loved in the moment, and I want to reassure you that that is something that you don't necessarily need to do. You can eat what you love and start to feel better and heal your body all at the same time. All right, friend, so I want to invite you to join the wait list with the link or, yeah, with the link in the show notes, and I will see you on the wait list and on Instagram. I'll talk to you next week. Bye, friends.