I just listened to a podcast (that was really insightful) about hormone health. And the woman spoke a lot about sugar.

It’s important to talk about, but can be so confusing.

Should we eat sugar?

How much is too much?

Are natural sugars okay to eat?

The woman on the podcast does not eat any sugar (maybe apart from fruit) and honestly, it made me feel defeated. Like I was doing the wrong thing for eating any sugar at all, even being the health conscious gal that I am.

But hear me out, no sugar may work well for some people or for people who need to avoid it for health reasons, but for most of us, we can’t (or don’t want to) avoid it altogether.

As a Holistic Nutrition Consultant, it is my job to guide mothers and their children to health, so is sugar okay to eat?

Let’s Break Down What Sugar Does To The Body

In simple terms, sugar spikes your blood glucose, causing energy crashes, hormone imbalances and long-term chronic disease (fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cavities) if you eat excess sugar daily.

There is a difference in types of sugar that will cause varying degrees of blood sugar spikes, so this is what is important to know.

If you find that you get energy crashes throughout the day, get frequent headaches, bloating, constant hunger, it might be due to sugar intake.

Let’s look at the kinds of sugars we want to avoid or reduce at all costs.

What Sugar Should I Be Reducing In My Diet?

This goes without saying, but any refined sugars like your castor sugar, equal, brown sugar, any sugar found in ultra-processed food and high sugar fruits like pineapple, grapes, mangoes and cherries.

Some people may want to avoid or detox from these sugars altogether. I find that going without refined sugar gives me more energy than caffeine could any day.

Or, you may want to simply cut back on refined sugar. Read your labels, eat mostly whole foods (with one ingredient) and opt for healthier sugar alternatives.

Do I avoid refined sugar?

Not all the time. I love my dark chocolate, and I usually eat at least 70% for more cocoa content and less sugar.

If you want to reduce your sugar intake, take inventory of the sugar that you are consuming at every meal.

What Sugar Can I Eat Then?

It’s better to eat fruit with low sugar content like passionfruit, papaya, pomegranates, blackberries, blueberries, figs and muscadines (a type of grape).

When it comes to healthier sugar alternatives, my favourites are coconut sugar, raw honey, maple syrup and dates. You can also use agave syrup and stevia (but I don’t usually like the taste of stevia, to be honest).

When baking, I love to use natural foods like honey or bananas to sweeten my muffins or biscuits.

So, no, you don’t have to avoid sugar altogether - just be mindful to add healthy sugar swaps where you can.

Some Things To Consider When Eating Sugar

• Pair your sugar with a fat and/or protein (if I’m eating dark chocolate, I’ll often dip it in some almond butter to help stabilise my blood sugar better. Add some protein powder to your brownies, or some coconut oil to your cookies - find ways to add in foods to help balance your blood sugar better). A little side note: when I cut back on sugar, I notice less adverse symptoms in my cycle.
• Please do not drink soda: this is the first thing I tell the women I work with to ditch. It often contains high amounts of sugar, caffeine and artificial nonsense that is destroying your body.
• Have a cheat day if you need to: you might want to avoid sugar all week and as a treat, set aside one day to indulge in something sugary. This might be the motivation you need. It won’t ruin your diet, but it will probably help you stay consistent if you have an incentive.
• Factor in your season: if you are freshly postpartum and breastfeeding, your body needs sugar for breastmilk production, so be mindful to eat more natural sugars, but don’t be too hard on yourself either (because a girl’s gotta eat sometimes). If you’re a mama with older kids and can meal prep/batch prep some treats, then you probably have more time to be more intentional about how much sugar you are consuming.
• Be curious: stay aware of what sugar is doing to your body after you’ve eaten it. If it makes you feel bad, then swap it for something else. If it helps when you pair it with some protein, keep doing that. You know your body better than anyone else. I’m not going to stop you from eating sugar, but at least be curious about what it is doing to your body.

So yes, I eat chocolate almost every day. I often eat it in between lunch and dinner, but never before and rarely after.

If I’m eating three solid meals with protein, fat and carbohydrates each day, I actually don’t crave sugar as much.

Your body usually craves sugar when it is hungry, so make sure to eat full meals before correcting your sugar intake and go from there.

Lastly, I find that being extreme about anything (unless there’s a health concern/medical reason for it) causes more anxiety and fear than anything, and have you thought about what those emotions are doing to your body?

That’s why I’m all about holistic health with a balanced view of diet. No extremes here.

Just intuitive eating with mostly whole foods the way God designed.

I’m curious to know your thoughts about sugar? Do you eat it? How much each day?

Jess x