The Craving
It suddenly occurred to me this morning that I’m back to my old tricks. And today I can either write about kids’ crafts, or the dangers of pigging out on sugar during Xmas.
The latter is a much harder choice. This is because of the associations to just “letting it all go” during Christmas.
Plus, the cravings … Those evil cravings. Where do they come from? It’s 6 at night and I’m on Instacart ordering “food” for the family. But when I look closely – what’s in that “cereal” and in that “organic ice cream”? What’s in the gummy worms that say “healthy” on the label? Popsicles aren’t bad for you, are they?
I just know I was done eating for the night! But I was still craving sugar. Here’s a video on craving:
What if?
But I have this thing where I don’t want to take the easy road. I want to fight it. Again, I’m not writing about kids’ crafts today.
Kind of like in this song:
So I suddenly thought, “what if” I could actually not eat the sugar? Or, at least, greatly reduce my reptilian need to eat the ice cream over the Christmas holidays?
Because, let’s face it: Christmas time is really Sugar Time in disguise. All rules go away. And then we ask ourselves, why do we get sick after the holidays? A lot of it is that the sugar weakens our immune systems. And then we all get together to share the cold and flu … and next thing we know we’re in bed for a week.
Outcome
So we’re not going to focus on the problem. We’re going to focus on the Outcome.
And the Outcome is that we quit sugar for good.
These people exist. I only know 3 of them. Let’s model them as we zoom in, here:
One of them says, “I hate sugar. I just don’t like treats.” He says this as he reaches for the tea.
The other one says, “I just don’t like sugar. It’s too sweet. I like salt instead.” He says this as he reaches for the sunflower seeds.
Interesting.
And the third one says, “I quit sugar by carrying apple slices in my pocket. I also consumed these pills I got from the Good Food Store to stop sugar cravings.” She says this as she pulls a little baggy out of her pocket. Pre-cut apples.
Oh – wait. There’s one more. Here he is in this must watch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez_BrLONCrw
In the video, Bob reminds me of Kris Carr – this cancer survivor who is a big influence on my wife. She made the decision to quit sugar, as well. And to stop herself from eating foods that have it, she actually throws the food away, or sprays it with Windex.
The cool part about these people who have succeeded is that they have started with their very identity. Who they are as a person is someone who just doesn’t eat sugar.
The Why: Reasons to Quit Refined Sugar
Sugar is a slow killer. It sneaks up on us because we’re doing such small amounts at a time and so we don’t notice what’s happening. It’s like the frog in the pot and we keep slowly turning up the heat.
It may be linked to as many as 200,000 deaths worldwide – from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer combined.
It also shortens our telomeres, which speeds up the aging process.
Besides causing diabetes, it also increases cancer risk, (especially esophageal cancer).
Dr. Rhonda Patrick recently tweeted: “Total sugar intake is associated with a higher overall cancer risk independent of body fat. The associations were more pronounced for sucrose, non-fruit-derived sugars, and added and natural sugars present in sugary drinks.”
She goes on to say that sugar in excess “causes the gut to make an oncogene that allows damaged cells to become immortal cancer cells”.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130201100149.htm
And let’s not even start on the brain. It causes structural changes which are very similar to those found in drug addicts who use amphetamines, cocaine, and nicotine.
Sugar causes inflammation in the body, which leads to all types of disease.
Dr. Rhonda writes:
“Inflammation is early cell death and accelerates the aging process. Decreasing inflammation is the number one way to slow the aging process and increase longevity.”
And if we quit?
Within DAYS of getting rid of just refined sugar, the biomarkers of inflammation decrease on an extreme level. Blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels all greatly improve. Plus, our risk of type 2 diabetes drops by an incredible 25 percent.
Gameplan Part 1: Identity
We need to first create a direct correlation between what we are eating and what we are feeling.
After eating sugar, this is how I feel:
I feel awful! My heart speeds up. I feel anxious. I get irritable – which sucks, because suddenly I’m hard to be around for my family! I get horrible headaches. I just want to go to bed and nap all day.
And now, I’m missing out on playing with the kids and family! And memories, priceless memories of my life, are being lost.
The “quick zap” is NOT WORTH IT. Because 2 hours later – it is lights out. And by repeating this pattern, this leads to strokes, heart attacks, blindness, Alzheimer’s, lower limb amputation, horrible depression, weird behaviors – and more.
It’s a good reminder to realize that we are being preyed upon by a 1.5 trillion dollar industry. The corporations want our food to addict us so we become a widget in their propaganda machine.
In other words, they are brainwashing us.
Just like with cigarettes, it is up us to take the control back. And we can do it by first realizing what is really going on – and that sugar doesn’t make us feel good – it feels absolutely terrible, and then it kills us slowly. And does it matter if it kills us tomorrow or 20 years from tomorrow? It’s still killing us.
There was a study that was done that compared trauma to the brain in kids to eating sugar – and there were direct parallels.
So the example that I set for the kids – in eating healthy – is super important to the health of our family. In other words, I have to be the adult in the room.
Gameplan Part 2: Steps
Number one: Let’s start off our day with some protein. This will help to balance our blood sugar levels. This means: eggs, nuts, cottage cheese. Sliced apples and almond butter are always fun.
Number two: Let’s increase our water. Lack of water greatly decreases our energy levels. (A 5% decrease in hydration correlates to a 20% decrease in energy.)
I actually have a giant steel jug that tells me how much water I should drink daily. And I mark the side of it with a marker so I know exactly how much water I should drink.
Here is a breakdown of how to calculate how much water we should be looking at:
https://www.slenderkitchen.com/article/how-to-calculate-how-much-water-you-should-drink-a-day
I like this one even better:
https://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/daily-water-req-result.asp
Number three:
Eat fruit instead of refined sugar. We can have as much fruit as we want. Just avoid the refined sugars.
So keep stocked up on those apples! Eat the apple, and within 10 minutes the craving will go away.
Also drink tea. And sunflower seeds.
Number four:
Replace high carb foods with low sugar replacements.
This means: that pizza has a lot of sugar. Because it’s WHITE flour! So instead, eat a cauliflower crust.
Eat zucchini noodle pasta.
Switch over to almond flour if you’re going to go there.
Number five:
Any type of program. This means on occasion reading a book about getting rid of sugar. Or watching a video or reading a blog like this. Weight Watchers is a great one.
It’s a constant battle because we have been brainwashed into thinking that sugar is harmless.
But it’s not. It’s literal pure poison that’s as bad as cigarettes over the long run.
And apples rock.
And if this still doesn’t work
Wow you made it this far. You’re not stopping. Good job.
Because you have come this far, I’m going to give you my secret trick. This is how I quit sugar.
This is kind of like Lord of the Rings. Only those who read this far get the secret trick.
Okay ready?
Simply take your blood pressure after eating sugar.
It might take awhile for your body to react. But when you feel your heart beating all “crazy” – like in the middle of the night – check out your blood pressure.
This will do it. Because that high blood pressure causes strokes, heart attacks, inflammation and everything else we have listed here.
And you’ll see it! Right in front of you. A skyrocketing blood pressure. And during that period of time, to reiterate, the odds of you having a stroke go through the roof. (That’s why they say high blood sugar is highly correlated to strokes and heart attacks.)
So that’s it. This should scare the shit out of you. And you’ll quit. Just race to your blood pressure heart monitor when you feel that heart going. And you’re up with insomnia. And now you’ll know why.
And you’ll quit.