Cavewomen Don't Get Fat (9 page)

When I ask my clients if they overindulge in sugar, most of them swear that they don't. But when I ask them to grab pen and paper and do a quick sugar gram inventory based on what's in their pantries and fridges, they go into shock. That's because sugar likes to hide out in unlikely places, such as a container of “fat-free” yogurt, a protein bar, “low-fat” granola, and low-cal energy drinks. I would go so far as to say that whenever you see the words
low calorie, fat-free
, or
healthy
on a package, it's a tip-off that it's loaded with sugar.

Your job is to become a sugar detective and call it out whenever and wherever you find it. And banish it from your kitchen. You
need to know what a gram of sugar is and approach each gram of sugar as though it were a gram of a highly toxic substance.

Here's the big takeaway: 1 teaspoon of sugar is equal to 4 grams of sugar. Memorize that. Drill it into your brain. Never forget it. If you're going to eat foods that contain sugars, you need to limit your intake to 4 grams (or 1 teaspoon) per serving. You heard right: 4 grams. Of sugar. Per serving.

Most fruit juices and sodas have anywhere from 10 to 12 teaspoons (40 to 48 grams) of sugar per 8 ounces. This means that drinking just one “serving” means you're getting 10 servings worth of sugar. Minimum. Given that the American Heart Association has set a daily intake limit for sugar at 30 grams per day (too generous), that means you've overshot your daily allotment in just a few gulps. Those 30 grams of sugar—a whopping 7.5 teaspoons—is roughly 120 calories of sugar. At this maximum baseline, eating this much sugar means that you're ingesting roughly 850 calories a week in sugar alone. For my Paleo Chic clients, striving to stay at or below this level reflects either (at the beginning of the plan) a massive reduction in their sugar intake or that they're pretty much right on target.

Cavewomen are encouraged to substitute healthy proteins or fat choices in place of sweets. If you do, you will watch your sweet tooth disappear as you watch the pounds melt away. You can take that to the bank.

There are things you can do—right now—to help wean yourself off sugar.

• Eat a protein-dense breakfast that features some healthful fats. This will superload your metabolism with slow-burning
fuels and will keep your blood sugar levels steady. I'm a big believer in eating dinner for breakfast. (I bet that any self-respecting cavewoman started her day with some meat or fish and a salad.) Enjoy an egg, a lamb chop, or some shrimp in the morning, and toss in a handful of nuts while you're at it. Don't be surprised if you no longer experience a midafternoon crash.

• Whenever you crave something sweet, opt for a blood-sugar-stabilizing protein and/or fat instead. Skip the low-fat yogurt and have some turkey slices rolled up with avocado, or some apple slices smeared with almond butter. When you choose a healthy alternative, your cravings for sugar will retreat. One of my favorite sugar busters is a steaming cuppa hot cocoa: add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to 8 ounces boiling water and top with a dash of cinnamon.

• Check in with your level of thirst. Often, we think we're hungry when we're actually thirsty, and this is when we tend to snack on things that aren't good for us. Instead, immediately have a tall, cool glass of water with a squeeze of lemon. Then wait a few minutes. If you're still not satisfied, enjoy a cup of naturally flavored tea. (I like cinnamon or licorice root.) Or chill out with an iced hot chocolate: dissolve 1 tablespoon organic cocoa powder in 8 ounces hot water. Pour over a tall glass of ice and enjoy some liquid love.

• Lastly, there's always the power of chocolate. Eating chocolate with a higher cocoa content is a natural mood booster. If we increase those feel-good neurotransmitters, we not only give our brain biochemistry a shot in the arm but also stop our cravings in their tracks. So if you need to throw a bone at your dopamine receptors, have a square of organic dark chocolate that's at least 70 percent cacao.

Many of my clients operate under the assumption that nature-made sugars such as honey and maple syrup are somehow “better” for them than refined sugars. These sugars are metabolized by the body in the exact same way as their manufactured counterparts, so they're not part of the Paleo Chic plan. That said, eating honey, especially if raw and unpasteurized, and maple syrup in minimal amounts is preferable, because they offer other (albeit tiny) nutritional benefits.

We all have to make responsible choices when living life Paleo Chic, since all of these sweeteners act the same way in the body as sugar, so here are some options.

If there's a sweetener that's Paleo friendly, it's honey. Raw honey is a completely unprocessed food; no other sweetener can hold that claim. Even maple syrup and molasses require some processing before they're ready to eat. Biochemically speaking, honey is made up of 40 percent glucose, 36 percent fructose, and 24 percent other sugars. This can vary, depending on what the bees have been eating, but you get the general idea.

Maple syrup is relatively low in fructose and contains the trace minerals manganese, potassium, iron, and calcium. Molasses is basically table sugar, but with a splash of nutrition; it contains iron, calcium, and magnesium. Coconut palm sugar is relatively new to the scene, but it is rich in magnesium, nitrogen, and vitamin C. Agave is the prom queen of natural sweeteners, and I hailed its merits in my earlier books. But don't be fooled: agave also contains 90 percent fructose and the toxic compound saponins. So steer clear of agave—it's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Trace minerals notwithstanding, think of these natural sweeteners in the context of a good-better-best scenario. Yes, they're more nutritious than sugar, but you still need to consume them judiciously. Every cavewoman knows that sweeteners are not accessible in
nature in the same quantities as the aisles of the grocery store. Honey is well protected by bees and hard to access in nature. And cavewomen certainly did not troll maple trees with spigots in hand to tap the syrup. So bear this in mind when having a Paleo-style treat or cheat meal; once a week should do the trick!

Do you think any self-respecting cavewoman whipped out a small pink or blue packet when she wanted a sweet treat and dumped it on her food? Synthetic sweeteners are nothing more than glammed-up garbage and contain some pretty scandalous chemicals. Although they are marketed as being natural, they're anything but. In fact, there's a lot of controversy surrounding the potential hazards of artificial sweeteners—enough to raise an eyebrow or two. Aspartame, acesulfame potassium (also known as acesulfame K), neotame, saccharin, and sucralose are all linked to significant health concerns, despite being approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Words such as
neurotoxicity
,
formaldehyde
, and
chlorinated
are all part of the synthetic sweetener vocabulary. I don't know about you, but I'm outta here!

One more thing I should mention: contrary to the word
diet
, these fake foods will not help you lose weight. There's enough research out there showing that diet soda drinkers wind up with larger waist circumferences and higher fasting glucose levels to disprove the belief that you won't get fat drinking diet sodas. Although you may know you're chugging an aspartame-sweetened soda, your body may not. The sweet flavor tickling your taste buds will trick your brain into thinking that you've treated your body to something sweet and delicious, and your pancreas will pour out insulin in response. Kiss
buh-bye
any fat burning that your body is doing. Is the risk worth it? No way, José!

If you really want to be the lean, mean, fun-loving machine you deserve to be, there's just no way around it: you have to take sugar—in all of its refined glory—out of your life, along with synthetic
sweeteners. When you do so, your head and skin will miraculously clear up, you'll slim down, and you'll build lean muscle mass. You will feel balanced and clean and whole in a way that sugar just can't touch.

Sugar alcohols definitely do not fall within the Paleo realm of eating, but the reality is that low-carb lovers use them regularly, so it warrants a discussion about the impact they can have on your body. If you haven't previously used them, I wouldn't tell you to run out and start now, but if you are using them, here's what you need to know.

Sugar alcohols can be found in sugar-free products such as protein bars and sugar-free candy. They're neither sugar nor an alcohol. So what do they do inside your body?

Sugar alcohols occur naturally in plants. Sorbitol is derived from corn syrup; maltitol is derived from seaweed. Mostly, though, they are made from sugars and starches. Although sugar alcohols are similar to sugar, they are not completely absorbed by the body. They have fewer calories than sugar and can actually help fight tooth decay. Xylitol is now added to toothpastes and chewing gum for this very reason.

What are the downsides to sugar alcohols? To sum up things quite succinctly: farting. Quickly followed by bloating and/or diarrhea. And, like the artificial sweeteners, they too can have a glycemic effect on your blood sugar. Mannitol is the worst offender, here. Erythritol seems to have the most inconsequential effects on blood sugar, but if your body doesn't process sugar alcohols well, you're still going to drop some nasty bombs.

Stevia isn't without controversy, but it seems to be the best of the sugar substitutes.
Stevia rebaundiana
is an herb from South America that is dried and refined into a sweet powder or liquid. Stevia is three hundred times sweeter than sugar, has a negligible amount of calories, and—my favorite part—exerts a negligible effect on blood
sugar levels. There are no toxic side effects to stevia, which is why it is the only sweetener I recommend on a regular basis. It can be used in smoothies, cooking, baking, and hot beverages. I use a pinch of stevia in a cup of hot cocoa and up to
¹
/
₄
cup to replace sugar in a baked goods recipe. The flavor difference is subtle, and you can still satisfy your sweet tooth without the metabolic consequences of sugar.

We humans have been ingesting cultivated grains for only about ten thousand years, which is just a tiny blip on the human timeline. (We managed to get by as hunter-gatherers for two hundred thousand years before then.) Our appetites for cultivated grains grew as we discovered and adopted better farming practices, not an entirely good thing.

And here is why: our brains and bodies are designed to function best when they're fueled largely by proteins and fats. Yes, yes, we need the nutrients provided by carbohydrates for optimal health, but it's all a question of balance, and as we moved into an agricultural way of life, we began to tip the dietary balance in favor of carbs over proteins and fats. Ten thousand years later, we find ourselves eating a diet that is deleteriously dense in carbs. Couple this change in the way we eat with the fact that we no longer chase after our food. What's
happened is the double whammy of becoming way more sedentary than our ancestors and eating fat-creating foods rather than speed- and muscle-building foods.

What's a Paleo Chic girl to do?

Giving up grains is the only way.

How can this possibly be when we're bombarded with messages such as “Eat a bowl of this high-fiber, high-energy cereal every morning, and you will slim down!” This approach—telling people to eat more carbs—drives me nuts. Eating grains triggers your brain to want more empty carbs, and that creates a vicious cycle of overeating the wrong nutrient sources. And this, ladies, is precisely what makes and keeps us fat.