Today, my friends, I wanted to chat about something near and dear to my heart… sugar!!!! It’s funny because I had actually started drafting up a post last week about how I wanted to go on a no-sugar “diet”, and then I just recently found out that Ellen Degeneres announced that she was going on a “sugar cleanse” herself just a few days ago. You can read more about her decision here, but in summary she is trying to clean up her diet – Ellen is already a vegan – and she wants to make sure that she gets the purest form of energy from wholesome, natural sources rather than the crash and burn from sugar.
I commend her for her decision, and I don’t blame her for wanting more energy since I feel quite certain that she works many more hours in the day than I do, with running her own show and hosting American Idol. Sure, those are “fun” jobs to you and I but I’m sure they are very exhausting. Can you believe that she is 51 years old??? Ellen, you should be the post child for veganism!
I have tried numerous times over the course of my life to give up sugar. It. Has. Never. Worked. EVER. I can honestly say that I crave sugary foods less since I went vegan last July, but when I am baking and am staring a gooey, chocolaty bowl of brownie batter in the face then all of a sudden the only thing I want in life is to swim in said bowl of brownie batter. At that point, it becomes a compulsion. It’s very, very hard to resist and not to have a single bite, but honestly that usually is the easier option because once I take a single bite it will end up turning into half of the bowl before I know it. I know I’m not the only one that’s like this!!
Here are some reasons why sugar consumption can be detrimental to your health:
* Sugar triggers insulin, which promotes the storage of fat
*Sugar increases triglyceride levels, which can cause cardiovascular disease
* Sugar inhibits the absorption of vitamins, such as Vitamin C, which is part of the reason why sugar weakens your immune system
* Sugar can reduce good cholesterol (HDL) and increase bad cholesterol (LDL)
* Sugar increases the likelihood of kidney damage, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diabetes (did you see last week’s Oprah on this topic? scary stuff!!!), osteoporosis, toxemia during pregnancy, hormonal imbalance, blood clots
* Sugar causes an increase of free radicals, which is linked to cancer
When you look at it that way, we could all benefit from cutting down on our sugar intake, at least to some extent! I’ve made a lot of gains in this area since I refuse to eat anything containing HFCS, and I try to eat minimal amounts of white sugar/evaporated cane juice. So I would like to have another go at this, but I know there will be many challenges along the way….
I can narrow down a few reasons why my attempts to cut back on sugar have failed in the past:
1. I simply missed it!! When I went vegan I found so many great alternatives for dairy and egg products so that I never miss the “real deal” of cheese, ice cream, etc. However, it’s so sad to think of a life without sweets, and ideally I would want to give up/cut back on sugar forever, not just temporarily.
2. It’s SO hard to bake without sampling what you are making!! And I love, love, love to bake. I love to create new recipes, I like to try recipes from cookbooks, I like to bake for Mike, for family, for coworkers…. I could bake all day long. But it’s so very, very difficult to bake without sampling the product… for quality control purposes, of course….
3. In the past, I’ve never known where to “draw the line”, so to speak. For example, what is “allowed” – is honey ok? Stevia? Yacon? Maple syrup? Agave nectar? Fruit? The point of the cleanse would be to eliminate sugar cravings, and I feel like some of these products, while more nutritionally sound in some ways, in other ways are no better than sugar in terms of the likelihood that they will increase sweet cravings.
3. I still have so many products in my home that are “off limits” and I cannot be wasteful and throw them away. For example, I try my hardest to buy ketchup without HFCS, but sometimes the best option I can find still contains evaporated cane juice, which isn’t ideal.
Basically, I want some magic sugar fairy guru to tell me exactly what to do, and how much to eat, in order to decrease/eliminate my cravings! Is it ok to have “x” amount of fruit a day, plus 1 serving (1T.) of agave, for example? Or, can you eat unlimited fruit? Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion that their is no set answer but rather that the “rules” are different for everyone.
***
I am thinking strongly about doing such a “cleanse”, but I am honestly scared to death. I don’t want to imagine a life without maple syrup and bananas and chocolate bars…. but I also don’t want to imagine a life plagued with fatigue, mood swings, and disease, so I would like to think that I could make some sacrifices in this area. I think I just need some moral support, if I’m going to do this!
Who’s with me?!?!? 
Some questions….
* What do you think about a “sugar cleanse”?
* Have you tried to do this before – and have you had success? If so, share your tips with us!
* Or, do you think this is a silly thing to worry about? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this!
I'm a school social worker who is also a newlywed (and had a Big Fat Greek Wedding, no less!) living in Chicago. I am starting this blog to talk about the training process I will go through to prepare for the Chicago Marathon, while also raising awareness for Ceasefire, a Chicago anti-violence program.
I think it would be tough! I don’t eat many sweets, but I am sure there is sugar in plenty of the foods I eat. I am going to stick with moderation since I don’t really find myself craving sugary things very often.
This makes me laugh, Valerie, because I just downed a snack bag filled with m&ms. I also have been reading about Ellen giving up sugar and feel just the same as you do. I have been able to give up or cut down many things in my diet, but to think I can’t eat any sugar anymore would be so depressing! Not to mention completely un-acheiveable. I’d like to think there is a good answer to your question, but just as you suggested, I doubt there is one. But I do believe that the best thing for our bodies is to eat natural sugars as we need to and try to limit the white sugars and processed junk (like my yummy m&m’s). I used to read about Madonna not letting her children eat fruit and I’d get really angry. I also had an argument with someone at work over bananas last week because she said they weren’t that good for you because they are high in sugar. Fruit is acceptable and the good kind of sweetness we all need! I hope someone else has a better answer, good luck!
No fruit allowed?! OMG. I’d be ok with it if say, sweet treats were replaced with fruits (actual fruits and not like canned or dried ones). Do you have a crazy sweet tooth?
I cut white sugar out of my diet last week… I am still eating some fruit, and a little artificial sugar to get me through weaning off coffee.. It’s so hard to cut it completely out because its in EVERYTHING!
I gave them up once for three months, lost five pounds instantaneously, ate more salty foods than I ever have, and gained five pounds the minute I began eating sugar again.
Haha, I know what you mean! I just got some stevia in the hopes of eliminating a lot of the sugar in baking, but its true about substitutions not really helping the underlying problem.
)
I would love to get to a point where I am only using very minimally processed sweeteners (ie. dates, fruit juices, maple syrup etc.) but its so hard to make that work with baking. Like you, I love to bake, but I’m not always up for the testing that is required to use those kind of sweeteners.
However, if you were to take on some kind of sweet-free challenge, I think I might be up for it (I think I need a support group though!
-K
i have similar wonders…i have thought many times lately about such cleanses and i also saw that ellen was doing it.
i do think it would be easier if we did it together, some sort of support system seems a better way to go…but the problem is that i HATE doing things food-wise that involve restrictions and that i will feel guilty about if i mess up. its such an unhealthy way to live, so im totally conflicted. i consider the sugar of fresh fruit good regardless of what any person/source says, same with frozen fruit. its what i add into my smoothies (agave) that maybe i should/could do without…also dried fruit lately seems to make me feel kinda weird (like as in headachy/body racing/blood sugar surge). but again, its fruit, so its hard to argue that it should ever be cut out completely, right? the area i would have the most difficulty with would be bars (clif, luna, lara, odwalla, etc)…they arent my ideal food, but when im working and i dont have time to sit down to real food, its so convenient. so many questions…cant wait to read a follow up and your decision.
My sweet tooth keeps going away as I get older, so I think a sugar cleanse would be easy to do in theory. The difficult part would be avoiding sugar because it’s everywhere and in everything. Plus, what really constitutes as a sugar these days? Like you said, it’s hard to tell!
Oh girl, we could talk about this topic for hours!!!! We have done so many sugar cleanses specially a candida cleanse just recently. We crave sugar a lot as well, though it has slowly gone away. It can be done you just have to mentally tell yourself you can do it and it will happen. You can’t look at sugar as being bad (even though some are) because that is going to make you crave them more. You just have to tell yourself that you are just taking a break from some sugar not all sugar (stevia, granny smith apples, and grapefruit are great to eat) for awhile to get your health back on track. Than you can add in other sugars. Anything we have found is increasing your good fats like avocados, hemp seeds, tahini, coconut oil. Having more fats help control your sugar cravings. If you have any questions just email us and we be glad to help out.
[...] Holy sweetness. [...]
it would definitely be tough but i definitely need to do this! i eat way way too much sugar in the form of candy.
Being diabetic, I monitor my sugar intake, but since I am on insulin, I am not as rigid as I was when I was on oral medication.
And I wonder how I’ve gained 30 pounds since being on insulin these past 3 years!
What? I can have cheese AND bacon on my fries for only .99 cents? Yes please! I’ll just take some more insulin!
That being said – I do find that agave nectar does not spike my blood sugar – but maybe that’s just me?
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
This post completely resonates with me. Honestly, it’s something I’d love to do, but a baker at heart I’m not sure I could ever get to that point. However, I do have high triglycerides and my doctor pointed my sweet habit at being the culprit. I think moderation is key really. If we eat one treat a day, or week, or whatever your vice may be, I don’t think a cleanse is necessary – at least for me!
There must be something in the air, since it seems like I’m not the only one wanting to cut down/eliminate sugar.
Like you said, there is no set answer as to how to go about this, but it has to be something that works for you.
I’m trying to brainwash myself by reading up on the South Beach diet and stuff like that.
Keep us updated on what you decide to do!
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