OK, so you’ve heard it before: “quit sugar” “swap sugar for lower GI sweeteners.” But why? And how do you know if you need to?

Should you quit sugar? So, here’s the deal, sugar impacts many areas of your health from your immune system, weight gain, to gut health, to the health of your skin. But the reason for reducing sugar that I’m interested in. This is, what sugar actually does to your hormones. Yes, sugar is a crazy hormone disruptor, who’d have thought!?

Here’s how …

Sugar, along with refined high-glycemic carbohydrates, spikes your blood sugar levels. This glucose spike activates your insulin receptors, and hopefully, your body produces the required amount of insulin to buffer the high levels of sugar. This mechanism stops any life-threatening effects of excess sugar in your blood supply. If the insulin production is impaired, then it is likely you have insulin resistance, and diabetes if none is produced at all.

This spike in insulin has a few rebound effects for women’s hormones. One is that it stimulates the production of testosterone, which can lead to weight gain, infrequent periods, and a condition known as a polycystic ovarian syndrome. However, over many many years of overproduction of insulin, depletion of this hormone can occur, and many diabetics end up suffering from very low testosterone levels.

Secondly, blood sugar deregulation can lead to very haphazard adrenalin and cortisol production. This can affect your health in many ways, but also encourages a lower production of progesterone. This is one reason I see so many women with high cortisol and low progesterone levels.

So, how can you tell if sugar is affecting your health and well-being? And if you need to quit sugar?

Waking suddenly at 2 am – 3 am

If you have a sugar issue, then you might find you suddenly wake at 2 am and can’t get back to sleep. This is your body getting very low in blood glucose, so low in fact that your pituitary signals your endocrine glands to produce adrenalin and cortisol. These are the awake fight or flight hormones.

Never satisfied after a meal

Do you know the feeling? You’ve eaten lunch, it was a nice chicken salad, it looks satisfying and is super tasty. But afterwards, you just don’t quite feel like it has hit the spot! You don’t feel hungry but you feel incomplete, normally this is where you might reach for the chocolate bar or ice cream.

Reoccurring thrush or fungal infections

It can be normal for women to experience a minor flare-up of thrush around ovulation. You may get a little bit of discharge but then it goes away. This increase in discharge can occur due to higher than normal levels of estrogen. The time to worry is if you get severe bouts of thrush or chronic long-term thrush. As well as this being a sign that your microbiome is out of balance, it can also be one of the first indicators that your balance blood sugar is off. The excess glucose in your diet acts as food for the fungal infection, allowing it to survive and thrive, causing you a lot of discomforts.

As well as thrush being a sign that your microbiome is out of balance, it can also be one of the first indicators that your balance blood sugar is off. The excess glucose in your diet acts as food for the fungal infection, allowing it to survive and thrive in your nether regions, as well as other nooks and crannies in your body.

You look at a carb and instantly gain tummy weight

Blood sugar imbalances, and in particular insulin resistance, can give you a pretty interesting fat distribution and body shape.  The fat can begin to distribute in the upper tummy just below the breastbone. Fat causes what is typically referred to as the apple body shape, most frequently with skinny arms and legs. As the condition gets worse so does this physical appearance.

Slump hours

These are times during the day when fatigue, fogginess, and confusion strikes. It can be small signs. Such as wanting to fall asleep at your desk at 2 pm, to more serious issues, such as making frequent small mistakes driving home after work. It’s so important to ensure you remedy this before it gets to this point.

You just can’t help yourself. 

Cathy needs to quit sugar!

It’s a cliché, but sugar is addictive! And what happens with addictive substances? You need stronger, more frequent doses. I’ll paint the picture –

‘Cathy gives up sugar for 6 weeks. Cathy feels great, she has clear skin and a clear mind. After 6 weeks, Cathy decides to up her fruit intake, and she adds in a small date ball each afternoon, this serves her well, but soon this becomes a habit. After a while this doesn’t satisfy her, so Cathy adds in some dark chocolate. At a work function, chocolate cake is being served, Cathy hasn’t had anything like this for 2 months, her sweet tastes are slowly coming back, and Cathy thinks to herself “well one piece won’t hurt” Cathy has 2 pieces that day, then she thinks “what the hell, I may as well eat ice-cream” and there we have it, folks. The slow reversal of her beautiful cleanse. Now Cathy has the taste for refined sugar again, and her body is asking for it so that she gets that dopamine hit’

Sound familiar? I think we have all been Cathy once.

Are you’re reliant on sugar, what now?

So you may be thinking that this sounds like you, maybe you tick all the boxes. So here are a few things you can do.

Eat balanced meals

Ensure you include protein, fat, and a few carbs at each meal; this will help to keep your blood sugar regulated and steady. If you join my 5-Day Sugar-Free Challenge, you’ll get all the help you need to balance your meals and more.

Opt for lighter exercise in the morning

For those who are sensitive to cortisol and other hormone shifts, yoga, walking, or light gym work might be better for you in the morning. If you want to add some more intensity into your workouts, then after 4 pm is a good time to aim for.

Get moving after your food

Ben Greenfield talks about doing some intense exercise after eating because this helps to curb any blood sugar spikes. You only need to do a short burst, such as ten-star jumps or running in place.  I like to recommend doing a 7-minute workout, try out this APP, for a quick intense burst exercise.

Magnesium all the way

Magnesium deficiency can actually manifest as insulin resistance and blood sugar problems, so I am always keen to get my clients to up their magnesium levels. First do it with natural foods, because your body is more likely to recognise and absorb the magnesium In foods.

High Magnesium Options Include:

• Pumpkin seeds
• Brazil nuts
• Sunflower seeds
• Wild-caught ocean mackerel
• Wild salmon (Alaskan is best, nice and pink)
• Spinach
• Bok choy
• Organic basmati rice
• Great quality raw cocoa
• Barley grass