Sugar Drug

Oh yeah and sugar gives me hella bad canker sores too.

I couldn't agree more Jenni! I swore off sugar from November 28th or so till December 24th. No no no sugar! I was surprised at the amount of energy my body gained as the days, then weeks went on. I have several medical issues and sometimes spend days on the couch. I was extremely surprised when those days lessened because my body wasn't being "drugged" and thus not adding to my sluggishness! I was cleaning, doing dishes, making dinner: It was amazing!

Christmas eve I had two sugar cookies. I will say it was hard not to dive into the plethora of amazing treats my family had about. But like you after my second cookie (mind you, it did take TWO cookies before I slowed down to realize! lol!) I noticed that my taste buds were not that thrilled. And let me tell you, they were AMAZING cookies to me before I started my fast. I had another cookie on Christmas day and REALLY noticed an almost nasty taste in my mouth and stomach from it. I didn't have one more treat for that holiday!

Thankfully I missed out on a sugar hangover. This is not to say I'm not thinking about having a snack on new years eve! Ha ha! But I thought it was very interesting. I still have my bad days too where all I want to do is go into my pantry and make brownies.

I am all for sugar fasting and completely agree with the whole it has on our lives. I would love to join you in a sugar free zone! All the help and encouragement we can get from one another always helps!

Are you planning on a snack for new years eve? )

i'll join your sugar fast! it's killing my weight loss efforts.. i totally experienced 'sugar high" wherein I ingested large amounts of sweet and sugary stuff and i felt lightheaded, a sudden increase in energy plus the sugar crash afterward.. made me lethargic all day plus an uncontrollable appetite for sweets.. the next day, i feel I'll never pig out again, but then one bite of any processed/refined sweet stuff, my brain gets happy.. and next thing I know, I'm pigging out again until my stomach and intestines explode.. my 15 lb weight gain is a concrete proof of my sugar addiction..:grumble:

I'm so frustrated with myself.. i feel as if all my weight loss efforts have been erased.. so I'm right there with you with the sugar fast.. do we have a specific time frame for this? or like our own? it'll be fun if we have a specific time frame for the group so we'll be accountable.. :flowerforyou:

I agree! Since you brought it up.... I have been on the Adkins diet before and lost a whole lot of weight pretty quick! But on the induction (the first 2 weeks) They have you cut sugars out. I thought i would be fine but omg, not so much. Those two weeks what your doing is kinda detoxing your body of alllll the sugars. What you do is cut out sugar and pasta, and pasta turns into a sugar so it makes sense. You can use Splenda as a sub and they have recipes for desserts and such. Its really not that bad and come thursday, ill be on it again! It as worth it like i said. So, if your looking to cut out sugar and lose weight...its great! Just make sure your cholesterol isnt high. You eat as much as you want for the most part. I lost 3lbs in my first week. DEF TRY IT!!!!!

-JeNn

I think cutting out most sugar is a really good idea. I've been conscious about what I've been eating that involves sugar and on my food diary I'm always over on the sugar. For a long time I used alternatives/substitutes (Splenda, aspartame, truvia) and they caused me other health issues so now I usually eat pure sugar cane. It's a proven fact that sugar will give you a high because it spikes your sugar levels in your blood and as a reaction your insulin causing you to later crash. (This is the same thing with simple carbs.)

So everyone can be as successful as they can with cutting out sugar I wanted to throw in a few points. Sugar is in soooo many things which is why the South Beach Diet is really hard because they basically have you cut everything that has sugar natural or processed. If you want to sugar fast I would focus on the simple carbs and added sugars like the cookies and sugar in coffee/tea. Just know that any simple carbs like white bread, crackers etc. will give you the same sugar high/crash as your body breaks them down the same way. Also fruit and vegetables sometimes have an extreme amount of sugar in them like carrots or bananas so if you want to curb that sugar tooth eat some of those but in moderation.

Another piece of this is that since this concept is essentially the South Beach Diet people should know that not too many people stick to that diet. (It does cut a lot of weight fast but doesn't always stay off because it's not the fat you are losing) It's a diet people use to cut weight but then they bounce back because they can't keep it up. I know personally when I was on it I felt horrible because I wasn't getting enough sugar to function and it limited so many foods that I would normally eat. Your body makes insulin to counteract the sugar and yes if you have too much it causes health issues. On the other hand if you cut out too much you will eventually have a relapse. Try keeping the sugar amounts low from natural sources and maintaining it should give you better success.

The last piece is about substitutes like Splenda. I had horrible reactions to Splenda as it has a binding component (Chlorine molecule) so your body doesn't process the sugar but it binds up and can get stuck in your organs like kidneys. The aspartame gave me horrible migraines. And Truvia was just weird my digestive system wasn't liking it, I had horrible cramps and couldn't digest properly. Now this may only be me but I would rather eat pure cane sugar and take the extra calories than a substitute that will eventually do something. (Especially because I always ate more with the substitute thinking it was ok)

I apologize for that being so long winded. Sugar and I have battled for a long time and I'm finally ok with where I'm at with it. I hope even a little of this information is helpful.

i tried the the south beach diet a while back. the one thing that i did like about it was that during the first 2 weeks you cut out all sugar. the reason for that is to get the cravings out of your body. it is like nicotine. it takes a little while to get out of your system, but once you do you wont have the cravings like you used too.

Splenda and other artificial sweetners scare me too! I myself have had less then happy experiences with it and my husband is horribly allergic. My sister had to go on a complete detox for 6 months and when she started introducing some sweets back into her diet (by sweets I mean raisens...half an orange...it was INTENSE!) splenda gave her a HORRIBLE reaction. She actually had a rash!

When I say I'm cutting refined sugar/carbs out, I don't really count the carbs found in a more natural source like veggies/fruits though I for sure try not to go overboard. There have been afternoons where I could eat 3-4 oranges if I wanted to, just because I want that sweetness!

I'm so happy Jenni that you noticed the energy thing too! I hope that as everyone tried this out or continues on their fight against sugar that they experience more energy as well! I can't wait until you get a support thread up! )

I recently bought a book called..." You are what you eat" and it has changed my outlook on a lot of things. Maybe you would be interested in reading it. It explains what this bad food does to your body and how to help yourself live a long healthy life.

A great resource for recovery form sugar addiction is the work of Kathleen DesMaisons. She wrote a book called "potatoes not prozac" which is a really silly name for an incredible book about her work on sugar and how certain people are more sensitive to it than others, and therefore more likely to become addicted. It is similar to how some people can drink alcohol in moderation but for some even one drink is a major problem. There is also an action plan for overcoming the problem, which is effective but not for people looking for a quick fix. I think the website is radiantrecovery.com. I highly recommend all sugar addicts check it out...