I’ve have to say my biggest weakness (by far) is an addiction to refined sugar. Once I get started on a sugar binge there’s no stopping me! Unlucky for me, this overindulgence of sugar has its side effects, including irritability, PMS, and the worst one – acne.
A lot of people don’t believe that sugar and chocolate can give you bad skin but I’m proof that it actually does. I first made this discovery by accident when I took refined sugar completely out of my diet for a month to treat a recurring case of Candidiasis. I was surprised to find the diet cleared up my skin as well, to the point where it was perfectly clear. It also made my skin tone very even, I no longer had those red blotchy bits around my nose.
The 48 hour sugar cravings
Every now and again when my skin gets pimply or I start suffering from bad PMS, I’ll take sugar out of my diet. No matter how many times I do it, it never gets any easier, there’s always this two day period where my sugar cravings are really intense. I’ll do anything to get my hands on something sweet. Through trial and error, or maybe desperation … I’ve come up with a few tactics that help a lot, which can also be applied when maintaining a healthy diet.
- When you get a sugar craving try eating fresh or dried fruits. My favourites are organic dried apple and banana chips. Just make sure you check the ingredients for any added sugar.
- Try sugar alternatives. Xylitol is probably the best sugar alternative that I’ve found because it’s natural and doesn’t affect your insulin levels (so also safe for diabetics!). It’s great for tea and coffee or breakfast cereal. Xylitol can be found at health food supermarkets.
- Don’t keep sweet food in the house. I have never successfully given up sugar with food around the house to tempt me.
- Read labels and choose the healthy alternative. There are a lot of unnecessary added sugars in foods, especially jam, juice and breakfast cereals. Unfortunately options are limited when it comes to cereals, I think wheatbix and oats are about it. So, think of alternatives. I like to start the day with a bowl of porridge which I add honey, banana or mixed berries (buy the frozen ones, they thaw out perfectly when stirred into hot porridge) and slivered almonds to. YUM!
- Get out of the habit of having to eat something sweet after a meal. After a few days you’ll find you can easily break the habit. Try substituting the desserts you used to have with green tea or fruit. Cheese is also another good option, think of the last cheese platter you had at your favorite western restaurant.
- Girls, be careful when you start your no refined sugar diet. I personally crave sugar a lot more in the lead up to my period so I always start the diet at a later stage in my cycle.
- Listen to what your body is telling you. I personally need the cold turkey period at the start where I don’t touch refined sugars at all. After a week I can start having a taste of someone else’s chocolate cake they’ve ordered or one of those little cookies some coffee shops stick on your plate when you order tea or coffee. After my symptoms have cleared up (which is usually about a month) I follow a rule of 90% for the body 10% for the soul, meaning 90% of the food I eat is to maintain good health and the other 10% is for pleasure.
Why bother?
It’s not all about PMS and wanting to look good. Eating anything in excess isn’t good for you, but refined sugars are especially not a natural food our bodies are used to.
When we eat refined sugars, they pass quickly into the bloodstream giving the stomach and pancreas a shock. As a result, foods are not digested and assimilated into the body properly. Our blood-sugar level then gets out of whack causing more sugar cravings.
This blood-sugar imbalance can contribute to a range of disease and unhappiness including diabetes, heart disease, immune deficiency, herpes, yeast infections, PMS, loss of memory, nervousness, irritability, negative thought patterns, paranoia, acne etc.
This article from Nexus magazine is one of my favourites. I often refer back to it when I’m on a sugar binge and need a bit of motivation to settle down.
Refined sugar: The sweetest poison of all
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/sugarblues.html
It gets easier
After about three weeks into the diet I always find that I can’t tolerate eating a lot of refined sugar anymore. I went out to dinner last night and was the only one who didn’t order dessert. Of course I was offered a taste of everyone else’s which I found was more than enough (and kind of fun to try them all!). My tolerance for rich sweet foods becomes very low.
When I gave up sugar for the problem I had with Candidiasis, I took it to the extreme. I checked every single ingredient label in food items such as sauces and prepackaged meals for added sugar. I didn’t touch one single grain of refined sugar for that entire month. I no longer think taking things this far is necessary. As long as you stick to avoiding the obvious sweet foods and added refined sugars (such as tea, coffee, breakfast cereal) then I think it’s enough.
Watch out for any dizziness when you’re giving up refined sugar for the first time. If you’ve been eating a lot of sugar in your diet for a long period of time, your body can freak out when you completely take it out. Some people may experience dizziness or tiredness as their blood-sugar levels are getting back to normal. I personally have had none of these symptoms.
I’m writing this after about three weeks into my current sugar free diet. I’m in a great mood and my skin is not completely healed but about 90% better. For me, the rewards are definitely better than the five seconds of pleasure I get from eating chocolate.
Frances Kerr
14 responses ↓
Hi Fran!
I absolutely love your blog! You have inspired me to start kicking my sugar habit and begin eating healthy things like more fruit and veg that my body really needs. I love anything chocolate and would love to start afresh and give my body what it has been begging me to do for some time. I especially like how you said 90% for the body 10% for the soul, it makes perfect sense. In order to keep the right balance I think its good to have just a little bit of sugar now and then for pleasure. I am also inspired to go shopping for nutritous snacks and brekky cereals, I never thought of banana and slivered almonds on porridge, YUM!
Keep up the good work,
Your first fan!
Oh man, that bunny rabbit. I can’t tell you how good that rabbit looks right now…
Just make sure if you’re giving up sugar and opting for green tea, it’s DECENT green tea and you know the right way to brew it. Most people use boiling water and “over-cook” it, resulting in a too bitter vegetable.
I have an article on my site about how tea can help with sugar cravings.
[…] had some friends recently read through an old book called Sugar Blues and they’ve passed on to me how […]
Hi,
In your mini course bad food no. 6 is Dried fruits, and in this post you suggest “When you get a sugar craving try eating fresh or dried fruits”. Is the dried fruit just bad because of the sugar, and if I’m being strict with my eating should I avoid dried fruit all together?
Loving your work
Tegen
Hi Tegen, dried fruits are a bit of a tricky one. They are an inflammatory food so they can aggravate acne, and they are very high in natural sugars so you can get a sugar spike from them. Just don’t eat a lot of them. If your sugar cravings are bad, it’s better to eat a little bit of dried food than to reach for the tub of ice cream.
I also don’t like to avoid anything completely. I think it’s good to reduce the bad foods, but it’s okay to eat them now and again. The only foods I’ve ever given up 100% are meat and alcohol which are more for yoga and ethical reasons
Thanks Fran,
Thats useful information.
I am a vegetarian too, but I drink alcohol every now and again, I did go to a party and only drank water the other day so I’m not doing bad. Like you suggested I’m using the 90% good and 10% not so good food rule. Giving up coffee is the hardest one for me, I still have 1 most days but replaced the rest with green tea. I’m still getting lots of spots but they seem to be a bit smaller and go a bit quicker!
Tegen
I managed to go down to 1 coffee every other day, but I was missing coffee so much I started looking into health benefits.
There are a lot of benefits I found on the net so I won’t list them all but one that stood out for skin, was that coffee contains antioxidants, its actually Americans highest intake source of antioxidants!
I’m not saying that coffee is a cure for acne, but it maybe the milk, sugar the fact that coffee dehydrates you and the stress it puts on the body, that is not so good for skin, I’m not sure.
Well it will make me feel slightly less guilty when I drink my next cup now, plus the other health benefits I haven’t mentioned here.
If any one has any information on coffee being good or bad for skin let me know.
Tegen x
Hi Tegen, it is definitely the caffeine in coffee that is bad for you, so if you can drink decaf that’s a better option. Also look into how the caffeine is extracted because some use a chemical process which isn’t good. Others use a more natural process which is a lot better for you.
The problem with caffeine is it increases the stress hormone cortisol in your body and it can stay in your system for up to 6 hours. If you’re into alternative medicine, it can also contribute to blockages in the free flow or energy in your body.
Having said that, I used to LOVE coffee, and I still really enjoy the smell
I used to have one every now and again which I think is okay, but after I stopped drinking it regularly I found that it was too hard on my belly!
Hi, you mentioned to avoid tea because of refined sugar. But what about the green tea? You mentioned in your mini course that its really good. So how should the green tea be prepared differently from the others?
Hi Kevin, green tea is low in caffeine so it’s a better option than English teas. It’s also packed full of antioxidants which are great for your skin.
You don’t have green tea with sugar or milk, you drink it on its own
Thanks, but I’m avoiding the green tea for now as it keeps me up way too long. I’ve been drinking lipton’s green tea but I will search for another brand. Can you suggest any that in your opinion aren’t too strong?
Hi Kevin, what you could do is drink lemon juice in hot water. It’s very cleansing for your blood, is awesome for your digestion, keeps colds away and tastes great! I used to drink it every morning.
I am 10 days into my sugar break and have finally hit the dizziness, nausea and feeling quite lethargic. I googled and found this site to see if what I was experiencing was normal and safe. I am glad that I found this site. I have known for a long time that I had to do this and I am finding it easier than I expected. I guess that I am ready for it now. I have given up added sugar, sweet treats and snack foods with added sugar. I still eat a good hearty meal and have sensible snacks. My next hurdle is to give up coffee. I have it black so all I have to do is get past the caffeine withdrawal.
Thanks for the great message.
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