I don’t like to promote products or programmes on this blog but on Monday Channel 4 is doing a Dispatches on sugar – is it addictive? I’ve little idea what the programme will contain in terms of content and whether I’ll agree with it or not but I’m highly gratified to see how much sugar is at last taking central stage in the what we eat and obesity debate – or diabesity as some are now calling it.
Sugar is the problem we need to face. Not fat. For years we’ve been told to cut back on fat. But sugar was left alone. Sugar makes food palatable, enjoyable, desirable. We crave foods with sugar in them – whether it’s there naturally as in fruit and vegetables or added as in cakes and chocolate. Sugar makes life bearable and it’s small wonder such huge fortunes and industries were built on it when it was discovered. Entire cities were built on sugar – and the slave trade that was forced to harvest it. If sugar were discovered today, would we treat it as a Class A drug? Anyway I’ll be tuning in at 8pm on Monday to see how Dispatches handles this.
Diets need sleep to work
I’ve been very busy this week hence no diet blog until today. I’m not complaining about being busy – it’s not allowed is it? With so much unemployment and under employment we all have to be grateful if we have it and I am, I am. But I lost a bit of sleep this week, partly due to the full moon and partly due to staying in a hotel. I never sleep well in hotels. You only have a small window of sleep available if you’re a light sleeper. You have to gauge it around the 12.30/1am mark to try to start sleeping because it’s not till then that most guests have finally gone to bed and the door slamming and creaking floorboards above and around you eventually stop. Then you’re woken at around 6 when the earliest guest gets up and announces this as loudly as they possibly can.
Is there a hotel where this doesn’t happen? If you know of one, do let me know please! Can’t hotel bedroom doors be made so they don’t automatically slam? Anyway, lack of sleep means I ate more to compensate. I’m not making excuses. Tis a physiological fact that losing sleep makes you more hungry – and hungry for sugary carb-high foods which is where we came in. Plus working away from home makes you long for home comforts and feeling a little deprived, you eat more to make up for it. So, if you want your diet to work, make sure you get plenty sleep. I’ll be sleeping this one off over the weekend and expect my appetite to return to normal and the diet to go back on track. I’m sure there’s some evidence somewhere that people who work away from home a lot or face long commutes put on weight? Anyway, I’ll get it back.
Have a good Friday, a great weekend and we’ll do it all again next week. That’s a full lid.
