Don't Gimme Some Sugah

I don't have a very strong sweet tooth, which is lucky for me because if I ingest more than a minimal amount of sugar, I turn into a fretful bitch. However, I do like me some refined carbs (a few bites of a Zoka scone or homemade apricot-almond cookie) with my post-lunch coffee, and it's gotten to be a habit with a noticeable increase in cravings. So it was useful to come upon an article to remind me that my sugar sensitivity is not imagined and I should take care.

The article is about stress and hormones in perimenopause. The interview in it is with Dr. Christiane Northrup, who's book, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, I bought years ago, but only read parts of. I thought she made sense in that book, so I read the article respectfully.

While the article focuses on menopause symptoms, women of any age know how powerful hormones can be. They can make you rage, bawl and want to have sex with all the stockboys at Safeway.

Two excerpts from Northup's tips on reducing stress during perimenopause especially stood out to me:

1. "Exercise burns up stress hormones."
It's old news that exercise reduces stress, and that an hour of exercise has a similar effect to taking antidepressents, but I hadn't heard it put in a way directly related to hormones.

2. "Excess blood sugar (insulin) turns into stress hormones."
Again, I hadn't heard the correlation between sugar and stress in quite so direct a way.

You can read the rest of the tips and article here.

Anyway, for anyone needing more reasons to reduce refined carbs in their diet, less stress seems like a good one. I might try to have soft cheese instead of a cookie once in a while. Might need more motivation to give up the scones though.