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Vitamin D Deficiency Causes And Treatment

Anusha Ganesan nutrition, health, healthy body, healthy eating, wellness , , , , 17 Comments
benefits of sunshine vitamin d deficiency

Common Vitamin D Deficiency Causes And Treatment

The most common Vitamin D Deficiency causes and recommended treatment. Are you wondering if you should be taking vitamin D supplements? The truth is most people today are deficient in this essential vitamin. The biggest reason for low levels of vitamin D is reduced exposure to the sun. According to Van Schooler (2017), people all over the world are deficient in this essential vitamin. 

How is vitamin D made in the body?

So how is vitamin D produced in the body? Ultraviolet (UV) B radiation penetrates uncovered skin and converts cutaneous 7-dehydrocholesterol to pre-vitamin D3. Pre-vitamin D3 is then converted to Calcidiol (i.e. 25-hydroxycholecalciferol) in the liver. Calcidiol is converted to active vitamin D, vitamin D3 (also called Calcitriol 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol) in the kidney. 

What does Vitamin D do? 

Vitamin D3  acts at the genetic level, in this sense, it can turn specific genes on/off thus regulating the cell’s activities. It does so by binding with the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR), which is present in most cells in the body. 

By now we all know that Vitamin D3, the active form of vitamin D, is required for building and maintaining bones. It also has an impact on the intestines, immune and cardiovascular systems, pancreas, muscles, brain, and the control of cell cycles. (Nair et al.)

 An adequate amount of vitamin D is  required to aid in:

  1. Calcium and Phosphorus absorption from the gut
  2. Maintain immunity, 
  3. Stimulate insulin production, 
  4. Cognitive functions

The Sunshine Vitamin has been demonstrated in clinical studies to-

  1. Help prevent cancer and CVD
  2. Act as an Anti-hypertensive
  3. Reduce the risk of Type 2 Diabetes
  4. Alleviate depression

So, we can keep mostdiseases at bay by maintaining normal levels of this vitamin.

Vitamin D Deficiency Causes:

According to the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), low serum levels of vitamin D, (below 25 nmol/l (10ng/ml)) increases the risk of poor musculoskeletal health. Vitamin D deficiency is when the levels are below 20 ng/ml. 

VDD poses health risks such as loss of bone mineral density leading to fractures and osteoporosis in adults, rickets in children, the risk of developing CVD (Judd et al.). Moreover, Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is correlated with Parkinson’s disease, Autoimmune diseases (type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Rheumatoid arthritis, and auto-immune thyroid disease).

Groups at risk of vitamin D deficiency (VDD):

  1. Breastfed infants and  Children, 
  2. Older adults,
  3. Pregnant and breastfeeding women, 
  4. Those suffering from fat malabsorption in the following diseases: Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, liver cirrhosis, obstruction of the bile duct by gallstones, chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, gastric bypass (bariatric surgery), short bowel syndrome (after surgical removal of a large part of the small intestine), and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). 
  5. People with limited sun exposure
  6. People with dark skin -Due to a large amount of melanin which results in darker skin, this type of skin takes relatively more time as compared to a lighter skin tone to produce vitamin D. 
  7. Obese people: People with BMI ≥30 have lower serum vitamin D levels in comparison to non-obese people. Obesity may call for a higher intake of vitamin D than usually required since a higher amount of subcutaneous fat captivates more of the vitamin altering its release into the circulation. (Nair et al.)

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Symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency:

Signs of low vitamin D are non-specific and include frequent infections, muscle weakness, tiredness, tooth decay, and backache. So, it’s wise to get your Vitamin D levels checked if you see these symptoms occurring more often. Supplemental Vitamin D: D3 (cholecalciferol) can help restore vitamin D levels to normalcy (>=20ng/ml). It is more efficacious than D2 (Ergocalciferol).

 

best sources of vitamin d infographic

Sources of Vitamin-D:

Sunlight: Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D you can get. If you live in a place that receives abundant sunshine, you can get all the vitamin D you need, provided you sunbathe for a few times per week. Exposure to sunlight for 5 -30 minutes sans sunscreen (face, arms, legs, etc.) between 10 am to 3 pm in Summers helps the body synthesize the required amount of vitamin D. Caution: Avoid overexposure to the sun as this may cause sunburn, skin aging, and skin cancer.

Vitamin D Food Sources: Make sure you include natural vitamin D rich food sources such as fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, cod liver oil) and egg (with yolk). Vitamin D-fortified foods such as milk, yogurt, and cheese are some other sources of vitamin D.

If you are a vegan, then you can go for sun-dried mushrooms and microalgae. Sundried mushrooms contain the D2 form of vitamin D. If consumed when fresh, the D2 levels will likely be above 10 μg/100 g fresh. Note: The vitamin D2 levels decrease with storage and cooking. [Cardwell et al.]

Freshwater microalgae were found to contain 80 μg of D3/100 g besides ergosterol, D2, and &-dehydrocholesterol. [Japelt et al.]

This means we can still get some vitamin D in winter, a time when the levels are generally found to be low. And when many people suffer from (SAD) Seasonal Affective Disorders.

If your vitamin D levels are below 20ng/ml, you should consider taking a supplement because the food sources of vitamin D alone are not going to be enough to maintain normal serum levels of this vitamin.

How much  Vitamin D should you supplement?

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, 10 mcg/day of supplemental vitamin D is sufficient for most people. 

For babies, 8.5 to 10 mcg per day is recommended only if the baby is taking less than 500 ml of formula per day. 10 mcg is recommended for children aged 1-4 yrs. However, for adults higher doses of the vitamin can confer a lot more benefits. The upper safe limit is 4000 IU or 100 mcg. The required dosage depends on the level of deficiency. 

Consult your physician to find the right dose to normalize your vitamin D levels.

VITAMIN D Deficiency Treatment:

Even though sunlight is the best source of Vitamin D, it is not available to us throughout the year. Besides, including Vitamin D rich foods alone is not capable of restoring the serum levels of this vitamin to normalcy. Hence the need for vitamin D supplements, especially in winter. 

According to an interesting article I read, vitamin D supplementation has shown a preventive role in respiratory tract infections. Given that vitamin D has an impact on immune responses, it may act as an anti-infective agent as well. But, this is yet to be proved clinically in large populations. 

When it comes to choosing Vitamin D supplements, Biocare has variants for different conditions and age groups. Children can benefit from a flavored-liquid and bioavailable form of vitamin D3. While adults with malabsorption can go for Nutrisorb Liquid Biomulsion D– it can be taken as a sublingual vitamin D spray, under the tongue or as a drop as well They also have Vitamin D drops for babies.

Nutrisun is another company that offers a Vitamin D spray. This is a good choice for vegetarians since they source their vitamin D from lanolin which comes from sheep’s wool. 

Vegan Vitamin D: If you are a vegan, then you would be happy to know that there are vegan sources as well, such as the one that Protea Wellness offers. In their case, vitamin D (cholecalciferol) comes from Lichen (a combination of algae or cyanobacteria and fungi living together). 

Risks of overdosing:

The clinical symptoms of Vitamin D toxicity (VDT) are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, apathy, confusion, excessive thirst (polydipsia), excessive urination (polyuria) and dehydration.

Prevent overdosing on vitamin D as it may lead to too much absorption of calcium leading to hypercalcemia. This happens due to excessive long-term intake of the vitamin. Serum levels of Calcitriol higher than 150 ng/ml (375 nmol/ml) is an indication of vitamin D overdose. (Suchowierska et al.)

Always make sure that you buy a vitamin D supplement from a reputed manufacturer to lower the risk of overdose.

Summary:

The Sunshine Vitamin may play a role to help prevent or reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, CVD, hypertension, and cancer; alleviate depression apart from aiding the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. 

Vitamin D deficiency is when the serum levels of this vitamin are below 20 ng/ml. 

Limited sun exposure, old age, fat malabsorption, dark skin, and obesity are some causes of Vitamin D deficiency (VDD). 

Signs of low vitamin D levels are frequent infections, muscle weakness, tiredness, tooth decay, and backache. It is best to get your serum vitamin D levels checked if you experience these signs more often. 

VDD gives rise to health risks such as Osteoporosis (in adults), rickets (in children). Research correlates vitamin D to the risk of CVD, Type 2 diabetes and other health disorders.

There are some vitamin D rich foods, such as cod liver oil, sun-dried mushrooms, microalgae, and some vitamin D-fortified foods. But these decent sources of vitamin D cannot help you reach normal vitamin D levels if you are deficient in this vitamin.    

Sunlight is THE BEST SOURCE of Vitamin D. It is enough to get all the vitamin D your body needs if bare skin is exposed to sunlight 5-30 minutes. 

If for any reason you are unable to get enough sunlight, resort to Vitamin D supplements, especially the sublingual vitamin D spray. To avoid overdosing, it is best not to take beyond 4000 IU or 100 mcg of vitamin D supplement per day. This is because long term consumption of excess vitamin D leads to toxicity.

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Clean Eating – 5 Steps To Eat Clean

The World Of Health Uncategorized, health, healthy eating, holistic, nutrition, wellness , , , 28 Comments
clean eating lifestyle

 Clean Eating

What is Clean Eating? And how can you start eating clean today?. Why is cleaning eating becoming increasingly popular and supposed to be so good for our health and wellbeing?

What Is Clean Eating?

Clean eating basically refers to eating foods that are in their more organic, raw, natural and whole state. Rather than eating adultered, processed, modified foods. Foods that are baked and/or cooked foods with trans fats, additives, refined or artificial sugars. So clean eating is not a faddy diet or weight loss program but a more natural way of eating. That naturally helps you become more healthy and often lose excess wait.

Clean Eating in many ways is the natural way our ancestors consumed their food. This is how we were supposed to eat before foods became genetically modified, sprayed with chemicals and pesticides, or injected with hormones. In-fact then most people would eat their food with minimum adulteration. They would pick fruits and nuts straight from the trees, dig up vegetables from the garden or land. And other than cooking or pickling there were no added artificial sweeteners or highly refined sugars.

 

Clean Eating Is healthy eating

A more clean diet helps you choose high-quality, high-nutrient, more raw and organic food sources. To support and encourage more optimal wellbeing. The purer, fresher and more raw our food is the more nutrients, energy, fuel it has to repair, restore and heal the body. Clean eating is great for the skin, it is a natural detoxifier. Unhealthy eating means our organs, digestive, and detox system has to work so much harder. With a cleaner diet, the body is in a more natural state of homeostasis.

Worldwide Addiction To Unhealthy Eating

Today people are dying, getting sick because of their unclean and unhealthy diet. Data from the 2009-10 National Health and Nutrition Examination showed evidence that 58% of the american diet was from ultra-processed food.According to the Guardian “UK families buy more ultra-processed food than any others in Europe, amounting to 50.7% of the diet. Germany comes second, on 46.2% and then Ireland on 45.9%. ” Salt, sugar, highly processed carbohydrates, and trans fats are causing so many health issues from obesity to diabetes, heart disease to overstimulation.

clean eating lifestyle

5 Easy Steps To Clean Eating

    1. Buy Fresh Produce – Choose as much fresh produce, loose produce that you can. Most clean food can be bought loosely, has no or very little packaging think about fruit, vegetables, raw nuts, raw seeds, fish, meat
    2. Clean Your Fresh Produce – Clean all fruit and vegetables as soon as you bring them home, before putting them in the fridge or cupboard. Simply 1 part white vinegar to 4 cups of water.
    3. Eat Organic When You Can – Choose organic when you can, you would be surprised how dirty and polluted many fresh foods are with chemicals, hormones, pesticides. Check out the dirty dozen foods that have the most pesticides and toxins, these are the ones you should try and by as organic when possible. If any of your fruit and vegetable were in a box or bag, check out the country they were grown. Some countries use more pesticides than others.
    4. Eat Raw When You Can – Your diet should contain as many raw fresh plant-based foods that you can eat. Except perhaps in the more winter months, when you eat should be eating lots of healthy hot soups, healthy stews, lentil casseroles without additives, grilled fish or meat. Prepare little snack boxes of fruit and vegetable crudites for snacks. Have a healthy juice or smoothie as part of your breakfast.
    5. Don’t Fry Your Food – Reduce your temptation to fry, especially using oils that turn into transfats, try to bake or grill when possible.

Clean eating in many ways is part of a more naturally healthy way of life. It helps you realign with what is important and healthy for you and your family’s wellbeing. With simple gradual changes in your diet and buying habits, you will soon be adopting a clean eating lifestyle.

Healthy – What Does Healthy Mean?

Jen Martin holistic, health, healthy body, healthy eating, lifestyle, wellness , , , , , 18 Comments
what does healthy mean - the world of health

What does Healthy mean?

Healthy means having good health. Is the opposite of sick, but also can mean “doing

well” in a general sense. Each of us strive to be healthy.

But many of us have illnesses, chronic disease, auto-immune disorders or just

symptoms that appear out of nowhere and don’t know where they came from. So, you

call your Dr. to evaluate what’s going on and he/she prescribes you medication to treat

the “symptom”. Not considering what is causing the symptom in the first place.  And of

course, we all know there are side effects to medications, which in some cases can be

worse than the actual symptom itself.

The Wheel of Life; Wellness 360

Wellness 360 is a Holistic perspective.  Each of the tabs on the wheel interconnect

between all parts of ourselves. Each person has unique circumstances and needs.

Creating balance by making small changes – when we make changes in one area of our

life, we often notice it changes other areas….interconnected.

healthy what does healthy mean the wheel of life

In considering your Core foods (inner layer) and what areas might be out of balance, you

may find that there are many things affecting your imbalance.  It can be overwhelming

to look at all the areas where you don’t feel that you are achieving exactly what you want

to or realizing that each area has some percentage of “unfulfillment”.

The Wheel of Life is a way to take a closer look at the whole picture, to really drill

down into what specific things are in or out of balance.

The Inner Wheel

Represents activities and things that affect you DIRECTLY. The food you take in or the

fresh air you breathe.

Water

 Sunshine

 Air

 Food

 Movement

 Sleep

The Outer Wheel

Consists of indirect things that affect a person’s health and well-being.

Relationships

 Careers

 Finances

 Mindset

 Spirituality

 Purpose

Let’s take a closer look at the inner layers (CORE) to see how they directly affect us.

healthy what does healthy mean to you the world of health

Wellness 360 Food

Most conversations about taking good care of your body includes the emphasis on the

food you eat. At YOU Wellness, we know that our nutrition is a significant foundational

part of our wellness practice. Healthy eating is crucial if we want to feel and look the

best we possibly can.

*3

Talking about the element of Food is important when it comes to wellness for many

reasons. First, of course, is that nutrition is one of the hottest topics when it comes to

being healthy.

What we eat directly impacts how we look, how we feel, and how we do a lot of things.

It’s also one of the most confusing and ever-changing elements. When you use the

Wellness 360-wheel, Food becomes an element that is simpler than you think.

There are several aspects that make up the element of Wellness 360 Food.

These include things like:

The specific types of foods that we put into our mouths.

 The amount and quality of the food.

 How we eat that food, such as in a hurry or at a peaceful, slow pace.

 Noticing whether the food gives us energy or makes us feel tired.

 Checking in to see whether the food feels nourishing.

 Paying attention to whether the food makes us feel good after eating it.

Healthy Eating Is as Unique as You Are

Every person on the planet has specific biochemistry, environment, and lifestyle. When

combined, we are each quite unique. That means that each diet and nutrition plan out

there isn’t good for every person. It’s not a one diet-fits all. The food you eat needs to be

as unique as you are. Each person has specific individual needs. There are many factors

that influence which foods are best for you as an individual.

Wellness 360 Rest

Generally, it’s hard to improve your physical wellness for life when other parts of your

life might be under stress or unhealthy  One of the elements that can support you to gain

perspective on your life and see the connections between all the Wellness 360 elements

is the element of Rest.

The first reason it’s so important is that rest and sleep affect us on so many levels. When

we initially think of rest, we tend to think of sleep. And sleep is one of the biggest health

challenges that people in our culture face today.

Rest as a Wellness 360 element encompasses more than sleep, of course. The overall

American and western attitude toward rest is to try to minimize it as much as possible.

We put value on getting more done, being more productive, and being more efficient.

But we’ve lost our value for rest in our culture. Our quality and quantity of rest has

decreased, causing many problems ranging from minor health issues to major

challenges.

But when we’re talking about rest, we mean more than just sleep. Rest is a bigger idea

than that. It’s all about valuing our self-care practices. Rest also includes our downtime

and the ways that we intentionally slow down. It’s all about taking time to enjoy a

hobby, relaxing entertainment, or restful activities. Rest is about the things we can do to

release stress, calm our bodies, and power down our minds for a while.

Pay Attention to Your Energy Levels

You might be one of the lucky ones who sleep well and then wake up energized and

ready to start your day. Or you might wake up dragging from the first moment your feet

hit the floor. Notice your energy levels at the beginning of the day, but also pay close

attention to how they change throughout the day.

Do you feel exhausted by lunchtime? Are you loading up on caffeine just to get through

the day? Are you dragging all day long and then laying in bed wide awake at night? Keep

a journal to track your energy levels, then compare it to other activities and the food

you’re eating to discover patterns and correlations.

Check in With the Wellness 360 Wheel

Oftentimes, our quality of rest is directly affected by other aspects of our lives. If you’re

struggling through a bad patch with your partner, it might be really hard to sleep at

night. Lots of elements can be making it hard to go to sleep and to stay asleep. They can

also make us feel less motivated to engage in self-care, right during a time when we

might need it most.

 

Get Better Rest and Sleep

Taking good care of yourself is essential to achieving wellness. This includes focusing on

resting more, giving yourself better self-care, and ensuring that your sleep each nigh is

restful.

Wellness 360 Water

Water is an incredibly important part of your wellness routine and something to

consider when improving your overall health. There are many ways to look at Water and

ways to consider how it impacts our well-being.

Importance of Water for Health

One of the reasons we should talk about water is the fact that over half of the human

body is made of water. It’s an important element in our organs, our blood, and even our

bones. Water’s job in our bodies ranges from insulating our organs to lubricating our

joints, to forming the building blocks of cells.

Water is also an important part of the elimination system, carrying waste and toxins out

of our bodies. Water for health is always important to create a healthier body and a

more balanced wellness practice.

The simplest understanding of water for health is that we take in water through drinking

and eating. When we drink water, we are contributing a crucial element to our body for

its survival. We want to continually replenish the water in our bodies so it can support

our organs, joints and cells.

Without water, we become dehydrated and when that happens, our bodies can’t

function properly. Our cells become sluggish and too dry to perform their functions

optimally. We depend on water to live, way down to the cellular level. The quality of

water we’re drinking also greatly affects us. Dehydration can have a negative impact on

your wellness, so it’s important to balance water for health and well-being.

Here are a few ways you can get started with balancing your water element.

1. Keep track of your water intake.

Write down when you drink water and how much you’re taking in. Pay attention

to when you feel thirsty and make note of it.

2. Pay attention to the other beverages you’re drinking.

If you’re a big coffee drinker, notice what it does to your thirst and bathroom

visits. Caffeine tends to trick the body into eliminating water, which will leave you

dehydrated. Also, keep a close eye on other things you drink, such as sodas, diet sodas, teas,

juices and alcohol. Some of these liquids are hydrating and others are

dehydrating. Some of them will wreak havoc with your water fluid balance. Water

is always the best thing to drink for your health.

Wellness 360 Sun

It’s vitally important to get about 10 minutes of natural midday sunlight every single day

– and it’s crucial in the winter. This is true even if it’s overcast outside. We spend a

whopping 90% of our time indoors – and that’s where everyone else’s germs are

multiplying! Sunlight boosts the immune system by converting cholesterol to vitamin D.

It stimulates the thyroid gland; ensures sound sleep by triggering melatonin production at

night; and boosts the mood. Get outside for a walk and get your vitamin D for the day.

A minimum of 20 minutes per day when the sun is high in the sky is ideal for optimum

vitamin D intake. You’ll also feel more energized once you soak up some sunlight.

Wellness 360 Air

One of the important elements of Wellness 360 is Air. At the most basic level, our body

is alive because of the air we breathe in. It’s literally our life force and the element that

makes it possible for all the cells in our body to thrive.

The air you breathe contains a lot of oxygen, which is an essential element for life. Every

one of your cells needs it in order to carry out their functions and keep you moving.

When you breathe in, air moves into your lungs, then oxygen travels to all the places it

needs to go through the bloodstream.

 

Understanding the Air Element

The element of Air focuses on the actual air coming into our lungs when we breathe in.

Since air is such a vital part of our life force, it’s important to consider the quality as it

will affect our physical health. Improving our wellness isn’t complete until we’ve

addressed the ways in which we take in air.

Air as Nature and Outdoors

As a Wellness 360 element, Air also represents the air outside and nature. This includes

our environment and how we treat it. That includes how the environment impacts our

air quality, which then affects our health. An environment that is treated poorly and has

become unhealthy will have negative effects on our health. On the flip side, when we

lovingly care for our environments, it can have a hugely positive effect on our mental

and physical health.

When we are exposed to air pollution for any length of time, it can harm our respiratory

system, lungs, and cardiovascular system (our heart). Long exposures to pollution can

lead to serious diseases and health effects that can be devastating.

Air as Indoor Environment

Your indoor environment is also important. The air quality of our homes has a huge

impact on the air we breathe in and our overall physical health. Our homes are our safe

havens, away from the outdoor environments that surround us. The quality of the air we

take in within our homes is an important consideration when balancing wellness and

health.

Air as Breath

While the quality of the air you breathe in is super important, it’s also crucial to consider

how you are doing the physical breathing.

Most people breathe in using just their upper chest, taking in very short and shallow

breaths. For ultimate health, we need to be breathing in deeper ways. Air should move

in your nose, down into your lungs, filling up so fully that your belly rises. It should

then make its way back out, leaving through your nose or mouth fully. Intentional

breathing brings in the most efficient levels of oxygen, bringing vitality and true

oxygenation to every cell in the body.

Learning how to breathe properly impacts our well-being at a deep level. Deep breathing

helps to calm our nervous system, and slower breathing can de-escalate panic and

anxiety.

Wellness 360 Body

Wellness 360 is a holistic philosophy that supports the integration of all areas of our

well-being. But it’s not just one-dimensional. It’s a three-dimensional, layered system

that supports the whole person. Each layer of Wellness 360 can be used to change your

health and life on different levels. Going beyond just our external health, Wellness 360

takes us to the inner layer of ourselves and can help us define and evolve our whole

being.

On the first layer – the physical, external layer, Wellness 360 continues to provide a

holistic framework for balancing our lives in the 12 elements of life we originally created.

On the second layer – the internal, inner layer, Wellness 360 goes to the next level by

integrating both the external and internal. We are not just physical bodies; we have an

internal world that plays a huge role with our health. What’s happening on the inside is

often as important as what is happening on the outside.

And finally, on the third layer – the symbolic, more “energetic” layer or that hidden

layer you can’t see – Wellness 360 provides greater meaning to the areas of our life that

are out of balance and provides a deeper understanding of our individual journeys.

I encourage you to really look at the Wellness 360 wheel and see what areas are out of

balance. Then rate them from 1-10. 1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest. If you rate

any areas at 7 or below then those areas are the main and biggest that need to be focused

on and fixed. As they are interconnected with other areas of your life and is not whole.

Empowering You To Be More Healthy

I am a Master Certified Holistic Health and Wellness Coach, founder of YOU Wellness

and creator of The MS Energy Blueprint. On Facebook, I’m known as The MS Wellness

Coach. I specialize in empowering women with MS to combat fatigue and increase energy

levels naturally so that you can transform from existing to living life with vitality and

abundance.I am also an author of Blue Fingers Brass Knuckles – self-help book for those newly

diagnosed with MS.

If you would like to learn how to improve your overall health and manage your MS

symptoms naturally, click HERE to schedule your FREE strategy session with me!

 

5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Natural Sweetness

Rochel Marie Lawson healthy eating, ayurveda, nutrition, wellness , , , , 1 Comment
natural sweetness swpa sugar nutrition tips the world of health

5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Natural Sweetness by Rochel Marie Lawson

How to add some natural sweetness into your diet in a healthy way without compromising on taste.

Sugar is a delicious way to add sweetness into your lives, but it isn’t the best. Sugar can be addictive while also causing a plethora of other health conditions, like added weight, diabetes, increased inflammation in the body, and ageing.

Have you ever opened a bag of your favorite candy, meaning to have just one little piece and ending up eating half? Or worse, the whole bag? That alone should tell you how addicting it is to consume sugar.

This addictive property of sugar then leads you to eating more of these sweet treats than you should.

This excess sugar has more calories than other types of food that you consume, and the more of these sugary treats you eat, the more calories you consume, thus leading to added weight.

Sugar is known to cause inflammation in the body. Studies show that there is a link between elevated inflammation and added sugar and carbohydrates. The excess sugar consumed by subjects in certain studies caused an increase in inflammatory markers.

Moreover, the sugar you consume reacts with protein, creating what doctors and scientists like to call AGEs or advanced glycation end products. This substance is what causes wrinkles because of hardened cell structures. Yikes!

If you have a liking for sugar, say, a sweet tooth, or if you are flat out addicted to the stuff, you will want to take a closer look at your sugar-eating habits.

Not all sugars are created equal. The sugar that you find in fruit and vegetables are naturally-occurring, and usually accompanied by fiber, which slows the digestion of sugar. Other foods like milk also contain sugar.

The good news is, natural sugar has not been linked to inflammation. Keep an eye out for sweeteners and sugars found in
processed food, or “added sugars,” and make yourself aware of sugar that comes disguised as high fructose corn syrup, juice concentrates, and the like.

The thing is, you CAN conquer the need to fill your body with sugar and still enjoy sweetness without risking the conditions I mentioned earlier. You can enjoy sweetness without having to worry about the peaks and crashes that we all dread. It’s all about the ay sugar is delivered.

 

Natural Sugar Alternatives To Add Natural Sweetness To Your Desserts with Ayurvedic Health Practitioner and Nurse Rochel Marie Lawson

5 Easy Ways To Enjoy Natural Sweetness:

 

Instead Of Adding Sugar To A Recipe

Instead of using added sugar, stir an overripe banana or some chopped dates into your favorite recipes like batters and doughs for bread, muffins, cookies, and even pancakes!

 

Sweetening Sauces

The acidic flavor of tomato sauces can be balanced by adding sweet veggies like grated carrots, beets, butternut squash, or sweet potatoes. Carrots, beets, and apples are great for adding sweetness to smoothies and baked goods as well.

 

Coconut As A Fantastic Natural Sweetener

Coconuts are a fantastic sweetener because of their natural sweetness! You can use shredded and flaked coconut (unsweetened) as a lovely topping to your desserts, and even use coconut milk in your oatmeal and granola. This natural sweetness will definitely help keep the cravings at bay.

 

Riper Fruits For Natural Sweetness

Some fruit grow sweeter as they ripen. In moderation, you can enjoy fruits such as peaches, avocados, apricots, bananas, cantaloupes, apples, mangoes, nectarines, papayas, plums, and even pears without worrying about sugar highs and sugar crashes.

There are so many things you can do with fruit! You can bake them into your favorite pastries, enjoy them as a topping in many different dishes, or even enjoy them on their own!

 

Greek Yoghurt and Plain Yogurt

Greek yogurt and plain yogurt without any fruits are a better option than, say, low-fat yogurts. Low-fat yogurt relies on more sugar to taste good. Instead of having yogurt that has been filled with artificially sweetened fruit products, choose something plain and your own choice of fruit instead. Now that you’ve got a list of yummy, sweet fruit (see above), your options are anything but limited to satisfy that sweet tooth.

 

Natural Sweetness In Savoury Dishes

Looking for sweetness in your savory dishes? Caramelized onions are a sweet and yummy treat to add into dishes like burgers and salads, spring rolls, or even on top of rice! You can draw out the natural sugar in onions by cooking them over low, slow heat.

Living in today’s society that is geared towards convenience and quick eating, sugar is everywhere and the temptation to consume it can be strong. Easy access to processed and fast food can make it difficult to avoid sugar. But knowing what sugar does to you is a great place to start in your journey to breaking free of these sugar shackles. You don’t need to be bound to your cravings and to these bad habits now that you know how to naturally cut down on sugar.

 

Wishing you peace to your mind, wellness to your body and tranquility to your spirit.

Namaste,

Nutrition
Rochel Marie Lawson, RN, AHP, CMS, The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

rochelle marie lawson nutrition the world of healthRochel Marie Lawson is a Registered Nurse, Ayurvedic Health Practitioner, Holistic Health and Wellness Consultant, International Best Selling Author, Speaker and Radio Show Hostess.

She is the President of Blissful Living 4 U, which was founded to improve wellness, wisdom and wealth by utilizing ancient holistic principles that only lead to success. 

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