Tag Archives: sugar

The Kraken aka Sugar Beast

Posted on October 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

The deep brain desire for sugar does not ever entirely go away, though it can be, as it were, caged by denial of sugar-starch-artificial sweeteners. I am a writer who likes analogy, to have concrete mental images of those more abstract issues. For me, the Clash of the Titans movie, the first one I saw in 1981, had the beast, the Kraken, caged deep in the ocean by Poseidon who controlled it.  This was very powerful imagery;  as indeed all the Greek mythological gods and creatures were meant to  be.

As I struggled with a growing problem of cravings for carbohydrates, those urges/cravings were to me like the Kraken; if I could keep the beast caged, then I would be fine. Admittedly, it took me a while to figure out how to permanently lock the beast deep in my limbic brain. For me that is complete abstinence from modern sugars-starches, and all artificial sweeteners save a small amount of stevia.

Like the mythological Kraken, this is no beast to toy with; either it is caged, or it is running rampant over the landscape of my brain. For me it is extremely destructive on several levels, not the least of which is weight gain. Indeed, many people suffer from mental health issues that seem to miraculously go away once they go on a ketogenic or  very low carbohydrate paleo-type food plan.

So, if you are  also in the throes of the Kraken, be assured you, too, can cage the beast; but, beware, open the cage a little and it will come roaring to the surface once again, more powerful than ever.

Yours in being in control,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in cravings, determination, diet, emotions, sugar

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Never Give Up

Posted on September 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

Let’s remember what sugar is. Sugar is not just the white granulated stuff in the sugar bowl, but it comes in many forms like corn syrup that is put into virtually all foods not purely raw vegetables; it is even injected into meats, especially deli meats. Sugar is also, as far as your body is concerned, anything made with grain, anything that has a carb count, such as the so-called starchy vegetables and fruits–squash, corn, bananas are the highest. So you might be eating what looks like a pretty good diet but still be getting more sugar than your body can handle.  To further make a mockery of our efforts, if one is already over weight, even eating very low carb, if you eat too much protein your liver can convert it to sugars which then will get stored as fat.

Happily, most people who eliminate the basic sugars will see good results in health and in weight loss, but there are some of us who will have to bird dog those sugars and get nearly all of them out of our diets if we want to lose excess fat. I happen to be one of those people, and recently decided to go on a ketogenic diet, for me less than 20 carbs per day, and I am glad to report I am once more losing the stubborn weight.  I also exercise, especially walking, several times a week, and this combination is working for me.

I don’t claim many virtues, but one I hang on to is I have determination, I don’t give up on things that matter to me; I just keep on trying expecting I will find an answer eventually.

If you are interested in the keto diet check out these sites I think are best for more information:

http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/1/1/2

http://aaron.emascc.com/diet/ebooks/Lyle_McDonald_-_The_Ketogenic_Diet.pdf

http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/best-weight-loss-program.html

Bonus: Watch this great time lapse of girl who used keto diet to lose 88 pounds in a year:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1010&sid=26734370

Yours in never giving up,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in determination, diet, sugar, will power

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A Sugar Addict’s E-book

Posted on August 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

This is a good resource for sugaraholics: 

http://authoritynutrition.com/viciouseating.pdf

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Sugar is Dangerous

Posted on August 9, 2013 | 2 comments

Yet another article showing study reaults that make clear sugar is dangerous.

http://digitaljournal.com/article/344595

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Posted in sugar, sugar addiction, toxcity

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History of Sugar

Posted on July 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

The latest issue of National Geographic magazine has a great article on the history of sugar, and the current problems of obesity and health from our massive consumption.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/sugar/cohen-text

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Is Sugar Toxic?

Posted on May 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

A great post from Dr. Peter Attia (A-tee-ah) on the topic of sugar toxicity. For me there is no question that I have a toxic reaction to sugar; it makes me feel awful, and if that doesn’t indicate toxicity, I can’t imagine what would. Dr. Attia is working with Gary Taubes on getting more science behind the problems of modern carbohydrates in our diets.

Enjoy, but be prepared to read in small doses:

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/is-sugar-toxic

Yours in learning,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Sugar is the Problem

Posted on February 28, 2013 | 1 comment

Today’s New York Times has yet another article on the problems of sugar in the modern diet.

Since 1985 the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes has quintupled, which is just the most obvious effect of the similar increase in sugars in virtually every kind of food that is prepared by the industry food giants. They intended to make people addicted to their food, and succeeded wildly.

This past week I was out at meetings most of the day and on the way home passed a Kentucky Fried Chicken store, and thought about the fact that I had not eaten any KFC in years, and decided to take home some of the chicken and coleslaw, thinking we could take off the breading and it would be within my carb margin of error. The first bite was a shock, for the chicken didn’t at all taste like I remembered it, and was in fact quite cloyingly sweet; even though I peeled away almost all the outside breading, but you could still taste the sweet–and excess salt. The coleslaw was also very sweet, and I threw out the bulk of the meal.  It was not just that the food was sweeter, but it was a different sort of sweet which I take to by corn syrup. I know my palate is now used to very little sweet of any kind, but that alone does not account for the bad taste, not just sweetness.

I also paid the price later in the day with gut issues, so I doubt I will ever be entering a KFC again.

I always think about how rare it was to see anyone grossly obese in the 1950-70s, and how very common it is now. Things have most certainly changed, and the main change is sugar-starch-artifical sweets in all packaged and prepared foods.

Yours in discovery,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in artificial sweeteners, eating out, sugar, sugar addiction, sweets

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Company! Reality!

Posted on February 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

I just had five non-paleo females, three of them pre-teen girls, visiting for the last week, and decided this was the time to use my 10% non-paleo foods. I know some people can be 100% HFLC, but for most of us a concession of 10-20% of eating as non-hflc  makes life a bit easier. Now I can get back to my normal hflc I will be happier. No use having regrets, and it made life simpler to have meals that had food company would enjoy while not totally sacrificing my healthy paleo/hflc ethic.  I made a gf dessert that’s on my recipe blog, we  also had bread products (at least organic) tha the kids want, but the main dishes, salads, vegetables all were good hflc offerings.

The fact is I feel better when I don’t eat non-hflc foods, but the occasional exceptions only remind me how much better I feel when I don’t eat such foods. Company is now gone, the house is cleared of the foods I shouldn’t eat, and I don’t feel a martyr because I ate some sugars,  for feeling good about how we deal with reality is important, too.

Yours in finding balance,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Dr. Yudkin, the Cassandra

Posted on January 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Like Cassandra of mythology, who could foretell the future but would not be believed, Dr. John Yudkin, a British scientist who  was both PhD and MD, did research that eventually led to his book, Pure, White, and Deadly, published in 1972, claiming that sugar was not just bad, but dangerous. I have remembered since the seventies hearing that some British or Australian doctor had said, in effect, if dangers of sugar was just now discovered it would be a banned substance, but I didn’t know who it was until recently. He states this in the first chapter in a bit different way, but just as damning.  Further, I was able to find a link with the book in pdf format to download (just click the title).

All great movements start as disputed, disparaged, unappreciated ideas that are considered radical, too liberal, against the conventional wisdom;  and,  like many of history who were right but unattended, Dr. Yudkin  along with a few others like Drs. Atkins and Pennington who were bellwethers signaling the dangers that now are finally being recognized via the efforts of Gary Taubes, Dr. Robert Lustig and now many bloggers.

The current of time eventually sweeps away the dross, but we can be plagued by it for a very long time. Sugar (and other feel-good things) is something people do not want to give up, or acknowledge is really seriously bad for them, so they assume the denial position (I envision this as on their bellies, with arms out-stretched and legs spraddled out,  hugging their sacred ground).

While it is hard to understand how people can stay in denial when their bodies are grossly enlarged, their health steadily declining, their medical bills rising, and worse, yet this is exactly what continues to happen.

Still, there are small signs of hope, like the major soda manufacturers trying to fake less terrible options, though in truth they are just as terrible. Grocery markets are also beginning to offer more sugar free options, and happily the food labeling is still our greatest gift.

Today I wanted to lift up how thankful I am for the predecessors in the fight against sugar who helped lead us to what one day will be understood as an inevitable conclusion–despite the agri-business and government attempts to hide, mask, or prevent the truth from getting out (in this they are exactly like the tobacco industry).  Dr. Lustig is reaching parents of small children which may be the biggest achievement in the long run to get sugar out of our diets.

Sometimes one is at the right time in history, I wish some of the now deceased diabetics in my family, like my mother, had been.

Yours in furthering the truth about sugar,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in Dr. Yudkin, poison, sugar, sugar addiction, sweets

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Sugar Addicts: Know Yourself to Help Yourself

Posted on January 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

Learning to help ourselves is the real work of being free from the addictive high carbohydrate foods that cause us to get overweight and/or make staying at optimum weight a challenge.

The addictive nature of sugar-starch-artificial sweeteners is real, and means we have to avoid the high carbohydrate foods like the plague;  but what is also important to understand is what triggers the urges beyond the well-known effects of the foods themselves.

As Dr. Lance Dodes has pointed out in his books on addictions, most people are not constantly abusing food, drugs, alcohol, pornography, or whatever the focus of the addiction is, and often may be abstinent for days, weeks, months, or even years, then there will be something that sets off the cycle of abuse or a binge. Learning to stop and consider what sorts of issues have triggered the desire in the first place is key to stopping the behavior.

More often than not it relates at the root level to frustration, a sense of helplessness, which promotes inner anger or rage leading to the desire for some control–all this is usually subconscious. While abusing food is not what we want to do, when we are under too much inner stress or turmoil, it feels like doing something, having some little bit of control, to eat a bunch of sugary-starchy food even though we will regret it in minutes.

The point then is to stop and think about what’s bothering you, and then consider an alternative action like writing in a journal or a blog, taking a walk, doing some artwork, cleaning a closet, etc. Or, if you go through to the binge, to try and look back at what was going on that may have set you off.

The main thing is to refocus that inner frustration away from the thing you don’t really want to do like eating a dozen cookies, and instead do something you will be glad you did afterwards. This is very helpful to me, and it can be very freeing to know you don’t really have to eat a pint of ice cream or worse. I have dozens of alternatives now all lined up. I will be so happy to get all my closets reorganized, and my cabinets cleaned!

The biggest plus, the bonus, is getting to know ourselves better and know what sorts of things are likely to set us off. Whether it is a bad work situation, or unhappy relationship, or fear about something you are afraid you might fail at, the root can come from anything, but at least you will soon learn to recognize the source and divert the urge to something less damaging, or even helpful.

Socrates said that the greatest lesson in life is to “know thyself”; this is surely true about controlling our unhealthy habits or addictions.

Yours in the learning,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in binges, cravings, sugar addiction

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