Cutting Added Sugar from Breakfast and Snacks Happy Monday! We hope you read labels with a fresh eye last week and tried some new breakfast recipes without added sugar! This week our mini resolution is to continue to keep sugar out of breakfast and to also remove added sugar from our snacks. In March, when we resolve to sleep better, we will discuss the connection between poor sleep and poor food decisions. People who under-sleep consume 500-800 more calories per day, mostly through snacks and typically in the form of fat and added sugar. Sleep and sugar consumption are another example of two resolutions with a strong inter-relationship. So, let’s say you didn’t sleep well last night. You had a no-added-sugar breakfast, but you are longing for some energy or just some crunch to get you between meals. What are your options? In general, no-added-sugar trail mix (much dried fruit has sugar added, so be sure to always read those labels!) travels well and can be kept in a purse or glove box for emergencies. Here are a few other snack ideas: On the sweet side options:
Savory options
PRO TIP: If you’re a dessert person, most of the sweet snack ideas above will satisfy dessert, too! And don’t forget protein, greens, fiber and fluids are your friends! If you have access to a blender, a half-scoop of protein powder or plain yogurt with a little fruit, dark greens, and ice will take the edge off! We will see you next week when we tackle lunch! Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: ELIMINATE ADDED SUGAR Click or tap to view and download the log.
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Added Sugars and Neurodegeneration Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been called Diabetes Type 3 in the literature. While this is a misnomer because it fails to acknowledge all the other modifiable lifestyle factors and nonmodifiable environmental and genetic factors that influence the development and progression of AD, it does drive home the point about excessive added sugar consumption and the risk to neurological health. A 2023 U.S.-based study on adult men and women found those with the highest daily consumption of table sugar teaspoons (58 grams or 14 teaspoons) had nearly twice the risk of developing AD than those with the lowest intake (27 grams or 7 teaspoons). . Keep in mind, the recommended maximum consumption of daily teaspoons of sugar for women is 6, and for men, 9. (That is the ceiling, not the goal). The average American consumes 22 teaspoons! How does sugar impact the brain? A diet high in added sugar promotes inflammation. This includes neuroinflammation which, as discussed, this leads to neuronal injury, and even death of brain cells. Neuroinflammation is implicated in Parkinson’s disease (PD), AD, dementia, schizophrenia, MS and ALS A diet high in added sugar negatively impacts the microbiome. What is the microbiome? The microbiome and sugar consumption are an example of the many inter-related resolutions we will discuss in 2025, we have a future Motivated Mondays on the microbiome’s connection to brain health later this year. A diet high in added sugar damages blood vessels, including those in the brain. The blood brain barrier is a filter, composed of capillaries (small blood vessels) designed to protect the brain and central nervous system from pathogens and toxins. A diet high in added sugar reduces the integrity of the blood brain barrier, increasing permeability. A diet high in added sugar promotes the development of amyloid in the brain. Amyloid prevents brain cells from communicating with one another. A diet high in added sugar can lead to Type 2 diabetes. The type of diabetes affected by modifiable lifestyle factors, has been said to almost double one’s risk of AD and other forms of dementia. Prediabetes also increases that risk. Thus, our first resolution is to remove added sugar from our diet. We aren’t going to ask you to go cold turkey out of the gate! Our plan is to look at a different meal each week and remove the added sugars. We begin with breakfast because it is the WORST offender in most folks’ diets. We hope this process will help you treat sugar as just that, a treat-and not an acceptable ingredient in every meal. To be clear, for our purposes this month, we are discussing added sugar. Sugars that occur naturally in food are generally OK for the average person (there are exceptions). Nature wraps it up in a package of fiber, vitamins and minerals that makes it a wholesome option. On the other hand, added sugar is where the trouble begins. Outside of what you add from your sugar bowl, or what’s obvious in a cake, sugar is hidden in many foods such as bacon, ketchup, cold cuts, salad dressing and nut butters to name a few that surprise most folks. As a result, we must learn to read labels. Keep in mind, manufacturers have a litany of names of added sugars/sweeteners you may not be familiar with so vigilant label reading is imperative! Here are those hidden names. Most food manufacturers are now required to list the added sugars on the nutrition label. However, they didn’t make it easy for consumers to understand because they made it as a percentage of your total daily intake. How many people do you think actually know how many calories they consume each day in order do that math? Here is an example of how the new labels appear. But who has the bandwidth to figure that out? Here is a simple formula to make it easy for you!
Here is a printable handout for your refrigerator: A few folks will be tempted to look for sugar-free (SF) substitutes as an option; heed our warning: DON’T! Sugar substitutes are, in most cases, worse for you than sugar! Why is that? It is established that artificial sweeteners:
No-Sugar-Added Breakfast Options So now you know the ceiling (not the goal, but the cap) on how much added sugar to consume in a day: women = 6 teaspoons, men = 9 teaspoons, as well as how to find and calculate sugar on a label. Geared up with all this information, what will you eat for your no-added-sugar breakfast this week? There is always a veggie omelet; plain oatmeal with banana and unsweetened peanut butter; smoothie made with protein (unsweetened yogurt or protein powder), greens and frozen fruit. And here are a few additional recipes to consider: For those accustomed to cereal in the morning
Salad for breakfast! Yes, protein, greens and fiber served right up! No time? Make-ahead this veggie-packed breakfast frittata or purchase one of these Grab-n-Go breakfasts: waffles or freeze-dried meals. PRO TIP: A few things will tame sugar cravings, like protein; greens; fiber; and plenty of fluids (with no added sugar, of course). We will see you next week when we take added sugar out of snacks! Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: ELIMINATE ADDED SUGAR Click or tap to view and download the log. What to Expect in Concierge Choice Physicians' Special Brain Brawn Edition of Motivated Mondays1/27/2025 Happy Monday and welcome to our first week of Motivated Mondays 2025! In 2020, we launched the program Motivated Mondays with the intention of helping members implement small monthly lifestyle changes to yield lasting behaviors toward improved wellness. In 2023, we pivoted and the program became focused on modifiable lifestyle factors impacting cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. The program continues to be well received and since the science is ever evolving, in 2025 we continue with our brain health focused Motivated Mondays. Don’t worry if you previously participated—you won’t be bored! We will refresh the content with updated science, new tips and tools and a few new special editions. As always, we commit to providing you with “the what” to do, “the how” to implement it, and also “the why” each resolution is impactful for the health of your brain. We're so glad you decided to join us in 2025. Let’s begin! Can we really prevent cognitive decline? Captain Kirk may have proclaimed space as the “final frontier” but scientists have barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about the brain, thus we argue the brain is both the first and final frontier in science and medicine. Consider the brain functions tirelessly 24/7 to execute the biological and chemical functions of the 30 trillion cells a human possesses! We are not even aware of most of the brain’s activity because it happens in the autonomic nervous system- without our conscious thought. A combination of genetics, environment and modifiable lifestyle factors are at play for the onset and progression of cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. While 2024 was a landmark year for testing and treatment options, evidence continues to mount that each of us can choose behaviors which protect or harm our brains and its function. This year we will address behaviors to engage in which are protective and behaviors to avoid which are detrimental. Yes, plural! There is no one magic behavior; cognitive decline and its associated neurodegenerative conditions are multi-factorial in origin offering multiple opportunities to intervene! As the year draws to a close it will become evident how these behaviors are interrelated towards preventing cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. While most people attribute cognitive decline with neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, there are non-neurodegenerative conditions which also impact cognitive function such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. This should come as no surprise since these non-neurodegenerative conditions are also strongly associated with and influenced by the same modifiable lifestyle factors/behaviors we will be discussing. It is also important to note, some cognitive decline can be temporal, as with exposure to certain medications, surgical anesthesia, traumatic brain injury or stroke. 6 Cognitive Function Domains
Cognitive impairment can occur in any of the six cognitive function domains and is determined by the part of the brain affected by genetics, environment or lifestyle behaviors/factors. Learning and memory are probably the most well-known aspects of cognitive function. They are characterized by the ability to record information and retrieve them when needed. There are several types of memory.
Language is our ability to communicate, either through writing, reading, or speaking. Language skills includes tasks such as naming objects, finding the right words, the fluidity and flow of our speech patterns, grammar and syntax.
Executive functions refer to high-level cognitive abilities. It involves 1) organization- to collect information and modify it to be evaluated and 2) regulation - which conducts the evaluation of the information and adjusts ones response to it. In other words, these are the functions we need to plan, prioritize, make decisions, respond to our environments, and toggle between tasks. This includes sequencing, planning, and organization tasks.
Perceptual motor control is our ability to coordinate our body’s movements in response to what is happening around us.
Social cognition is how we process, recall and use information in social contexts. This includes our ability to control our desires to act on impulses, express empathy, recognize social cues, read facial expressions, and motivate ourselves.
Complex attention is our ability to focus on multiple things at once and our ability to choose what to pay attention to and what to ignore. The clinical manifestation (i.e., which domain affected) of the impairment is determined by the area of the brain affected. In most cases, the changes occur as result of perturbations in neuronal communication at the synapse. In other words, regardless of the domain or the cause of the injury, the end result is that neurons (brain cells) are not effectively communicating with one another. Glossary Here are a few terms we will revisit throughout 2025:
We’ll begin our 2025 program next week with our first mini resolution to remove added sugar from the diet. Fear not, we won’t tell you to skip the Valentine’s Day chocolate truffles, but will encourage you to remove the unnecessary, hidden, added sugar in your ketchup, bacon, yogurt, marinara, sausage, nut butters, etc. Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. |
MICHELE MCCAMBRIDGE, MPH, MSMichele is the Senior VP of Membership Development at Concierge Choice Physicians. She is also a professional in the areas of nutrition, fitness and wellness. ArchivesCategories |