The 40s Formula. The 40s Formula. The 40s Formula.
Live. Hosted by Jasmine Dillon, Integrated Health
Strategist and founder of Eat With Jasmine, and
Amanda Lim, Director of Lift Clinic and a leading
expert in female strength and metabolism. Named
one of CNA's top podcasts and a finalist for
Best Health and Wellness podcast. The 40s Formula
is your no -fluff. Science Meets Real Life Guide
to Thriving in Your 40s. Coming up in today's
episode, we're talking breaking up with sugar.
Why are we so addicted to sugar? What is the
biological hardwiring that makes us want this
food? Our brains haven't changed. Our biology
is still the same, but our food environment has.
Quitting sugar is just as hard as quitting drugs.
Addiction is a disease. Sugar addiction is a
habit loop. Can Ozempic help with your sugar
cravings? Ozempic definitely isn't going to prevent
you from eating. Evidence suggests that eating
high sugary foods can cause depression and anxiety.
All right, before we dive into today's episode,
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We'll drop it in the show notes or you can find
it on our Instagram. The Meat Club, where quality
meets convenience. We are so glad to have so
many of you here and a massive thank you to the
Green Collective for sharing their space with
us and also to Guzmini Gomez for the yummy burritos,
which I will have, but after the show, because
it needs to be on top form right now. Yeah, thank
you guys so much. The sponsors are why we're
able to do this. And our platinum sponsor, The
Meat Club, who's been with us since season one.
Thank you so much for your continued support
as well. I'm Jasmine. I'm your host. I'm an integrated
health strategist and mom of three. three boys
and a nutrition nerd. And I'm Amanda, metabolic
health coach and director of Singapore based
Lift Clinic. I'm also a mom of three and a sugar
suspicious parent. And the reason that we are
all here today is to talk about sugar. Why are
we addicted to it? What does it do to our bodies
and our brains? And what can we do to protect
ourselves against the effects of sugar? Okay,
so let's start with the not -so -fun fact. Did
you know that the average woman consumes over
22 teaspoons of sugar in a day? And that's without
even realizing it. And that's average, guys.
That means that there's higher than that. Yeah,
and you know what? This is not a question about
willpower. There is something deeper going on.
And here's what I'll say. Right. So we kind of
like build this event as break your sugar addiction.
Right. Or breaking up with sugar, which I like
better because I don't know that I'm fully in
the addiction camp as a metabolic health coach.
Right. Addiction. Again, my husband right now
is going through his graduate diploma in mental
health as a Singapore. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Thank
you. Proud of him. He finishes next month. Thank
God. Anywho. And so he studies addiction, right?
He's in the Institute of Mental Health here in
Singapore looking at addicts. And the reality
is nobody is in that institute because they're
addicted to sugar. OK, can we be real? Like addiction
is a disease. Sugar addiction is a habit loop.
And I think honestly, when we're talking about
sugar, we have to be really specific about what
does it mean to be addicted to something or what
does it mean to have crafted an environment,
a brain pattern, a behavior. around the consumption
of sugar. And I think that's what we're really
going to break down for you guys today. What
are the differences? So before we get going,
we're going to have a little... Like a game.
Yeah. So we're going to call it Hot or Hype.
And we're going to be breaking down some sort
of trending health advice or trending health
news that's been going on and what we think about
it. So first of all, right, Amanda, hot or hype?
People say that quitting sugar is just as hard
as quitting drugs. Oh my God, hype. Okay, so
for example, the withdrawal symptoms that you
get from drugs are way harder than the withdrawal
symptoms you get from sugar. That being said,
the dopamine hit that you get from sugar is just
like the stuff you get from drugs. So while the
addiction part, like I said, not so hot, the
little bit of hype, the way that it hits your
brain, hot. All right, gal, sugar, worse than
other carbs, hotter hype. I'm going to say hot
-ish because sugar is the fast and furious kind
of carb. What it does is it spikes your blood
sugar level, crashes, and basically gets you
into this rut. So, yeah, it's not like the slow
kind. It's not like your steel -cut oats. It's
not like vegetables or legumes or even fruit.
It's basically the stuff that's going to mess
you up. Right. What do you think about fruit,
Amanda? People say fruit is bad for you if you're
trying to lose weight. What do you think? Guys,
straight up hype. All right. So here's the thing.
I'm definitely in the camp where any food can
be integrated into a healthy diet as long as
you're paying attention to the overall balance
and portions of food in the diet, right? So any
nutritionist who's going to come at you and say
categorically fruit is bad or categorically eliminate
everything sweet, they're not living in the real
world, you guys. Fruit can be part of a healthy
diet. Any whole food. Absolutely can, and even
some fun foods as well. All right, how about
this one? This is a similar vein, right? Cane
sugar is better than high fructose corn syrup,
maltodextrin, processed forms of sugar. Hot or
hyped? I'm going to say big fat hype. Sugar is
sugar, okay? It doesn't matter what form it comes
in. Once it's in your body, your body can't tell
whether it's an organic cane sugar, whether it
is high fructose corn syrup. It basically processes
it. processes it in the same way. Right. Can
Ozempic help with your sugar cravings? Oh, guys.
OK, so you know that I work in a metabolic health
clinic where we do prescribe Ozempic, Wagovi,
now Munjaro, by the way, it's in Singapore. Yeah,
it just arrived. We prescribe these weight loss
drugs. And here's what I will say, right? Ozempic
itself is not going to necessarily prevent you
from eating sugar, but it definitely is going
to prevent you from eating. Food, okay, because
it works on the appetite mechanism. GLP -1 agonist
drugs, pardon me, they work on your appetite
sensors. They make you feel a sense of satiety.
So they don't allow for cravings to even happen
because you're not hungry. You don't have an
appetite. So will it hit sugar specifically?
That's a little bit of hype. But will it help
you overall address the hyper palatability of
food and the appetite drive and control the food
noise that makes you eat sugar? That's hot. That's
a hot take. All right, guys, people say sugar
causes mood swings, hotter height. Definitely
hot. Right. If you jump onto the sugar roller
coaster, you're going to be left feeling down
low. There's actually evidence which suggests
that eating high sugary foods can cause depression
and anxiety. I think that's definitely a hot
take. Right. What do you think about policy,
Amanda? Warning labels and nutrition labels really
help control the amount of sugar people eat.
Yeah. So this is one that I feel strongly about
because my background in a prior life was in
policy and health policy. And I think it's interesting
what some other countries are doing in this regard.
So Mexico, for example, they introduced a sugar
tax on sugar sweetened beverages, SSBs in the
literature, guys. And they found that by taxing
sweet beverages, sweet beverage consumption has
gone down. A equals B, man. So I think in some
ways, putting your money where your mouth is
when you're trying at the population level to
control sugar is really popular in America. You
know this girl. People don't love being taxed
on stuff that is free will, meaning like, don't
you tell me what to consume. I'm a drink my three
liter of soda. All right. Last one. Right. People
say it's not the sugar itself. It's when you
eat the sugar. Does timing make a difference,
hot or hyped? I'm going to say hot. Okay, guys,
there's a good time to eat sugar and a bad time
to eat sugar. Eating sugar first thing in the
morning, bad. Eating it late at night, bad. But
actually having it maybe after exercise or after
a meal, which is balanced, like with sufficient
protein in there, with sufficient fat in there,
you're probably going to have a lower glucose
spike than you would if you had it in the morning
or late at night when you're more insulin resistant.
So yes, timing counts. Just be, I guess, creative
when it comes to eating, definitely have it as
a dessert rather than a meal on its own. Yeah.
True story. Yeah. True story. Timing does matter,
guys. All right. So that's a little bit of a
hotter hype around sugar, hopefully touching
on some of the things that you guys have already
been thinking about. And I want to take the time
now to let you all know that. We are super open
to questions. We're going to have like a Q &A
part at the end for like your specific questions.
But we are not opposed to like if something comes
up as we're talking, throw a hand up and we'll
take it. Like you don't need to throw us off
the cards. Like it's totally cool. So if you
guys have something that you're thinking about
before we get to the Q &A, please, please, please
ask it. But that being said, let's talk a little
bit about why we are so addicted to sugar. What
is the biological hardwiring? That makes us want
this food, right? Because it does feel that way
sometimes. Like it's in our soul. So it actually
does go back to evolutionary times. You are designed
to want to crave and find and eat sweet foods.
Sweet food in the wild meant that it was safe.
It was... good. It was going to give you energy.
It was going to give you the nutrition you needed.
You'd be looking for fruit, honey, those types
of food to give you the amount of energy you
needed to get through, I guess, the summer, the
day, the year, whatever it is. And bitter foods
actually meant that it could be poisonous. So
you're more inclined to eating. I mean, some
people do like bitter food. My mum, for example,
likes bitter gourd. Definitely not my game. I
love bitter gourd. We love bitter gourd. I can't
do it. I can't do it. My mum's here on the audience,
guys. But yeah, so that could have been a sign
that it was poisonous. But, you know, the sweet
food definitely meant it was safe. Yeah. And
also, if you think about when fruits are at their
sweetest, it's usually in the warm season before
the cold season, right? So think your summer,
peak of summer into early fall. And the reason
that sweet foods get their sweetest and ripest
at that time is because they want us to eat them
in quantity to put on the body fat to store for
the cold season. So that's why fruits in the
height of summer, August, September, right, taste
their best because they're also at their most
sugar dense, their most energy dense, and they're
going to help us put on the extra weight that
we might need to face the winter cold. So there's
true evolutionary reasons that we crave it, right?
This is, you know, we talk about this because
so much in our practice, we get women, particularly
women, feeling guilty about wanting sugar, feel
guilty about their cravings generally, right?
There are hormonal reasons we're going to get
to in a sec. And there are natural reasons in
our biology that we're hardwired to want it.
So if there's one takeaway from this episode
that we want you guys to take with you, it's
not to feel guilt or shame over your cravings,
but to get knowledge and empowerment about how
to beat them, right? Outsmart the system. Nature
wants us to be fat, okay, guys? Nature wants
us to bear kids, man. I'll tell you what. All
right. We had enough, though. Yeah, we're done.
Okay, so let's go back about 200 years. In about
1820, people were eating about four pounds of
sugar a year. That's about two kilos. Now it
is about 150 pounds. Don't make me do the math.
75 -ish? 75 kilos? Yeah. That is a hell of a
lot. That's more than me. Like, more than how
much I weigh. More than me. More than a jasmine
pillar of sugar. People are eating every day.
Oh, my gosh. And, you know, back to like the
types of sugar that we were talking about earlier,
right? Your processed sugar, your maltodextrins,
your cane sugar, not your cane sugar, your high
fructose corn syrup. These are the base of ultra
processed foods, right? UPFs. Have you guys heard
of like UPF, that term ultra processed? It basically
means foods that are designed, engineered, created
for us to overeat them. And sugars of all kinds
are going to be in that style of food. And the
rise of that style of food with sugar becoming
cheaper through the 20th century, with people,
you know, greater demand for those type of fast,
convenient, high calorie, excuse me, high energy
foods. Those things have, again, created an environmental
element that plays on our human biology. Right.
Any of you guys who are familiar with marketing
tactics, you know that what you want to do is
play into human nature. Right. You don't want
to fight it. If you play into what is already
happening, you will have a leg up in marketing.
So if you provide foods that are easily accessible,
super palatable, make our brains light up with
that dopamine hit. You're going to have a consumer
for life. Consumer for life, exactly. And you
know what it is? It's our brains haven't changed.
Our biology is still the same, but our food environment
has. And this is why we are really struggling
now, because we're not designed to eat and have
access to the type of foods that we have in today's
environment. Yeah, not all the time, at least,
right? So let's talk about the brain on sugar,
right? So we talked about earlier how the hit
of sugar. provides that dopamine, right? So it
gives us that kind of stimulus that makes us
want more. And the thing about sugar that is
like drugs is that it takes more to get that
hit the more you have it. So the more often or
in the greater portion that you get that reward,
the more and more your body will demand it. So
there definitely is a reinforcement that your
brain clicks on the more that you eat sugar.
And again, the more you eat, the more you want.
You could have one chocolate bar a day and it's
fine. Then after a while, that one chocolate
bar is not doing the same thing. So you know
what? I'm going to have two. At one point, I
went through seven or eight chocolate bars. I
know that sounds really gross now and I actually
feel sick thinking about it. But I did not get
the same feeling I used to get. And what I found
was it wasn't that I was eating to... I don't
know, to light up my brain, it was because I
needed that feeling, that feeling that I got
from eating the sweet stuff. The reward. The
reward. Exactly. The reward. We were listening
to your podcast. Maybe some of you guys are familiar
with Peter Attia, a pretty popular health and
fitness podcast. I kind of fancy him a little
bit. Yeah. He's like on Jasmine's hot list. I
think it's his brain. I like his brain. Anyway.
But so he had a guest on named Charles Duhigg.
Charles Duhigg is the author of the power of
habit. This is like the first ever kind of habit
manual. This is even before James Clear came
out with this is like in the day. And he had
Charles Duhigg on just recently. So if you guys
are listening, definitely check that out. But
basically what he was talking about is like the
cue and the reward. This is what creates a habit,
right? It's the cue and the reward. It's like,
I am stressed. Cue. I seek chocolate bar reward.
And the first time. That happens, that one chocolate
bar satisfies it. Yeah. But the more habituated
that cue becomes, every time I'm stressed, every
time, then the amount needed, the amount of chocolate
or reward in this case, to make that pattern
feel, give you that same feeling, is more. So
the second time you go back, it's two or three.
Or it's a chocolate bar and you dip it in the
open peanut butter jar and scoop the peanut butter
into your mouth using the chocolate as a spoon.
I'm with you. Don't worry, Sarah. I'm with you
there. These are not examples from real life,
but completely fabricated. But I think that actually
plays in really well to some of the behavioral
issues that we have with sugar, which is like
how many of us women, how many of us, and honestly,
if you don't raise your hand, I swear you're
lying to me, have been told like just have one
square of dark chocolate and that will quell
your chocolate cravings. Like the one square
theory, right? It's in every women's magazine.
It's in every, just have one square and it'll.
But the reality is this, your brain doesn't work
that way. Your brain doesn't work on one square,
wrap the five squares from the bar and put it
back in the fridge. Because you know where the
fridge is. It's so easy to get back to the fridge.
Yeah. And again, once you open that, you know,
once you open those floodgates, there is some
like the biological response that keeps you wanting
more. So thank you for being brave and offering
that up. Does anybody else have a specific sugar
food that like is the food for them? Maybe not
so healthy as dark chocolate. Yeah, Amelia. The
sugar gummies. Yeah, that's great. Okay, again,
you guys are going to think I'm like Charles
Duhigg super fan over here, but he just so happened
to talk about gummies in the podcast. And so
basically saying the reason that when we were
kids, like did you have vitamins when you were
a kid? Yes. Did you have Flintstones vitamins?
I did, yes. No, no, no, there were. And they're
chewables? They were like the chewables. We also
had, like there were some teddy bear ones, which
were. Yeah, there were teddy bear ones which
were hard, so not chewable. Like, so, like, hard
candy? I meant powdery, I think it was. Yeah,
yeah. So either way, right, even back then, they
were capitalizing on, like, hey, kids like sugary
stuff that looks like candy, feels like candy,
whatever. Well, gummy vitamins, guys, those didn't
even exist when we were kids, and now I know
many adults that are taking gummy vitamins, and
the reason for that is because marketers got
smart, and they were like, people love gummy
stuff. People will pay a premium for a gummy
vitamin, even though it literally I hate to break
everyone's heart that is taking a gummy vitamin.
But like it's a sugar. It's another sugar delivery
system, you know, to get that unless they are
the sugar free ones. Right. But a lot of them
are not, sadly. But researchers are not dumb.
Marketers are not dumb. They know that the texture
of a familiar sweet food is a gateway into a
behavior that you want to induce. So, again,
that was wildly successful for the vitamin market.
But it should give you a clue, like I said, to
why it's so hard in your own life to quit. The
combination of texture, fat, sugar, these are
the things that drive us. Sometimes salt. Sometimes
salt. The whole wheat thing is delicious. Yeah.
And how many of you all out there have kids?
Mm -hmm. Too many. I would say the majority of
folks out here have kids. And I think for folks
with kids, it's important to know that this drive
towards sugar, this dependency, this habit loop,
it forms quicker and is more long -lasting the
earlier it starts. So for kids and teens, all
this stuff I've been talking about with the brain
waves and kind of the connection to emotions
and stuff like that, it's stronger in kids and
teens. The feeling of dependency is stronger
for them. It's more present for them. And again,
the longer duration that they spend in this habit
loop, the harder it will be able to make and
break as an adult. So just again, I feel like
I'm always bringing the downer information. Sorry,
guys. However, this is also the real talk. So
yeah, for those of you with kids and teens, just
know that sugar creates an even harder habit
loop for them to break than us. Right. Physiologically.
Sugar will affect your hormones, your gut, as
well as your body, and will give you extra cravings
like we've spoken about. When you have sugar,
it can cause a glucose spike and then a crash,
and then you get sucked into this loop. And basically,
when you hit that crash, you're going to be feeling
foggy and angry and hungry, and then you're going
to reach for some quick energy again, which tends
to be sugar. You're sucked into this sort of
cycle. Yeah, and again, foggy, angry. hungry.
These are also things I hear with women in perimenopause.
Okay. Like these are also symptoms that we are
experiencing even without the sugar roller coaster.
Right. And these are also triggers, which are
the cues for you wanting to have more sugar.
You know, you're feeling like shit. I need something
that's going to make me feel better. Let's go
for some chocolate. Yeah. Maybe not dark chocolate
for me. Probably. Yeah. I have a bunch of clients
that struggle with, obviously, reaching for sugar
or carbohydrate -dense foods when they're tired.
And obviously, the main issue there is sleep
deprivation. We could do a whole other episode
on sleep, by the way. So we'll talk about sleep
another day. But the point is, for whatever reason
you're not sleeping or feel tired, your body
is going to release more of the appetite -inducing
hormone called ghrelin. It's going to release
more of that to inspire you to seek out food.
And again, your body is not dumb. It's looking
for energy. What is the quickest release energy
the body can get? Sugar, glucose, glycogen. These
are the things that hit our bloodstream fastest
to produce energy the fastest. That's why when
you see triathletes and marathoners, right, they're
sucking down like maltodextrin supplements, whatever
hits the bloodstream fastest, that's because
they know that's where you're going to get your
energy from first. So your body does that for
you. in the sense of giving you a sugar craving
when you're tired. So it's, again, not a perception
thing that when you're tired you eat worse. It's
a reality thing because your body is driving
you toward the foods that will give you the quickest
release of energy, right? So these are the things
to remember, especially if you struggle with
sleep restriction or more interrupted sleep.
You should definitely consider whether improving
your sleep is actually the hidden key to improving
your diet. And actually when you are, I'm sorry,
Sarah, but when you are sleep deprived, you're
more insulin resistant. And when your body can't
process that sugar in the correct way, you're
going to end up suffering long, like suffering
more. You'll end up gaining weight. You'll end
up needing more sugar. Then again, you get sucked
into the whole thing all over again. Yeah. So
sugar actually does also disrupt your gut. You
know, for those of you who are aware of the gut
-brain axis, that can then lead to mood swings
and depression, anxiety, all of that stuff. But
it does feed the bad bacteria in your gut. It
can also drive yeast overgrowth. So for those
of you who've ever suffered from thrush or candida,
any of those symptoms, those are all symptoms
and as a result of excess sugar in the diet.
All right. So, again, I think I hope we've got
you guys convinced by now that sugar is not going
to be the best thing for us to have in excess
and that there are reasons that we seek out sugar
that are not entirely within our control. But
we want to talk about why the modern world makes
it so hard for us to control these things, even
with the knowledge. Right. Even if we know it's
that that age old question in coaching, if we
know better, why don't we do better? Right. And
that's because there are so many things working
against us systemically. in controlling this
issue. Right. When you're busy and you've got
kids and you're hungry and you're tired, what
are you going to go for? You're going to go for
the things that are marketed in a way which seem
healthy, but really aren't. Let's think things
like granola bars. or yogurt, or acai bowls.
I'm sorry, guys. I love acai sometimes, but sometimes
it does have too much sugar in there. Yo, sometimes
acai bowls have like a chokehold on folks, and
I cannot understand why, because they are real
sugar dense, guys. Smoothies, all of that stuff.
You know, all of this stuff that is targeted
as being a health food is actually a hidden sugar
bomb. Yeah. And then so, you know, obviously
things that are targeted as healthy but not healthy
can can work against us. Things that have other
components. So, for example, caffeine. So I when
I'm working, I know I'm so no nothing. First
of all, I would never speak ill of my best friend
caffeine. OK, what if she's listening? But no,
first of all. It's like when we pair the sugar
with the caffeine, the hit is even greater. So
if you guys think about things like sweetened
coffee drinks. I'm not even talking Frappuccino,
which is like obvious, right? With like the chocolate
chips and stuff. I'm talking straight up even
lattes to some extent, right? I was shocked not
being Australian. I was shocked to know that
flat whites, you know. Contains sugar. Oh, okay.
That's like part of the thing. That's like part
of what makes it flat whitey is that they put
sugar, like a little tiny bit of sugar in it.
But, and again, you know, the soy milk that they
use in those flat whites or the oat milk, right?
That has sugar in it. So there's all these kinds
of hidden sugars. Amanda, can we talk about how
clean Guzmany Gomez's food is? Like truly clean,
not the, it has lettuce, so it's healthy kind
of clean. Oh, totally. GYG is on another level.
There's no preservatives, no artificial colors,
no weird additives. It is just proper, real food.
I read that they went through 21 versions of
their corn chips before they found the one. Now
that's commitment. And they fly in their avocados
and tomatoes daily from Australia to Singapore.
That is the level of commitment I want in my
food. You can taste it, whether it's the burritos,
the bowls, or those chipotle -seasoned fries.
You just feel good after eating it. And it's
really why my entire family keeps going back.
Clean is the new healthy, and GYG has been leading
that charge since day one. They've literally
reinvented fast food. Who says it has to be dodgy
and deep -fried? Not on GYG's watch. If you want
to talk about what makes something addicting...
Add a component that also gives you energy in
addition to the sugar hit. Right. So it's like
if you want if you really want to get kind of
caught in a habit loop of something, add another
reward inducing substance to the original one.
Right. So add caffeine to the sugar. Right. Add
fat to the sugar, to the caffeine. That's like
a Java chip frappuccino for you in short. But
again, companies know this. And so they create
these products to work against us. And it's not
necessarily our fault, but it is within our control.
That's an underlying message for me. You also
find that... On their nutrition labels, they're
not going to say sugar. They might have other
names on there that you've probably either never
heard of, don't even associate as being sugar.
Maltodextrin, which Amanda said before. Cane
juice. Brown rice syrup. Brown rice syrup. Oh,
that's a big one in Asia. Fructose. You see fructose
and you think, oh, that's from fruit. It's fine.
It's actually just the sugar without the fiber
component. So maple syrup, honey. There are like
60 different aliases to sugar. And obviously,
it's really tough to kind of know what can be
what. But a little tip. If it ends with O's,
it's probably got some kind of sugar in there.
Maltose, fructose, sucrose. Yes, all of that
stuff. All the O's. O's. Yeah, are going to bring
you some sugar. Exactly. How many of you guys
consider yourselves label readers? Like you look
at the labels of your food generally. Okay, the
majority here, right, for our listeners that
are on audio. So here's a question. Thinking
back to what I mentioned earlier about Mexico
and India, right, policy -based stuff. knowing
that you guys are label readers, does it make
a difference for you if you see the calories
or sugar information of foods in restaurants?
Does that affect your choice? Like, generally?
A lot of people are nodding their heads. Majority,
yes. Folks are raising their hands. Because the
science says no. The science says no. I know.
Generally, those interventions of printing calories,
it's really done on calories, so I guess I can't
say for sugar specifically, but printing calories
on menus doesn't seem to change behavior. And
I tell you why, and this is my opinion, so not
fact or anything like that, but I wonder, if
you're going out for a meal, you know, you've
already made the decision you're going to be
going out, you're going to be enjoying yourself,
and you see the calories, you might think, oh,
fuck it, I'm here. This is my cheat meal. This
is what I'm doing. What do you think? I've seen
lots of people nodding. Do you think that could
probably be it? I will go to a restaurant and
I'll think, oh, it's fine. I'm out today. I've
made this conscious decision. I'm going to have
the 1500 calorie crazy shake. Yeah, like I know
what it is. I've dug my grave. No, it's true.
For those of you who have changed behavior based
on seeing the calories on the menu. What do you
do instead? Do you go straight for the lowest
calorie thing then? Or do you just like, does
it just maybe make something in the middle? I
would love to hear an actual real life story
of what you do. I would evaluate. So based on
the choices that I was already potentially going
to make and what I've already eaten in the day,
I might say, well, that's okay. Or, or it's not.
And exactly like you've said, I might choose
the larger calorie option because of what I've
eaten in the day or. Fuck it. Exactly. But equally,
yeah, evaluate what I would potentially have
already chosen and maybe I would choose the healthier
option. But it gives me a better idea of what
my overall calories might be in the day and how
I might balance my next meal before or after,
right? Yeah. Again, I'm a huge believer of knowledge
is power. Right. What you choose to do, like
with everything that we've dumped on you guys
today. Right. What you choose to do with this
evolutionary knowledge is up to you. But at least
you can't say you don't know. And I think that's
why I am always going to vote for it. Having
calorie counts on menus, having warning labels
on foods, having sugar tax, whatever it may be.
I'm always going to vote for it because I do
think that conditioning behavior and giving information
is an important first step. Personal thoughts.
So. You guys know my husband, Dean? Yeah. So
he's actually working with MOH now. Yes. And
for our listeners outside of Singapore, Ministry
of Health. Yes, Ministry of Health. So if you're
talking about governmental influence, like Mexico
and India on sugar. So if you have noticed at
restaurants with... drinks on the menu it will
have a grade a b c d and it's measuring or it's
grading the amount of sugar that's in that drink
yes so you'll see a lot of like the juices juice
boosts or i don't know so the other ones they
actually have a lot of these yeah c's and b's
there's a lot of sugar but the thing is they
are actually hiring behavioral analysts to see
how they will change their addiction. The actual
purchasing. Right. Because you can't change.
Because Singapore, what is it? Diabetes is an
epidemic right now. So, MYH is super concerned
about the sugar, especially in the hawker centers.
And so, like, breaking the habits, that's, I
would love to understand that. But, you know,
evolution, I'm going to tell Dean that and see
if that can be added to the behavioral. So just
in case folks couldn't hear, and again, if you
couldn't hear the full question, you will hear
it on the recording, so check it out. But basically
what Sarah was mentioning is that the Ministry
of Health here in Singapore rolled out a program
called Nutri -Grade, and I'm sure you've all
seen it. You get a grade A, B, C, or D based
on the sugar content and saturated fat, which
we'll talk about in a sec, why Nutri -Grade drives
me nuts a little bit. And saturated fat, you
get an A, B, C, or D grade. And alongside that
grade, the A, B, C, or D, you'll also see a little
tiny percentage and it will tell you what percent
sugar that thing is. So this is an added piece
of information. It makes the grade system obviously
makes it exceptionally clear because we all understand
grades, right? Especially in Singapore, we all
understand. Oh, yeah, for sure. But you also
get to see what percentage of sugar you're about
to have. Right. So the grading system plus the
sugar percentage isolated out, I think, is awesome.
The issue is this. I'll give you two issues of
Nutri -Grade, OK, as a policy system. First issue
is that whole milk or what they call here full
cream milk has a Nutri -Grade C. which makes
you think it is a bad choice for you and your
family. And this is the key thing, right? Back
to my very first point of everything in balance
and there are no off -limit foods, particularly
for children, full cream milk is what they should
be drinking, okay? With very few exceptions,
right? Obviously obese children and some other
complications aside. So giving it a neutral grade
C sends the message to parents that this is not
the right choice for my child. And it might direct
them toward a less good choice, like a low sugar
juice, for example, that doesn't provide the
other nutrition that a full cream milk would
provide. So that's my one issue is that the saturated
fat is also factored into the nutrient grade.
Doesn't Milo have a higher grade ranking? Low
sugar Milo. Milo. Yeah, Milo Siudai has a higher
nutrient grade than full cream milk, and that
is an issue. Second issue, Coke Zero has a B.
Coke Zero has a B. For those of you who are non
-soda drinkers, Coke Zero is a zero sugar product.
It has no calories and it has no sugar, but it
does not have a Nutri -Grade A because it is
still Coca -Cola. In essence, it still has additives
and chemicals. And so they don't consider it
an optimal nutrient choice like something. Like
water itself. And again, by the way, I'm not
saying that that Coke Zero should be replacing
water. Please understand. But is it necessarily
a poor choice for folks who are looking to reduce
their overall sugar intake? For example, if their
option is going to be like a full sugar chrysanthemum
tea, but they see the Coke Zero, but the Coke
Zero has a B. They're like, ah, screw it. I'll
just get the sugary one because this one's not
even that good. Whereas the difference in sugar
intake and calorie intake is wild. Yeah. Is wild.
So Nutri -Gate is not a perfect system, but it
is a wonderful first step. And again, just like
throwing the warning label on Jalebi, Jalebi's
not going to kill you. But being an informed
consumer about the cumulative consumption of
Jalebi, sure, right? So none of these measures
so far are perfected, but hopefully they are
promising. What about who eats? Put your hand
up if you eat when you're stressed, bored, sad.
Like who eats sugar based on their emotions?
Oh, not as many as I thought. About half, half.
I would say about half, half. Thanks for those
admitting it. I'm just kidding. Right. Did you
know there was a study in 2022 which actually
showed about 60%, which I guess this seems about
right, of women will eat due to stress, anxiety,
sadness. And I guess, you know, it's just their
emotions in general. Yeah. Who here has tried
to break up with sugar? So who here has tried
to quit sugar entirely before? Okay, so about
a third, I would say. Yeah. And again, a similar
study out of the same Nielsen Institute showed
that 61 % of women that are health conscious
cite reducing sugar as their top priority. So
for health conscious women, 61 % say reducing
sugar is one of my top priority. All right. Who
loves boba tea here? Does anybody drink it? Bubble
tea. Any bubble tea drinkers here? Yeah. Yeah.
And again, it's OK. It's OK to admit we do not.
We do not shame here on the 40s formula. Yeah.
Our men can also. Yeah. OK. Yeah. So again, not
again. I am literally always the hammer. Bubble
tea. Back to the caffeine and sugar thing. Back
to the caffeine and sugar and fat thing. Do you
know how many grams of sugar? Sorry, we're going
to break your bubble. Your heart's going to fall
out of your chest. And again, it varies by brand
and whatever, right? But for your medium size,
we went for your medium size, so small, medium,
large. Medium size, regular size, between 35
and 60 grams of sugar in that drink. Between
35 and 60, okay? Yeah. No, I wish it was like,
you know, like we should cut in some. We'll have
our lady having some graphics of like how many
sugar cubes. But to give you an idea, it's 150
percent of what the WHO, the World Health Organization,
says you should get in a day. In a day. So it
is 1 .5. So basically, if you went without sugar
for the rest of that day and half of the next
day, that would just even you out based on one
bubble tea. Also, guys, the sad part about it
is that the 0 % versions still contain between
like 5 and 12, sometimes up to 15 grams of sugar,
mainly from the lactose, mainly from the milk
-based sugar. No, but there's also the jellies
that have sugar in them as well. If you're actually
chewing the balls at the end. So, yeah. So, again,
I know. I know, I feel like I've lost half our
Singapore audience. Sorry, guys. Demonized bubble
tea. But this is more, again, information providing
rather than, you know, decision making. Power
to the people. Power to the people, man. Okay,
guys. Who, like me, is an all or nothing person
when it comes to sugar? Can you stop at one?
Oh, Sarah says yes. Who else can eat in moderation
when it comes to sugar? Yeah, moderation. I'm
team moderation. Like, no problem eating a little
bit. And who's all or nothing? Is it just me?
Oh, no, that's for you. Like have to finish what's
in front of you. Okay. Well, do you know what?
When it comes to sugar, it can be polarizing.
For some people, it's really hard to stop. And
that does go back to our biology, you know, like
your brains, your body, it wants you to eat more
because it's thinking, we don't know when your
next meal is going to come. You need to take
it now, eat it all, and basically get that fat
just in case winter is coming. Yep. Can I offer
a tip, though, for the all or nothing folks?
Yes, please do. Can I be honest? Like this is
I would say it's the number one cognitive distortion
that I see around health habits generally, health
habits generally. So this this applies to exercise,
getting to the gym, for example. Either I'm in
the gym six days a week or like I just lost it
four weeks. Right. Like I do see this pattern
a lot in health habits. And I think what's important
here and this kind of brings us into the how
do we solve this problem? It's remember that
if you screw up, you are not a failure. Yeah.
If you are trying to reduce your sugar intake
and you find yourself at Leho buying a large
bubble tea, take it, accept it. And the next
day, make a different choice. Yeah. I think that
having an identity. That you are still a healthy
person if you choose one unhealthy beverage.
You are still a successful person if you didn't
quit sugar the first time you tried for the rest
of your life. Right. You can have two things
coexist, which is I'm making healthy choices
in my life. And also this one choice was not
healthy. Those two things can, you know, they
say like two things can be true. And I think
nowhere more than in this kind of addiction idea.
And that's another reason that I really. thwart
the term sugar addict, because then that's your
identity is someone who is uncontrolled around
sugar versus the identity of I'm a healthy person
who from time to time enjoys sugar. That's perfectly
OK. And I think long term healthy people are
more like that and less like the first. Facts.
Be like Amanda. Be like what Amanda said. Yes.
Growing up in the 90s, you always started diets
on a Monday. Yes. Right, you never started on
a Tuesday. Monday, Thursday of the month, or
whatever it is, yeah. Yep. And so if you messed
up on, like, Wednesday... Oh, well, then. It
was a free throw -up until the next Monday. Those
are free days now. And then I'll start again
on Monday. Yes. And it was always that all -or
-nothing mindset when it came to healthy eating.
You were either on a diet... Yes. ...or you were
not on a diet. Yes. And there was no middle...
Or at least for me, that was how I was. I was
either dieting or I was excessing. Yeah. And
it's almost like you were potentially hyper excessive
from Wednesday to Monday because you knew Monday
was coming. Yeah. So you're like, I fell off
the wagon on a Wednesday. Monday, I'm going to
be back on it. So I'm going to go ham in the
next four days until Monday rolls around. And
thank you for pointing out that part of the environmental
stressors of all this is diet culture, man. Diet
culture messed us up. Especially the 90s. Especially
the 90s. I mean, 90s. I'm assuming 90s. You're
welcome. Yeah. Oh, God, yeah. I don't know if
anyone saw my Instagram, but my eyebrows were
super thin back then. Yeah. Diet culture also
took our eyebrows from us. No. But seriously,
thank you so much, Rebecca, for bringing that
up. And I think there are other diet culture
holdovers that are specific to sugar. So first
of all is the diet starts on Monday. Yeah. Second
of all is that. A healthy diet is restrictive.
It's exclusive. It includes no foods that are
not whole, unprocessed, raw, vegan, probiotic,
perfect, right? And I think that's another message,
especially in metabolic health, that we like
to give to people, which is like your health
is a constellation of factors. Your diet is one,
and it's a really important one. But it also
includes... the five other factors of lifestyle
medicine, right? We also talk about your exercise,
your sleep, your avoidance of alcohol and drugs,
your social connections. And sometimes sugar
is involved in celebrations that are meaningful
to us. And I think it's really important to remember
that emotional eating of sugar also refers to
positive emotions. Right. We eat sugar when we're
celebrating something. Cake when you're happy.
Cake when you're happy. Ice cream when you're
sad. Yeah. Oh, what's that great quote? Oh, man,
I'm going to butcher it. It was something like
I only drink on two occasions when I'm in love
and when I'm not. Yeah. Whoever that's accredited
to, we'll put that in the show notes. But it's
similar. Right. It's like we have to remember
that there are positives around things that in
excess become negatives. Right. So there is a
place on the continuum of healthy eating. For
sugar to exist. And that place is joyful. At
least it is in my house. Last night, last afternoon,
my parents are in town from California. Well,
from Arizona now. New Arizona aliens. And they're
in here. And my dad was baking brownies with
my daughter. And they ate some brownies, man.
They ate some brownies before dinner. And mama
had to bite her tongue. But yeah, they ate brownies
before dinner. And they ate, I don't even know
how many brownies. What, Louise probably had
three. Louise loves a brownie. Two. Two? She's
five years old. Point being, point being, would
it have, did something negatively happen for
my daughter because she made brownies with her
grandfather on a Wednesday afternoon and ate
two of them before dinner? No. She probably didn't
eat dinner, though. Well. She actually, she did.
Oh, she did. Oh, well. Louise is a good eater.
Oh, good girl, Louise. But the point is like,
you know, structurally, there should be exceptions
to any rule. Yeah. And I think sugar is a place
where, you know, we can involve celebration,
involve family time, involve social connection.
And yeah, yeah, sugar shame. Yeah. We're going
to break the sugar shame. And again, as parents,
right? It's one of those things where it's like,
if you're bringing treats to the class. Right.
You get this health halo if you bring, again,
unprocessed. If you just bring fruit, let's put
it that way. You bring fruit, you're a hero.
You bring cookies, you're sugar shamed. And I
think there's there's time. It is time to kind
of be sensible and exist in the gray area when
it comes to sugar. Right. It's not an all or
nothing, good or bad. Does anybody want to share
what their favorite sugar treat is that they've
tried to give up, but they just really, really
can't? Anybody want to share what it is? For
me, I really can't give up chocolate. Like chocolate,
milk. Like in any form? Milk chocolate bars.
Like I've never liked chocolate things. Like
I don't like chocolate milkshake. I don't like
chocolate ice cream. I don't like chocolate cake.
But give me a chocolate bar and I'm, yeah. Which
brand says the audience? So one of the things
I actually did to give up chocolate. because
obviously I love it so much. I haven't entirely
given it up because I switched. So I no longer,
I switched. That's a really good way to actually,
for someone who's got an all or nothing mindset.
Trying to go cold turkey is really hard. It's
easier to replace it with something else. So
actually, I now go for some sugar -free chocolate.
There's a guy in the UK, I'm going to give him
a quick shout out, Sweet Keto Chef. He makes
artisan handmade chocolates, which I use, which
are sugar -free, absolutely delicious. And then
there's some other brands called NYX, which I
tend to sort of bulk buy when I'm in the UK because
they're all sugar -free and they all satisfy
my treat of having a creamy, lovely chocolate,
but without all the sugar. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry?
You can get some in Singapore. So they're off
of some grocery stores. You can buy some sugar
-free chocolate. There's an Australian brand
called Well Naturally. Sometimes, actually, I
like a peanut butter quest bar. Who likes it?
Or a quest cup? Yeah, the peanut butter quest
cup. Have you guys seen those? The peanut butter
quest? Yeah, sure. It's like, yes, I have. A
little bit of extra protein with your sugar and
fat. I actually, I think I got it on Shopee because
a friend from the UK actually originally gave
it to me. And there's this like chocolate hazelnut.
It is delicious and it's clean. I think, yeah,
it's sugar free, vegan, like it's delicious.
Covering it all. It's really, really good. And
I think you can get it. I got it online from
somewhere. I'll double check. I think it was
either Amazon or Shopee. That's my go -to. H
-U or who, I guess? Because it's a capital H
for small u, right? I think I've seen it before.
I think I've seen it in cold storage. Maybe it's
in cold storage now. It's honestly delicious.
And for me, I actually feel like in Singapore,
I don't... overeat chocolate. But when I go back
to the UK, which I've just come back from, I
cannot resist a dairy milk. UK only, though.
It's not the same. So not the one that comes
from America. All the Brits tell me about how
Cadbury in the UK is a total different animal.
So yeah, I've well and truly overeaten for the
last five weeks and need to get back on track.
Yeah, good timing for this episode. But you do.
But yeah, and I think Jasmine and yourself as
well brought up such great points about how do
we break a habit? We replace it. Yeah. We replace
it. It is really hard, guys, to actually break
a habit. Yeah. It's really hard. The neural pathways
are so ingrained in there. It's really hard to
just go cold turkey because one day you're going
to be like, ah, I'm so stressed out. My kid didn't
sleep. He woke me up at 3 a .m. Yeah. I need
something. Yeah. So. You know, like replacing
it with something else is the easiest way. And
it doesn't have to be a sugar -free chocolate
like I do. Maybe you like Greek yogurt and nuts.
Maybe you like something else. Maybe even a protein
shake will do. Whatever it is, it's easier to
replace than to get rid of completely. Yeah,
replacement is a real, and that is a science
-backed strategy. Replacing, you know, for example,
people who smoke when they replace with hard
candy. For example, like when they have the craving
for the Q hits for the smoke, they put something
in their mouth. It's a hard candy that tends
to help them quit smoking faster than if they
just say, I'm just going to resist, man. I'm
just going to not have it. You know, so it helps
to have a replacement. Also, like we said earlier,
it helps to have a identity that is not tied
to your worth based on what you're eating. Yeah,
very helpful. And I think also it's helpful to
do some work, some hard work around how you cope
with stress. how you cope with negative emotions.
Because at the end of the day, even if you're
replacing, okay, even if you believe that you're
a healthy person deep in your soul, in that immediate
moment of stress, of breakup, despair, whatever
it may be, you're going to reach for something.
And I don't mean food necessarily. I could mean
food, but you're going to reach for something.
It might be a glass of wine. It might be a fight
with your partner. It might be some sort of negative
outlet. It can become a positive outlet. And
I think this is where the science gets a little
bit more clear in what works. Replacement works.
Again, identity formation works, but that's hard.
And having some sort of positive reinforcement
absolutely works. Negative reinforcement does
not work. Positive reinforcement is 20 times
more effective at forming a habit. or breaking
a bad habit than negative reinforcement. Meaning
it will be 20 times easier if you tell yourself
that you're doing well or have like a positive
reward coming at you than if your strategy is
always shame or negative or in this case, the
behavior you don't want, right? So it's like
the more you allow the cigarette to happen, the
less you make space for the positive reward to
happen. So positive reinforcement. making sure
that you are confident and knowing that you are
a healthy person, no matter your small transgressions
with sugar, and then finding a behavior that
replaces it that really works for you. And again,
I know that this is relatable for some and not
for others, but exercise is a great one. And
it doesn't have to be lifting weights. It can
be going for a walk. That's what Amanda recommends.
I mean, first of all, I will throw a barbell
to the ground in times of distress. But what
I will say is that exercise is one that works
and obviously has a positive reinforcement benefit
as well. Amanda, you know how people always ask
us, what supplements do you actually take? Yeah,
it's like they think there's some magical midlife
stack that'll just fix everything. Exactly. And
while there's no magic, I do like things that
are intentional and well -formulated like the
longevity bundle from Avea Life. It's one of
the few supplements I'd actually recommend. NMN
for cellular energy. booster with antioxidants
to support recovery and stress, and a collagen
activator because joints and skin need some love
too. Honestly, it's just smart. Three products
that support how we live, busy, health conscious,
and not here for the gimmicks. You can check
it all out at avea -life .com and use code FORMULA20
for 20 % off at checkout. It's clean, effective,
no fluff. A long time now, and you are a beast.
And I want to be you when I grow up because you...
You know, under her clothes, you should see what
she has. She has guns, you know. She has muscles.
And when you watch her IG, like her videos of
her lifting, deadlifting and everything. But
my husband, again, is researching his own body
and specifically sugar. He realized that with
exercise, like you're saying, just exercise,
it releases the sugar in your cells. Yes. have
a sugar spike when you exercise, then you only
need chocolate, right? And you get the endorphins
from the exercise. So that's the motivation to
exercise and you lose weight. Yeah. And I've
seen that. I used to wear a glucose monitor and
just before, sorry, just after a HIIT training
session, I would have a huge sugar rise, but
it wouldn't crash. As if I'd had sugar, it would
just balance down, go down nicely after I'd eaten
because then my body was using the insulin to
put it into all the right places. Yep. And one
other note on exercise and sugar, not that this
is what this episode is about, but I have to
comment, is that a lot of folks don't realize
that your muscles are your sugar reservoir. When
you eat sugar, where it wants to go is actually
into your muscle tissue. True story. It goes
liver and muscles, but obviously you can have
more muscles than you can have more liver. Yeah,
yeah. So that's the point. When you don't have
enough muscles to hold all the sugar that you're
eating, it spills over and that's when it starts
to go into the liver in excess. And fat. So body
fat will then store all the excess sugar that
your body can't be stored when it can't be stored
into the muscle space. Yeah. So your best defense
against sugar -based diseases like diabetes is
more muscle. It's not necessarily less fat. Everyone
thinks that it's a fat loss game when it comes
to managing diabetes and it's actually a muscle
gains game. So just like, again, just, you know,
that's my metabolic health corner sponsored by
the clinic. But that being said, we want to take
these last few minutes to open the floor to y
'all. Anything, the reason you came here today,
you probably had a question on your mind or maybe
just a comment like Rebecca's amazing comment
about diet culture. We would love to hear from
you guys. What's up? And again, we do have a
mic up front. If you guys don't mind speaking
into the mic, just because then the recording
will pick it up. For the recording. I'm happy
to start because I've got the mic in front of
my hand. So we've talked a lot about, you know,
replacing a sugary chocolate with a non -sugary
chocolate, for example, or full Coke for Coke
Zero, which I used to do. And now I seem to be
drawn back to Coke light. a non -sugar advertised
item actually that good for us? Or is it still
actually being processed as sugar? You talked
about the oses, right? If you have that non -sugar
chocolate bar, right? Sucralose, it's still a
sugar. So is it really not sugar? What's the
difference? So you can get things which are things
like sugar alcohols, so different type of non
-nutritive sweeteners. So for example, what's
in Coke Zero is sucralose, right? In Coke Light
is sucralose. In Coke Zero is stevia. So what
that does is that doesn't actually stimulate
a blood sugar response. There are some sweeteners
out there which do, like maltitol, which people
think, oh, is a sugar -free item, but that's
because it's a sugar alcohol, which is technically
not a sugar or alcohol. It's processed differently,
but it does still raise some of your blood sugar
levels. But things like stevia, monk fruit, erythritol,
I can't say it in that one. they actually don't
have an impact on your blood sugar level. So
technically they are then, because yeah, from
that perspective, it will not impact your blood
sugar levels. It will not cause energy crashes.
It will not cause cravings in the same way. Yeah.
Yeah. That's when we get a lot is like, is diet
soda bad for you? And again, if it's diet soda
versus regular soda, no comparison. I mean, it
is a billion times better for you. If it's diet
soda versus water. Not better for you, okay,
because water is obviously chemical -free and
ideal. But in terms of is diet soda the fulcrum
upon which your diet success or failure falls?
Never. It is not. It's fine. On from that, right,
two young kids, cakes always come up about birthday
parties and I need to have this sugar -free cake,
which I'm not a fan of personally. I'd rather
just put the sugar in. But people love to put,
like, you know, honey or your maple syrup in
there, they're all similar, right? Is there really
a big difference in that? Again, we talked about
joy. So I mean more on the nutrition side rather
than the joy side. So when it comes to things
like honey, maple syrup in your body, it does
still impact your blood sugar the same way. So
it really... Your kids are going to get hyper.
They're going to get hyper on sugar. They're
going to get hyper on honey. But the difference
is, is honey will have some vitamins and some
minerals or whatever it is. So it... It really
depends on why you're having it. If it's like
an everyday thing, it's probably not worth it.
But if it's an occasional thing, either will
do. If it makes you feel better that actually
honey is slightly healthier, fine. But if honey
then creeps into your three cups of tea every
single day, it's basically the same as just having
sugar anyway. Yeah, and this is definitely a
dose makes the poison situation as well, right?
If the accumulation of refined sugars over the
course of the diet is too high. Or unrefined
sugars. Yeah, exactly. But if it's part of a
whole foods -based diet and every now and then
there's a cake with real sugar in it, you know
what I mean? Again, it's... Or honey. It just
depends, I guess, on preference when it comes
to that. But I wouldn't say that a honey cake
is any better than a sugar cake in terms of health.
Okay, so we're talking about these sugar replacements.
Yeah. that have like low GI or zero GI effect,
which is a glucose index. Glycemic index. Glycemic
index. And so some people say that, oh, if you
take a lot of stevia, you would get cancer because
it's an artificial sugar. What are your thoughts
on this and how much can one take? This is an
in -rat situation. There was this great website.
Oh, again, I'm going to butcher it, but it was
like something like inrats .com or whatever,
which is like all these studies. that influencers
and other folks cite that are really only based
on studies in rats. You know what I mean? But
they draw the conclusions to humans. This is
one of those in -rat situations. So we do know
that certain artificial sugars, particularly
superlose, in fact, has been known to cause lab
rats to have cancer. But again, in... artificially
high doses where like a human being would never
be taken. Like you'd have to drink like 24 Diet
Cokes per day for 74 days or something. And again,
never actually in humans. So only demonstrated
in rats and only at this volume that is like
really atypical. So it's one of those things
where, yeah, I wouldn't take alarm to having
those fake sugars in the diet at this point.
Now, real quick side note. There are some gut
related problems that people have with particularly
sugar alcohols. So some sugar alcohols can cause
bloating and distension, which can feel very
uncomfortable. Yeah. And not for everyone. But
it is one of those things where, you know, there's
what is healthy and what makes your body feel
not so good. And for some folks, even if it's
zero calories, zero sugar, if you have that particular
protein bar in this particular case. And you're
voting. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, then you're
probably not going to want to return to that
food. So at the end of the day, guys, a whole
foods, unprocessed diet is always going to make
you feel good. So make that your starting point
and then maybe work backwards from there with
the treats that you want to have. When you were
talking about kids and starting this behavior
and habits early, what are your suggestions?
now? What are you guys doing? Are you offering
like fruit as your dessert or what is it that
you guys? I can give a quick example given the
brownies from yesterday is that something that
we do very mindfully and this is more to the
diet culture piece and kind of the role of food
in our lives is that we don't restrict our kids
dessert style foods to only dessert time and
we don't use them as rewards. So we don't say
if you finish all your plate Then you get this
thing. It's like, hey, we bake brownies at two
o 'clock. They were hot at two thirty. We ate
them at two thirty. You know, like that's it's
one of those things where we integrate what would
be seen as treat foods into the everyday fabric
of our lives so that they don't become segmented
out as special or rewards or only. It's part
of something that we enjoy as a family. And it's
not something that you have to earn or that holds
a special place in the diet. So for us, a strategy
that we use is just to make treat foods normal.
We actually take a different approach. So we
tend to be, I'm going to say a low sugar family.
I try not to give my kids sugar regularly. We
also do not give them dessert every day. It's,
you know, it's a, it does become a treat. And
usually they tend to get it after in special
moments. So if they're going to a birthday party,
whatever it is, you know, we won't restrict it
at that point. But, you know, we're like, OK,
you know, you've done great at football today.
You can have an ice cream or whatever it is,
because we're trying to, again, I guess with
the timings, make sure that they're having at
the right times. And again, we haven't made it
part of our daily lifestyle to have dessert every
day at after dinner, because then it's something
that they will come to expect. Yeah. Great question,
though. Open up, folks. Yeah. Again, you pay
the ticket price. Get your question in. I don't
know if it's a question as such, but we haven't
talked about my favourite sugar, which is wine.
Yes. So we were having little chats at the back
going, you know, like our reward at the end of
the day is not a chocolate bar. It's more likely
to be a glass of wine. And especially the social
aspect of drinking wine with, you know, with
friends. And if you're very social, that can
end up sometimes being... I guess a lot of sugar.
So it's not really so much a question or just
a point, but to see what you guys had to say
about that side of sugar. I mean, those who have
had consultations with me, not pointing to anyone
in this room, but y 'all know who you are. When
we talk about alcohol, I like to use the analogy
of the train on the tracks. So the train on the
tracks is your metabolism, right? So you're going
through your day. Everything's running great,
right? You wake up, you eat, the train starts
going. The exercise, the train goes a little
faster. You know, you have some nice, you know,
you have a good night's sleep. The train's right
there on the track. Now comes in the alcohol.
Suddenly, the train is diverted, the metabolic
train, meaning the processes you were setting
up with food and sleep and regular exercise,
meaning fat burning and muscle protein synthesis,
the two most important things that most of us
are concerned with for body composition. Those
are now in the off position. And you flicked
on the get this alcohol out of my system part
of your metabolism, right? The detoxifying part
of the metabolism. Alcohol, unfortunately, is
and will always be a poison in a way that sugar
is not, as a matter of fact. So your body knows
what to do with sugar. Your body does not know
what to do with alcohol except get it the F out
of my body. So when you introduce alcohol in
any quantity, and like I said, I hate to be the
bearer of bad news, it shuts off. all of the
other things that your metabolism would otherwise
be doing for you in a positive way. You aren't
burning fat. You aren't building muscle. And
it has the longer -term effect of disrupting
your sleep, which then prolongs the lack of fat
burning as well as difficulty building muscle.
So if you're someone who is on a body composition
journey, on a weight gain journey for musculature,
someone who's trying to become a better athlete,
Alcohol, unfortunately, cannot do you any favors.
I'm not trying to become an athlete then. So
we actually put a glucose monitor on my dad and
we had a barbecue on the weekend. And I know
he was eating all the stuff he shouldn't have
been eating. And he was also drinking alcohol
at the same time. When I was checking his glucose
monitor, I said to him, Dad, what did you eat
at 2 a .m.? He was like, nothing. I didn't eat
anything at 2 o 'clock. But what alcohol did
was because... Alcohol had to get out of the
system. It delayed the glucose spike to later
on. And it basically showed this massive spike
and crash when you should have been sleeping.
Again, disrupting the sleep. Yeah. Yeah. So I
know. Sorry. Rebecca's going to put the mic down
and walk out of this event. But and again, back
to positive social connections is one of the
six pillars of lifestyle medicine. There is there
is a place for mindful drinking, but just make
sure it's mindful. You know, knowledge is power.
And if you are in control of the choices that
you're making, then, you know, you acknowledge
the tradeoffs. And then it gets to that point,
doesn't it? When you start having one glass,
then one glass becomes one bottle. Then one bottle
becomes, you know, a bag of chips and whatever
else it is. And I think that basically doesn't
help to whatever your goals are overall. Interesting
fun fact, back to what you had asked me earlier
about Ozempic. Folks that start taking Ozempic
or other GLP -1 agonist drugs do tend to find
that their desire to drink alcohol also decreases.
So, you know, more research is showing that it's
not just it works on your appetite necessarily.
It works on kind of your desire or cravings.
And it's also shown on people who've got shopping
addictions as well. Gambling as well. Gambling
as well. There's a bunch of new research. Like
how far can this drug go? So stay tuned. Great
question. Thank you. Any other questions? Oh,
just behind you, Rebecca. Jasmine, you just mentioned
the glucose monitors. Is that the answer to kind
of give you the kicker or the insight in terms
of how bad it really is? I think the insight
can really help because you might be insulin
resistant. You might have prediabetes. I'm not
saying everyone does, but you know that. At this
age, you do tend to become a bit more insulin
resistant, especially if your hormones are playing
off. I know you might say, right, well, you know,
I wake up, I have a smoothie in the morning.
I then go on and have a sandwich for lunch and
whatever it is. And that smoothie could be...
making your home your glucose go all over the
place because it might be too much glucose for
you so um understanding what's happening with
the foods that you were eating it will give you
that insight that you need you don't have to
use it forever even like just two weeks of knowing
what you generally eat will give you that sort
of it's like a fact finding thing so you know
you can get on there and figure out what works
for you what doesn't maybe um A sourdough toast
on its own with butter isn't working, but you
can add on some avocado, maybe some eggs, eat
smoked salmon, and you're like, oh, do you know
what? This is better for me. This is not spiking
my blood sugar levels. Yeah, it's absolutely
a fact -finding mission, I think. My husband
and I, we obviously have these at our live clinic,
and we had to test ourselves, right? And I kept
trying to make it spike. My thing was like, what
can actually make my blood sugar spike? The only
thing over 10 days that made it spike? this might
be interesting for some of you, is mango sticky
rice. I remember asking you that. Mango sticky
rice. The combination, I think, of fructose from
the mango, glucose from the white rice, and then
probably some sucrose from the, you know, coconut
sauce stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that triple
sugar, like, boom, that was the only thing that
got me up. And one of the surprising ones that
I found was we went to Harry's and they had some
chicken satay and my blood sugar. spiked like
crazy. And here I was thinking, oh, I'm just
having chicken satay. But yeah, it was intense.
It was a crazy, crazy spike. So I fast. Yeah.
And I really enjoy it. Intermittent fasting.
I'm 16, 8 or 18, 4. Sometimes I do like 48 hours.
Is it fasting for 18? 18 hours and 4 hours of
eating. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'm sorry, six. Yeah,
I was like, that just took that up to me. It's
20 and four. 16, eight, or 18, six. So my husband,
again, is obsessed with this, and he's doing
his research on it. So he wears this monitor,
like, often, CGM. What is it? Continuous glucose
monitor. And so we also noticed in his research
that when you're fasting, you're... actually
releasing a lot of burning all of your sugar.
Yeah. But my question, though, is really like,
as women, we are then told, how do we know fast?
Do we do 16A, which is recommended for most 40
people, most of us in the 40s? And if that will
help our sugar levels, like, do you recommend
it? Do you not? I think it's all very individualized.
I think everyone should probably go 12 hours
regardless. A 12 -hour overnight fast technically
isn't a fast. It should just be the time in which
you don't eat because your body does need to
rest and digest. Now, I've done a lot of fasting.
I used to do 36 hours sort of on and off rotating
fasting. If you listen to season one, you can
hear Jasmine's stomach rumble. Yes, you can.
You can. But I actually switched that up because
what I found was after a certain point, I started
losing a lot of muscle and those aggressive fasts
were just too much for me. So I've stopped fasting
like that. Then I switched over to fasting. From
the morning and having a late lunch and then
a dinner, realized that wasn't working for me.
And now I'm fasting again, but I switched it
up. So I tend to eat dinner by 4 p .m. And what
I've realized is by stopping at 4 o 'clock, I
will get into the rest state, my parasympathetic
state, much faster at night. My recovery scores
are amazing. My sleep is amazing. And I actually
wake up feeling better. And so I will front load
my food. I will eat breakfast. I'll have lunch,
maybe a very early dinner. If I need an extra
meal, but usually I'll have two meals and that
is sufficient for me. But it really depends on
your own journey. Because for some women, actually
fasting in the morning may raise their cortisol
levels. If you're highly stressed, you become
more insulin. because your body thinks that there's
a famine happening and then it won't process
the, yeah. So your body is clever. It wants you
to be fat, guys, I'm telling you. Yeah, yeah.
And I think just to build on that, what we do
at Lift Clinic, right, is when we're advising
patients for weight management, we say you got
three levers you can pull to change your weight.
One is to restrict calories, overall energy.
One is to restrict food type. So, for example,
eliminating carbohydrates. And one is to restrict
the time in which you eat. You can even combine.
So that's my point. They're like dials. And so
for each individual patient, it might be a different
combination of those dials. Some just turn up
the time restriction, and that's enough for them.
And that helps with, yeah. Typically, man. Yeah.
Some use a little bit of time restrictions. Let's
say, like you said, 12 hours of digestive rest.
And then they also maybe reduce their carbohydrate
load. And that works for them. They use the middle
one and the time one. So using those three dials
is how each and every one of us can adjust our
body composition. But it's very much up to what
your lifestyle is, how you exercise, when you
exercise, and what your eventual goals are. Yeah.
Sapna? Hi. Yeah. I recently read a book or listened
to a podcast, I can't remember what, from the
Glucose Goddess. I've forgotten her real name.
Jessie Inge. And obviously, in an ideal world,
we would all like to just reduce sugar, period,
and avoid it. But what are your thoughts about
some of the hacks that she presents in terms
of either timing around food, which I think you've
kind of addressed, but I think another couple
of them are... And she sometimes suggests to
have like apple cider vinegar before having either
sugary or, you know, high carb -y kind of food.
And I think one of the others is the order in
which you eat food. So if you are presented with
like protein, carbs, fats, kind of start with
your protein and your fats, leave the carbs and
leave the sugar to the end. I think there's a
few others. But yeah, what are your thoughts
generally on some of these like hacks? Is it
a case of, obviously, ideally avoid everything,
but if you are going to have it, you know, try
and... Ideally avoid everything, yes. But, you
know, we live in the real world and, you know,
sometimes we need a treat. So, yeah, just general
thoughts on these kind of things. Generally,
it does make a difference. So is it the acetic
acid in the vinegar, which will help to blunt
the glucose spike? So it doesn't mean you won't
get a glucose spike, but it just means that it's
going to be lesser. have a lesser effect on your
blood sugar levels same with timing which is
what i mentioned earlier you know having it sort
of in the i guess in the middle of the day after
exercise again even the order in which you eat
food so if you end up eating your veggies and
your which is the fiber and the protein first
before you eat the carbohydrate element you'll
have a lower glucose spike than you would if
you were to eat it you know with the you know
dessert first followed by the rest of your meal
yeah And I think, you know, the glucose goddess,
I think she has a lot of amazing tips. And I
think she translates a lot of kind of study -based
information about glucose and glycemic index
into what's very actionable. But of course, you
know, sitting here in the athlete's chair, I
must caution folks that you have to come at the
information that you're looking for with a profile
that is like your own. So I'm not insulin resistant.
I don't need to cut carbs. So if I was to adhere
to some of the things that the glucose goddess
was saying, for me personally, my performance
would suffer. I wouldn't be getting enough carbohydrates
and enough fast -acting carbs for what I need
for my athletic endeavors. So I think, you know,
when you are seeking out health information,
either, you know, make sure that it is deeply
personalized, you know, like what, you know,
Sarah's husband Dean does, what we do, or make
sure that the profile of that person matches
your profile of the thing that you're trying
to achieve. Because I do think there is some
caution in just saying, yeah, carbs are bad,
sugar's terrible. It's like, but wait, if you're
an athlete, you know, I take pure maltodextrin.
for certain events that I do because that's the
only way that I can hit the paces that I need.
So, you know, for some folks, it's more of knowing,
not for some folks, for everyone, it's more of
being able to execute your sugar consumption
in a way that makes sense for your performance
outcomes. So just a little caveat there. Yeah,
yeah, for sure. Anything else, guys? All right.
Well, folks, I think we have come to the end
of our very first live event with the 40s Formula.
Thank you so much. Can you get a round of applause?
Thank you. For an amazing audience. Another round
of applause for Guzman y Gomez and the Green
Collective for sponsoring this event. And can
we just get a little size applause for our team,
our amazing audio video team, Amir and Hanafi,
helping us out from start to finish with this
event. You guys, we could not have done it without
you. So really, thank you. So, guys, sugar, not
our best friend. More like a frenemy. But that
being said, that doesn't mean that we have to
exclude her from every party, okay? She can be
invited every now and then. And we just hope
that you're feeling more educated and empowered
to know the role of sugar in your own lives.
Thank you, guys. We really appreciate you all
being here. If you haven't already, you can grab
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You'll see half this stuff in there. Make sure
you take a look around afterwards. And, again,
keep your boundaries firm, your blood sugar stable,
and we will see you guys next time. I've actually
got one quick thing, which we forgot to mention.
Amanda and I are really, really excited to say
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We would really appreciate your support in getting
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is incredible. Incredible. We didn't expect it.
Yeah, so we're really excited. So thank you,
guys. Thank you. You know, we talk a lot on the
podcast about showing up for ourselves, but it
really does start with what we put in our bodies.
Exactly. I'm at that stage where I want to feel
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