Cutting out refined sugar

I went to pick up my two and a half year old grandson from daycare just as they were having afternoon tea. Everyone was gathered around tables, enjoying their snacks they'd each brought from home. My grandson's snacks that day were some grapes and some cheese and crackers. When he saw my face, he picked off a grape, offered it up to me, and gave me a big happy smile. Sitting down next to my grandson, who wasn't in any rush, I looked around, and while some of the kids had fruit or sandwiches, it was mostly biscuits, lollies, chocolate...The girl next to me had a bag, which she asked me to open, filled with lumps of sugar.

Why would you give such sweet things to little kids?

There's a dentist at a hospital in a small town in the South Island calling for us to put high taxes on sugary drinks. He says that for kids under five having cavities removed, most cases are because of things like juice with added sugar and sugary snacks. “One day, after finishing a surgery removing a total of 54 cavities, I looked out the window and there was Coca Cola delivery van heading to the hospital... Even though we were successful at getting an end put to the direct sale of coke inside the hospital, if you take one step outside onto the streets, they're overflowing with sugar riddled drinks and snacks. What's more, you can get a drink with added sugar for one third the price of a 100% fruit juice. They're cheap, so we buy them. If that's the case, to get people to not buy them, we should make them expensive”.

It was the same with cigarettes. For a while now, we've publicised the harm caused by cigarettes, we've made workplaces and public transport, and all bars and restaurants smokefree, we've hidden cigarette displays in shops – we've tried every strategy, which have each had an effect in their own way. But, in the end, nothing has done as much as applying heavy taxes, shutting off for young people the road to temptation of cigarettes, and stopping smokers, who are forced into a position where “they're so expensive I can't afford them”.

 

But despite that, when asked for his opinion, the Associate Health Minister declared “we should educate people that sweets are bad for their teeth, and make sure people are brushing their teeth both morning and night”, and dismissed the proposal to levy a tax on drinks with added sugar by saying “It won't have any effect”.

How can the profits of the food industry be more important than the nation's health?

With such things being able to be said publicly, perhaps even the Minister himself isn't really aware of the harm caused by sugar. Having a three-course dinner including a sweet dessert, having a taste for fine wine, enjoying delectable sweets – these are a kind of status symbol. In the past, these sorts of things were the sole privilege of the upper classes. But, because of that, problems like obesity and age-related diseases have only gotten worse in “developed countries”. There is an apparent connection between the prevalence of refined sugar and a variety of allergies that didn't exist in the past – my hay-fever was like that. When I moved to this country, it was so bad, and I was taking medicine for months on end. But then I heard somewhere that I should cut out refined sugar, tried putting it into practice, and I got rid of it completely.

The harm caused by refined sugar manifests not only in physical issues, but in psychological ones as well... You get restless, distracted, irritable, you get worn out quickly, you're unmotivated.  Refined sugar throws out your equilibrium and sucks away your life force.

Getting little children to eat something so dangerous is pretty much criminal. The thought “I want to eat ice-cream” doesn't occur to two year-olds , and it's not until they get given some by an adult that they'll get to know that taste... But once a child has given into that sweet temptation, they look for stronger hits and they get hooked.  

At the very least, until they get to an age where they can go to the shops with their own money, let's stop feeding our kids refined sugar. But if we want this, we adults have to stop doing this ourselves first. You might think at first “But they're so delicious! There's no way I can give this stuff up!!”. But there's a mountain of people who say “Giving it up was great!” When you start abstaining from refined sugar, your palate re-equilibrates and you become able to enjoy the natural sugars in vegetables, fruits and grains. Then, if you're given a heavily sugared chocolate or something, just to taste, it will feel horrible and sickly. Even that dentist's son (who's in primary school) said, “I had only mouthful of coke, and it was too sweet. It was horrible”.

I've cut out refined sugar a number of times, but this time I'm trying to go all out. So, even when I cook Japanese food, I no longer  use any sugar at all. Even without sugar, I can get enough deliciousness from the umami in the dashi and the sweetness of the vegetables, and I've rediscovered the subtlety and sweetness in seasonings like real soya sauce, miso, mirin, and sake.

Seasonings recommended by Yoshimi Nakagawa from Cooking for a Joyful Life

There's no limit to the effects of cutting out refined sugar – you sleep well, your skin clears, it reduces puffiness in the face, it improves eyesight, it relieves poor circulation, neck stiffness, and period pain, it eliminates irritability, it improves concentration and motivation, and more. And, it's of course a delight that it reduces fat. Excess sugar turns into flab, but that refreshing feeling when that flab is gone.... hey, it's danshari*!

Let's simply let go of excess and live lightly! 

A cake using a natural sweetener called stevia

*Danshari is a recently coined Japanese word made up of three kanji characters meaning "to refuse", "to dispose" and "to separate" respectively. While translatable as "decluttering", it can be understood as having a psychological element, and can relate not only to one's possessions and environment, but also physiological, mental and emotional decluttering.

[You can find the original post 「白砂糖を断つ」in Japanese here.]