Key to Being…

Scientific Evidence: Sugar can Permanently Change DNA

An Australian research team from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne has found that genes remember a sugar hit for two weeks.  What’s more, continued poor eating habits can permanently alter your DNA and potentially pass the genetic damage onto your descendants.¹

The team studied how diet impacted heart tissue and found sugar caused cells to switch off the genetic controls that protect that body against diabetes and heart disease for a period of two weeks.

These results give truth to the popular phrase “You are what you eat.” You may not feel the effects of bad diet right away.  But unless you change your eating habits, with time various health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and others will       appear.  And you don’t want to pass along potentially unhealthy genes to your children and grandchildren.

How Can I Change My Sugar Cravings?

1. Change When You Eat
   1. If you are feeling any negative emotions, don’t eat.  Rather figure out why you are feeling this way.
   2. Don’t eat on the go or when you are rushed.  This disturbs digestion, often makes you eat more than you need and eat the wrong things.   Moreover, when you are rushed you are not fully present with your food and not paying as much attention to how much or what you eat.
   3. If you are very tired, pay extra attention to what you eat.  When the body is tired, you have a tendency to overeat, so get extra energy.  So if you can’t take a nap or relaxation break, just eat slowly and be very aware of what’s on your plate.
2. Take a 30 Day Break.  According to self-development experts and in my own experience, it takes about 30 days to change a habit.  30 days are less daunting because you know you can just quit and go back to old habits after that time is up.  Check out my in-depth article on 15 Ways to Successfully Change a Habit.
3. Try a couple simple Yoga poses. Yoga is not only great exercise for the body, but it teaches you to be mindful of your body and its needs, lets you slow down and be more respectful of it.  Two postures in particular stimulate blood flow to abdomen and pelvic area and thereby help regulate sugar metabolism: bow pose and modified bridge pose.  ³
   1. Bow pose: lie down on your belly, arms by your side.  Bend your knees and bring your feet towards your buttocks.  Clasp your ankles with your hands, press the feet into the hands and lift your torso and legs off the floor.  Hold 10-15 seconds and repeat up to three times.  If you cannot reach your ankles with your hands, just reach your hands back as far as you can.
   2. Bridge pose: lie down on your back, bend your knees and bring your heels to your buttocks. Arms are by your side, palms down. Exhale as you lift the hips to the sky, pressing hands and feet into floor to increase the lift.  You can clasp the hands and place them underneath your torso to increase the lift.  Hold 10-15 seconds, then roll down slowly starting with your upper back and roll down vertebra by vertebra to the bottom of your spine.  Repeat five or six times.
4. Do a little meditation.  Meditation can be as simple as sitting or lying down in a comfortable, quiet place and focusing on your breathing or on a certain pleasant image (e.g. calm beach with white sand, field of wild flowers, etc).  Focus solely on this one thing you have chosen.  Even 5 minutes of this will calm you down remarkably and reduce your craving.  ²
5. Relax.  We often crave certain foods or substances because we are stressed or hurried or upset.  If you are in the midst of a negative emotion, try one of these 17 Simple Ways to Instill Calmness in Your Day.

I tried the 30 day break on my sugar cravings and noticed a remarkable difference afterward.  I found that physically I no longer craved sugar as much, nor did I get the same pleasure from eating sweets as I did before.  For the emotional attachment to sugar, I find that yoga and meditation work best for me.  But everyone is different…find your own magic potion to cure your sugar craving – experiment and have fun with it!

^References

¹ Journal of Experimental Medicine September 2008, 29;205(10):2409-17
² Relaxation, Meditation Helps Curb Cravings
³ Getting out from Under:Asana for Relieving PMS