Beware the sugar train

Yesterday I was reminded of the cost of forgetting the above. Having gained half a stone of mainly sugar filled treats, I decided to take action. I immediately rationed myself to only eating cakes on weekend days with a mid-week slice on Wednesdays.

Last Wednesday I had the tiniest slither of cake possible as I was still super enthused with this new regime. Or rather I was super thrilled with the subsequent weight loss. This Wednesday having allowed a little smugness in to the system, I celebrated with more of a slather of cake. It was double the size of last weeks. Still not huge though, well done me. I mindfully savoured every mouthful of this yumalicious home made yoghurt cake of mine. It was top notch.

I was spared the temptation of home made cakes for several months as I had a temporary release from cake consumption having caked myself out celebrating my fiftieth. However, the baking and more dangerously the eating, of cake has since returned with renewed vigour.

Anyway, after that slather sized slice, I was salivating for more. A short debate ensued where Captain cut-back-the-cakes maintained one slice was enough but my always-greedy-for-everything-I-love part remained unconvinced. Following a few minutes of back and forth, I caught myself cutting another slather sized slice. While I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel, I knew straight after that I should have stopped after one. I promised myself I would remember this next time, conveniently forgetting that perimenopause means I will remember no such thing.

After the necessary afternoon nap, I took myself to the local Menopause Café. I was looking forward to hearing from an expert speaker along with seeing other women who are navigating this stage. It was a venue I hadn’t been to before which involved walking the whole way round the building trying various locked doors before eventually being led by one more in the know than I, back to the start point at the front. I hate it when there are no signs!

Once inside, I liked the venue but alas … they were selling CAKE. My eyes ran over all the available stock to see if anything took my fancy. What did was in the form of a square shaped, homemade looking, chocolate chip filled substantial sized piece of shortbread. Gulp. I LOVE shortbread. I stared at it a little more before pulling myself past it to take a seat. I tried to distract myself by greeting other people but all I could hear and sense from behind me was,

“Jo, you know you want me”.

And I really did!

The pull to the sugar was incredibly powerful and took everything in me to resist.

It turned out the talk was largely on nutrition and how to feed our hormones in such a way to support the system and to reduce sugar spikes. The reality of oestrogen spiking and dropping all over the shop is enough stress on the system without throwing sugar spikes and crashes in to the mix. Although I am rubbish at remembering anything remotely scientific, I did grasp that the sugar in carbs quickly causes the system to crash and then crave more thus creating a repeating cycle. Sugar does not satisfy the system in any lasting way which entraps us to the quick hit of sugar filled heaven before crashing us back down which leaves us craving more. If you’re looking for something that does satisfy the system beyond instant gratification, protein is the way to go.

I probably missed much of the talk due to the mental energy required to resist the shortbread. While reflecting on all this, I realised I must have inadvertently got on the sugar train earlier that day. As I don’t really believe in extreme diets that remove certain foods (unless revolting ones I don’t want anyway, like black pudding), I thought the cake in moderation approach was a sensible one. I had imagined that a mid-week sugar hit would sustain me until the weekend.

However, it would appear from my experience and the talk, that instead I had started something that was hard to stop. Perhaps it would have been more helpful to leave the sugar monster to its slumber only awakening it at the weekend if I was prepared to break the cycle on a Monday.

The learning literally never stops.

It reminds me that back in my adolescence as a fan of Grange Hill, there was an anti-drugs campaign with the motto,

“Just say no,”

The present day replacement for menopausal women appears to be,

“Just say no … to sugar”.

And, ‘beware the sugar train’, because it’s hard to get back off – the drug/poison of the day.

We had reflected in the menopause group on how fashions change around food. Fat, for example is now very much in fashion, the healthy avo type anyway. But sugar and wheat are now in the firing line.

I love all things sugar and would be most suspicious of any woman who claims not to. However, when our body’s are already subject to so much change-associated stress, the sugar trap really is one to be mindful of. Damn.