That being said, there is a lot going on inside us we can't catch on the food diary, and if I were to demonize any one food it would be sugar, and your desire to know more about how to eliminate it gives me leave to talk to you about it. Ha ha. My guess is that you are not absorbing your food sufficiently, thin people who ingest sugar and refined grains (of which the Standard American Diet mostly consists) often have as many or more health problems than fat people, because somewhere there is an enzyme deficiency not absorbing converting and storing glucose like it's supposed to, which causes inflammation, mood dysregulation, low energy, taxes your pancreas and liver, and causes blood sugar regulation problems. Your history of depression has much more to do with biology than you can imagine, all hormones and neurotransmitters are made first in the gut, and sugar causes a huge imbalance especially when you already don't have full absorption powers, the minerals vitamins and enzymes that are needed to regulate our body are used to detoxify waste from our system and the brain cells suffer first. You already know depression is not due to a character flaw, you helped me understand that years ago when I thought I was broken and beyond hope, and now I'm hoping I can help you understand that it is due in part to the Standard American Diet. My biological vulnerabilities were being thrashed by a lifetime of sugar abuse, maybe yours are too. Again, I worry more about thin people than heavy when it comes to sugar.
Furthermore, sugar and refined foods are far more addictive than people believe they are, and anyone, fat thin or in between, fast oxidizers, slow oxidizers, mixed types, young old, who tries to go off them for a month will feel the effects of the addiction. It is hard to believe you are not harming your body by depriving it of sugar, or that your body doesn't "need" sugar when you go off it, because like the alcoholic who needs that drink to feel better, you will feel you need sugars/refined foods. Its the dopamine talking. We do not need sugar, sugar in its refined form is a chemical waste product, tastes good and makes you feel good for a while, but it has no nutritional value and what's more is toxic to most systems, and should be completely eliminated from the diet. Gluten is a close second in causing problems, it interferes with absorption of food and crosses the blood brain barrier causing digestion and brain problems, but giving us a lift and making us go back for more. We not only have an obesity epidemic, we also have a mental health epidemic, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, parkinsons, ADHD, and infertility epidemic, and I wonder very much how everyone throwing off their blood sugar with so much excessive sugars has to do with all these health issues. More than we think. But it's hard to eliminate because it is readily available, highly palatable, and we are addicted. So watch for signs for withdrawal and remember you are cleansing your body, not harming it.
So what do you eat instead? This took me 3 years to figure out, it was like learning rocket science! I had no idea what to do for breakfast other than toast, cereal, waffles, pancakes, cinnamon rolls or sugary oatmeal. SAD. But I found learning about food science was fascinating and the Lord blessed me with information that hopefully can benefit you as well. I will attach a recipe book I have compiled to this email and some quotes from books I like. Also I keep a blog on my journey of sugar elimination, it has some good resources on it schauersthesearemywords.
I don't know where you are in your elimination process, but I would advise you to go slow. Start with eating only protein and veggies in the morning for a while, write in your food diary how that works, then move to eliminating refined/sugar foods from lunch, then dinner, etc. Read food labels, and start replacing ketchup with home made marinara and salad dressing with guacamole. Its a move to cooking from scratch, and it takes time at first to cook everything with whole foods, but you will get faster and it will get easier with time. Eventually you will want to completely put a ban on all foods made with cane and beet sugar and high fructose corn syrup and gluten, but it may take a couple years to get there. Don't forget the food diary! I would never had known I was gluten sensitive without mine, and that I do well with dairy but not fruit and dairy together, and that you can do almost anything you do with bread with potatoes instead! Once you get the basic ideas of how to cook without sugar and grains, you'll take off. My energy level and health has improved in so many ways since banning sugar/refined foods, I don't even consider myself "hypoglycemic" anymore. I can testify that health has a price tag but if you sacrifice sweets you will reap the benefits of good health.
Love Heather
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