Feeling sweeter without sweets...

I refuse to buy into moral judgments about food.  We are not good when we eat vegetables and bad when we eat ice cream.  However, it is useful to look at how what we eat affects us.

I am a sugar addict.  No, I’m probably not going to eat sugar out of the bag with a spoon or anything, but given an unlimited supply of soda, I would drink it.  All of it.  Until there was no more and I weighed in at over a thousand pounds.  That, obviously, would not be ideal.

Even before I reached half a ton, I would be feeling the effects.  We are all individual chemistry sets, so other people’s reactions might be different than mine, but what I would experience, most of all, is pain.  Sugar tends to be inflammatory.  “Inflammation” is one of those new buzz words; it gets blamed for pretty much everything.  However, when it comes to angry, stressed tissues, it deserves at least some of its reputation.  The issues I have in my hip and in my forearms become Much Worse as the amount of sugar in my diet increases.

The other big effect on me would be an increase in the hunger/irritability index.  (I just made up that term, but it sounds good, right?)  Sugar in the system causes the body to release insulin, which helps the sugar get into the cells to fuel them.  More sugar usually leads to more insulin, which causes blood sugar to drop, which stimulates hunger and fatigue.  When the body has to work a little harder to get to the sugars by breaking down complex carbohydrates and when there are proteins and fats to work on as well, we keep a steadier blood sugar level, feel less hungry, and, in my case at least, get less crabby.

Now, the process of getting the excess sugar out is not a fun one.   Bodies need time to adapt.  We may find ourselves tired, headachy, and irritable for a week or so.  We may have to read labels more carefully for a little while.  Sugar hides in a lot of places, like salad dressing and mayo.  I find that eating fewer processed foods in general is better anyway.

Some of us want to pay attention to glycemic index, some of us want to purge the fruit and other relatively simple carbohydrates.  I’m reluctant to give up all the nutrients that go along with those foods, so my morning smoothie still has a banana and berries in it.  Sugar is not bad, remember; it is just something that has less lovely effects on me than other foods when I have too much of it.

Experiement!