I thought my diet was perfect. I was wrong.

Oh, how I hate to be wrong. And I bet you share my feelings. And I was wrong on so many occasions. But by letting go of the cage of my perfectionism and admitting that things are not quite as they could be, I was able to get even better. It’s like when I work with my Olympic Weightlifting coach – if the only thing he had to say was ‘good, you’re doing great’ then why would I need his assistance?

Being ‘wrong’ or ‘not quite’ is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to be ‘better’.

I think one of the things that we hate being wrong about the most is our nutrition. Maybe that’s why a lot of doctors don’t even go there. And I think that ‘not going there’, not talking about nutrition, where it is certainly needed, is detrimental to our health.

I’ve just finished reading a fantastic book The Alzheimer’s Solution: a revolutionary guide to how you can prevent and reverse memory loss. by Dr Dean and Dr Ayesha Sherzai. The first time I heard of this power couple was at the University of Winchester doing my 6 weeks Plant Based Nutrition course. My ears pricked even more when I heard that they are running their program for Alzheimer’s prevention at the Loma Linda University. (Loma Linda is a town in California famous for being one of the Blue Zones)

The book showcases a couple of patients in the early stages of dementia. And – you guessed it - all of these patients were initially reluctant to talk about their diet, especially the ones that had ‘done their research’, read books and were making conscious decisions about what they eat every day. When questioned they often rebuff with ‘I know my diet’, ‘I’m eating well.’

In fact, those who did do some research into diets were usually the least happy to question it.

Unfortunately, what doesn't get measured doesn't get done.

Let’s look at the consumption of sugar specifically.

The conversation usually goes something like this: ‘I don’t eat much sugar; I might have dessert a couple of nights but not every day’.

But the problem is that ‘sugar’ is often a term that is poorly misunderstood. I’ve heard people calling all carbohydrates ‘sugar’ which is technically speaking correct as we have:

• simple sugars like glucose, fructose, and sucrose

• complex sugars like starches and fibre (starches are made up of long chains of glucose molecules, while fiber is a complex carbohydrate that cannot be digested).

However, to keep it simple, let’s say that when I talk about ‘sugar’, I mean the man-made sugars as refined sugars.

These days most of the sugar doesn’t unfortunately come from fruit and veg (with their natural sweetness) but from the ‘added sugar’ that hides in a multitude of ready-made, restaurant-made or processed foods. So yes, just because you don’t indulge on a dessert every day, it doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook just yet.

For example, salad dressings, yogurt, granola bars, pasta sauce, coleslaw and even ketchup have added sugar. It’s virtually everywhere.

The UK government recommends a maximum of 30g of sugar per day for an adult. But let’s look at the consumption of one of the clients who was reluctant to do the maths and look into their diet because ‘I’m doing fine with food; I rarely eat desserts’.

[paraphrasing from the book:]

In the morning ‘Barbara’ had a 350 ml glass of orange juice, coffee with sugar, oat porridge with brown sugar topping. Lunch was usually a chicken salad or a sandwich. For snacks she ate granola bars, yogurt with fruit or low-fat biscuits. At night she ate a chicken dish, pasta with cheese or sometimes a ready-prepared dinner that she could toss in the oven and prepare in fifteen to twenty minutes. She ate out 3-4 times a week – mostly Chinese, Thai or Western-style food. A couple of times she had a slice of cake, ice cream or chocolate pudding.

Let’s do the sugar maths:

§  orange juice 350ml = 28g

§  brown sugar porridge topping (1 tbsp.) = 13g

§  unrefined raw cane sugar in coffee (1 packet) = 5g

§  Thousand Island dressing (2 tbsp) = 4.6g

§  granola bar = 8g

§  fruit yogurt = 17g

§  low-fat biscuit = 14g

§  pasta sauce (1/2 cup) = 5g

§  Chinese takeaway = 10-14g (mostly in sauces)

§  cheesecake (1 medium slice) = 35-40g

§  carrot cake (1 medium slice) = 12-15g

Barbara’s added sugar was a staggering 95g on average per day. That’s almost 24 teaspoons of sugar!

If she ate Chinese food, her sugar consumption would shoot up to 104g. If she had both takeaway and dessert, the total would be an overwhelming 119-144g per day. That’s nearly 5 times the recommended intake!

And this is the trouble. We might be having a lot of health issues but so many of us are completely in the dark when it comes to nutrition.

For example, our body basically runs on glucose (as the main energy source) so we do need carbohydrates but what type of carbs should we be consuming – this is the nuance that we are often missing.

And no, (complex) carbohydrates are not the enemy if it comes to insulin resistance or Type 2 Diabetes. However, if you eat 5 times the amount of (simple) carbohydrates then it’s obviously a completely different story.

And lastly, doing all the maths above can be time consuming. And if you insist on eating ready-made foods or eat out all the time then you’ll probably need to continue doing the maths.

On the other hand, if you choose to eat home-cooked dishes, yes – it might take a bit of time to learn how to food prep, but eventually you will not need to count calories and micronutrients. Why? Because even the most dedicated overeater will become full before eating too many calories!

Check out the RECIPE SECTION of this website for inspirations!

Key takeaways (pun intended!):

Stuff your belly with:

• Whole-grains (oats, quinoa, buckwheat, barley)

• Fibre-rich veg (leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, squash, peppers)

• Fruits (especially berries)

• Root vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots, swede)

Minimise:

• all refined sugar

• fruit juices: (pure sugar without the fibre of whole fruit).

If you need to sweeten a smoothie for example, try adding a banana, a couple of whole dates or other dry fruit.

And remember, if you are a sugar addict – like I used to be – once you start changing your gut flora, your taste buds are going to change too and eventually you won’t miss (simple) sugars!