Life After Sugar

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...

Kate Bee is the founder of The Sober School. Right back from her childhood surrounded by family members who drank, she says that alcohol was the most normalized drug around. When she became an adult, Kate used alcohol to be cool, as well as to help her forget about all the things that she thought were wrong with her. Looking back, she realizes that she'd also used food for comfort and reward....

Martin was lucky enough to have 3 mothers who raised him. As they came from the Depression, they wanted him to eat to make them happy. So he did. And over time, he put on weight. And he overate, especially desserts. Martin recognizes that he had an emotional connection to food. As a businessman, he decided to approach his weight and health as if he was the CEO of a business. He identified 14 probl...

Hi, I'm Netta. All my life, I loved chocolate. Chocolate helped me to feel better whenever I felt sad, or angry, or frustrated, or bored... or when I needed comfort or a way to reward myself. And if you were looking to give me a gift for any type of special occasion, chocolate was always the right choice! So... what happened to make me break up with chocolate? And how did I do it? In this Val...

Erin had spent her life doing things "right". She followed the rules. "Eat less, move more". "Track your calories". All of it. But it was when Erin's health took a dramatic turn for the worse that she really woke up to the fact that everything she'd learned was wrong. She'd spent her career in the fitness industry, and she realized that what she'd...

Most foods that contain refined and added sugars and grains are manufactured by the processed foods industry to make consumers crave them so that they eat more... and buy more! So when you stop buying and eating all those industrially processed food products and snacks, what's left to eat? Real, whole foods, that's what! But with rising grocery prices , how can you save money (and time!)...

When she was younger, Kerri spent a lot of her life sad, anxious, overweight, and frustrated — convinced that if she just lost weight, her life would change. She'd spent tens of thousands of dollars on doctors, diets, supplements, medications, and fitness plans, trying to find a magic pill to help her lose weight quickly. She thought losing weight would cure her crippling anxiety and fatigue...

Joy Kiddie, a Canadian dietitian known as the "low carb healthy fat dietitian", explains how for generations, bread has been a cultural staple for many cultures,. Also tortillas, naan, challah, roti... So it's understandable that when people want to reduce carbs in the form of flour, cutting bread is a struggle. In this episode,  we talk about the cultural importance of bread, and h...

Dr. Michael Roizen is a physician who specializes in anti-aging. He became famous for developing the Real Age concept and has authored or coauthored 5 number one New York Times best sellers. In this episode, Dr. Roizen talks about the concept of real age versus calendar age. In fact, your physiological age, not just how old you are, can make a huge impact on different risk factors for your health....

With my experience of several years of being sugar free, I've discovered that there are 3 essentials to living a confident and joyful sugar free life. And they're probably not what you think. These essentials go way beyond what you eat. For this first episode of 2023, I want to share with you my own vision of how you can get to a place where you don't need, miss, or want sugar in yo...