[Ryan D Andrews]

Sugar Daddy
Part 1

For the past 30 days, I’ve consumed 0 grams of added sugar each day.

Most adults in the U.S. consume about 100 grams of added sugar each day. Most youth get about 150 grams.

007_sugar_consumption1.jpg

Notice I’m talking about ADDED sugar. Not naturally occurring sugars.

Let’s rewind several weeks and visit why I decided to do the 30 day no added sugar experiment.

• My All About Natural Sweeteners article and my upcoming All About Gluttony article
• Readings discussing attachments to food, material items, alcohol, etc.
• Readings on addiction and dependency
• My sister eliminated most added sugar from her life (and she used to eat sweets every day)

(Side note: interesting how what we do for work, what we read, and who we hang out with can influence these life decisions…)

To be honest, when the amount of sugar dense food I consumed was really small, I usually did fine. But most of the time, when I ate a “regular serving” of something with lots of sugar, a few things happened:

--My energy tanked
--I got thirsty
--I got bloated
--I didn’t feel great physically

And the worst part was – the dopamine surge in my brain reminded how good sugar felt. And I wanted more. That lead to more internal dialogue about whether or not to eat dense sugar foods.

dopamine_pump.jpg

I’ve noticed a simple association in people I work with and myself:
--When I eat sugar, I want more sugar.
--When I don’t eat sugar, I don’t want more sugar.

It’s a snowball. And it’s a mother snowball.

pie charts.jpg

My sugar experiment had little to do with body composition and health – well, at least not physical health. Maybe psychological.

I wanted to test myself. I wanted to see if I was attached to added sugars.

I mean, I haven’t consumed any animal products for years, I don’t use artificial sweeteners, I don’t consume alcohol, and my diet is based on whole foods.

Why not just nix added sugars? I’m practically there.

And if I cut sugar, next up is working on my ability to levitate.

More to come on what I experienced during the past 30 days of no added sugars…

Any sugar attachment stories you want to share?
Or do you not find yourself attached to sugar?

[greggo]

Way to assert mastery over your existence, Ryan.

I bet you were like "Yo Sugar, who's your Daddy?"

[Esta]

Ryan,
It is funny that you are doing this at the moment, because I am going through a very similiar experiment. All of my eating issues stemmed from addictions, emotional and physical, to sugar and learning how to let it go. In the last 4 weeks, I have had added sugar ONCE. It was a planned thing, but a very interesting lesson. I have had no issue eating per my meal plan and not wanting the sugar, but when I did the planned dessert meal, I had all sorts of emotional and physical turmoil for the next 3 days. A itchy feeling that I wanted more, that it was good, geez, it was like being an addict. Now that it has been 1 1/2 weeks, I don't think about it much anymore, but it makes me almost scared to eat anything with to much sugar because of the aftermath. I have a lot of fruit based desserts that use sweetners like agave and I am tempted to make one of my favorite desserts and see if I get the same response. They have a natural sugar and far less of it, but will it trigger some emotional repsonse? Would love to help you more and be happy to try anything and report as this issue is close to my own fitness journey.

P.s. Living in Colorado does help make the journey a little easier with all these healthy people around ;)

[Telle]

Looking forward to your All About Levitation articles coming up soon :)

On a serious note, I was just talking about this today. I made a black bean brownie recipe and modified it to make it more like a bar and added vegetarian protein to make it even more like a protein bar. But what I noticed after I ate one today was that I wanted more sweet stuff. I downed some trail mix shortly after and then put a halt on things and gave my head a shake. Reflection told me that it was this sugar begets sugar cycle I was in and I was able to get it under control quickly. But without that insight (thanks in part to PN) I can see how someone (and at one time in my life, me) gets stuck in it quickly.

I suspect my ND is going to want me back on the elimination diet so I foresee a "no added sugars" period for me quickly as well.

[skeetar]

No sugar since January 25th. That's right!

Of course, my experiment is a little different than Ryan's. I'm also down a little over 30 pounds since January 25th. I doubt Ryan's weight has fluctuated much.

[Krista Scott-Dixon]

Way to go Ryan!

I quit sugar cold turkey a few years ago, although I flirted with it since. It's one of the best things I've ever done. And I'm a Sugar Fascist. I read labels like the CSI team looks for fingerprints. Seems like in the US there's a lot more sugar, even in innocuous things (although I found sugar listed in instant coffee recently here).

I know that quitting sugar makes me not crave it any more, which is great... and I'm not very interested in sweet stuff (give me salt and fat any day!). BUT once I start, I cannot stop. It's weird; I don't enjoy it much any more, or seek it out purposely, but on the rare occasions that I have it, I become an all-consuming Sugar Zombie.

Good ol' dopamine. IMO for many (most?) folks, sugar acts just like an addictive drug.

[Ryan D Andrews]

Originally Posted by Esta

Ryan,
It is funny that you are doing this at the moment, because I am going through a very similiar experiment. All of my eating issues stemmed from addictions, emotional and physical, to sugar and learning how to let it go. In the last 4 weeks, I have had added sugar ONCE. It was a planned thing, but a very interesting lesson. I have had no issue eating per my meal plan and not wanting the sugar, but when I did the planned dessert meal, I had all sorts of emotional and physical turmoil for the next 3 days. A itchy feeling that I wanted more, that it was good, geez, it was like being an addict. Now that it has been 1 1/2 weeks, I don't think about it much anymore, but it makes me almost scared to eat anything with to much sugar because of the aftermath. I have a lot of fruit based desserts that use sweetners like agave and I am tempted to make one of my favorite desserts and see if I get the same response. They have a natural sugar and far less of it, but will it trigger some emotional repsonse? Would love to help you more and be happy to try anything and report as this issue is close to my own fitness journey.

P.s. Living in Colorado does help make the journey a little easier with all these healthy people around ;)

Sounds familiar.

Keep us posted if you try other sweeteners - and the response you have.

[Ryan D Andrews]

Originally Posted by skeetar

No sugar since January 25th. That's right!

Of course, my experiment is a little different than Ryan's. I'm also down a little over 30 pounds since January 25th. I doubt Ryan's weight has fluctuated much.

You the man....

[Ryan D Andrews]

Originally Posted by Krista Scott-Dixon

Way to go Ryan!

I quit sugar cold turkey a few years ago, although I flirted with it since. It's one of the best things I've ever done. And I'm a Sugar Fascist. I read labels like the CSI team looks for fingerprints. Seems like in the US there's a lot more sugar, even in innocuous things (although I found sugar listed in instant coffee recently here).

I know that quitting sugar makes me not crave it any more, which is great... and I'm not very interested in sweet stuff (give me salt and fat any day!). BUT once I start, I cannot stop. It's weird; I don't enjoy it much any more, or seek it out purposely, but on the rare occasions that I have it, I become an all-consuming Sugar Zombie.

Good ol' dopamine. IMO for many (most?) folks, sugar acts just like an addictive drug.

You the woman....

I had no idea. This is great. Powerful stuff.

[Esta]

Originally Posted by Ryan D Andrews

Sounds familiar.

Keep us posted if you try other sweeteners - and the response you have.

Sure. I have another planned event tasting in May, so at the very least it will be then, so I will have been sugar free for almost 2 months when it comes around. Should be very interesting.