Life After Sugar

Dasha is a registered dietitian who grew up in the US with Russian parents. Her family ate home-cooked meals but also sweets. In this episode, we talk about: food and meal prep in different cultures what is an extreme diet what is a balanced diet sugar and salt what happens when we deprive ourselves the notion of balance Find Dasha here . To get personalized guidance from me, plus support and acco...

Alex joined the Freedom from Cravings Formula 12-week program in January 2025. She's been following the 5 steps of the program and attending our weekly Accountability Calls, and she gave me permission to share part of one of those calls. In this episode, you'll hear how Alex is slowly changing her habits around sugar because she's getting new insights every week. As Alex is learning...

Jodie grew up eating relatively healthy foods.  But it was later in life, when she started having health issues, that she was diagnosed with celiac disease. She changed her diet significantly, and started to study nutrition and especially how sugar affects the liver. In this episode, Jodie explains about different types of sugar, and how the fructose molecule in sugar can lead to a fatty liver, or...

Reverend Emmanuel is an empath. That means that he's very sensitive, and feels everything around him. From a young age, he used processed foods and candy bars to shield him from pain and toxic energy. In his mid-30s, he started to heal himself. He learned to start feeling and to deal with his feelings. He cleaned sugar out of his diet and healed his microbiome. He started to listen to his bod...

This episode is all about hidden sugars and how to spot them on food labels.  And also the question: what about naturally occurring sugars?  I want you to benefit from the exact same information as my Freedom From Cravings Formula program participants do about food labels and hidden (or not so hidden!) sugars. You'll get tips about spotting sugar in: tomatoes, canned tomatoes, and tomato sauc...

When she was younger, Jennifer suffered terribly from pain, inflammation, lack of energy, bloating, plus a ton of other symptoms. But she was always told that she was "healthy". Gluten was not talked about 15-20 years ago, so Jennifer had to keep pushing to get to the root cause of her symptoms. Then one doctor sent Jennifer to a dietitian who told her that she shouldn't eat gluten....

Denise grew up in an abusive and traumatic household. She tried all kinds of ways to numb her pain, and sugar was always there for her. In high school, Denise went to counselling and started to learn other coping skills, but she still turned to sugar when she was tired and stressed. It was challenging for Denise to overcome her pain and to learn how to deal with her emotions and stop numbing her p...

Irene grew up with parents who grew up on a farm. Her mother loved sugar and processed foods, but she also did a lot of cooking, making hearty meals. Both of Irene's parents were overweight, and eventually they were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. In this episode, we discuss: saturated fats moderating sugar versus abstaining weight loss sweeteners feeling better, and different ways to get the...

Rosemary is in the Freedom from Cravings Formula 12-week program. She very generously gave me permission to share an excerpt from one of her weekly Accountability Calls. In this episode, Rosemary shares her insights about how she used to see treats, and how that has changed since she joined the program. Rosemary also shares what she's discovering about her triggers. When we recorded this coac...

When she was in her 20s, Shannon's body was constantly stressed.  She was managing a gym and doing bodybuilding shows, but she'd never felt LESS healthy.  In fact, she was dealing with fatigue issues, hormone issues, gut issues, inflammation, pain... She  couldn't walk, or she had to walk with a cane. The only thing Shannon was offered were drugs, and she was told she would be on dr...

In this episode, I share a few of my favourite sugar free recipes. Full disclosure: I'm no Masterchef!  Plus I have a pretty busy life. So listen to get some yummy ideas for quick and simple meals that don't contain refined sugar or flour. P.S. Unlike the processed food industry, when I say "sugar free", I mean it! For example, here's the recipe for chaffles: INGREDIENTS  ...

Marieke lives in Belgium. She grew up eating healthy foods like whole grains and vegetables.  But Marieke also had a bit of a sweet tooth. And she had been suffering from migraines since she was 3 years old. And when she became a teenager, her migraines became monthly. Marieke's parents took her to see doctors. And when her doctor recommended that she cut sugar, Marieke went home and started...

Mark's health issues started early in his teenage years. Growing up in the north east of the UK, he'd been put on antibiotics for an ear infection, and at the age of 16 his doctor wanted to put him on anti-depressants.  But instead, Mark decided to study in the health field, which included changing his diet. And he started cooking for himself and experimenting with different foods. Mark...

It's a question I get a lot: What if I don't have enough willpower to cut sugar? Well... here's my own question: What if it's not even about willpower? In fact, you don't need willpower to cut sugar. Really! So in this episode, I borrow the definition of willpower from authors and researchers who've studied it. In fact, here's a couple of other questions:  Did yo...

This is part 2 of my chat with best-selling author Steven Gundry MD. Listen to Part 1 of our chat here. 2500 years ago, Hippocrates said: "All disease begins in the gut". In this episode, Dr. Gundry and I talk about which foods feed the good bacteria and improve your gut health... and which foods feed your cravings! You may not know a lot about fermented (probiotic) foods and drinks, bec...

Steven Gundry, MD is a cardiothoracic surgeon and bestselling author of "The Plant Paradox" as well as his most recent book, "The Gut-Brain Paradox". In this episode, we talk about gut health, a subject that is close to my heart (no pun intended!). And guess what substance is terrible for gut health? Yes - sugar!  Dr. Gundry and I have so much to talk about that I made two podc...

If you're a layperson like me (that is, not a health professional or a nutrition expert), then you may not know what "insulin resistance" is. I certainly didn't. It was only when I stopped eating sugar in my mid-40s, and experienced the amazing benefits of being sugar-free, that I started reading up on what insulin does. And after that, I read about how insulin resistance affec...

Back in her 20s, Colleen was suffering from chronic exhaustion, pain, and bloating. She was unable to function and she was sleeping all the time. Despite taking a cocktail of medications, nothing seemed to work. Then Colleen discovered  functional nutrition, and she tried something she had never tried before. She overhauled her diet, including cutting gluten and sugar. And to her amazement, after...

Martin grew up post World War II in the Czech Republic in central Europe, in a small village. He says that his family was poor, but they ate all kinds of organic foods, as well as hunted food, like pheasants and hares. Then Martin left the Czech Republic as a refugee and arrived in British Columbia, Canada. He ended up with a job with health insurance and dental coverage. And pretty soon, he had 1...

Hi! It's me, Netta. And I have to tell you that all my life I was a real sweet tooth. People made desserts just for me, and my whole identity was wrapped up in my love for sweet foods, desserts, chocolate, ice cream, whatever.  Chocolate was my best friend. And I also always had snacks on hand. Hidden in my drawer at work. Hidden away in my car. I used to always carry around snacks with me ju...

Cindy started swimming competitively when she was 10 years old. She didn't really think about what she was eating because she was just swimming so much. So she ate whatever was presented to her. But when she hit puberty, she became more muscular. Plus she had a swim coach who made her do weigh-ins and fat analysis. That's when Cindy started comparing her body to others and tracking calor...

My expert guest this week is Dr. Bob Rakowski who is a seasoned functional medicine practitioner with over three decades of experience.  In this episode, Dr. Bob describes how as a teen growing up in the USA, he lived on milkshakes, cheeseburgers, french fries, and Mountain Dew. Tons of sugar! By the time he graduated high school, he was overweight and lacked energy.  When Bob was just 18, he had...

What does it feel like to live sugar free? Every individual has a different answer.  And in this episode, Freedom from Cravings Formula graduate Noreen shares how she feels one year after signing up for the program.  The question is: How will YOU feel? Need guidance and support to get rid of cravings so that you can slim down and finally feel in control around food? To get personalized guidance fr...

When she was younger, Karen never had a weight problem. She was tall and slim. But then with the ups and downs of life, including several very stressful situations, her weight went up.  Covid and menopause definitely didn't help! But two things did help Karen: cutting down sugar, and intermittent fasting. Listen to Karen's inspiring story as she tells how she stepped out of the "cal...

Amy is a functional medicine nurse practitioner who is passionate about helping patients reverse disease and obtain true health and healing. In this episode, we talk about stress, and how sugar can actually increase the stress levels in your body. Sugar can negatively affect cortisol and adrenal levels, as well as your gut health. We often think that the stress in our life is "out there"...