Whether you’re perfectly healthy (at the momentâ€) or you’re dealing with low blood sugar or hypoglycemia issues, it's time to start taking responsibility for your own health and stop looking for the quick fix. It's time to stop taking the "toxic chemicals" we are all addicted to, starting with sugar. Cutting out sugar is hard, and withdrawal can last a couple of weeks, but the well-being you can experience when you're free of sugar is amazing! You want to feel better and keep your low blood sugar and hypoglycemia symptoms in check? Then get off the sugar roller-coaster! Now! Anita Flegg, author of Hypoglycemia: The Other Sugar Disease, tells this story: â€Eating sugar makes us feel good. I used to crave sugar constantly and I realized that I was addicted. That sounds extreme but I found that one sugary treat inevitably lead to another. What could I call it but an addiction? These continual sugar ups and downs are very hard on the system and long-term sugar â€abuse’ causes wear and tear on your body. As a result, you will probably feel tired, hungry, irritable and unable to concentrate. The best way to feel better is to get off the â€sugar roller-coaster’. It's not easy but the see-saw blood sugar level problem can't finally be solved until your system gets used to being without the instant gratification of the sugar â€hit.’ Knowing that I would feel sick by the end of the day was never enough to make me stop. When I was single, there were days when I ate nothing but cookies for supper †a whole bag of cookies! Yes, I felt sick afterward. Did that stop me from doing it again? No. When I got home from work, I was hungry and my blood sugar level was low. Although I didn't know it, I was reacting to low blood sugar. Why didn't the cookies solve the problem? Each cookie made me feel better, but each sugar spike was followed immediately by a surge of insulin. The insulin would rapidly bring my blood sugar level back below what felt good so I would have another cookie. I didn’t realize at the time that those were hypoglycemia symptoms.†This is the danger of using sugar. When these cravings hit, the best thing to do is to eat a protein food †nuts, cheese, egg or meat. Protein foods break down slowly and the sugar is released into the blood stream slowly. No sugar spike means no insulin surge and no more cravings. Consider "treating" your next sugar craving by eating a small amount of a protein food. Worth a try... Eliminating sugar from your system has major benefits that make it all worthwhile. Your head will feel clearer, you will have more energy, and you will probably be much less irritable. Your family will appreciate it, too! Here are some strategies for making the transition easier. -Every time you have an overwhelming craving for something sweet, have a small protein snack. This is not a quick fix, and may not make you feel better right away, but it will help your body get used to getting slow release (rather than quick hit) foods. -Try to engage your mind. Go out with friends, work on your hobby, go for a walk or to the gym. -Find a buddy who will support you in your effort to quit sugar †someone you can talk to whenever you need some moral support and some reassurance that it will be worth it. -Remind yourself over and over that you will get through this and, when you do, you will feel better than you have in years! Remember, you are worth the effort, and when you are ready, you will be able to do it. Here is yet another reason to cut sugar out of your diet. This comes from RealAge: "A diet that includes an overabundance of foods that rapidly boost blood sugar, such as sweets or sugary soft drinks, may boost colorectal cancer risk, according to research. In a study, women who had an abundance of these foods in their diets had almost a three-fold increase in colorectal cancer risk." Yet another reason to cut out the sugar in your diet. Here's a not-quite-complete list of sugars that may be lurking in food (in alphabetical order): Barley malt or malted barley, Beet sugar, Brown rice sugar, Brown rice syrup, Brown sugar, Cane juice, Cane sugar, Cane syrup, Cane syrup solids, Caramel or Caramel coloring, Confectioners’ sugar, Corn sweetener, Corn syrup, Corn syrup solids, Crystalline fructose, Date sugar, Dextrin, Dextrose, Disaccharide, Fructo-oligosaccharides, Fructose, Fruit juice concentrate, Galactose, Glucose, Glycerin, Granulated sugar, Hexitol, High-fructose corn syrup, Honey, Invert sugar, Lactose, Levulose, Malt, Maltodextrin, Maltose, Maple sugar, Maple syrup, Microcrystalline cellulose, Molasses (all kinds), Natural sweeteners, Polydextrose, Powdered sugar, Raisin juice or syrup, Raw sugar, Rice syrup, Simple syrup, Sorghum, Sucanat, Sucrose , Sugar cane syrup, Syrup, Turbinado sugar, Unrefined sugar. So, before you buy a snack food you think is safe because the list of ingredients does not contain the word â€sugarâ€, think again. I suggest you print this article, cut out the paragraph above and take it with you on your next trip to the grocery. Buyers beware! Eat well, be well, live well! Daniel G. St-Jean Editor of Help For Hypoglycemia Publisher of the Help For Hypoglycemia Blog
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