Life After Sugar

Susannah grew up with a typical North American diet. Sugar was part of that diet, and sweets were a very big part of her family's everyday life. Susannah's mother would serve ice cream every night after dinner, and every weekend she would bake something like a cake, cookies, or a pie. Sugar is a part of daily life, she says, and nobody thought about it. Many years later, when her mother...

In this short episode, you'll get some consumer tips for how to spot hidden sugar in cereal. For example: Beware of health claims on the packaging! Read the list of ingredients before you look at the Nutrition Facts table. Watch out for the serving amount. The amount of total carbohydrates does not always tell the whole story (find out why in this episode!). Stick to real, whole foods to star...

Danielle's journey with sugar started in childhood.  She remembers that sugar was a massive part of her upbringing. With her family, she always had ice cream after dinner.  Sugar was always a treat. They even had a trunk in their house that had little goodie bags with sweet treats for whenever she and her brother were good.  So there was a lot of rewarding with sugar. As a child, Danielle was...

Do you remember Episode 6 of the Life After Sugar podcast , where I interviewed my daughter Lily? She was 12 at the time. She's 16 now. In this special Mother's Day edition, I take a quick trip down memory lane to revisit some of what Lily talked about with relation to my hiding chocolate in the car,  her Halloween candies, and her own interest in sugar. Whether or not you have kids or g...

Krissy grew up eating a normal American diet: lots of carb-heavy processed and packaged foods. When she was younger, she was active, which together with her tall frame helped her stay slim. Then in her late 30s, stress and hormones started to change her body. She consulted a personal trainer and started calorie counting and eating less, without necessarily changing what she was eating. But the &qu...

My guest Dr. Paul Kolodzik trained as an MD in emergency medicine.  In this episode, he freely admits that like most physicians, he didn't get much training on nutrition. But what he learned over a period of time is that avoiding sugar, eating low carb, and making sure you get adequate protein really is the way to both better health and better longevity. Dr. Kolodzik explains what insulin res...

This episode actually comes from a request from listeners of this podcast to talk about the long-term benefits that I've experienced after all these years of living sugar-free. Because it can seem pretty hard to imagine what it can be like to live day after day,  feeling free from cravings and free from the hold that sugar has on you.  Oh! And I just wanted to clarify that when I say "su...

Wendi and I have been good friends for several years. We have lots of things in common, including living our lives with less sugar and more joy. We can't chat without breaking into giggles! In this episode, we talk about whole foods, as well as Wendi's prepping and self-reliance skills that help her look after her large family. But especially, we talk about life, and how we choose to liv...

Tracey recently celebrated her two-year anniversary for intermittent fasting. But sugar was always a problem during her eating window. Tracey believed she really had a sugar addiction because when she would eat sugar, like cake and ice cream, she would eat the desserts and then always want to go back for more. In fact, she would eat as much sweet stuff as she could, and the next day she would feel...

Today's episode is going to clarify the relationship between alcohol, sugar, and cravings. But first, a disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so nothing in this podcast should be construed as being medical advice. Also, I'm not here to tell you whether or not you're "allowed" to drink alcohol any more than I'm here to tell you if you're "allowed" to eat su...

In this week's episode, I'm truly honoured to be chatting with Dr. Nicole Avena who is the author of her new book called "Sugarless" . Dr. Avena is a Princeton research neuroscientist and a pioneer in the field of food addiction, with over 16 million views of her TED-Ed video, "How Sugar Affects the Brain" . In this episode, we talk about Dr. Avena's own backgrou...

As Charlotte was growing up, her parents used food to reward good behaviour. This led her to develop an early love of sugar, especially chocolate. During her teenage years in the 1990s, Charlotte felt pressure to conform to society's ideal of a thin body, and so she aimed to look attractive and lose weight rapidly through  dieting.  And her weight yo-yoed as her relationships began and ended....

When Noreen joined the Freedom from Cravings Formula 90-day program, she was struggling with various health challenges, including diverticulitis and poor sleep. She is now experimenting to learn what foods truly agree with her body, making gradual, lasting changes rather than drastic shifts. As she tracked her sleep data,  Noreen discovered that her deep sleep increased dramatically after eliminat...

I hate to say it, but many of us have been fed some pretty widespread myths about food - especially sugar - over the years. This episode is a recording of a live online workshop that I gave in January 2024, where I bust two myths: 1. The myth that craveworthy foods are everywhere, that we can't get away from them. 2. The myth that it's impossible to be sugar free and enjoy life. For myth...

This is a shared episode with Michelle, host of the Fast and Fabulous podcast . We talk about our experiences with perimenopause, and the link with sugar. Perimenopause hits women at different ages and with a wide variety of symptoms.  Although it's a natural process, it can cause all kinds of physical and emotional symptoms. What if intermittent fasting, together with cutting down on sugary...

Julie used to eat junk food until a car accident led her to gain weight and feel unwell. That led to her holistic healing journey. She decided to follow a program that required her to weigh and measure her food, but she didn't really understand why she was doing it, she said.  What inspired her the most was witnessing her mother's transformation with sugar-free and flour-free living. At...

Reducing or cutting sugar is usually seen as something positive (if a little marginal). And sugary or sweet foods are relatively easy to spot. But recently, I've been getting this question from my listeners: What about flour? And: Why don't you eat flour, Netta? Because that means no bread, no crackers, no bagels, no pasta... Wait! So how do you make a sandwich? What do you put your spag...

Michele is a busy mom of 4, and a military wife. She's also a personal trainer and health coach.   Her journey started after having her third child, when she became so much busier and realized that she was getting out of breath just from climbing the stairs. She started eating better, but a few years after, she started experiencing auto-immune issues (they run in her family). She had all the...

Teresa struggled with sugar addiction and health issues related to high sugar intake for years. When her naturopath suggested she cut out sugar, she thought it was "extreme"! But she did it - she cut out sugar, sweeteners, and refined carbs, cold turkey.  It worked for a while, but eventually, Teresa realized that it was extremely difficult and unsustainable long-term. After further heal...

Have you been told that eating "everything in moderation" is part of a healthy, balanced diet? But what if you can't moderate certain foods? Like sugar? Many of us can't... and we feel guilty and ashamed that we can't "moderate". We feel like we're broken, or we just don't have enough willpower. In this episode, you'll learn that if your experience...

Steve Campbell played sports growing up, but an injury in high school caused him to gain weight. His dad was a bodybuilder and gave him an example of discipline with fitness and eating. But he struggled to maintain that himself. Steve tried all kinds of diets, including keto. He would be very disciplined during the week but have "cheat days" on weekends where he overindulged. At night wh...

Sandhya is a pharmacist in Australia.  In 2019 she started getting symptoms of breathlessness and palpitations.  So she went to the doctor and got everything checked out, but the only thing they could find was that she was pre-diabetic, so her doctor told her she needed to lose some weight. She recognized that she overate, particularly sugary things. So she decided to do a self-hypnosis course for...

Ever wonder what challenges I (Netta) have in my "life after sugar"? Well, I can tell you this: I'm not perfect! I have my ups and downs, just like you. In this episode, I'm sharing a few of my challenges over the last year (and more). Plus you'll hear a few of the coping skills I've developed over the years, other than using sugar, to deal with my emotions.   Want to...

In this episode I'm giving you 24 tips for a more joyful  sugar free December... or for any time of the year! These tips come from the Life After Sugar Advent calendar.   Want to transform your relationship with sugar and start living your craving-free life with confidence TODAY? Get group support, encouragement, and the accountability you need to get rid of your cravings! Join our private co...

In this episode, my guest Karen gives some valuable mindset tips to help you feel more confident this holiday season... and all year round! We talk about: How language and mindset are critical - how we talk to ourselves affects our actions. Karen gives some examples of empowering language. How to avoid "good" and "bad" food labeling as it leads to guilt and negative self-talk....