Sugar: Junk That Won’t Leave Women Alone by Joan Kent, PhD
Sugar: Junk That Won’t Leave Women Alone
By Joan Kent, PhD
Women seem to like sugar – and feel pulled toward it for a variety of reasons.
I specialize in sugar addiction, so I look at sugar and its consequences somewhat differently than other people do. At a recent seminar (not mine), one participant said, “Sugar is bad in large quantities.” I’d never argue with that.
Yet sugar can be bad in small quantities because it’s sneaky. More on those sneaky effects later.
Sugar Is Why Women Don’t Need Chocolate
Several years ago, a popular book advocated that women eat chocolate to handle hormonal changes during premenstrual syndrome (PMS), menopause, and stress.
Trust the body and give in to your cravings, the author told us! Indulging is better than depriving yourself. Fat and carbs like bread and chocolate are the body’s natural feel-goods. (Yes, she really said that.)
Where are the anti-gluten, anti-processed food champions when we need them?
The good thing about the book is the extensive bibliography. I read and cited several of the references in my dissertation. Still, the author’s conclusions are flawed.
She says cravings reflect the body’s needs. That common theory is just not the case with processed, addictive foods.
So I hope you haven’t been eating chocolate – even for PMS.
Why talk about this not-so-new book? Because cocoa is news. No doubt you’ve read or heard about the benefits of cocoa – dark, unsweetened, 70% cacao. The information is everywhere: antioxidant benefits due to the specific flavonoids in cocoa, called polyphenols.
The benefits include decreases in blood pressure, insulin resistance, excess clotting, and risk factors for diabetes, cancer, stroke, and coronary heart disease.
Cocoa also promotes increased HDL (good) cholesterol, improved vascular health, and good gut bacteria. Cocoa can prevent oxidation of LDL, which contributes to artery disease when unchecked. It may even be effective in treating diarrhea.
Due to its natural theobromine (similar to caffeine), cocoa can decrease fatigue and improve mood. Another mood-elevating chemical in it is phenylethylamine, likened to the feeling of being in love.
But I won’t recommend chocolate.
The drawbacks of sugar are too great. In fact, sugar can singlehandedly reverse most of the above benefits of cocoa.
How Does Premenstrual Syndrome Affect Some Women?
Take the recommendation of chocolate for PMS. If you suffer with PMS symptoms, there could be a number of reasons for it. Diet is a big one.
Premenstrual syndrome includes a long list of symptoms and signs: anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings, nervousness, angry outbursts, fatigue, fluid retention, bloating, weight gain, backache, cramps, headaches, joint pain, breast pain, insomnia, acne, and cravings.
Factors that contribute to PMS include shifts in hormones or neurochemicals, diet deficiencies, stress, or lack of exercise.
Two important brain chemicals associated with PMS are serotonin and beta-endorphin. Both chemicals drop premenstrually – and both are strongly influenced by diet and exercise.
Serotonin promotes relaxation, calm and satiety, the feeling that we’ve had enough food. It can reduce depression, stress, anxiety, and pain. During PMS, lower levels of serotonin can reverse all of these – and cause cravings, especially for carbs.
Beta-endorphin reduces pain and emotional distress. It promotes wellbeing, euphoria, and brain reward. When beta-endorphin drops premenstrually, we feel more pain, have “low” moods, and get cravings, especially for sugars and fats.
Sugar Is Why Some Women Have PMS
Sugar increases the intensity of PMS symptoms. It also increases magnesium excretion. That leads to irritability, anxiety, depression, and/or insomnia.
Sugar triggers high insulin secretion. Insulin affects hormones called prostaglandins – and increases the ones that cause pain and inflammation.
Sugar increases appetite, preferences for junk food, cravings, and hypoglycemia in susceptible people.
Alcohol does all of these things, too, and can decrease serotonin besides.
Instead of eating chocolate, the best plan is to get off sugar (and alcohol).
If you crave carbs, eat complex carbs: sweet potato, quinoa, turnips, lentils, pumpkin and other squash, and vegetables.
If you crave fats, eat healthful fats: avocado, coconut oil, olive oil, nuts, unprocessed nut butters (without sugar), seeds, or walnut oil. They’ll also help control cravings for sugar and other carbs.
Sugar Won’t Help Women With Menopause, Either
We’ve now discussed sugar and PMS, but what about menopause? Can chocolate alleviate those symptoms?
The brain chemical changes of menopause resemble those of PMS: reduced serotonin and beta-endorphin. From that perspective, menopause is a sort of permanent PMS. (No comment.)
A common sign unique to menopause might be hot flashes. Recommendations for eliminating them include limiting animal products, caffeine, white flour, alcohol, and fried foods.
The most significant change you can make, however, is to eliminate sugar. Anecdotally, I can tell you that my clients who eliminated sugar – including fruit – experienced no recurring hot flashes. One client had hot flashes only 3 times – always after she’d eaten fruit. They stopped when she did.
Many suggestions exist for alleviating menopause discomfort, but no one suggests eating sugar(!). Usually the recommendations are to avoid it. So I wonder again about the benefits of chocolate.
See the suggestions above for better carb choices and better fats. They work for menopause, too.
Chances are, any beneficial properties of chocolate can be found in unsweetened cacao. That way, the detrimental effects of sugar can be avoided.
What About 70% Dark Chocolate For Women?
There’s not much sugar in 70% chocolate, you may say.
Enter the sneaky effects of sugar. One is to increase appetite. Another is to change food preferences. Both of these are due to endorphins (beta-endorphin).
Even small amounts of sugar can cause cravings for more sugar. That’s due to dopamine. Brain chemicals are often overlooked when people talk about food.
So you may eat an “innocent” amount of chocolate and find yourself wanting (and eating) more food in general AND more junk.
That’s how sugar consumption can go way up when we eat chocolate for its “health” benefits. Health becomes the excuse for eating more chocolate.
Again, I won’t recommend chocolate, no matter who does.
But I do recommend cocoa. Dark, unsweetened, 70% cacao provides the benefits of chocolate without the drawbacks of sugar.
These non-dessert recipes can help you incorporate unsweetened cocoa into your diet. They can be found on www.epicurious.com :
• Ancho and cocoa carne asada
• Spice-coated rack of lamb for 2 with arugula, avocado and blood orange salad
• Chicken wings with easy mole sauce.
Other recipes are out there, as well. Please avoid the many, many dessert recipes you’ll find!
Sugar Is Pushed In Other Forms, Too
Some food bars are advertised as being for women. What do women’s bars contain that men’s bars (do they even have those?) don’t?
Well, some women’s bars contain nutrients said to be of benefit to women: calcium, vitamin D, iron, and folic acid. Are bars the best way to get them?
Calcium is important, but controversy centers on the source. Calcium from dairy foods won’t work for those with lactose intolerance or casein sensitivities – or for vegans.
Dolomite is a calcium source that can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, or stomach irritation. And it may be contaminated with heavy metals.
In any case, consider all sources of dietary calcium before adding more with a bar.
Iron, involved in oxygen delivery, is important for athletes and menstruating women. Antioxidants are beneficial, but iron is actually an oxidant. It may form free radicals that damage the body.
Excess stored iron increases the risks of atherosclerosis, heart disease, cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease. It can destroy insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and cause diabetes. It can contribute to Alzheimer’s.
Consider all sources of iron before adding bars.
Vitamin D has recently been emphasized for women’s health issues. Doctors vary in their recommendations, so consider all sources of vitamin D in your diet, including bars.
Folic acid is in women’s bars because folate is important before and during pregnancy. They’re not the same. Folic acid is synthetic folate. It’s so highly absorbable that excess intake can happen easily and mask B12 deficiency.
Natural folate is found in spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, mustard greens, parsley, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, lentils, and calf and chicken liver. Women’s bars contain folic acid.
So It All Comes Back To Sugar
All of this said, the main thing that makes a bar a Women’s Bar is the high amount of sugar. Have you tasted any? They’re appallingly sweet – apparently because women like sugary foods. It might be good to stay away for that reason alone.
If anyone asked me to suggest a recipe for a women’s bar, it would have lots of protein.
Women’s brains have a higher turnover rate of serotonin than men’s, so they need to keep making more. Serotonin is made from tryptophan, an amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.
Eating more protein is important for women’s brains – even for women who prefer carbs. Maybe especially for them.
So more protein and less sugar would make for a better Women’s Bar.
(There’s only one thing – the source of the protein. In most bars it’s soy, which brings in problems of gigantic proportions. But we’ll have to look at those in another post.)
In the meantime, please don’t eat chocolate to benefit your health.
By the time you deal with the effects of the sugar in chocolate – your increased appetite, your cravings for more sugar, your desire for junkier foods, worsened symptoms of PMS or menopause – the drawbacks of the sugar in chocolate will clearly outweigh the benefits of the cocoa.
Get the cocoa, skip the chocolate, avoid the sugar.
—-
Simone de Beauvoir wrote, “Confidence in the body is confidence in the self.” I’m dedicated to helping you conquer sugar addiction so you can eliminate cravings, transform your health, and stay healthy, even, and in control. Please visit Coaching on this site and sign up for a Food Breakthrough Session.