Because Ka-POW!

Struggling With a Sugar Addiction?

It might be easier to kick it for good than you think!

Imagine a daily diet like this…

• Breakfast: None. The very concept is nauseating, as most mornings are spent feeling “generally icky”. The first meal of the day is a peanut butter and honey sandwich in late afternoon.
• Lunch: None. Snacking on candy throughout the rest of the day.
• Dinner: A small cereal bowl of overdone conventionally-grown beef made marginally more edible with monosodium-glutamate-laden boxed rice “helper”.
• Dessert: The actual “main course” — several bowls of ice cream doused in chocolate syrup.

Water?

Boring. Soda, please.

Fruit?

Nope.

Vegetables?

What are those?

Horrific, no?

(Yes.)

That was me, until the fall of 2002.

No wonder I was prediabetic by age 23. No wonder I had gained 25% more body weight in a single year and still struggled with acne at age 25. No wonder I felt like dirt every morning, even after nine (or more) hours of sleep. No wonder the antidepressant medication wasn’t working anymore and I was still irritable as hell. No wonder I couldn’t retain any new information or stay focused in university classes.

Because yikes.

It had started long ago…

My mom wasn’t a negligent mother. She cooked — rather well, most of the time! I liked most of what she made.

But, Mom was passive and I was a spoiled kid. I liked chocolate and other sweets because on a subconscious level, I found them satiating and calming. I insisted on them from an early age, and I knew how to get what I want. It didn’t even take much.

Mom probably had her reservations, but ultimately she gave in. I don’t blame her for that. I was pretty incessant and relentless. I was also addicted to sugar, and I could eat whatever I wanted without any visible consequences, thanks to undiagnosed Celiac disease, which flatlines food and nutrient absorption.

So, I inhaled the contents of the junk food drawer weekly and didn’t gain a pound, keeping the true deterioration of my health under the radar of everyone, even myself.

Even after several timely dietary overhauls for the (much!) better and had rid the cupboards of most candy, I still liked to cap off my dinner with a specific dark chocolate peanut cup or two afterward. Sometimes more like three or four. I would even go through spurts where I would eat much more than that over the course of a weekend.

I liked chocolate almond milk, too. I’d go through half a gallon in a couple of days pretty easily.

I just liked my chocolate, what could I say?

I’m not alone. Contemporary society is in trouble.

The average American reportedly eats about 1/3 of a pound of sugar each day. Most nutritionists advise that we derive no more than 10% of our calories from sugar, which is just over 53 grams of sugar per day.

The average American consumes about 170 grams of sugar per day.

Yikes again.

Sugar is everywhere. It’s not just sprinkled, but dumped into foods. The usual suspects like soda and baked goods are well-known, but sugar is found in surprisingly high amounts in what are considered savory condiments, too.

This means that people usually have no clue how much sugar they’re eating. They may not even realize they’re eating sugar at all!

It’s insidious. Sneaky tricks, on the part of food manufacturers. Not funny.

Most people are sucked onto this merry-go-round, unknowingly. Most remain there for life.

I had been destined for the same fate.

Then came a happy accident — how I shook the sugar…

Sometimes I’ll adopt a life habit or activity to accomplish one goal, and another positive side effect takes place, too.

Sometime during my Masters degree program, I learned about sweating as a means of clearing toxins out of your body for proactive health reasons.

I live in a climate with very hot summers, so I decided to experiment with this timely information. I unearthed my swimsuit, gathered some towels and a full water bottle, and went to the local pool. I didn’t plan to swim, just to sit in the sun…and sweat.

I stayed out there for a good hour or two. Sweat poured out of me. My arms, hands, legs, and even feet all had a sheen to them. I sipped on my water frequently to rehydrate. This water was distilled but then remineralized to replace the electrolytes I knew I was losing through sweat, such as salt and potassium.

After a quick dip in the pool to cool off, I returned home, only to find that I craved savory snacks. Almond flour crackers, organic corn chips, anything I could find. I knew I had sweated quite a bit and despite the mineral content of my water, my body needed just a bit more of something — perhaps salt.

I went to the pool several times a week (maybe 2–3, specifically). Each time, I felt amazing. But I also kept craving only savory foods. Not just salty snacks, either, but also bright-colored vegetables, spanning the whole rainbow, that provided juicy hydration and crunchy fibrous texture.

Real, lasting change is possible — even easy!

It’s all about the “intestinal microbiome”, a potpourri of bacteria, yeasts, and fungi that line your intestinal tract. Each one of us has an average of 2 to 4 pounds of it inside us (shout-out to Dr. Christine Bradstreet), and it (strongly) influences many of our dietary choices.

The bad news is that its temptation is quite powerful, brainwashing us into making poor dietary choices, especially when unbalanced. But the good news is that it can be changed!

After I started craving savory foods, my intestinal microbiome began to shift. Bacteria and yeasts that manipulated my brain, directing me to consume sugar to feed them, began to die off. Probiotic “good” bacteria that preferred savory foods that nourished me began to bloom in their place.

The microbiome (the microbial ecosystem of bacteria and yeasts in the intestines) does shift in response to dietary changes, and it can begin to do so very soon after the changes are made. The makeup of your gastrointestinal environment can change drastically and for the better or worse. In this case, it was better.

It’s when the microbiome shifts that our minds shift with it. No longer do we crave sugar. We only craved it to feed sugar-loving bacteria and yeasts in the first place. The sugar wasn’t really for us.

When the microbiome shifts, that’s when giving up sugar gets easy. Not only do you not crave it, you actually choose to abstain when given the choice to have it, because you genuinely don’t want or need it.

Thus [bonus:], there is little chance of relapse (!).

The usual fine print…

I am a doctor, but I’m probably not yours, so do run this past your trusted health professional before attempting. Sitting and sweating in the hot sun and high temperatures may be risky for those with certain conditions. Make sure this option is safe for you before trying it out.

I live in a hot, borderline-tropical climate. Most people in the U.S. and Europe don’t. Never fear! There are several alternatives you can use to achieve the same end goals, such as different types of saunas or perhaps hot tubs.

Every body is different, influenced by infinite factors that include genetics, environment, lifestyle, diet, and so on. For this reason, again, your mileage may vary.

But if it’s been determined to be safe for you, and you’ve been struggling, go for it! There are multiple excellent health benefits, in addition to shaking the sugar addiction! I may cover those in a future article — stay tuned!

Where Credit Is Due:

This article was inspired by an excellent article on sugar addiction written by a fellow Medium member and friend Leonora Watkins, who writes amazing material every day. Thank you, Leonora, for writing the article you did, and for inspiring me to write this one! Big ol’ shout-out to you :)

Access unlimited high-quality content on Medium by becoming a member here! Using this link supports me so that I can keep writing on this site and championing a better world. $5 a month and you get it all! It’s totally worth it! :)

Thank you so much for reading! ❤