Food Writer and Nutritionist Cara Heaton has some sweet thoughts to share.

I have been reading a lot of press recently, and frequently SUGAR is on the agenda, messages for instance:

•   Cut it out completely from your eating plan.

•   Having chocolate cake for breakfast! should stop cravings later in the day, says Professor Daniela Jakubowicz at Tel Aviv University, who carried out a diet trial on a group of people, and believes that its better to curb cravings, eat chocolate in the morning, than complete denial.

•   Robert Lustig at The University of California has published an article on "The Toxic Truth About Sugar" in The Journal of Nature recently.  Calling for tighter legislation on the purchase of sugary foods, and suggest that "A little is not a problem, but a lot slowly kills".

So what are the alternatives?.........

In the same week I had a call from a "health guru", my Dad actually from the depts of his musty attic, saying that he had found a great book on sugar alternatives, and was going to send it to me in the post.  No doubt it arrived promptly nicely aged and scenting of "attic".  You are probably familiar with that wholesome smell, which for me conjures up memories  as a child balancing on the wooden boards, trying to avoid falling between the planks and coming through the upstairs ceiling.  It amazes me that we never did fall through, and how my mother could cope listening to us four kids, no doubt with a friend or two stumbling around up there, sifting our way through anything from old pushchairs to tainted coloured great grandparents photographs.

I leafed through the book to get some more info on molasses.  Apparently the sugar

cane plants are stripped of their leaves and the plant is crushed to extract the juice.  This juice is then boiled to form sugar crystals, known as "first boiling".  A second boiling will produce a more bitter juice, and a further third boiling produces what we know as black strap molasses.

Blackstrap molasses has the edge over its sugar rival in that one tablespoon provides approximately 20% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron.  Sugar on the other hand is addictive and can only provide us with empty calories, that means it provides energy but little or no valuable nutrients and is responsible for piling on the pounds.

The calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron content in molasses is no doubt a positive contribution to any diet.  Bones, teeth, nails and hair benefit from calcium.  Magnesium which is also abundant in green leaves will provide a calming influence on your nervous system. Potassium is well known as a requirement to any heart healthy food plan, and iron of course very important to the vascular system, and to fight exhaustion.

And for a bit of psychology........

So how do we crack the habit of this "sugar addiction", that is documented frequently.  According to Kelly Mc Gonigal from Stanford University it's all about willpower.  Master your own and that's it!  Her book "Maximum Willpower" has interesting tips.   She suggests that you can turn around all those negative traits to positive and before you know it your destructive habits turn good, you will never procrastinate again,  decrease your stress levels, and lead a successful, happy, financially secure life, hey presto!  I'm always up for a good read of other peoples work, it sometimes is what I need to change my thinking a little and get out of a "boring spiral" of personal thoughts.

My client is beating her sugar addiction with some one to one guidance and individual diet planning.  She also finds it useful to go along to a "slimming group" for moral support, and talk through her challenges with other similar like minded individuals.  She cut out sugary snacks, and found the first three days were the worst.  After suffering the knuckle biting first few days, the light head and feeling at a loose end, within a week she was cured.  When she tasted a piece of mars bar it was so sickly sweet that she felt it just wasn't necessary to "start there again".  I wish her luck and hope she can use her strong  willpower skills to fish her out in times of need in the future.

And You

When you go for that spoon of sugar, sweet cake or treat, think again, pull that strong "willpower" that's inside all of us and push the craving up into the big blue sky!

Cara Heaton

Food Writer/Nutritionist