http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?src=ISMR_AP_LI_MST_FB

Anybody catch Jamie Oliver last night? To show parents the amount of added sugar that kids in LA County consume weekly in flavored milk alone, he filled a school bus with sugar. The stuff was pouring out of the windows onto the ground. Nobody seemed to care much. He was expecting a huge crowd.. Only about 15 parents showed up after he had notified hundreds of thousands. He seemed so discouraged at the apathy. Great show.

I've had prostate symptoms for a long time, and as of my third sugar-free week, it feels better. I googled "prostate and sugar," and sure enough, quite a few articles stress a link between prostatitis and sugar. The bacteria feed on the sugar, and cause the gland to swell. Of course my doctor told me that, too. NOT. He wanted me to take finasteride, which I refused to do. Yet another reason to carry on sugar-free. Thanks for your inspiration and for rooting for me, Connie Bennett. You're my hero!

Week 3

'm now into week 3 of sugar freedom. May God help me stay this way. I feel so different. I have a positive attitude, feel excited getting up in the morning and going about my day. Hunger pangs are all but gone. I make sure I have a snack--a piece of fruit, cheese or nuts with me. I finished Connie Bennet's book for the second time. Now I'm reading Katherine Des Maisons' book, The Sugar Addicts Guide to Recovery. At first, her book seemed like a crock of shit because she recommends bread and triscuits. But as I get into the book, that's in the early phases of her program. The idea is to get people into the habit of journaling, eating protein at every meal, and eating a potato every day. To me, eating a potato every day is just wrong. But the book eventually counsels to people to get off sugar and refined carbs. The first week it didn't look like I'd lost any weight at all. Then, after two weeks, I weighed again and had lost about 4 lbs. I like my body now. My clothes fit better. My muffin top around my waist is gone, and I don't feel like I'm pregnant when I take a shower. I had athlete's foot for a long time, and it's gone now with no treatment other than talcum powder. The human body acts like a brewery. It needs sugar and refined carbs to operate. When it doesn't get fed, the body gets angry, and the brain will do anything for the next fix. When that cycle gets broken, which takes a week or so, the brewery shuts down. The cravings subside, and the bloating and sluggishness disappear. Things work properly. Sugar and carbs are insidious. They are an addiction that tell me I don't have an addiction. Every damn time, they will tell me I can have just a little and then stop. But my body reacts to it the way an alcoholic's does to alcohol. Once I introduce it into my system, I don't know how the binge is going to end. I might stay "drunk" for another two years. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

This is an amazing video by Dr. Lustig on the insidious food additive, high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS. It's long, but worth the effort to anyone who has a desire to stop sugar.

Day 2

I'm re-reading Connie Bennett's book, Sugar Shock. In the foreword by Dr. Nicholas Perricone, he says that most of his patients do best with an 80/20 approach to sugar. That is, they eat healthily 80 percent of the time, allowing themselves to indulge 20% of the time. But, he says, he doesn't recommend this 80/20 approach to people with a compelling reason not to eat sugar, such as diabetes or hypoglycemia. Those people react to sugar the way an alcoholic does to alcohol. Even a small amount--one taste--leads to a second, third, fourth, and ultimately, a binge. That's me.

For so many years, I've been trying to find that "easier, softer way." Trying to find balance. Trying to "control" it. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. It doesn't work.

Normally, I'm starved within two hours of eating breakfast, even though my typical breakfast is "healthy." Old fashioned oatmeal, milk, a boiled egg, banana. Today, I pile-drove water--3 liters in the morning, and had only the oatmeal and some melon and berries, and I honestly wasn't that hungry at lunchtime. I had an apple and some strawberries this afternoon, and was fine until dinnertime, which today didn't come until about 9:30.

I've got to be paranoid about the sugar. Scott made spaghetti--white pasta (out), ground beef, and canned diced tomatoes. Checked the label on the can of tomatoes. Sugar in it. Out. So, I stuck to the boiled cabbage with a piece of cheese, and another apple.

Basically, it's water, whole grains, fruits and vegetables for today. My beloved whole-grain pita bread and Wasa crackers are out. Can't give up my oatmeal or brown rice, though. Even though Connie says we should for the first three weeks.

One day at a time

It is 10:00, I'm in bed, and the kitchen is closed. I made it through this first day without the stuff, and I'm fine. I drank lots of water. Lots of it, like 5 or 6 liters. My brain tells me I'm hungry, when I'm really dehydrated. It boggles my mind to learn how much water it takes to get me hydrated. My measure of this is how often I have to pee. Once isn't enough--I want my pee to run clear and to "rinse and repeat" at least three times. Then I've had enough water. The other thing is to be prepared--take snacks with me so I have something to eat when I get hungry. That way, I'm not tempted to go to the corn station for candy and cakes.

The quick carbs are insidious--they sneak their way into my body and then I crave the hard stuff. Something like some matzo or pita bread. Or a banana or milk. They're not "sweet," but they spike my blood sugar and get me hungry. Today I had apples, chicken, green beans, brown rice, a cubed steak, broccoli, almonds, cheese, and an orange. I ate a lot--but I didn't binge on junk food.

I remember watching a guy in a class with me a few months ago. He was so obese that the couldn't put his legs together. He sat on the corner of a chair and spread his legs and let his stomach hang down below. He wore shorts and it was not a pretty sight. He would come in with a quart-sized plastic cup filled with ice. Then he would empty two 20 oz. bottles of orange soda into the cup and drink it over the course of an hour and a half. During breaks, he would go to the soda machine, buy two more bottles of orange or Coca Cola, and do the same thing again. At lunch, he would top of his lunch with a bowl filled with cookies and three of those little cups of ice cream. He would say, "Cookies are so much better with ice cream." The poor guy never drank a sip of water, but continued to stuff himself with that HFCS-laden crap. We had to keep the AC at about 60 so he wouldn't overheat.

Sugar addiction is very real. I don't know if this guy knew he had a problem. But that could be me. I know I've got a problem.