Welcome to The Healthy Celiac Podcast—the go-to podcast for women with celiac disease! This podcast is designed to help you thrive beyond your diagnosis and embrace life to the fullest because you are so much more than just a woman with celiac disease.
Hosted by Certified Health Coach Belinda Whelan, who specializes in follow-up care for women with celiac disease, each episode is a blend of practical advice, personal stories, and expert interviews. Belinda shares valuable insights on everything from navigating a gluten free lifestyle to managing the emotional aspects of celiac disease.
Join me as we explore topics that empower you to take control of your health, and discover joy in every meal and moment. Tune in for practical advice and support as we navigate the challenges of celiac disease and empower you to live confidently.
To find out how Belinda can support you, visit her website www.belindawhelan.com and while you're there be sure to download your FREE eBook '11 Mistakes People Make Living Gluten Free'.
For collaborations, please email me info@belindawhelan.com (no MLM opportunities please. 😊)
Now, when I studied to become a health coach, I studied over 100 different dietary theories. And it was actually recommended that as students, that we tested out some of these theories so that we could see what felt good for our body and what we liked and what we didn't like. And the one thing that I cannot believe we didn't get taught about was living a sugar-free life. And it wasn't until I was exposed to a documentary called, called that sugar film that I was just blown away by the lies that I guess we've been told about sugar and the role that it plays in society and in our lives. And I have since bought this book, which is called that Sugar Book, and it's based on everything that this bloke Damon talked about in his documentary. Now, what he actually did in this documentary is kind of insane, and I wouldn't recommend it. Anyone does it. I would not recommend you try this. I actually recommend you do the reverse of it. And what he did was<laugh>, he understudy with, he had a team of doctors and he had a team of experts testing him regularly, but he consumed 40 teaspoons of sugar every single day for 60 days to see how he felt and what happened to his body. And the results were just scary and crazy what happened in that very short period of time. Now, if you don't know much about sugar, 40 teaspoons is a lot, but unfortunately many people are consuming close to that on a daily basis and not even realizing. Now, the thing that was pretty crazy was he was eating so-called healthy foods. He wasn't eating junk food, he was eating things that would be, I guess seen more on the healthy side of things. So think of things like granola bars or what we call here in Australia, more like Musi bars. Um, he was eating low fat yogurts. He was eating, um, a lot of these types of foods that are marketed to us as a healthy option. But he was very quickly and very easily able to get to 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. Now, in that 60 days of doing this experiment, he put on eight and a half kilograms, which is about 19 pounds for those of you that work in pounds. And he had the beginnings of fatty liver disease, which is crazy just after 60 days. So prior to that, he was quite healthy and ate really well. He wasn't not eating sugar at all prior to that, but he wasn't eating that amount of sugar. And then when he had all of his tests done, he was told that he was on his way to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. So very, very quickly he was on his way to those big three problems. So it's scary, it's scary that these things are happening to people on a daily basis that people get these, these problems. But we are not being taught enough about sugar. And I, I guess I feel like we have been lied to because back in the day, low fat was the thing. Do you remember when low fat was first introduced? Depends on your age, but I remember as a teenager that it was all about low fat. So it was low fat milk, low fat mayonnaise, low fat salad dressings, low fat, everything. So people were under the impression that fat was making them fat, but it's not fat that makes you fat as such, it's more sugar makes you fat, right? So if you consume too much sugar, your body cannot break that sugar down and your body will actually stop you from burning fat because of this. So if you are looking at trying to lose weight or you are concerned with how much weight you've put on since you got celiac disease, it could be that you are eating differently. You might be eating more packaged gluten free food, which I've mentioned before. They make up for the lack of flavor in foods by filling it with sugar. So because there's, you know, the need for people to consume their mass produced products, they put sugar in it so it becomes addictive. So you go back for more and you enjoy it more. It hits that dopamine level, it makes you release that dopamine when you have that product. So you eat something, it's full of sugar, makes you feel good, it spikes your blood sugar. So you have this high, you feel really good, you feel energetic, and then you have the low. So what do you do? You automatically want more sugar. So you go and consume something that's going to spike that as a society. As humans, we don't need added sugars. We need sugars from things like fruits. We don't need sugars from things like all of these packaged foods. It's not, it's not needed in our diet. And having said that, I'm not perfect. I consume sugar. I don't eat much sugar. I do my very best to keep my sugar intake quite low. I do let myself have treats and be, you know, able to enjoy things. But it's not, it's not part of my life that I will get up in the morning and have something that's very sugary and then I feel like I need it again later in the day. I've never, never at that point where
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I feel like I have a sugar addiction. I've never been that way, but I know that it's something that so many people struggle with. So you can get out of it, you can ease that sugar addiction and you can, I guess, move away from how much sugar you're consuming and it, it takes work, it takes effort. But once you do cut back on sugar, it's amazing how much better you can feel. So that's something that I always recommend that my clients do whenever I have a client, I help them with their sugar intake because most people come to me because they want help with weight loss and sugar plays the hugest role in helping people lose weight. So yeah, it, it's definitely about cutting back on sugar. So have a look at the things that are in your pantry and start to read labels. And I know we're already reading labels because we are looking for gluten free. We're making sure that food is safe for us. But while we are there, just have a look at how much sugar is in the packaged food that you're consuming and see how much you're having in a daytime because it could open your eyes to how much sugar you are consuming. If you have never tracked how much food you are eating or what you are eating, definitely grab one of my daily health trackers so that you can fill everything out there and have a look just just outta curiosity, just to see how you're going on track with your eating and your lifestyle and your diet because it can be a bit of an eye-opener when you start to do that. So, uh, you can find them on Amazon. Just Google my name Belinda wheen on Amazon Google. Does that sound right? Yeah. So you just go to Amazon and type my name in and they should show up. There's three options. Um, so yeah, if you're a male, we have a male version and if you're a female, we have a version for women as well. So check them out. And I definitely recommend that you track what you are eating just to see how you are going. Now let's talk about sugar in a whole as far as all the different things that you can do to our bodies. Now, one thing that people generally don't know is, is quite aging. So when you have too much sugar, it can cause wrinkles and saggy skin. So I don't know about you. I'm getting older and it is definitely something that I'm noticing that I want to, I wanna look fresh and I wanna look young. I will avoid Botox. That's not my thing. I know people younger than me that get Botox, but<laugh>, I'm not going down that route. So I would rather just consume less sugar and know that that's helping contribute to making sure I don't get more wrinkles. So there's that. If you, uh, struggle with acne, it is definitely related very closely to sugar intake. My daughter, my teenage daughter, she will complain every now and again about her skin and I'll say to her, look what you had on the weekend, honey, you had this, this, this and this that you wouldn't normally have and it's full of sugar and sugar. Yeah, yeah, I did. And she's much more conscious of the fact that sugar is causing skin issues for her. So yeah, it's something to definitely think about and relate to. If you do suffer from acne as you might be a teenager, you might be an adult, it can affect people differently. It doesn't matter what age you are now, it can actually increase your risk of cancer as well. So for me, you've heard from so many sources, no doubt. And you're probably thinking, yeah, Belinda, everything causes cancer. Yes, many things do cause cancer, but there's studies that show that sugar can lead to causing cancer. So again, it's worth cutting down on if that's something that you wanna focus on. For sure, it can cause lots of teeth issues. So yeah, it's, it is something that you definitely need to make sure you're brushing your teeth if you are having too much sugar. But again, I recommend you cut down on how much sugar you're having. Now, this is a big one. So with my coaching, I don't focus on calorie counting. I never recommend people count calories because no calories aren't equal. I remember one of my mom's friends when I was a teenager and she would talk about counting calories and she<laugh>, she would say, oh, I'm not gonna have tea tonight because I had a cupcake this afternoon. And I was like, what the heck? Just because you had a cupcake, you're not gonna have tea. But she was so focused on the amount of calories that were in that cupcake that that took away from her calories that she was gonna have for dinner. No, no, no, no.<laugh>. So messed up, have a tree move on, don't cut out a meal because of it. And this is what happens. So when you have sugar, so we're talking about table sugars, those added sugars, there is no nutritional value in them whatsoever. So they are empty calories. So when you think about eating calorie, like having calories in your life, and you know, they say calorie in, calorie out from exercise, not what I focus on. I'm more about adding in more good stuff and that will push out the bad stuff as such. So however you wanna take that. But basically sugar is pointless. It's empty calories, it doesn't add any benefit to your life whatsoever, apart from that dopamine here and tasting good. So apart from that, it doesn't add any nutritional value to your diet. Okay? Sugar actually makes you more hungry, would you believe it? So if you wonder why you eat constantly, you are always hungry. Sugar actually can trigger that hunger in you. So yeah, the less sugar you eat, the less food you end up eating. So if you're trying to lose weight again, it has that amazing flow on effect. So it's worth cutting back on sugar. So yeah, something to think about. So, uh, the next one is spikes your insulin. Making it hard to burn the stored fat within your body. So yeah, if you are<laugh>, uh, trying to lose weight, again, there's something to think about that it's gonna be very hard for your body to get rid of that stored fat. If you're constantly spiking your insulin and you're constantly got your body in a high glycemic level, then that's something to think about as well. Now it is addictive. It is highly addictive because the body goes, oh, I see that cupcake over there. I'm gonna eat it because I know that it's gonna make me feel good. Eat that spikes the blood sugar. You feel great, you're on a high, got all this energy and then bang, you crash and you want more. So you go and get another thing that's full of sugar. And that's why people drink energy drinks as well, because they're so full of sugar, they are ridiculously full of sugar. Um, if you drink any type of soft drinks or sodas, again, it's the same thing. It's just that addiction to sugar. Um, when I've hypnotized people to quit smoking, so to become non-smokers, I have to help them add in sugar into their life by the ways of fruit and healthy snacks that are natural sugars because they're not actually addicted to smoking, they're addicted to the sugar that's added into cigarettes. Would you believe it? So that's another whole topic right there. But I've been able to help people quit smoking thanks to that and having that knowledge and knowing that they're sugar added to cigarettes. So it's pretty insane to think that that's what people are smoking for, is to get that sugar here. And they don't even realize it. So many people wouldn't even know that that's why they smoke and why it's addictive. So again, so much, so much bad, I guess about sugar. I just, oh my God, yeah,<laugh>. So I hope, I hope that gives you an introduction. I don't want to rave on too much about it. That is just an introduction to get the cogs turning and I guess get you thinking about your sugar intake and learning a little bit more. If you like to read, I recommend you grab yourself a copy of that sugar book. I really got so much out of reading this book and learned so much about the food industry and, and the lies that we've been told, I guess over the decades. If you're not into reading, then I recommend that you watch the documentary. It is fabulous. He's done a really good job of the documentary. Um, yeah, so I think you'll really enjoy watching that and learning more about sugar. So I, uh, I'll get down off my soapbox now,<laugh>, and I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I hope you've learned something and I really look forward to talking with you again on the next episode. So until then, take care and thanks for being here. Take care.
