I joke with my oldest friends that I've spent the better part of my life "broken" somehow - I always seem to have a cold, or a stomach ache, or knee pain, or a head ache or some other minor health annoyance. And while it was always annoying, it somehow ended up being a funny joke. (YEAH YOU'RE SICK ALL THE TIME, HA. HA.) Then at some point I woke up and said - surely this isn't how all people feel all the time? BECAUSE THIS SUCKS.
I've tried various changes to combat this. Stop drinking milk! Take ALL the multivitamins! Give up ALL the meat! Nope? Okay, give up ALL the bread! EatALL kindamore fruits and veggies! Juice cleanses! ALL organic hippie food ALL the time! Drink ACTUAL ~60 oz of water each day!
Each change had it's pros and cons (except being vegetarian - it was all cons, all the time, starting and not ending with the crazy amount of weight I gained and haven't completely lost since). But none of them really changed anything about how I felt day in and day out.* At some point I gave up on the experiments and while I still eat mostly organic foods with a little more balance than when I was a kid, I also still feel like crap.
Fast forward to more and more people I know giving up sugar. Not just like, no longer adding sugar to their coffee, but taking all forms of non-naturally-occurring sugar out of their diet. And feeling great. And sustaining it for the actual rest of their lives.
Cue the moment when I finally clicked a bunch of links to articles and videos like "Is Sugar Toxic?" and "Sugar: The Bitter Truth." Cue me quickly ignoring those tabs as they sat open in Chrome for weeks, because I wasn't ready to learn that something delicious I had everyday could possibly be the root of many of my problems.
Find me with nothing to do one night and finally reading the articles, watching the video. Falling into the rabbit hole of researching sugar-related health problems. Learning about links between sugar and joint pain. Joint! Pain! Wondering why no one has described processed sugar as an "addictive mind fuck" because that's sure what it seems like.
Get to a point where I'm sitting in front of the computer, not sure I can give up sugar for the actual rest of my life (no more Nutella? Ever? THE HORROR) but knowing I can do it for one month. Knowing that it'll be hard as hell and a detox-induced emotional rollercoaster (during the same month as BiSC! when I work somewhere that serves gelato!!) but knowing I can commit to 31 days to see if it actually helps. If anything changes. If I feel any better at all - if my knee pain, and the sluggish feelings, and the headaches, and and and... will get better.
May 1. Sugar free for 31 days. Ready go.
*Except my three days with BluePrintCleanse, which made me feel crazy awesome but wasn't financially sustainable for, you know, EVER AND EVER.
I've tried various changes to combat this. Stop drinking milk! Take ALL the multivitamins! Give up ALL the meat! Nope? Okay, give up ALL the bread! Eat
Each change had it's pros and cons (except being vegetarian - it was all cons, all the time, starting and not ending with the crazy amount of weight I gained and haven't completely lost since). But none of them really changed anything about how I felt day in and day out.* At some point I gave up on the experiments and while I still eat mostly organic foods with a little more balance than when I was a kid, I also still feel like crap.
Fast forward to more and more people I know giving up sugar. Not just like, no longer adding sugar to their coffee, but taking all forms of non-naturally-occurring sugar out of their diet. And feeling great. And sustaining it for the actual rest of their lives.
Cue the moment when I finally clicked a bunch of links to articles and videos like "Is Sugar Toxic?" and "Sugar: The Bitter Truth." Cue me quickly ignoring those tabs as they sat open in Chrome for weeks, because I wasn't ready to learn that something delicious I had everyday could possibly be the root of many of my problems.
Find me with nothing to do one night and finally reading the articles, watching the video. Falling into the rabbit hole of researching sugar-related health problems. Learning about links between sugar and joint pain. Joint! Pain! Wondering why no one has described processed sugar as an "addictive mind fuck" because that's sure what it seems like.
Get to a point where I'm sitting in front of the computer, not sure I can give up sugar for the actual rest of my life (no more Nutella? Ever? THE HORROR) but knowing I can do it for one month. Knowing that it'll be hard as hell and a detox-induced emotional rollercoaster (during the same month as BiSC! when I work somewhere that serves gelato!!) but knowing I can commit to 31 days to see if it actually helps. If anything changes. If I feel any better at all - if my knee pain, and the sluggish feelings, and the headaches, and and and... will get better.
May 1. Sugar free for 31 days. Ready go.
*Except my three days with BluePrintCleanse, which made me feel crazy awesome but wasn't financially sustainable for, you know, EVER AND EVER.
I met you a while back, and being a lonely divorced bachelor had pulled me from my normal fitness routine. So if you remember me, please do not take that version of Chris as the "healthy" one. Going from fat band nerd, to fairly healthy, to fat bachelor, to marathoner, and now on to ultras/Ironmans... I have tried most diets. I find abstaining to be easiest. Moderation is very hard for me. I try to stick to plants during the week. Then, being a good born and raised Texan, I have my chips, salsa, breakfast tacos, and a "normal" meal on the weekends. I recently found that death of loved ones will instantly send me back into fat kid mode, but we are human after all. If I need to get back on track I reread "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manefesto". Anyway the point of my rambling is, try it all until you find something that works for you. Do not be discouraged if one thing sounds great, but does not work. There are plenty of people all over the word with very different diets that live longer and are healthier than the average American. You will find something that works and you will feel better.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Defense-Food-Eaters-Manifesto/dp/1594133328
I've had heard so many good things about that book! I will have to try to invest in it.
DeleteAnd exactly! It's all about what feels good for YOUR body.
Thanks, Chris!
so (a) to mimic Chris from above, In Defense of Food is a fabulous book & changed my life.
ReplyDelete(b) It Starts With Food is also an amazing book (it's the basis of Whole30, which I'm halfway through with my second time around)
and (c) Good luck, girl! Sugar-free is hard. But I hope you feel better & find ways to heal yourself.
(ps, (d) hi :)
You should try acupuncture!!! Good luck with the no sugar.
ReplyDeleteI've also been struggling with figuring out how to eat better and feel better and I've been hearing for a while that sugar is bad, but I love to bake so I never thought I'd be able to sustain a sugar-free lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks to you, I just read the "Is Sugar Toxic?" article and have decided to commit to going sugar-free for May as well. I just wanted to show you that there is some solidarity out there in the interwebs and to thank you for writing this article.
Woohoo! Solidarity! I need that, haha. 6 hours and 23 minutes in to May and I'm already craving a chai latte! Haha.
DeleteOops. I shouldn't have fed you my British candy at the airport.
ReplyDeleteAlso HOW did you get to be able to do replies to comments on blogspot?? Because that's why I switched to Wordpress and I hate wordpress.