March is National Nutrition Month! It can be difficult to wade through the many popular diets we see in the media. In this article, I will break down some popular nutritional programs, highlighting the potential benefits of each. I will also provide you with some recommendations to decrease your sugar intake.
Mediterranean Diet: emphasizes increased consumption of healthy oils including fish & olive oil, nuts & vegetarian protein sources, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Decreases the consumption of saturated fats including animal protein sources, dairy (yes, this includes cheese!), refined sugars and processed foods.
- Reduces need for diabetic pharmaceuticals
- Improves fertility
- Improves depression and anxiety scores
- Protects against cardiovascular disease and stroke
- Decreases high cholesterol measurements
- Protects against the development of cancer
- Decreases incidence of Alzheimer’s disease
- Decreases incidence of Parkinson’s disease
- Hormone balancing
Paleolithic Diet: emphasizes consumption of foods that were eaten during the Paleolithic Era, when our ancestors were hunter gatherers. This focuses on the consumption of fresh meats, fish, fresh fruits & vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthy oils (olive, coconut, avocado, walnut flaxseed. Decreases consumption of dairy, cereal grains, refined sugars, legumes and processed foods.
- Improves weight loss
- Helps to build muscle mass & improve endurance
- Protects against cardiovascular disease and stroke
- Decreases risk factors for type 2 diabetes
- Decreases high cholesterol measurements
- Improves blood glucose measurements
Gluten Free Diet: Gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and some oats. Gluten is commonly used as an additive for foods low in protein, as a stabilizing or thickening agent, and can be found in everything from ketchup to cosmetic products. Gluten is responsible for enabling dough to rise, for adding a chewy texture to bread and bread-based items, and for adding elasticity and flavour to other foods.
- Improves digestive health
- Decreases inflammatory conditions
- Improves weight loss
- Decreases skin conditions: eczema & psoriasis
- Improves thyroid conditions
- Improves hyperactivity and irritability
- Decreases development of some forms of cancer
- Protects against cardiovascular disease and stroke
- Decreases risk factors for type 2 diabetes
- Decreases high cholesterol measurements
- Improves blood glucose measurements
Minimizing Sugar: The World Health Organization recently announced their updated sugar intake recommendations. These suggest that we need to make sugar less than 5% of our daily intake. That means we should eat a maximum of 25g or 6 tsp of sugar each day. By decreasing our sugar intake, we dramatically decrease our chances of developing obesity, diabetes, heart disease & some types of cancer. Since Canadians get about 21% of our daily calories from sugar, we need to really do some work on decreasing this!
The sugar we are talking about here is the added refined sugars added to foods to make them sweeter, not the fabulous unrefined sugars found in nature!
Here are some healthy options that are low in sugar but still super yummy!
- Choose whole grain pasta & rice varieties. These are much lower in sugars and higher in fibre, which will keep you feeling full longer.
- Have dinner for breakfast. Chili, soup and stews are fabulous ways to start the day instead of high sugar breakfast options. These foods are super easy to prepare and are very nutrient dense. Most North American breakfast options are very high in sugary carbohydrates and low in healthy fats and protein.
- Soda is never a good option. At 40 grams of sugar per small can this is way above the recommended daily intake.
- Use naturally sweetened almond milk / cashew milk / coconut milk or pure almond extract / coconut sugar in place of cane sugar in your morning cup of coffee or tea
- Dark chocolate is much lower in sugar and much high in antioxidants than milk chocolate. Replace milk chocolate with dark chocolate.
- Have dark chocolate with a few nuts & herbal tea as an afternoon snack instead of a coffee and donut!
- Ants on a log. Take celery sticks and smear them with nut butter (no sugar added varieties) and sprinkle with a line of blueberries or raspberries instead of raisins, which themselves are high in sugar.
- Seasoned nuts. Nuts, especially walnuts, are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Mix with maple syrup & cinnamon and bake at medium-low setting for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Seeds. Seeds are a rich source of vitamin E and some, like pumpkin seeds, have omega-3 fatty acids. Roast seeds yourself for crunch and less salt.
- Full fat plain Icelandic Skyr yogourt. This is much lower in sugar and higher in protein than the sweetened varieties. Add some seasoned nuts, seeds and fruit for a yummy breakfast or mid afternoon snack.
- Veggies and hummus. There is no excuse for not having fresh vegetables on hand! Buy pre chopped, prewashed bagged veggies if necessary. Hummus is available in grocery stores and is rich in protein. Carrots are tasty dipped in nut butter as well!
- Fresh fruit. Especially berries, apples, and pears are high in fibre & antioxidants and lower in sugar than other fruits.
As you can see, these diets offer very similar health benefits. The important thing is to find the proper diet for you and your nutritional needs.
If you’d like more information, book an appointment so we can discuss!
I am accepting new patients and am happy to book a free discovery call so we can determine if we are the right fit!