Confusion

When I told my parents about the miracle answer to my health problems, and my intent to stop eating refined sugar and flours, my dad kindly asked, "So what CAN you eat?"  A fair question, since everyone seems to have a different answer to that!  One of the reasons in 2011 I got so discouraged about different "diets" was they couldn't agree on anything!  One person said stay away from eggs, another said eggs were the perfect food, one person said stay away from all flours of any kind, another said brown grains are fine.  Some say gluten is the devil, others say soy is the devil, others say dairy is the devil, still others any acidic food is the devil.  I even read one author say that raw spinach was toxic! In 2011 when I was trying to wrap my head around all this, I wanted to exclaim like Joseph Smith, "which of them are right or are they all wrong together?" It seemed you were in danger of something or other no matter what you ingested. All I can give you is what I've learned by experience, and everybody is different so it may be different for you.

Knowing "what to eat" has been a 3-year-long learning process, and at first caused a lot of confusion in me.  I knew for many years that when I ate large amounts of sugar I felt sick, so in listening to my own body, the first thing I cut out were desserts and candy. But I usually did not feel ill when eating white bread.  In fact, I could eat quite a lot of white bread and feel happy and content (upon eating which, I've learned, is why I felt happy and content). Is there anything better than eating a scone or a hot roll with cinnamon butter? Bread still had a rare very negative side effect. In college 1998 I passed out in the restroom due to the intense pain of what felt like intestinal blockage, which I remember distinctly feeling was due to my refined flour intake. I think I even made a pledge at age 19 to stop eating refined flours. That didn't last long, because the consequence wasn't immediate enough to stop me, it happened the next day. It continued to occur now and then over the years, at my in-laws in 2006 I remember hiding out in the back room so I could lay down and sweat and cry through painful passings of what felt like knive-sharp stools moving through my insides. Just last year I ate too much Little Ceasars pizza, (what's more convenient and yummy than a hot pizza for the family?) and the next day I had some gastrointestinal cramping painful enough to knock me down. I had to lay down and try to breath regularly for about 2 hours, and I vowed I would never eat pizza again. But this phenomena happened so rarely that I would soon go back to eating bread.  I tried to eat fibrous foods like salad with the bread, but I loved it so much I couldn't stop. I thought I was being wise about my white bread consumption, but I was confused because I was having weird health problems. 

I went back and forth about milk. It wouldn't make me feel sick, but it definitely made me bloated which isn't exactly comfortable. I found if I ate granola without the milk I would be less bloated, so I stopped drinking milk and only cooked with it occasionally.  I ate lots of cheese, butter, yogurt, but never cream which did make me feel sick, for about an hour. I attributed my milk intolerance to the sugar.

I tried going off gluten and I felt exactly the same as I did before.

Due to my religious background, I was trying to eat meats sparingly and fast on fast Sundays.  These are important aspects of the LDS faith, and I wanted to be faithful!  Surely the Lord would bless me for my obedience, even if it wasn't that good for me.  If I was going to listen to any voice, it would be the Lord's.  Imagine my confusion when the "get off sugar" people were telling me to up the protein intake! And furthermore the "answer to prayer" doctor I talked to told me to avoid fasting!  I believe the Lord's commandments are true, so I was super confused as to why it didn't seem true for me.

I tried the alkaline diet for 3 months, I actually did increase the alkalinity of my blood to 8.0, my stomach felt glorious every time I ate those veggies, salads, and spinach avocado smoothies, but I lost 15 pounds and felt weak like I was starving myself. I had to incorporate meat back in, and soon dairy and refined foods crept back in as well. I was eating vegetables 5-6 times a day, I stayed away from foods with more than 6 grams per serving size, I tried to not over eat (which was harder than I thought it should be), and I felt my strength return so I thought I had beaten the confusion of what is good to eat. Until 2014 when the dizzy spells, headaches, low energy, and digestive issues came back.

When I read Sugar Blues in April 2014 it reminded me that white flour/refined foods might be contributing to the problem. Up til then I was still eating pasta and bread and rice all the time. My favorite snacks were almond butter maple syrup cacao fudge, kettle corn, cheetos, chips, nachos, raw granola, and honey peanut butter toast. I'd even indulge in a freezer waffle now and again. My favorite part of a restaurant experience was the bread. Bread was my downfall.  I didn't realize that white bread/flour was just another form of sugar, a simple carb that creates blood sugar volatility, is neuro toxic, and gives nothing to the body other than a temporary sense of well being and fullness.  So the same dangerous process that happened when I over ate sugar of over-stimulating my insulin, over toxicating my liver, depleting my body of minerals and vitamins to get rid of the white flour, and throwing my body out of balance hormonally, was happening with the white bread intake. But since my dopamine told me to go for the bread, and the negative consequences weren't immediate, I couldn't stop and I justified that it was not a problem; no wonder I had a hard time with stopping my over eating, I was still addicted to food.


Even after learning that sugar/flour was probably the main source of my problem and after doing the high protein 21 day sugar detox, I was still a little confused. Even though my "brain fog" was gone and my dizzy spells eliminated, some days I felt good, others not so good.  It wasn't until I read "The Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program" by Kathleen DesMasinons that I found the missing link for me. Her work and research showed that people with 1. problems regulating insulin/blood sugar levels, 2. with low serotonin levels, and 3. low beta-endorphin levels would be "sugar sensitive" and at risk for addictions.  Sugar tastes good (and white bread!) which boosts our beta endorphins, so it's the first thing we think of when we're hungry, and we're hungry a lot because we have super sensitive insulin reactions, and we become more moody than others because we have low serotonin which makes thinking rationally about what we eat difficult. I was drawn to bread, my comfort food, because I have lower levels of serotonin, have lower levels of beta endorphin, so my cravings for carbohydrates were chemical.  Those "three legs of the stool" as she calls it need to be in the right position for the "sugar sensitive" individual in order to find balance.  First you need regular meals throughout the day to stablize blood sugar regulation, you need regular protein in the day to increase tryptophan in your bloodstream, and at the end of the day you need a slow carb--like a potato with skins on--to get the tryptophan converted to serotonin in your brain. Furthermore you need to find beta-endorphin activities other than eating refined foods that will keep your pleasure system in your brain happy, ie. exercise, hobbies, socializing, new healthy comfort foods, back rubs, etc.  AND YOU MUST CUT OUT ALL SUGARS SO YOU DON'T THROW THE DELICATE SYSTEM OFF. The amount and timing of your intake is just as important as what you intake.
Kathleen DesMasinons stated this about sugar addiction:  "The solution is not no carb, but slow carb. Slow carbs contain whole grains and a lot of fiber. Not high protein, but regular and sufficient protein. The plan provides a way to reduce you insulin overall but retain a timed response to increase your serotonin, to minimize your craving by stopping the beta-endorphin priming, and to increase your beta-endorphin production."  Kathleen eliminated a lot of confusion in my mind.  In addition to the question "What to Eat?", it's also "How to eat what!" 
Kathleen's plan of how to eat helped numerous people get sober from various addictions and stay sober, and includes the following:
1. Be sure to eat breakfast, and eat protein for breakfast
2. Eat at least some source of protein for lunch and dinner as well
3. Eat vegetables and brown grains with lunch and dinner
4. Eat a potato with its skin on right before bed, but not protein
5. Find what triggers your "cravings" (could be fruit!) and eliminate it from your diet
6. Cut out all overt and covert sugars and white flours
7. Drink lots of water

Her how to eat outline gives a very large leash, and I find it follows most general principles of good nutrition, and it's very balanced. You could even be a vegetarian on this plan, or gluten free, or eat dairy or not, you can choose. But the principles have to do with food science; I need protein to get tryptophan in my blood, I need carbs to help serotonin get in my brain, and the combination in the right order will streamline the process. The elimination of sugars simply helps the blood sugar regulation so these chemical processes can function efficiently, and gets rid of the dopamine impulsive eating habits (cravings).  You have to decide what foods work for you, because every body has a different genetic evolution and metabolic type, but I remain firm in my belief that there are general principles that EVERYONE should follow, including sugar elimination.

When I incorporated Kathleen's principles, I felt great. I slept like a baby, I stopped dropping weight, I had sufficient energy, my psychological need for sweet food disappeared, and I finally felt like I could really heal from the damage sugar/white flour addiction has caused me my whole life. Confusion eliminated!  I still believe the Lord's principles of fasting and eating meat sparingly are true, and when I'm in balance and fully recovered I hope to be able to join those who receive blessings from obedience to these principles.