Life After Sugar

8 years sugar free - can you believe it?? Who can live for 8 years without eating refined or added sugars, sweeteners, and flour? Is it even possible? Well, I never would have thought it was possible if I wasn't living it myself! In July 2015, I stopped eating foods made with sugar, sweeteners, and flour. For just 2 weeks. Really! It was only supposed to be a temporary experiment... But here...

Bethany is a self-identified sugar addict who struggled with food, sweets, weight and dieting for as long as she can remember. As a child, she remembers scheming ways to get more than her share of cookies, chocolate, or candies.  Bethany started dieting at about age 11, and didn't stop seeking out and trying different diets until her late 40's. All of this left her feeling as though she...

Do you struggle with cravings? There are 3 types of cravings that I talk about in this fifth and last episode in the series of "summer shorts" about how sugar affects your health. You'll also get my 5 tips to reduce or get rid of cravings. Plus to get rid of cravings, download your 5 tips here. Also check out these free resources:  What to eat that doesn't contain added sugar L...

Almost 2500 years ago, Hippocrates said: "All disease begins in the gut". But what does "gut health" mean? Why is it so important? And how does sugar affect your gut health? To get answers, listen to this fourth episode in the series of "summer shorts" about how sugar affects your health. To get rid of cravings, download your 5 tips here. Also check out these free res...

What's the difference between short-term acute inflammation, and chronic inflammation? Is inflammation always a bad thing? Is sugar inflammatory? Listen to this third episode in the series of "summer shorts" about how sugar affects your health. To get rid of cravings, download your 5 tips here. Also check out these free resources:  What to eat that doesn't contain added sugar L...

Does sugar "cause" diabetes? And if not, what is the connection between sugar and diabetes? To get my answers, listen to this second episode in the series of "summer shorts" about how sugar affects your health. To get rid of cravings, download your 5 tips here. Also check out these free resources:  What to eat that doesn't contain added sugar Life After Sugar Facebook page...

How does sugar affect your weight? Is it the "empty calories", or is it something else? Listen to this first episode in a 5-part series of "summer shorts" about how sugar affects your health. To get rid of cravings, download your 5 tips here. Also check out these free resources:  What to eat that doesn't contain added sugar Life After Sugar Facebook page Subscribe to my In...

Dr. Erin Tjam is the author of "Skin Sobering: 99% of Products Age and Harm Your Skin". In this episode, we talk about how after her own skin failed her, Erin researched how to take care of skin. What she found in clinical studies is that a lot of skin care products contain chemical additives that are actually disrupting our natural skin. What if we didn't need skincare products? Ad...

Gastroenterologist Dr. Cecilia Minano had so many health issues as well as high stress levels. When she finally got coaching, she learned empowering boundaries and self-care that changed her life. She tells about her childhood when she would calm her insecurities and self-soothe with sugar. With her medical background, she now knows that sugar and industrially manufactured food products can lead t...

How much sugar is too much? In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its recommendations for free or added sugars: 6 teaspoons for women, and 9 teaspoons for men. Per day. But is that still "too much"? Where's the line between an "OK" amount of sugar, and "too much"? In my humble opinion, there's no one-size-fits-all answer. For some of us, zer...

Keith used to drink six cans of Coke a day. And with each soda, he would have a bag of crisps (chips), or a chocolate bar. He knew it wasn't healthy, but he couldn't stop. When he tried to quit, he'd get withdrawal symptoms. As an adult, Keith learned hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and coaching. These skills helped him with his shyness and his panic attacks. Keith dev...

Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD, is the founder of Bright Line Eating (BLE). In her teens, she started using drugs, just for fun and experimentation at first. But she got really hooked and her drug abuse got worse and worse. By the time she picked up speed (or crystal meth), she was 16 and was very concerned about her weight already. Except that when she used speed, she didn't feel she had to eat...

Lesya was always on diets when she was growing up. So she thought: If I become a nutritionist, I'll finally know the secret to how to eat, how to lose weight, and how to keep weight off. But she was severely disappointed when she graduated. She questioned what she learned in nutrition school because it just didn't make sense to her. So she decided not to become a registered dietitian, an...

Life After Sugar is  about way more than just changing what you eat. It's not about being "against" or "anti" sugar. It's about creating a whole new relationship with sugar, with your food... and with yourself. And that includes self-care. The diet culture has failure built in. It makes us feel bad about ourselves. It taps into our vulnerabilities and makes us suffer....

Wendy was born in 1947 in England, when sugar was still rationed. At that time, sweets and chocolate were rare treats - they ate them every six months or so. Wendy shares her memories of growing up on a smallholding where her parents and grandparents grew their own food. They ate three meals a day and worked hard outdoors. Wendy brought up her daughter with all kinds of foods available on the tabl...

Karin was diagnosed with colon cancer after a routine colonoscopy when she was 51 years old, in January 2020. Yes, she had digestive issues, but this was a shock because she'd always taken care of her health. Karin decided that this wasn't going to be the end of her. After resection surgery, she was lucky not to need chemotherapy or radiation therapy.  Thinking back to when she grew up i...

Angela says that being an alcoholic is the best thing that ever happened to her. It was the catalyst that made her look at her life differently and make a commitment to be better. In this episode, Angela shares about many of her biggest challenges, especially her addiction to alcohol. When she decided to get sober in her 30s, Angela's life changed for the better. Being sober helped her work t...

Let's face it: Life after sugar is pretty unpopular! Why? Well... Did you want to stop eating sugar? Of course not! Who would? I certainly never wanted to cut sugar ! No more chocolate? NO WAY! Not many people actually want to quit sugar or their favourite comfort foods... but they often feel like they have to do something when their weight or health issues force them to make a change. Nothin...

Greg's been a marathon runner for years. He'd always believed that you need to "carb load" before and during a long-distance run. So he would use gels and other quick-burning sugars to get an energy boost. But then he'd suffer from the energy crash that came with them, as well as cramping. What Greg found after several experiments was that he runs better and longer with ot...

Karen started having menopausal symptoms around age 39. At the time, she had two small kids and a busy health journalism career. Her list of symptoms included fatigue, hot flushes, insomnia, irritability, brain fog, memory loss, overwhelm, loss of libido, weight gain and vertigo... and she realized that they were related to her hormones and not just her stressful life. After being diagnosed with e...

You probably don't want to "give up" sugar. Who would? I certainly didn't! But actually, you're gaining far more than you're losing.   The key to living your "life after sugar" has as much to do with your mindset and beliefs as with what's on your plate (or not). In this episode, you'll get some small but powerful mindset shifts and tips to help yo...

All through her youth and her studies, Victoria (VJ) suffered from chronic fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, unexplained lightheadedness, swollen and painful joints, and cravings. She also had the symptoms of multiple autoimmune disorders that she'd been diagnosed with from the age of 7.   As a result, VJ went on to study immunology at university and focused on autoimmune disease. But learning abo...

Are you a normal eater, an emotional eater, or a food addict? Clarissa has a touching history of disordered eating. In fact, she says that she's a food addict.   The problem was that for most of her life, she didn't know it. Clarissa just always thought that something was wrong with her or that she didn't have enough willpower when it came to how much she ate. In this episode, Clari...

Have you heard of the book "Dopamine Nation", written by Dr. Anna Lembke? As a psychiatrist, the author explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain . . . and what to do about it. In this episode, I summarize parts of Dr. Lembke's book. Disclaimer : It isn't specifically about sugar.  But I can definitely see...

Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum is a nationally known expert in the USA in the fields of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, sleep, and pain.  His own personal story is touching and inspiring, and he tells about his own health struggles in this episode. In this episode, Dr. Teitelbaum also talks about  4 major sources of cravings: low energy feeling irritable when hungry ("hangry") - low blood...