By naturopath Margaret Jasinska

If your mood has recently been low, have you considered that sugar may be responsible? Most people tend to blame external influences such as stress, life circumstances and the weather. If you’ve recently been eating more sugar than your body can tolerate, this might be the culprit. Sugar can adversely affect neurotransmitter levels, gut health and insulin resistance. It does this by raising inflammation in the body.

High sugar diets are associated with depression and anxiety and this may be more likely to occur in men. A recent study found that a diet high in sugar makes men more likely to experience depression. Researchers examined 5000 men and 2000 women and found that men who consumed more than 67 grams of sugar per day were 23 percent more likely to experience mental illness over a five year period. This effect was not seen in women. Stereotypically women are said to prefer chocolate, biscuits and other confectionary, whereas men crave salty foods. Many salty foods like potato chips, corn chips, pretzels and pizza are full of carbohydrate which quickly gets digested into sugar. It doesn’t really matter whether you prefer your carbs sweet or salty, they’ll end up as sugar in your bloodstream.

Did you know the biggest sugar consumers in Australia are teenage boys? The World Health Organisation suggests everyone consumes a maximum of 6 teaspoons of sugar a day. Australian teenage boys on average consume a massive 92 grams. That’s around 18 teaspoons of sugar each day. It’s actually not difficult to do if consuming soft drinks and energy drinks, which is where the bulk of their sugar comes from. Sugary drinks offer no satiety, so it’s easy to just keep drinking them. High carbohydrate diets suppress testosterone production in men, and we see many male patients in their 30s with below normal testosterone. Apart from low libido, this can cause symptoms like depression, fatigue and low motivation.

A high sugar diet won’t only shorten your lifespan. It can reduce your quality of life here and now by adversely affecting your mood and hormones. These are my tips for getting rid of sugar:

• A lot of people reach for sugar when they are feeling tense and stressed. Magnesium helps to reduce the symptoms of stress, calms the nervous system and can help improve sleep quality. BactoClear capsules contain the essential oils of clove, oregano and thyme. They help with abdominal bloating, which is a common side effect of eating sugar.
• If you have a fatty liver, you are more likely to experience strong sugar cravings. This is because insulin resistance is the leading cause of fatty liver. People who are insulin resistant usually have poor appetite control. They could easily snack on high carb foods all day. A fatty liver cannot store adequate glycogen to keep blood sugar stable all day. Thus low blood sugar is common, which can be accompanied by anxiety. It is imperative that you take care of your liver, so it can take care of you! Drink plenty of water, eat an abundance of fresh vegetables and reduce the amount of refined carbohydrates and alcohol you consume. There are specific diet guidelines in the book Fatty Liver: You Can Reverse It.
• Try to cook most of your own food. Your meals should be comprised of adequate protein and healthy fats, plus vegetables. Meals like that should help to keep you feeling satiated. It is important to make the time to eat and enjoy 3 meals a day. Nibbling all day or skipping meals is not the route to optimal health. You will probably end up eating too much in the end, and feel overly full by the evening. You might need to add a little more fat than usual to your meals, as healthy fats are wonderful for reducing sugar cravings. Examples of healthy fats to include in your diet are olive oil, avocados, coconut oil, oily fish, ghee, nuts and seeds and the fat on grass fed meat.
• You probably already know what you should and shouldn’t be eating most of the time. The problem is, it’s easy to fall into unhealthy habits that are very difficult to break. Stress and low mood can cause a person to lose motivation. Tyrosine is an amino acid that your brain requires for neurotransmitter production, dopamine and noradrenalin in particular.