Why I Did NOT Quit Sugar
Why I did NOT quit sugar? Except I actually did. A few years ago. How could I not? “Sugar is the source of all evil”, no? Considering that junk food was never a part of my diet I ended up drastically reducing everything else I considered sugar: most fruit, most root vegetables, grains, milk. You know the drill.
As a short term strategy it worked wonderful: I lost quite a bit of weight, bloating disappeared, and I felt light, energetic and almost "high". Except after about a year, I began to feel tired, developed lots of food sensitivities and intolerances, became irritated that I was unable to sustain this diet and felt deeply guilty for those occasions when I went off it.
It took me years to understand that by cutting most carbohydrates out of my diet I was placing my body in a permanent state of stress. It took some guts (and being completely broken down) to start adding sugar back. And by sugar I mean... sugar: white sugar in my tea, lots of honey, plenty of ripe fruit, real ice cream, chocolate... after only a week I began sleeping like a baby having struggled with insomnia for years. I felt happier. Had steady energy rather than feeling "high". I stopped trying to fill some void.
Here is the deal: "glucose is a preferred source of energy by almost every cell in our body". "At rest, however, the skeletal muscles of the body and cardiac muscles of the heart prefer fat as energy source".* To put it simply:
We, humans, were meant to burn sugar for energy during the day and fat during sleep. Not the other way around.
By reversing this natural order we shock our bodies into stress. Without sufficient carbohydrates we force the body to mobilise resources and get through the day using an "emergency" engine. Surprisingly, it actually feels good. Stress feels good sometimes. Spiking adrenaline and endorphins flying around create that feeling of being "high". And we tend to think we must be doing something right. Depending where you are on the metabolic spectrum this euphoria can last a while. But at what cost? A state of emergency is a back-up plan not a way to live. And if we spend too long in an emergency state we wear our "engine" (metabolism) down too quickly. We begin to age quicker. We get sick. We feel cold. Our hair begins to fall out and digestion slows down. It’s not just lack of sugar, of course. There are other sources of metabolic stress but considering how crucial carbohydrates are for human survival it’s a big factor.
Here are a few things I personally learned and used in my own healing. Each point would require a separate post to explain but here goes:
Simple natural carbs are best for building metabolism. Shocker, huh? Ripe fruit, honey, root vegetables, milk sugars from natural dairy, and plain white sugar. NOT junk food, candy, canned drinks or high fructose corn syrup.
Complex carbs slow down metabolism. Fiber slows down metabolism. Another shocker?
The rest of the diet is crucial. In order to be burned for energy by our cells it requires a lot of other nutrients: vitamin B, C, potassium, magnesium... A beautiful dessert at the end of a balanced meal is a different proposition to eating gummy bears on an empty stomach.
Sugar lowers stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline.
Relying on artificial sweeteners (even the healthy ones such as stevia and xylitol) leads to slowing down of metabolism. Craving sugar often means your body is starving for energy.
Not consuming enough carbohydrates during the day is one big reason for waking up at night unable to fall back to sleep (an epidemic!).
So called "heart healthy" vegetable and fish oils slow down metabolism by inhibiting cells ability to metabolise glucose for energy leading to high blood sugar and elevated insulin levels.** Go easy on those oh-so-popular energy bars!
Removing sugar in the name of gut bacteria health is counterproductive and only results in temporary symptom relief at the expense of more problems down the road such as weaker metabolism, lower body temperature, lower immunity, more food sensitivities and intolerances.
Most research that claims sugar is bad for you relies on overconsumption of sugar; studying people who are already sick and have problems metabolising sugar; consuming sugar in the form of nutrient-deficient junk food; studying mice rather than humans, and, most importantly, observing temporary results of what a body under stress can deliver.*
So, should you be eating more sugar then? No. I mean, I don’t know unless I have an idea of what your diet is like. Simply increasing sugar consumption may be counterproductive and lead to too much weight gain.
However, if you suspect that your metabolism may be weak due to years of dieting or excess stress and want to learn how to reintroduce carbohydrates back into your diet gracefully — book a Metabolism Breakthrough Session where we will go over your health history, concerns and find a way to make your body stronger and more resilient instead of chasing symptoms and manipulating your food plate. (Use code JAN2017 to get a 70% discount on your first session if booked by the end of January 2017).
I am only scratching the surface here. What about fructose? (Yes, it's good for you). Why does Dr. Oz tell us to eat complex carbs? Will my dental health suffer? Get in touch directly or wait for further blogs.
Some of us do need to reduce empty sugar but all I am saying is that sometimes we lose forest for the trees when trying to live “by the book” and listening to experts in a healthy pursuit of health.
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* This definition is taken from “How to Heal Your Metabolism” by Kate Deering
** Obesity and Free Fatty Acids (FFA), Guenther Boden, M.D.