Last weekend I had family visiting from Canada and we took them out for a pre-theatre meal at Christopher’s in Covent Garden. There was an amaretto chocolate pave on the menu, with mint ice cream. In the name alone there were three of my favourite ingredients, so my sweet tooth was positively singing. It was so insanely delicious I couldn’t even stop to take a photo of it, so I ask you to use your imagination and think of the most mind-blowingly indulgent, soul-pleasing dessert you’ve ever had. Now try to imagine saying no when it’s sitting just beneath your nose. Next to impossible, isn’t it? Good thing I’m not about to suggest you can never eat sugar…

I do, however, want to address a serious imbalance in the national diet. With the latest news headlines confirming 1 in 10 Brits are diagnosed with Diabetes, and the government threatening to increase the tax on sugar, most of us could use some help to cut down on the simplest of carbohydrates. This debacle is what’s inspired me to share my 5 rules for eating and drinking sugar in moderation.

1. Spread fruit intake throughout the day

When I take on a new PT client, I ask them to keep a food diary for a week so I can identify the bad habits they may not recognise as problematic. The most common faux pas I see is fruit overloading. While fruit is a hugely important source of vitamins, and its naturally-occurring fructose an essential source of energy, bingeing on multiple fruits in one sitting with spike your blood sugar and create a boom and bust energy spike that will set you up for sugar cravings throughout the day. A banana in the morning, an orange for elevensies and an apple in the afternoon is a far healthier way to spread out your sugar intake and stabilise your energy levels.

2. Choose raw, not refined

I love coffee, but my daily latte isn’t complete without a small spoonful of sugar. To keep the flavour and cut the guilt, I always choose the least refined form of sweetener. Being Canadian, maple syrup is naturally a favourite, but raw brown sugar is available almost everywhere and is far superior to its more processed white sister. That’s because the process of refining a sugar accelerates the speed at which the body breaks it down, resulting in quicker blood sugar spikes and inevitable energy crashes. I also love SugaVida, which comes from the Palmyra tree and is a naturally-occurring low GI sugar that will keep you going for longer. Lucuma is new on my radar, but I’ve been loving the added sweetness in smoothies and breakfast bowls without the consequence of copious calories and blood sugar mayhem. Plus, I’m currently tackling chocolate cravings with a spoonful of antioxidant-packed raw cacao powder in my overnight oats.

But where do I stand on artificial sweeteners? While they will reduce your calorie intake, there are lots of unknowns about the effects of artificial sweeteners, and some dieticians suggest that eating fake sugars increase your body’s cravings for real sugars. The jury is still out, but I trust in mother nature and opt for the real deal wherever possible.

3. Balance out your treats

Look at both individual meals and every day as a whole to effectively monitor sugar intake. It’s not about deprivation, but moderation and distribution. If you had a lot of sugar in the afternoon, lay off in the evening and trade your ritual chocolate indulgence for a few spoonfuls of greek yoghurt instead. Your body will learn to recognise this form of regulation and even adopt a revulsion at excess sugar intake. Take it from someone who used to pick the most sickly sweet chia tea lattes and frappucinos in every coffee shop. My stomach now turns at the realisation that 3 shots of syrup (yes, 3!) go into every tall Starbucks flavoured latte.

4. Know your saccharides

Not all sugars are created equal. Knowing the differences and differentiating between the saccharides will help you get the right balance of sugar in your diet. Common to all carbohydrates are single sugar chains, or monosaccharides. The more of these are contained within a carbohydrate, the more complex and therefore slower releasing it is. Your monosaccharides include glucose (the gooey stuff in coffee syrups, chocolate bars, sweets etc), fructose (fruit sugar) and galactose (milk sugar). Your disaccharides include lactose (also found in milk) and sucrose (the most common form of table sugar). In the sugar hierarchy, glucose is the equivalent of the dietary devil. Fructose and galactose have a lower GI so are better in moderation, but disaccharides are the superior sugar when it comes to sustained energy release. Which brings me to my final point…

5. Eat for energy

Still with me? What every one of my rules comes back to is this idea of sustained energy release. The better we can control our blood sugar levels, the more power we have over our cravings and the better we’ll feel from meal to meal. You’ll feel healthier, have greater clarity of mind, think less about food and of course notice a flatter, leaner looking stomach as you cut sugar intake over time. And when you do indulge in sugar (no one’s perfect), consider the rest of the ingredients on your plate to manage the resulting sugar rush.

Fibre and protein are digested far more slowly than sugar, so a spoonful of honey on an oat cake has an entirely different effect than a spoonful of honey out of the jar (in case you thought that was tempting). Likewise, having a banana alone is not going to leave you feeling as satisfied as a banana with a tablespoon of protein-rich nut butter. That’s because the composition of your snacks and meals is every bit as important as the individual ingredients. When you’re eating for energy, these considerations are crucial. And they’ll help you find a compromise between eating the foods you love and enjoying the snacks you know are good for you.

Add some new low-sugar recipes to your repertoire with my homemade granola, coronation chicken, miso-baked aubergine and sweet potato and homemade protein balls. 

In case you haven’t heard, slogan tees are in. And not just any slogans – healthy slogans. No longer is it enough to demonstrate a healthy lifestyle with enviable muscle tone and glowing, well-nourished skin, now you have to wear your favourite foods on your chest.

It started with a simple four-letter word: Kale. An admittedly humorous play on the iconic collegiate jumper. Then Charli Cohen joined the kale crowd with her statement ‘Dressed to Kale’ tees. And most recently, Deliciously Ella has toted around her own brand bags and jumpers with messages like ‘Peace Love & Kale’ and ‘Peace Kale & Coconuts’.

Not to worry – the other superfoods haven’t been left out. ‘Chia’ is another health- and style-boosting slogan championed by the wellness elite. I’m certain there’s a factory somewhere in China churning out thousands of ‘Quinoa’ tops as we speak. I’m personally hanging tight for the self-mocking ‘Keen Wah?!’ variation. Think I’m running out of steam? Think again. It’s time to ‘Meet Your Matcha’.

While you’ll have seen all these ingredients on the very pages of this blog, I poke fun because there’s a somewhat misleading message being overlooked in this mass mantra marketing. And while the title of this post may seem rather extreme, it is technically possible to destroy your liver (the body’s metabolic processing centre) with too much of any one vitamin.

The liver is where fat soluble vitamins – A, D, K and E – are stored. It helps to preserve the delicate balance of your body. But what happens if you ate, say, four times your RDA of vitamin E (prevalent in kale) and neglect other vitamins as a result? I speak from experience when I say your body won’t like it. It will try to flush out new and stored foods to address the potentially toxic imbalance, preventing absorption of the good stuff with which you were trying to nourish your body in the first place.

Now I’m very aware that there are more people eating poor, vitamin-deficient diets out there than there are people whose food intakes revolve around kale. And the mass marketing messaging certainly must be to incorporate more superfoods in our diets, but I want to remind health-conscious eaters and key influencers within the nutrition industry to place that message in the context of balance.

Almost every failed diet programme out there ultimately disappoints because it throws the body out of balance. Cut carbs and you’ll lose weight because there’s no glucose to burn and the body must turn to other sources – like muscle breakdown to turn proteins into fuel for basic brain and body function. The scales may please you temporarily, but body composition tests would be significantly more alarming as lean muscle tissue is compromised. And when you do reintroduce carbs? The body has learned to hold onto sugar stores for dear life, and that means converting them into fat stores so they last longer. Read: the return of the spare tyre.

What I detest even more than low-carb diets are eating plans that recommend not eating. Remember the cabbage soup diet that permits you to drink as much liquidised cabbage goo as you want? Certainly, cabbage is a great source of vitamins C and K. But down a gallon of it a day and you won’t retain an ounce of either. Plus your body will go into starvation mode and become a fat-storing machine as a means of survival. Who can blame it? It’s simply responding to attempted death by poison!

The point of my rather dramatic argument is that the reigning rule of healthy eating will never change. Balance is king. Every macro and micro nutrient depends on the presence of the others to perform its best. Even fat requires the presence of carbs in order to become an accessible source of fuel. And while superfoods are indeed super, they’re only super as a complement to an already balanced diet with an array of lean proteins, healthy fats, unrefined carbs, and the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals (tip: mixing up red, orange and green fruits and vegetables is a simple and effective check).

So eat superfoods, but eat them in moderation – just like everything else. You’ll save yourself stress, money and probably a bad tummy in the process. Plus, you’ll have a little room left over for the odd Magnum. Almond or Dark Chocolate Espresso for me, please! Just in time for Britain’s +30 summer!

Peace, Kale and Snowcones to you all.

Brit x

Since I launched Fit Brit Collective in the summer, I’ve been on the lookout for a great nutrition blogger to collaborate with. So I was really excited when I heard from Rosie, a friend from university and founder of livingrosy.com. Similar to the way I use exercise to de-stress and re-energise, Rosie turned to healthy eating to find focus and a feeling of wellbeing during a high-pressured job as an investment banker. She launched her nutrition and lifestyle coaching programme earlier this year, so we both have big ambitions for our new websites and wanted to help share one another’s learnings.

As a start, I volunteered to take note of every single thing I ate over the course of a week, then to hand her my completely unedited food diary for thorough, honest scrutiny. I vowed not to change my behaviour, and in fact I was even more indulgent than usual as I began to give in to cold weather cravings. Here are the results…

A week on my plate

Monday
830am Porridge with banana, green tea
11am 2 satsumas, Nature Valley Nut Bar
1pm Homemade ham & cheese baguette, rocket and avocado salad
30min lunchtime walk
2pm Tall skinny Starbucks latte, 2 mini Reeses peanut butter cups
5pm Apple, Bounce protein ball
1hr HIIT running and plyometrics
830pm Homemade Thai green curry with brown rice
930pm Greek yoghurt with handful granola and blueberries

Tuesday
8am Banana
9am Porridge with raisins
11am Almond milk latte, Nature Valley Nut Bar, apple
1hr HIIT conditioning
130pm Baked sweet potato with half avocado, tin of tuna and rocket salad
5pm Handful mixed fruit and nuts; 2 Guylian praline chocolates; 1 satsuma
830pm Salmon fillet, brown rice, steamed broccoli
930pm Greek yoghurt with handful granola and blueberries

Wednesday
9am Bowl of Jordans muesli
1130am Nature Valley Granola Bar, banana
1hr Vinyasa yoga
130pm Chicken halloumi wrap, salad
5pm 2 Guylian praline chocolates, satsuma, handful nuts and raisins
9pm Salmon fillet, brown rice, steamed broccoli

Thursday
730am Banana
9am Bowl of Jordans muesli
1130am Almond milk latte, Nature Valley Granola Bar, satsuma
1hr HIIT conditioning
2pm Sweet potato, 1/2 can tuna, cottage cheese, green beans
5pm Handful mixed nuts
7pm Small glass of white wine
9pm Tomato paprika soup, chicken breast, corn on the cob

Friday
730am 1 Belvita double breakfast biscuit
9am Bowl of Jordans muesli
11am Almond milk latte, 1 Hobnob
1pm Sweet potato, 1/2 can tuna, cottage cheese, green beans
5pm Nature Valley Granola Bar, apple
1hr Barry’s Bootcamp
9pm Take-away fish n’ chips with peas

Saturday
10am 3 egg omelette with 2 slices cheddar, small bowl Greek yoghurt with blueberries and handful granola
2pm Shake Shack burger, 1/2 portion chips, 1/2 milkshake
730pm Avocado with prawns, 1/2 salmon fillet with mushrooms and veg
9-12pm 3 vodka soda lime
1230am Small bowl Greek yoghurt with blueberries and handful granola

Sunday
10am Bowl Fruit & Fibre
1pm Market lunch: Indian pancakes with spicy veg and paneer, Crosstown doughnut and small skinny latte
5pm Apple, handful almonds
30min HIIT cardio
830pm Homemade chorizo pea risotto
930pm Small bowl Greek yoghurt with handful granola

Rosie’s analysis

Brit eats regularly – it’s important to eat small portions four to five times per day to prevent hunger and keep energy levels constant. She’s getting good, slow release carbs in the morning from porridge. Watch out though, as muesli and granolas can be very sugary. Even ‘healthy’ brands can contain as much sugar as standard Kellogg’s cereals –  always check the label. Try Mesa Sunrise and Dove’s Farm cereals for less sugary versions. They’re also gluten free!

Her morning snacks are quite sugary as well. Fruit contains lots of lovely vitamins and fibre, but it’s also packed full of fructose (I wrote a recent blog post on sugar). If you’re suffering from low energy, try a protein-filled snack such as a hard boiled egg, avocado on rice cakes or hummus and vegetable crudités. Cutting back on sugar will really help to make your energy more stable and power you through to lunch.

I always find that too many carbs at lunch make me droop throughout the afternoon. I try to have at least 50% of my plate filled with veggies, some protein (say, 35%), and a little carbs. I’m coeliac so gluten is out, but some quinoa, brown rice or maybe buckwheat groats make a nice addition. I much prefer mixing these three components into a salad in summer or a stew in winter, rather than eating a carb-heavy sandwich. The sweet potatoes are a fantastic idea though – so easy to cook in the microwave, packed with nutrients, and they’re delicious with such a variety of fillings. They’re also much lighter than a standard potato so you won’t get that carby food coma afterward.

Brit’s afternoon snacks are a little hit and miss, to be honest. There’s a little too much processed chocolate for my liking, and there’s more fruit again. Many of these snacks are pre-gym so I understand the need to refuel. More protein here, like the eggs or hummus, might fuel her on without the sugar spike and all the nasty additives that come with processed sweets. A nice almond milk, avocado and nut butter smoothie might also do the trick.

Dinner is overall very balanced – mostly homemade, which is hugely important. Ready meals are packed with salt and sugar: getting rid of them is one of the easiest ways to start feeling better. There’s a nice mix of protein, carbs and veg at dinner. I love that some nights the meal is lighter, without any added carbs. Often we can get enough energy from starchy vegetables alone, such as broccoli. Try to eat a lighter meal in the evening and as early as possible to enhance digestion and improve your sleep quality.

I love that Brit has a normal life. She goes out at the weekend and eats takeaway sometimes. It’s important not to be more restrictive than you can’t sustain it long-term, as you’ll only sabotage all your hard work with a binge on something horrible. A fish and chips now and again won’t hurt, but it can’t become a regular habit. Try to monitor drinking too – 3 drinks in a week is totally fine, but often we can have this most nights, which is far too much. Always have a few teetotal days throughout the week so your body has time to detoxify. I personally don’t drink on weekdays, and I find I sleep so much better for it.

Brit is obviously a healthy girl – you can tell by looking at her. She has a balanced diet, mostly cooks at home and gets her 5 a day of fruit and veg. The only thing I’d ask her to do is monitor her sugar intake from both fruit and sweets. The worst culprits here are often the most seemingly ‘healthy’ snacks, like granola bars. If she cut these, I’m sure she’d see an increase in energy.

Take-away lessons

Rosie picked out a lot of the things I suspected she might – first and foremost the granola bars. My deskbound days can be manic and I all too often end up reaching into my drawers for a quick fix. A nut butter smoothie sounds amazing but is probably a bit of a stretch when I’m on deadline. However, keeping some boiled eggs in the fridge is definitely feasible and it takes no time at all to grab some carrots and hummus or spread a tablespoon of peanut butter on a couple Ryvita. I’m also going to mix up my breakfasts more, alternating porridge with microwave scrambled eggs so I can get some protein into my mornings. Thanks Rosie!

If you’d like to meet Rosie for a free 30 minute consultation about your diet or lifestyle, find out more about her programme here.