Sugar is everywhere. I definitely struggle with it. I've got a massive sweet tooth. I'm happy to put my hand up own that be honest about it. But I'm hoping that our incredible next guest can not only help me, but they can help you too as we talk about sugar addiction and some really simple, practical, real tips on how we can reduce a sugar intake. Then I've got a few questions that have come into the Woodlife inbox
that I want to answer. And there's a real theme today around exercise options and what to choose for you.
I've been doing some eight week challenges and I'm wondering if I should give the challenges a rest and just maybe look at my long term fitness and health goals.
I'd like to know if it's better to do a variety of types of workout.
I have been loving doing pilates, but I think I am starting to hit a bit of a plateau with it. I was just wondering how I stay engaged again with it and keep pushing myself.
So I'll be getting to those questions later on in the show. Remember if you have any questions at all and fitness motivation, wellness, nutrition. Don't hesitate to send me a voice message to the wood Life in box. There's a little link in the show notes. That's what this podcast is all about. Real questions from real people about real life. This is the wood Life. I'm Sam Wood.
Let's get into it with sugar. So I'm going to kick things off by first of all saying I am addicted to sugar and it's probably not a great endorsement coming from me, but honesty and transparency is key. And our next guest is the incredible will Live Caplin. So Live is a holistic nutritionist who is focused on sharing delicious, sugar free, and gut healthy recipes. Welcome to the wood Life. How are you.
I'm good, Thanks for having me, Sam so Live.
Why do you think sugar has been so demonized in our society, particularly in more recent times. What actually is the biggest concern with consuming sugar?
I mean, I don't think demonizing is the answer. Like I always say to everyone, it's about what you can have. Thing with sugar is that generally products that are containing a lot of processed sugar. I mean, what do you think of It's lullies, it's junk, it's ice, creams. It's you know, even those musli bars and sort of even products that are marketed as healthy and sure none of those are really that supportive of our health. Having them
every now and then is absolutely fine. It's not going to harm you if you can get to that stage, or you can have it just every now and then when you feel like it as opposed to an every day addiction thing. But you know, this contributes to our diets. And we know now, I mean everyone knows now that your diet affects everything. It emanates out to every aspect of your life. So it is your risk of diseases obesity, heart disease, diabetes. It's also puts you at a greater
risk of mental health conditions, depression and anxiety. It emanates out to everywhere, whether you eat well or don't eat well, and it's part of a whole circle of health. It's your diet, it's your thoughts, it's your you know, mental health practices. So it is important that we eat well and eating well, we can't deny that it is having less process sugary products.
I think that's a really important reminder for people that if you are consuming process sugars in almost every meal of your life, every single day, which so many of us do. Whether we are aware of it or are prepared to admit it or not, then we are really having a need to impact on both have physical and mental health. And I think that's really important to cover upon.
I would love to know live from you. Why do you think sugar addiction or perhaps sugar reliance is so bad in this country in other Western countries.
I mean, sugar is naturally addictive, and like you said before, it's just everywhere we turn. Yeah, so you know, it's at the service station, it's at the supermarket, you know. And I know you've got little ones and they it's right at their eye level. It's the first thing they see, and they're all beautiful, colorful and really enticing. And I think anyone with little ones knows how unbelievably enticing sugar is.
Like it's just you become obsessed with it the second you kind of get a little bit of a taste of it. And you know that's not just for little ones, it continues all the way into adulthood. What I see, and I'm sure you've seen a lot with the people in your programs, is that people feel really guilty and they're like, Oh, I said I wasn't gonna eat it, and I did. And that's sort of why try and educate on things that I do, because it's not totally it's not your willpower that's the problem. And so we
can remove the guilt because that affects everyone. And it's just because sugar is naturally addictive and it's everywhere you turn that you've got to really work on the source to be able to say no to those things and to be able to look at the marketing and go no thanks, you know, So you don't need to sort of feel bad about yourself because that's also a cycle we don't want to get into, because then how do
we emotionally support ourselves. We eat sugar because of the dopamine release makes us feel good.
Tell us a little bit more about what does happen do You mentioned dopamine release before, and I'd love you to maybe dive a little bit deeper into that. What happens to our bodies when we consume sugar and why do we like it so much?
Yeah, it's because of that dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter, right, that's the one that makes us feel good. Basically, it's like the feel good like, oh that felt good, you know, and we know that when we indulge in something really delicious and indulgent. Yeah, yeah, you know, and it's not a bad thing at all. It can be good and bad. It's the same thing that happens when you have sex, when you have social interaction, we get that feel good
don't mean feeling. Unfortunately, it's also what happens in drug addictions. You know. That's a part of the mechanism behind a drug addiction as well. So what happens is we get this don't mean release, and then our body kind of learns. So that's how we get that feel good feeling and we crave that, and so that's sort of where a partly where a craving comes from.
So it's sort of two fold, isn't it. It's enticing an addictive from a marketing perspective, you know, the bright colors, the positioning, it's everywhere. You know, we can't escape it, you know, and as a parent, I couldn't agree with you more. But then the actual taste of it or what it does to our body and it sort of you know, hits our lips or it hits our tongue or whatever way we consume it, it becomes addictive again.
So if you may or may not know this, but we have our wood Life listeners ringing to our podcast with real time questions, and Louise has actually sent us a question in the last hour that is specific about sugar. So rather than me answering it, I'd love to handle this one to you because I'm sure you're going to be able to give her some wonderful advice.
Hey, Sam, it's lou After every meal, not so much breakfast, but definitely lunch. Even if I've had a really nutritious lunch, I always crave something sweet. I don't obviously always have something sweet after every meal. But is that actually real? Because I think a few of us have that craving after a meal. Something sweet could be anything a little bit of chocolate. So I'm just wondering if that is actually real? Was it just my imagination? Thanks?
Sam, liv Do you have some advice for Louise that can help?
Yeah, and it's it's not in her imagination.
Right, Okay, that's important.
Yeah, And that's why I talk about like this sort of physiological side of these addictive or cravings because it really isn't all in our heads, which is why when it comes to addressing them, we've got to start at the source instead of just trying to band aid over solutions. By the time you've got the craving, it's kind of too late because those are those like patterns. We're kind of on autopilot. By the time we're craving something and we want it, we're almost not that in control of
what we're doing. So it's coming back to how do we stop that from happening in the first place, And that's I think the biggest difference, you know, rather than starting the conversation at how can we deal with the craving, because a lot of people go, oh, go for a walk or do this, and it's just we know that that's not like the most helpful advice because it maybe sometimes works, but the best way is to stop the
craving in the first place. So when it comes to sugar, a big one there is to focus on the food that you are eating. So it's not just about reducing sugar. It's about filling your plate with really beautiful, good quality fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, good quality proteins, whether they're animal or plant based, those things first will keep us full. So if we're fuller and we're more satisfied, we are
going to crave less sugar. It's what you're eating to start with, but it's also how you're thinking when you do go for a grocery shop. Like take a second to come back to the present moment, because that's a lot of the time where these cravings come from. Is we're distracted, or we're trying to like pacify an emotion, or we're just living all up here in like what's going on and ow to do list and everything, And it's really when you take a second to be like heay,
like what do I actually want in this moment? Most of the time, especially for everyone listening here, because they're already interested in their health because you know they've chosen to listen to this episode of the podcast, like you do want to eat things that nourish your body and make you feel good anyway, and so it's like tuning into that sort of inner fire. And when you do it, sometimes it is just a matter of like taking a few deep breaths and like wh okay, like what do
I really want? And generally you make a better choice anyway because you're not distracted, you're or operating from habit
or emotion. So the secret starts in the head. Then we come to like what we're eating, like I said, focusing what you can have, and then the actual food, which is funny enough, like the last step, but it can be really simple, like nutrition can be very like all the information that's out there is so contradicting and confusing and everyone's saying a different thing, but it really can be simple when you forget about all the crazy
rules and you know, it's just eat real food. I like to eat food which is like as close to the earth as possible. And my thing is I'm always like, if there is a food that does not have a marketing team behind it, it's probably a good food to eat. When you think of fruits, vegetables, like plain grains, leg rooms, meats, all those things, rather than all like the processed and packaged stuff, because that's got a whole team of people
screaming at you. It's good and free, it's healthy, it's sugar free, and and really it's the silent foods around the outskirts of the supermarket that are what really is going to serve us and nourish us.
Yeah. Even that's a great tip in itself. Isn't it a shop around the outside of the supermarket? Someone said that to me once and it was a real penny drop moment for me, that you're getting sucked into those inside aisles. You're probably not doing yourself too much of a service. You mentioned he keeps saying coming back to
the source, which I absolutely love. And as you were talking, my brain sort of went to a place of you know, all day, every day, we've got these fork in the road moments, and it really does come down to do you cave to the instant gratification or do you And I even like the way he said, stop, pause, take a deep breath, because life is hectic. I mean, I'm never not in a hurry when I'm in the supermarket.
So what are some health foods in inverted commas that you think we should be a little bit more wary of.
It's a great question. And I always say, like, if I'm going to eat sugar, I want it to be like a white chocolate cheesecake. I don't want to pablic a musali, but.
Are going to do it? Do it? Properly. I like it.
Yeah, okay, And that's where I see a lot of the problem comes from, is that, you know, people are doing the best they can. They're making a choice that they think is healthy, or that the packet says it's healthy. But what happens a lot of the time is then all throughout the day, they're just eating these little bits of sugar, sugar, sugar, because it's added sugar in everything, and by the time they get to the end of the day and they do want to indulge, it's this
compounding effect. They've already had pretty solid chunk of sugar and they're going to have more. I think musli bars and granola bars is probably my worst la.
I make it myself.
That's good, that's fine, then yeah, but the bars especially because I've got to use like some kind of sweetener or something to bind it.
Together, mulcilfiers and yeah, and also.
Keep it shelf stable for you know, ten years flavored yogurts and also like a lot of those generally say fat free, and that's another sort of lie, not that it's not fat free, but that that's healthy just because it says fat free, because really it's pumped with sugar to kind of counteract that taste and get the same mouthfeel, or just to be satisfying. So sure, nothing wrong with full fat yoget pretty much any like sweet Even some of the more healthy like bliss balls and date bars
and things still you know, not great options. There's still quite a lot of sugar.
I'm glad you brought those up, actually, because I feel like they're the modern day music bar. I feel like, as a kid, you know, Mum used to put the Apricot crunchy musicy bar in my lunchbox and I bloody love them, and you know, I may as well have been eating and Jerry rab really I mean a bit healthier, but not not that much from a sugar content, but I love them, and I always had in my head that it was a really healthy snack, and Mum probably did too, to be honest, you know, it was thirty
years ago. What about diet drinks and artificial sweetness and you know, diet coke versus like, what's your take on all of that.
It depends what we're talking about, like the diet cokes of the world and all those things like that. There are no from me, not that coke is a yes from me for a number of reasons, and the first one is, you know, if I come back to my philosophy, which is eating food that's as close to the earth as possible and as natural as possible, diet coke obviously is far away from that caliber of food. So that's
the one thing. The second thing is, when it comes to sugar addiction, one of the biggest problems is just swapping out sugar for other sweet things.
So it actually doesn't solve the problem.
It doesn't solve the problem. It just it's sort of a band aid solution. And while that may have less glucose in it, which is the kind of sugar that our body recognizes, which is good, it doesn't actually help us with getting to that stage where we talked about at the beginning, which is peacefully actually no thanks, I'm not going to have that donut, the dit coke. I think all those artificial sweetness just perpetuates that like need
for sweetness, and those are really sweet though. It is like when you're eating cold food and fruit, for example, which is sort of us sugar and nature's sweet dessert. Yes, like an apple is really really sweet, but when you compare it to a diet coke. It's not sweet because they're so unbelievably overly sweet, those diet products.
So I think that's a fascinating point too, because you know, I've gone on health kicks before. I'm typically good most of the time, but every now and then I'll really ramp things up and be much better, particularly with my food. My training is pretty consistent, but with my food, and I always find the first week pretty hard, pretty hard
to get over that hump, and I miss things. But it just it's amazing, and this is a really important message, I think for everybody that might be struggling with it. It's amazing how much easier it gets. Like I promise you, it gets easier, you know, and you eventually get to the point, like you say, live where your palette genuinely changes. This is where your recipe. I mean, I've seen a lot of your recipes are just brilliant, well rounded, nutritionally
balanced meals. But you also are quite famous for your deliciously sweet treats that are made of natural ingredients that I guess give people the same experience from a taste bud perspective, but it's full of natural ingredients. So what are some swaps. Let's finish by leaving our listeners some good swaps live with stuff that perhaps if you're eating X, try swapping it with Y and you'll feel like the
void has been really adequately filled. But you're not. Your life doesn't end and you're not having a complete meltdown. Let's go with that.
Sure, I definitely always think set yourself up with success. Don't make it hard of yourself than already is.
Yeah, yeah, and a lot of us do.
And this might surprise people, but dark chocolate, if it's eighty five percent or above, because that is really really low in sugar. There's a touch in there, but it's you know, and if anyone who eats a lot of sugar tastes out, they'll say it's quite bitter. But that's the test when it comes to like, have you gotten over that sugar that accustomed to sweetness? Is that that chocolate in the beginning tastes really bitter and at the end, when you've gotten over that after like three weeks, like
you said, it tastes so sweet and indulgent. You don't need to give up on things that are delicious, you know, and things that are kind of indulgent and have that mouth feel, even like a full fat coconut yogurt with nut butter on top. Cinnamon is a naturally sweet spice. It also helps us regulate our blood sugar. So that's one that I like to have. And in the beginning
that might seem like what do you mean? You know, that's like when when you're a kid and you ask for a treat and your mum says, have fruit, and it's like the worst thing that she could ever said. I know that a lot of people, I'm just like you have, like, you know, have some yogurt with nut butter and cinnamon. People like, but that's not a dessert,
But slowly it gives you that treat feel. A few other things I like pepmint and licorice tea just because it's a good good for digestive system and it's naturally sweet. These all little things that you can just keep going and even like make a delicious sort of hot like a basically hot chocolate with cacao and some hot milk whatever you like, maybe a little bit of stevia or something to add that sweetness, and just it's almost more about having a moment of indulgence than it is about
what you're eating. And I got a moment of pleasure, you know, after all, like a lot of sugar for a lot of people is pleasure, and eating for a lot of people is pleasure, and you don't need to give that up. You Actually you want to feel good when you're eating.
Absolutely, you should have a healthy relationship with FOD. I couldn't agree with you more. The reason I love that you've given those for is they're all perfect for posting, and I think that's where people struggle with the most. I think they're really really good tips. And of course the other one is to check out all of your amazing recipes. What's your Instagram handle for people to go and find some of your delicious recipes live.
I've got a million recipes to try. There's no shortage of sugar free and gut friendly recipes, that's for sure. So my Instagram is liv dot kap l.
An so live dot ca plan some brilliant tips there. I think so many of us do struggle with sugar, and it's not necessarily about cutting it out of your diet or together or you're eating out together. It's just making some simple changes that we consume less, and I think not only today did we get some practical advice on how to do that, but I think we also understand it a little bit more, which is again a
really important step into making some better choices. So thanks so much for coming on the Woodline.
Thanks Sam, thanks so much for having me.
So, I honestly can't recommend enough that everybody goes and checks out Lives recipes. They really are first class. We're moving from food to fitness because next I am going to answer your exercise questions. So now it's my favorite time because it's the time that I get to answer
your questions. And this week I've handpicked some wonderful questions from Woodlife listeners all about exercise because I think it gets to this time of year, it's getting a little bit colder, looking for different indoor workout options, and we're not really sure what's the right option for us, what we should try. So hopefully these questions help stimulate you to try something new. And our first question is from Riley Rose.
Hey, Sam, I've been doing some eight week challenges and I was really good at them a few years ago, and I really liked them, and I really enjoyed them, but the last couple that I've done, I've found that I've put a lot of pressure on myself and then I actually just end up falling off the wagon big time in like the second week, and I'm wondering if I should give the challenges a rest and just maybe look at my long term fitness and health goals.
Thanks Riley Rose. What a poignant question for the world that we live in today with eight week challenges everywhere. Now, I'm a big advocate of eight week challenges because I run them, so I'm not throwing them under the bus by any stretch. But they have their place, and they work for some people at some times, and it feels to me like you have already worked out that they were really really good for kickstarting, but they're not necessarily
the best plan from a sustainability perspective. And the reason for that is people struggle to change gears when it comes to getting into shape. So many of us have this all or nothing personality where if we're on, we're on, and if we're off, we are off, and that contributes heavily to weight loss and weight gain and the yo yo dieting and we're up and we're down, and we're on and we're off, and it's not really how we
want to live. So I don't mind challenges if you have the capability to then change gears, because you might be in fifth gear on a challenge, you're a nine out of ten with your food, you're a nine out of ten with your workouts. But if the alternative or the burnout or the next phase for you is now I just need a complete break or you drop the ball, or you feel crappy about yourself. If you're not doing things at a nine or a ten out of ten,
then that's not the answer for you. Whereas if you do have the capability to drop gears to a fourth gear or a third gear, and it might be your exercise and your food, then go to a seven out
of ten. You're still drinking the water, you're still getting your steps up, but you don't feel like you're having to turn your life upside down and do these hour workouts every single day or anything like that, or feel bad about yourself if you have a not so healthy meal or miss a workout, then then challenges can be really good because they can be a great sort of uplift in motivation and accountability and community and results. But let's not worry about where we want to be in
eight weeks. Let's worry about what we want to be in twelve months. And that's not to say that your goal is a twelve month goal, but you need to honestly answer the question, I'm going to be better off doing four eight week challenges where I can reduce to a seven out of ten in between those eight week challenges, and then in a twelve months I'm going to be
in a really good place. Or if the reality for you is in between eight week challenges, you're a zero at a ten and you drop the ball altogether and you just can't do anything because you're physically and emotionally and psychologically exhausted for hanging on by your fingernails for eight weeks, and therefore you're probably going to undo almost all of the progress that you made in that eight weeks within the four weeks between these challenges. Don't do
challenges because you're fat. You're going to be far better off just trying to find a sustainable seven out of ten all of the time where we enjoy life, and really that's where we all want to get to. But if you're just starting out, or you feel like you've got a lot of weight to lose or a lot of work to do, and you feel like that motivation factor that a challenge absolutely categorically does bring. Then I give them the thumbs up, but they're not a forever solution.
Our next exercise question is coming from Michelle Hi.
Sam, I'd like to know if it's better to do a variety of types of workouts like a pilates one day, the hit and a walk, or if we should try and be more consistent with the type of workouts we do.
Thank you, look, Michelle, I totally believe that variety is the spice of life, and when it comes to workouts, it's a critical component to keep things stimulating and not let you get bored. And you also have to understand that different workouts do different things. You know, Pilates is great for the core muscles and your posture, and yoga's great for your mobility and flexibility, and then running is great for your heart and your cardio and strength training
is great for your muscles and your bones. So you do want to make sure you're sort of covering all bases. You know, if you just run every single day. You're going to become a very good runner, and you're probably going to have a really strong heart cardiovascula. You're going to be really good, but you might not have great upper body strength, or you might not have great ability, or you might be praying to getting injured because you're
doing too much of the same thing. So it's always a balance here between shaking things up a little bit. If nothing changes, nothing changes, and your body will not get the same kind of results if you're just doing the same thing over and over again. So variety is really good from that perspective. It's also really good because it stops you getting bored and it keeps things interesting.
But you have to enjoy it. And so by that I mean if you love running and you despise all other types of exercise, and I don't mean to sit on the fence on this, well, then you might actually be better off running predominantly, not only, but predominantly. I'd be great to add one other thing in there, just
to balance things out a little bit. From a low impact sort of stretching perspective, perhaps I think yoga and running would be a nice combination, But the reality is you want to do a mixture, and you've got to get some strength training in there. Now, when I say strength training, that's resistance training, So that's anything against a
resistance So pilates is a form of resistance training. Yoga is a form of resistance training, using your body weight, going to the gym, whatever, they're all forms of resistance training. Don't think of resistance training as weight training where you've got to lift big, heavy weights, because it's absolutely not that. But you do need to make sure that you're looking after your heart, you're looking after your muscles, and you're
looking after your posture. And if you feel like you're ticking all three of those boxes and you're enjoying all of those options, then you're on to a winner. Our next question is from Anna.
Hi Sam, it's Anna from Melbourne. I have been loving doing pilates like twice a week for the past couple of months. It's been really challenging, but I think I am starting to hit a bit of a plateau with it. I was just wondering how I stay engaged again with it and keep pushing myself but also still have fun. Thanks.
So Anna's question is kind of a follow on from the last question. And that is you know, if nothing changes, nothing changes. And first of all, it's great self awareness to see that plateau happening so quickly, because so many don't. They do the same workout or the same circuit for years and they got wonderful results for the first twelve weeks, and they're not much has happened since. So it's definitely a good idea to shake things up. There's a myriad of ways to do this. Do you change the level
tick that would be a great place to start. Do you change the instructor within the same place, the same studio absolutely, or like they say, it changes as a holiday. Do you go somewhere else? Now? I know lots of my friends, whether it yoga or pilates or whatever it is, they go to a new studio and it's a complete revelation. They were in a rut, they were plateauing, and all of a sudden, their joy and their love for that particular activity is back to like it was on day one.
They're meeting you people. It's great from a social stimulation perspective, it's more challenging. It's a different environment. The light's different, the colors different, the music's different, and all of a sudden, it's like they've rediscovered what they loved about that particular practice all over again. So I absolutely say get yourself out there, try different places, meet different people, and let
me know how you go. As always, this podcast doesn't exist without the wonderful wood Life Lessons sending in their questions, so please please please check out the link in the show notes and send through any questions that you have. Today was really in my wheelhouse talking about nutrition and exercise, and I've loved every bit of it and I'll see soon