The sugar-free me

Yup. I lost 60 pounds once, a female relative went from 170 to 100. but then stress hit and I found myself at mcdonalds quite a bit...

I used to give up sugar for lent, at about the 7 day mark I would feel so good. As soon as lent finished I was back at it. Then would start feeling thick again.
I'm a recovering alcoholic, and I would have the same mindset for ice cream that I would for beer. "I know this big bowl is no good for me, but I'm going to do it anyway." I'd have a sugar hangover the next day, be irritable, restless and discontent. I used the one day at a time mentality for sugar that I did for booze.
People really look at you strange when I tell them I don't eat sugar. That look of "what's wrong with you?"
God willing - I'll have 1 year on April 29, an oh yeah, I'm Yeti and I'm a recovering sugar junkie.

Cutting back on sugar is definitely the way to go. I'd recommend keeping a stash of nuts, seeds, and dark chocolate (70+%) at the office for when you need a snack -- they won't knock you out an hour later.

Good for you, Rod! Keep at it! For a long stretch during the 1990s, I kept myself to the "Natural Hygiene" regimen popularized by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond and, to a lesser degree, by Anthony Robbins in the 1980. I never felt "cleaner" or "purer" in a physiological sense. My stamina and reflexes -- and ability to think creatively -- were at a lifetime personal best.

Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon some years ago and reverted to some old (and less than ideal) eating habits. However, I keep trying to get back on track and someday expect to be entirely on the regimen again.

"It takes work" as they say to maintain a consistent regimen of nutrition, exercise or even a good "prayer life."

Rock on! I have terrible problems with blood glucose and reducing/ eliminating sugars have become a way of life for me. What is amazing, though, is that once you break through the detox period your craving diminish. Now, I get a sweet craving every now and again that can be satisfied by the smallest amount of 85%dark chocolate or a pinch of honey in some tea. My skin and energy levels are much more the happier for it.

Can one eat fruit on such a diet as Rod describes?

My biggest problem is how to get my kids away from sugar when it is everywhere in our society and everyone from Grandma to the Sunday School teacher to the baseball coach is handing out sugary, ooey-gooey treats!

We are pretty strict on sugar in our house, with our kids. Lucas, our 4 year old, has some sort of problem with sugar, in that it causes an unusual level of acid reflux in him. So we're super-strict with him, but generally we don't have much sugar in our kids' diet. They do, however, eat lots of bread and pasta, simple carbs that undermine the good we do by limiting sugar. So we've got to work on getting them to eat more whole grain stuff.

I think back to the way I ate as a kid, and it was sugar constantly. Constantly. Sugary cereals for breakfast. School lunch, which included dessert. And when I'd get off the school bus in the afternoon, one or two cans of Coke to wash down gobs of Fig Newtons and other cookies. Every now and then I'd pass the sugar bowl, stick a spoon in and just eat a bite of the pure stuff. Absolutely insane! No wonder I was such a fat kid.

There's no question that the American diet is far too high in refined sugar and white flour. That said, I've become a bit wary of low-carb approaches, especially those like some of the "brand-name" diets that become so restrictive even of natural carbohydrates found in some fruits and vegetables. Taking a balanced approach and working in some occasional white flour/sugar seems like a method that will work better in the long run than cutting out entire food groups, losing weight, and then gaining it all back the minute you start eating a more normal diet.

Moreover, I can't tell you how many times someone has told me that they're doing "low-carb," but what they mean by this is that they're buying all the special "low-carb" foods filled with artificial sweeteners, everything from "low-carb" bread to "low-carb" ice cream. Believe me, unless you are diabetic or have some specific health reason to avoid all sugar, your health will be less negatively impacted by the occasional dab of real sugar than by consuming copious amounts of aspartame or sucralose.

Rod, I'm curious: how do you relate a post like this one to your recent "Reluctant Vegan" post about not taking a too-scientific approach to eating? On the one hand, I could see this being a "natural foods" rather than a "science of nutrition" method of eating, but on the other hand there's no denying that some white-flour or white-sugar foods are going to be out there in the culture, and that avoiding them will take the kind of "scientism" the author you quoted seemed to be deploring. How do you find the balance?

I have severe, sever hypoglycemia - I've dropped to a blood sugar level below 30 twice and been semi-comatose and my blood insulin in 3 times a normal person's - and I fought, fought, FOUGHT going low carb for at least 10 years - over which time I've gained at least 50 pounds.

About 1 1/2 years ago, I started getting narcoleptic. Went to a pulmonary doctor, found out I have sleep apnea because I'm (basically) fat, and got a CPAP machine. But the tiredness was still there. And some narcoleptic symptoms. My doctor gave me Ritalin - hardly helped.

So about a month ago, I found out my perfect health (according to blood tests) had a kink in it - my triglycerides were 316 (shouldn't be over 150). My doctor said a lot of it was due to my being a carb fiend - and she said the narcolepsy should come from the sugar drops.

So I finally said "$screw it, I'm going low carb".

29 days later:

I've lost 15 pounds.
I have more energy than I've had since college (I'll be 42 Saturday).
My tris dropped 104 points.
I haven't dozed off when I haven't wanted to doze off in weeks.
I feel awesome!

Saturday, I had 2 slices of pizza at my son's party. I felt like crap for a full day afterwards. Cheating brings instant punishment from the pancreas.

I'm sticking with this. And I'm learning to like raw veggies and whole wheat (occasionally).:)

"My personal problem is that I have a hard time being moderate about such things. Give me a slice, I'll take the loaf. I sometimes have to overcompensate by being too harsh on myself, because I'm not good at moderation."

I'm starting to think we must be related. :)

I did lose weight going low-carb, but gained it back for much the reasons you mention. I also think that there's such an intricate link between food and celebration that being too "good" (i.e. taking a determined stance beside the veggie tray and utterly ignoring the spinach puffs or the lasagna) at a party or celebration will inevitably lead to being "bad" later, with whatever junk food you can get your hands on. We're *meant* to feast; but we're also meant to fast, and finding the way to do both when we should and to be moderate at all other times is key, I suspect.