GEORGIE - More sugar sickly sweetness

Following on from Zar's blog last night about sugar - just a few observations really...

Firstly you might previously have heard me mention the Paleo Diet - also known as the Caveman Diet... a food programme I am a big fan of. It is, quite simply put, the pre industrial revolution diet. It harps back to when man was a hunter gatherer and took from the land and the sea and simply ate what he could find. Research behind the Paleo phenomenon is similar to the book Zar mentioned - that before we discovered grain and manufactured wheat, flour, sugar, bread and all the other modern day diet staples, sugar was a luxury, found naturally in honey, and in some fruits.

In Miami last year, Eduardo and I stuck to the Paleo diet to the letter. It basically means you eat natural proteins, vegetables, salads, fruits, nuts, seeds and stay off all processed foods and sugars. I did it to get my weight down, he did it because I bullied him into it. We actually really enjoyed it and the food we were eating wasn't a far cry from our normal diet - what we did find is that I was a much more reasonable person for it. Yes, you read correctly. Without hardly any sugar (which also helps keep my candida levels low) I was a much nicer person to be around. I didn't seem to suffer those terrible energy or mood swings because my body wasn't suffering sugar lows and highs. I wasn't prone to energy lapses or bouts of tiredness, I didn't fly and then crash and burn like I do when I eat sugar or a high calorie snack and although I certainly ate more, I found myself sleeping better, working out better and eating as much as I liked (which those of you who know me will know I LOVED!)

I stick as closely as I can to the Paleo principles on a daily basis. If I do ever need sugar, I get some in the form or an apple, or some very dark cocoa chocolate. THe most sugar I ever eat is baked beans which is my one big treat in life. Of course I have the occasional eat out, pig out or pudding - but I know how much better I feel when I keep the sugar levels low.

If you are interested then you could do worse then read up about it. In terms of Paleo then the bible of this food plan 'The Paleo Diet' by Loren Cordain available at Amazon or in all good book shops, and his website offers the best explanation www.thepaleodiet.com I KNOW you can adopt this diet to the full but I also know that I don't stick to it rigidly but it really taught me about getting my own sugar levels to a satisfactory level.

Oh, did I mention that research shows that too much sugar ages you? I did now - that is for my next blog I promise.