Life After Sugar

Daneen West began getting interested in brain health after the birth of her third child. She saw specialist after specialist to try to get some clarity on the symptoms her oldest son was experiencing in pre-school. Daneen learned more about the brain through research and therapy. And that genetics "loads the gun, but doesn't pull the trigger". Environment and eating habits play a bi...

Gin Stephens is well-known for her books about intermittent fasting: Delay, Don't Deny, Feast Without Fear, and Fast, Feast, Repeat.  Now she's written a new book called Cleanish, which is more about how to live and eat in today's modern world. Listen as Gin and I talk about: how food labels can fool us (if we let them!) the concept of "eating clean" orthorexia, and not ne...

Jen found that reducing sugar and gluten has been good for all her family. Back in 2007, when her 3-year-old son began showing signs of a speech delay, a friend suggested that she try taking gluten out of his diet. At first she thought it was weird, but then Jen started researching it. So she decided to take all of the products with gluten out of the house, and the whole family started eating glut...

Even with her active lifestyle and background in nutrition and science and eating behaviours, Lauren knew that she needed help with her exhaustion, stress eating and cravings. She knew she needed to listen to her body more, especially during lockdown. She had a healthy lifestyle on paper, she says, but she felt like trash: she was tired, couldn't focus, her work quality was suffering, and she...

In this episode Véronique Morissette talks about her life after sugar over the last 3 years, and how her relationship with herself has been transformed since she cut out sugar. Gone is the toxic relationship she had with sugar... and with herself. Just before her decision to cut sugar, she quit cigarettes and alcohol because she wanted to feel more connected to the people she loves... including he...

So what's the difference between Life After Sugar and keto? And why does it annoy me when people ask me: "Netta, are you keto?" In this episode I explain what keto is and its history, and how it's become so popular today. Yes,  it's understandable that people confuse how I eat with the keto way of eating, because both approaches cut out sugar. But I also rant a little abou...

Kathy had followed every diet out there. Sure, she was able to follow the rules for a while, but then she "fell off the wagon". She was used to tracking and following a meal plan, but what she wasn't used to was thinking for herself.  But when she joined the Life After Sugar Program, she started looking at things completely differently.  ​Yes, there's a food list and recipes, b...

When she was still consuming sugar, Melissa was very anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted, and angry. As a young child, she used to hide sweet foods in her room, and she continued to eat lots of sugar into her adult years. Then when she became a mother and had her second child who wasn't sleeping, and her first child who had sensory challenges and food allergies, it was her chiropractor who asked...

In this episode, Mario tells me about how he grew up in Québec, Canada. At home, his parents naturally ate what would now be considered a keto way of eating: low in carbs and starches, no snacks, plenty of meat. When he got together with his then-girlfriend, he started eating a "normal" diet like she'd grown up with. Despite his active lifestyle and "healthy" diet, he kept...

Meghan had always been interested in health, but she didn't know that all those "healthy" products like shakes and bars actually contain a lot of hidden sugars. She ran marathons, but she also suffered from allergies, bloating, breathing troubles, and many other health issues. Then she started to experiment: organic sugar, fat-free, diets, food combining. But everybody's body i...

In this solo episode, I talk about different points of view on whether sugar is an addictive substance. I have my opinion, but what do other sources say about the addictive nature of sugar? In my opinion, it's not the plant itself that's the problem. It's what's been done to it: the refining and processing and concentrating of the original plant to make its essence into a poten...

Dorothy Holtermann had so many health issues that her doctor told her he'd taken out all the organs he could and that she would have to make serious changes. Her doctor genuinely tried to help her, but she kept gaining weight. She didn't eat a lot of white sugar, but she did eat quite a lot of pasta, bread and fruit, didn't exercise much, and had a stressful life as a lawyer and par...

Laurie Lewis is a certified health and intermittent fasting coach. She uses the fasting principles of Gin Stephens, Dr. Jason Fung, and Dr. Bert Herring. We chat about her childhood in the 70s, her mom's attitude to diets, and her love for diet soda at college. All through her 20s, Laurie says, she felt like she was in a fog. She just didn't feel good... and she listened to her intuition...

A special Father's Day edition in the company of UK Low Carb's Dan Greef, Jeff Gerken (from Episode 16)... and my dad, Alan Gorman! Dan talks about the impact that eating low carb has had on him as a father, and on his whole family. He wants his young children to be free free to make choices and to be informed to know what works for them. Both his children have nut allergies, so in a way...

Katherine Larsen had cystic acne, which had a negative impact on her career and social life. Her moods were up and down, and she was easily triggered by even small things. She would also have an energy slump in the middle of the afternoon, as well as cravings for sugary and starchy foods. In her mid-twenties, she realized it might be linked to sugar, so she tried an elimination diet. She tried sev...

Have you ever questioned your definition of "treat"? I never had. For the first 45 years of my life, there was a universal truth that treat = sweet. But then when I stopped eating sugar and sweeteners, I realized that my definition of "treat" was changing. With sugar and sweet foods out of the picture, I had the head space to think about my need for treats and whether they had...

Marla's childhood was filled with sugar... She tells how she used sugar to cope with difficult emotional situations in her family life. She now recognizes that she was probably chemically addicted to sugar from a very early age. "Sugar was like a best friend to me" she says.  When she was in her late twenties, she decided she had to stop eating sugar, but it wasn't a smooth rid...

When Keith McDonald started to experience a lot of bloating and pain in his stomach, he went to the doctor who told him that he had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and that there was nothing to be done. But then things got worse and the doctors did a scan and told him they would have to remove his spleen. He refused. Instead, he researched his symptoms and linked them to gluten. So he cu...

Ah! Those sneaky hidden sugars on labels! But... are they really "hidden"? Did you know that food companies are obliged by law to list all of the ingredients in their products? The thing is, they have pretty sneaky ways of naming the different types of sugars in products so that we consumers get so confused that we don't even understand what those ingredients are. In this episode, w...

This week I'm speaking with registered nurse Ana Maria Pardo.  She and I talk about her own struggles with different types of sugar, and how you can change your habits one small step at a time. She gives helpful tips about how you can create new communication between your brain and your body to help you change how you see sugar, and therefore your thoughts and actions around it. To contact An...

As a child and into his early twenties, Jeff Gerken drank so much soda that he says he was addicted to it. He also drank juice and chocolate milk - not water. Even though he was doing a lot of sports and running, his weight crept up until he was obese in his 20s and 30s. At first, he thought he needed to do more exercise. Then when he was in his 40s, he realized that he needed to change his diet t...

Yes, you can break free from sugar for good and get rid of your sugar cravings... And get rid of your energy crashes as well as the extra weight that's bothering you... your joint pain... your inflammation... even the chance to reduce some of your medication. I mean, can you imagine if you could boost your energy levels and feel less anxious and have a better, more stable mood? Get clearer th...

In this episode, Anna Fruehling tells how she was already hooked on sugar at the age of three.  She also has five auto-immune diseases, one of which is celiac disease. She is now free from sugar, grains and all substances that made her brain hooked. She has energy from morning till night, she never feels "hangry" (so hungry you're angry), her moods are more stable, and she just feel...

Graeme lost over 130lbs thanks to cutting sugar and fast food and practising intermittent fasting. The author of "The Fasting Highway" as well as the host of a podcast with the same name, Graeme is an inspiring example of putting his health and well-being first. As a consumer, he learned to read food labels (and to choose foods that don't have labels!) and to become aware of all the...

Here's something that really annoys me: How other people perceive my life after sugar! I mean, I’m just happier with zero sugar and flour. But I kept getting comments like “You need to let go a little”, “Come on! One bite won’t hurt you!”, “Relax and have a little fun!”... etc.  I got so tired of them that I made this podcast episode about it! It feels like people aren't even listening t...