CART
MENUMENU
  • Shop Now
        • Air Purification
        • Bath & Body
          • Body Lotions & Oils
          • Deodorant
          • Hair
          • Hand & Body Soaps/Washes
          • Home Spa Products
          • Intimacy Salves
          • Kids' Bath & Body
          • Period Supplies
          • Shaving
          • Sunblock & Bug Repellent
        • Cleaning & Laundry
          • Air Filters, Fresheners & Purifiers
          • All-Purpose Cleaners
          • Bathroom & Tile Cleaners
          • Floor Cleaners
          • Dish & Dishwasher Soaps
          • Glass & Wood Cleaners
          • Hand Soap
          • Laundry & Dryer Products
          • Sponges & Cloths
        • Clearance
        • Clothing & Accessories
          • Baby Carriers
          • Backpacks & Lunchboxes
          • Organic Baby Clothes
          • Play Mats & Baby Seats
          • Towels, Cloths, Swaddles
        • Dental Care
          • Dental Floss
          • Teethers & Pacifiers
          • Toothbrushes
          • Toothpastes
        • Diapering
          • Cloth Diapering
          • Diaper Creams & Powders
          • Disposable Diapers
          • Wipes
        • E-Books & Guides
        • Face Care
          • Anti-Aging Skincare
          • Cleansers & Exfoliants
          • Creams, Oils, Lotions & Serums
          • For Acne-Prone Skin
          • For Sensitive Skin
          • Lip Balms
          • Makeup
          • Toners & Mists
        • Feeding Baby: Bottle or Breast
        • Furniture, Bedding & Decor
          • Area Rugs
          • Bed Frames
          • Bedding & Toppers
          • Carpeting
          • For Babies
          • Mattresses & Futons
          • Pillows
          • Wall Art
        • Gifts
          • Baby Registry
          • Gifts for Her
          • Gifts for Him
        • Health & Wellness
          • Colds, flus, allergies
          • Cuts, bruises, rashes
          • Hand Sanitizers
          • Vitamins & Supplements
        • Kitchen & Eating
          • Coffee & Tea Supplies
          • Cookware & Gadgets
          • Dishes & Utensils
          • Food Storage
          • Lunch Boxes & Food Containers
          • Organic Napkins & Cloths
          • Super Foods We Love
          • Water Bottles & Sippy Cups
        • Pets
        • Pregnancy, Postpartum & Breastfeeding Products
        • Radiation Protection for Phones, Laptops & Tablets
        • Toys, Games, & Art
          • Art
          • Bath Toys
          • Infant and Toddler Toys
          • Puzzles and Games
          • Stuffed Animals and Dolls
        • Water Filters
  • Product Guides
        • Air Filters
        • Air Fresheners
        • All-Purpose Cleaner
        • Baby Clothing
        • Baby Food
        • Baby Lotion
        • Baby Shampoo
        • Baby Soap & Bubble Bath
        • Bar Soaps
        • Bread
        • Car Seat
        • CBD Oil
        • Cereal
        • Cookies
        • Cookware
        • Cow Milk
        • Deodorant
        • Diaper Rash Cream
        • Diaper Wipes
        • Dish Soap
        • Disposable Diapers
        • Face Cream
        • Fruit Popsicles
        • Hand & Body Lotion
        • Hand Sanitizer
        • Infant Formula
        • Laundry Detergent
        • Lipstick
        • Mascara
        • Mattresses
        • Mayo
        • Nipple Creams
        • Nutrition Bars
        • Olive Oil
        • Organic Prenatal Vitamins
        • Puffs
        • Shampoo
        • Sippy Cups
        • Sofa
        • Sunscreen
        • Teethers
        • Toothpaste
        • Toys
        • Yogurt
        • Water Filters
  • Blog
        • Breastfeeding & Weaning
        • Clean Travel
        • Formula Feeding Without Stress
        • Grandparenting
        • Healthy Holidays
        • Healthy Pets
        • Home Improvement & Yard Work
        • Illness & Natural Remedies
        • Mompreneurship & Career
        • Newborn & Infant Concerns
        • Non-Toxic Mattresses, Furniture & Decor
        • Non-Toxic Cleaning Products
        • Non-Toxic Kitchen Gear & Food Storage
        • Non-Toxic Toys, Clothes & Gear
        • Outdoor Products & Tips
        • Pregnancy, Childbirth, & Postpartum
        • Product Giveaways
        • Products We Love
        • Recipes & Healthy Eating
        • Safer Baby Supplies
        • Safe Product Guides
        • School, Arts & Crafts
        • Skincare & Haircare: Good, Bad, and Sneaky
        • Sleep for Babies & Toddlers
        • Start Here: Detox Your Home
        • Vaccines
        • Vitamins & Supplements
        • Water & Air Filtration
        • Weight Loss & Fitness
        • WiFi & Radiation Concerns
  • Consulting
    • Healthy Home Consults
    • Health Coaching for Healthy Eating
    • Quick Detox for Home & Body
  • About Us
    • About Gimme the Good Stuff
    • The Staff
    • Store Policies
    • Disclosures
    • Contact
    • Subscribe to Maia's Emails
  • Videos
  • Cart
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS $50 AND UP
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Gimme the Good Stuff

Home > Posts > How to Get Off of the Sugar Seesaw
Sprouted-cake

How to Get Off of the Sugar Seesaw

October 12, 2013 | BY Maia James
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure page.

I know two things for sure about sugar. One is that it is toxic (I’m not being hyperbolic–that’s really the word health experts are using these days), and two is that I love it and need it after every meal (until recently, anyway). My parents, both of whom are certified Holistic Health Coaches, just returned from Montpelier, Vermont, where they conducted what they call a “Sugar Blues” workshop. The workshop was, as always, a great success, and some of the stuff they said about sugar was entirely new to me, and has been more helpful than anything else I’ve ever learned about how to break a sugar addiction. I want to share it with my readers, so here goes.

Sprouted-cake

My mom doesn’t eat sugar and look at the results–here she is at 60!

Sugar Is a Ubiquitous Toxin
I’ll get through this quickly because I feel like we all know that sugar is bad and how it’s in everything. Frankly, it’s kind of a downer to hear about just how bad it is, so here is just a quick reminder of some of the diseases to which refined sugar contributes: Weight gain, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, headaches, cancer, depression, and a generally suppressed immune system.

As for their ubiquity, refined sugars are found in an amazing number of products. Did you know that there is sugar in pasta sauce? Bagels? Salsa? Beer? Most foods marketed for babies and toddlers? Bottom line: Sugar is in everything and it’s really, really bad for you. Moving on.

Sugar Isn’t the Problem
According to the Sugar Blues talk, sugar isn’t really the problem, but rather a short-term solution to a legitimate need. Humans have evolved to desire the taste of sweet because natural sugars provide us with energy. We did not evolve, however, in an environment as abundant with such a wide variety of refined sugars as the world we now live in.

Grains, beans, vegetables and fruit all contain sugars and when we eat these the sugar enters our bloodstream slowly. Refined sugars do not work in the same way, and that’s why they are so problematic. So how do I stop myself from drooling over the chocolate croissants every time I enter Le Pain Quotidien?

How to Preempt Sugar Cravings
I am so sick of the “grab an apple when you want chocolate!” advice about sugar cravings. This obviously doesn’t work—when I want a brownie, a freaking handful of raisins just simply is not going to cut it. Although my mom definitely advocates adding in more fruits and sweet veggies (e.g., yams) to your diet, her reasoning is different, and makes a lot more sense to me. I’m totally oversimplifying, but here is the basic idea: In Chinese health theory, all foods fall on a spectrum from Yin to Yang, with sugar being on the most extreme Yin end, and animal foods (meat, eggs) and salty foods on the extreme Yang end of the spectrum. As our bodies try to maintain equilibrium, if we eat too many foods on the far end of this seesaw, we then crave foods from the other end. So, when you are having a sugar craving, your Yin-Yang seesaw is all out of whack, and you actually probably need to just go ahead and eat sugar to really feel balanced (if you do this, make the brownie with maple syrup or honey instead of white sugar). If, however, you consistently eat foods that are naturally closer to the middle (like grains and vegetables and beans), you won’t have cravings of items from the extremes. The idea is that adding, say, sweeter veggies (carrots, roasted onions) to your meal will help stave off a sugar craving to afterwards. Similarly, if you limit the super sweet foods (Yin stuff), you won’t crave as much Yang food (e.g., red meat), which would then send that side of the seesaw plummeting and make you want more sweets to come back into balance. Of course, determining which foods fall right in the middle of the Yin-Yang seesaw isn’t totally intuitive, and that’s why you need a health coach! (Shameless plug!). One hint: a meal of kale and quinoa would land you smack dab in the middle of the seesaw. Shocker.

There are other ways to approach a sugar addiction that were covered in the Sugar Blues talk. Sometimes we eat because we are bored or anxious or lonely. Have you ever found yourself staring into your refrigerator only to realize that you are not even hungry? The talk stressed the importance of other kinds of nourishment besides foods. My mom often creates a “Nourishment Menu,” which includes no actual food items, and encourages her clients to nourish themselves with items from this list (a hot bath, a hug from a spouse, etc.) every day. It sounds super cheesy, granted, but as a client of hers, I can attest that it actually works…sometimes. More effective for me, personally, is learning about Yin and Yang foods and balancing the seesaw before I feel that I must consume a Starbucks’ apple fritter the size of my head.

Stay sane,

Maia_signature

 

 

 


If you liked this post, sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we publish new content like this!

 

Filed Under: Posts, Recipes & Healthy Eating, Illness & Natural Remedies, Weight Loss & Fitness Tagged With: sugar

Reader Interactions


Share this:

Share the post "How to Get Off of the Sugar Seesaw"

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • E-mail
  • Reddit

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

 
CLEARANCE

Shopping Cart

Shop By Category

  •   Air Filters  |
  •   Body & Hair  |
  •   Cleaning  |
  •   Clothing  |
  •   Diapering  |
  •   E-Books  |
  •   Face  |
  •   Feeding Baby  |
  •   Furnishings & Bedding  |
  •   Health  |
  •   Kitchen  |
  •   Pets  |
  •   Pregnancy & Breastfeeding  |
  •   Radiation Protection  |
  •   Teeth  |
  •   Toys  |
  •   Water Filters

Featured Product Guide:

Our Safe Product Guides help conscious parents find safe, non-toxic, natural and organic products for their families and homes. Check out all of our guides find out what's good, what's bad, and what's sneaky.

Featured image

Safe Non-Toxic Cookware Guide

As much as we should avoid toxins in what we breathe and touch, we REALLY should avoid eating them! For this reason, many of you have asked about safe, non-toxic cookware. We’ve done the research for you, and I will cover all the details in this post.

Learn More >>

Browse Shopping Guides

Browse Blog by Category

Browse Blog by Tag

about us Activities for Kids Air Filters air fresheners Air Purification Air quality allergies animals anti-aging anti-inflammatories antibiotics aromatherapy asthma attachment parenting autism Ayurveda baby bottles baby food baby food guide Baby Formula bad stuff bath products bathroom renovation beach Beautycounter bedroom birthdays black friday Blue Light BPA Bread breakfast breastfeeding bug spray candy carpet CBD central america cereal Christmas cleaning cleanse coffee coffee & tea colds & flu cookies Cookware cradle cap dads dairy dental care deodorant dessert diapering diet dinners Dirty Dozen dish dish soap dogs drinks Easter Eczema energy Environmentalism environmental toxins europe European formula face care family time flame retardants flooring food storage formula formula feeding fruit futon gifts gimmethegoodstuff giveaway giveaways gluten-free Goat Milk Formula good deals greens Greenwashing guest posts gut health hair hand sanitizer healthy cereal Healthy Food at Disney Healthy Thanksgiving holiday sales home detox Honest Company Humidifier Immune boosters immunity insomnia interior design junk food just for fun kale kitchen products kitchen renovations laundry lip balm lotion Lumion lunch boxes lunches makeup mattress mattresses meal delivery services meat medications natural birth natural mattresses nature Non-Toxic Area Rugs Non-Toxic Carpets non-toxic coffee non-toxic mattress non-toxic mattresses NonToxic Bath Products nursing nuts nyc oils Olive Oil our team packaged food packed lunches paint Paleo Pesticides phthalates pillows plastics play pollution Poofy Organics pregnancy prenatal nutrition probiotics Project one-eleven Radiation Raw Foods recycling Resolutions Safe Toy Guide Sakara school-aged kids school lunch screens screen time separation anxiety sippy cups skincare smartphones smoothies snacks sneaky stuff soap social-emotional development sofas sofas/couches soup Spring sprouted flour sprouted grains sprouted wheat Staff stress sugar summer sunscreen teething Thanksgiving Ticks tile toddlers toothpaste Toxins toxins in coffee Travel triclosan vegan veggies wallpaper water water bottles water filters wine winter wooden furniture yams yoga

INSTAGRAM

@gimmethegoodstuf

gimmethegoodstuf

View

Jan 20

Open
Incredible. I found myself clapping and crying tears of hope alone in my house just now as I listened to @amandascgorman
“For there is always light / if only we’re brave enough to see if / if only we’re brave enough to be it.” ✨

Incredible. I found myself clapping and crying tears of hope alone in my house just now as I listened to @amandascgorman
“For there is always light / if only we’re brave enough to see if / if only we’re brave enough to be it.” ✨
...

Load More >> Follow on Instagram >>

Footer

About Our Founder

Maia James, the founder of Gimme the Good Stuff, has a lifetime of experience in the world of natural living, and has turned this passion into a career, now helping clients easily enjoy greener, cleaner lives, peace of mind, and better health.

Read more about Maia

Gimme the Good Stuff helps busy, conscientious parents easily avoid toxic products in their homes through our in-home consulting service, personalized shopping guides, and online store.We simplify the process of navigating the confusing world of “natural” products, and our readers, customers, and clients enjoy peace of mind and confidence that their home is a safe, healthy place for their families.
As Seen In...

Site Directory:

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Glossary
  • Product Guides
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Connect with Gimme the Good Stuff:

approved-good-stuff

Good Stuff Approved:

copyright © 2021 Gimme the Good Stuff. All rights reserved. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2021 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in