HomeLifestyleFood & DietIs Sugar The Real Poison In Our Diets

Is Sugar The Real Poison In Our Diets

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Sugar and Why I Quit

4 years ago when I was weighing about 49 kilograms and looking like death warmed up I was finally diagnosed (based on symptoms) with severe Candidiasis.  By this stage I had already established intolerances to wheat and dairy and had eliminated many things from my diet.  I could eat meat, vegetables and fruit and was having the odd serve of rice or corn.

So while I thought that nothing more could be eliminated from my diet I discovered that I needed to give up 1 more thing!

Is sugar the real poison in our diets!

Sugar – I don’t eat sugar!

Partly this was true.  I had not eaten processed sugar (white, raw, brown) in a long time.  So what was this 1 ingredient I needed to give up?

Fruit + my 2 teaspoons of honey that I had somewhere during the day either in my tea or drizzled over rice porridge.

I was not happy!  I love fruit! I was born in North Queensland and raised in mid-coastal Queensland.  I grew up on Mangoes, pineapples, bananas, melons, persimmons and every other conceivable fruit out there.

Fruit is good for you – right?  Yes and No!

The problem is we eat too much of everything including fruit. Many diets promote fruit as a food that can be consumed in great quantities. We eat it for breakfast, for lunch, as snacks, after dinner, in pastries and breads and in baking. In general fruit, like all foods should be eaten in moderation. Less is more. Even good things if eaten in huge quantities will cause our bodies to become unbalanced.

When I was told I could eat 1 green apple a day as part of my recovery plan from Candidiasis I was devastated but I did it and I got used to it for an entire 12 months.

What was funny though was at the end of the 12 month(Phase 1) period I couldn’t wait to reintroduce that 1 thing – fruit – more than 1 green apple per day.

I tried to keep to the (Phase 2) guidelines.  Introducing just kiwi fruit, berries and the occasional ruby grapefruit but really I couldn’t help myself.  Summer was here and I wanted to eat melons, and bananas and pineapples and mangoes.

The side effects weren’t good.  Immediately my symptoms returned.  Although nowhere near as bad as what I had experienced, it was enough to scare the pants off me as I did not want to go back to another candida infection.

So I cut back on the fruit and found an amount that my body could process and manage without too many side effects.

So is sugar the real poison in our diets. I had heard many things about sugar. A friend’s mother told me once that 1 teaspoon of sugar would kill off over 300 cells. I then heard about “Sweet Poison” written by David Gillespie.  But it wasn’t until recently when I read Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar that I fully became convicted that sugar both sucrose and fructose, really is not worth having in my diet. So convicted that I’m struggling to even bake sweet things for others that I love as I know it’s not helping their diets either. More on that later.

A diet rich in soy and whey protein, found in ...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the last few months as I have carved away at the excess weight that I had put on during the recovery period I had stopped all sugar and cut down on my fruit intake dramatically.  Combining that principle with a healthy diet of meat, dairy, vegetables, nuts and good fats and oils I am losing weight at an easy consistent pace.  My metabolic rate has increased and I’m able to burn fat like I used to.

If you are looking for an informative but easy read on the facts about sugar, I highly recommend Sarah’s book “I Quit Sugar”.

Sarah has a light hearted approach to the whole process of removing sugar from our diets. It’s written with the laymen in mind and if you buy the bundle you’ll get a whole heap of great recipes and tips on stocking up your pantry.

My only precaution would be that if you are suffering with what you know or think is Candidiasis then you will need to take out all sugar including the small amount of fruit as well as the rice malt syrup mentioned in a few of the recipes.  Remember sugar of any kind will feed candida.

Stevia is in my opinion still the safest option for candida sufferers to use as a sweetener as it contains no fructose, sucrose, maltose etc.  Basically it doesn’t convert to a sugar in your body and will help to regulate blood sugar as you give up the nasty sugars from your diet.

Coconut oil cannot go without a mention here.  Sarah highly recommends coconut oil as the top oil to cook with.  I highly recommend that you take a therapeutic dose (3 tablespoons per day) in order to cleanse, feed and rebalance your system.

 

I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson

Kerry Wennersten
Kerry Wennerstenhttps://coconutoilpost.com
Homeschooling Mum of 2 and passionate about all things relating to Healthy Living. I have lived with gut disorders since a very young age and applied many remedies and therapies in order to seek recovery and good health. Along the way I discovered Coconut Oil, fermented foods and good fats and totally amazed at how these foods have transformed my health.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Kerry,
    I might grab the book and try sugar free again. We tried a while back for El. and I, but I don’t think we were balanced enough in our eating to make it work properly. El. started fainting big time, we had bloods etc. but I put it down to the radical change in her diet so we just stopped. That’s my fault though not researching enough.

    • Hi Turina,
      Going sugar free is definitely worth a try especially if there are signs of blood sugar drops or swings. Just remember that the key steps in going sugar free and stopping the cravings is to avoid flour, packaged foods and of course sugar and fructose. Remember to include healthy fats and good doses of them. The fats are what will level out the blood sugar and help with any dips or highs and lows. Stevia is also a great substitute and gives you that taste of sweet without the side effects. Hope you have success. Keep me posted. 🙂

      • Stevia is an excellent substitute or you can try xylitol. Find one that you like as I found they can be all very different to different people. I might like one and my husband HATES it.

  2. Quitting sugar has been a huge help in my life. I was able to finally get a grip on my food addiction and also my terrible eating habits. I now ADORE coconut oil, coconut butter and coconut flakes!! I love it. The great thing about giving up sugar is you get COCONUT!! YAY!!

    • Hi Kate,
      Great point about “giving up sugar”! It’s not often you hear about what you can have when you give up something! My breakthrough from thinking about sugar was that I can now think about what fats I can eat, including coconut oil, avocado and nuts. I had no idea that my body was so deprived of saturated fats. Now I’m looking for ways of incorporating coconut into lots of my meals and finding great snack ideas that are sugar free.

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