One of the very first things I learned from Dr. Jack scared the life out me. The effects of Sugar…. that should be a kind of horror movie! I remember sitting on the phone listening to him tell me these horrible things about sugar, it feeding candida in my body, it enflaming my cells so I was under nourished, it telling my brain we aren’t full, let’s have more! I sat there stunned.
I had no idea. I really didn’t. Did I have my head buried in the sand about sugar? Absolutely! I had no idea how much it takes your body hostage, pretending it’s giving you energy but really robbing you of it. Who knew an energy or healthy snack bar was doing that! I had consumed tons of healthy options that actually were totally unhealthy. I had no idea that it can effect everything that happens, no idea how addictive it is, and how absolutely awful it is for you. You don’t need me to do the research. Just start reading and looking at YouTube. There are tons of reputable resources.
All I know is getting rid of its addictive hold sounds a lot easier than it is. I never used to think I was all that much into sugar. After all, I wasn’t a huge sweets fan, not like the sugar grinding in your teeth kind of person. I like desserts as well as the next person, but less sweet things. I had no clue that, YES, I was addicted. And like a lot of people, a Resse’s peanut butter cup was always a welcomed treat. I used to sort out a bag of M & M’s enjoying them in color coded eating order.
My real addiction was made perfectly clear to me the first week Dr. Jack and I worked together, when the withdrawal came. I wanted it…BAD….. I started thinking that fruit or carrots were fine. “Sugar is sugar is sugar,” he told me, “It doesn’t matter what the source is.” I found out that was true. So it didn’t matter if it came from food or from food like substances. It was still addictive. And the second I had it, I wanted more! I wanted to eat more, my little cells were aggravated and then starts the Hashimoto symptoms. Ughhhhhh…..
You think you are eating great? I thought I was. Start looking around your cupboards,and your refeigerator, it’s everywhereeeeee…. cereal, crackers, canned spaghetti sauce, ketchup, cookies, snack foods, salad dressing, yogurt… it’s everywhere! And then there is all the stuff your body takes and makes even more of it out of…. bread, pasta, potatoes, corn…..
It became very clear to me on day two of my work with Dr. Jack just how addicted I was when my brain was screaming at me, “We want something sugary…..”. That’s when I started researching it. Years before, a doctor has prescribed Metformin, telling me that lots of Hashimoto patients are insulin resistant. A fact that was backed up by my HBA1C number… Okay….
What no one ever bothered to tell me, until Dr. Jack was that I could fix that! It turns out that there is this hormone called Leptin that tells your body and your brain it has had enough food. Sometimes that pathway it is interrupted. The message doesn’t get to the brain, so you keep eating. You are hungry! Allllll the time!
So even though that signal should have been read by the brain, it’s like the text you never got, guess who intercepted the messenger? Yup! Sugar! Turns out that sugar inhibits Leptin from sending its message. Ummmmm…. why hadn’t anyone told me that before?? So I sufferd for years….. and all I had to do to help that situation was cut out sugar! Now, the truth is I had a multitude of issues to be resolved, but that’s a biggie! You mean all those healthy lunches of canned soup, crackers, and fruit weren’t all that healthy? Those healthy snack bars they sell? The yogurt and cereal I ate for breakfast? Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh…….
Getting rid of the addiction has been rough. It’s a day to day thing, and I fight it many times. It’s mentally addictive as well as physical. But my secret weapon is that Dr. Jack is in my head. So I follow advice he has given me. It’s less of a problem, if you aren’t hungry, so plan out meals and snacks. Get out of the sugar situation! If it’s cake for a birthday, leave the room. Seriously! I have gone to run off copies plenty of days when it was in my face at school. If I want it and it’s screaming, I eat something that is protein, fat or fiber because those three Musketeers have saved me plenty of times.
Do your research…. what’s feeding cancer? Sugar is. Don’t be lured in…. it’s a dangerous trap. And if it has a hold of you? It’s time to take back control. You can do it!