How much sugar is ok?

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. I was previously very much a sugar addict.

What does it mean to be sugar addicted?

 Well, initially, it was constantly wanting a regular dose of sugar every few hours. Jam on my toast. Some fruit around 10. A cookie after lunch. A sweet treat around 3. And then, of course, a yummy dessert after supper. It didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary. It certainly didn’t seem unhealthy, especially since the rest of my food that I regularly ate was what would be considered very healthy. Lean meat, a good variety of fresh vegetables and very little fat. When you are eating all that good stuff, that more than makes up for a bit of sweet joy.

This lead me to realize that I was sugar addicted. I first suspected it when I became aware of a term called “hangry”. You know…so hungry that you are angry. I would actually be late for meetings or appointments because I absolutely could not make it another minute without a granola bar or dried fruit (that I thought was healthy by the way…silly me) or some other treat at a vending machine or convenience store if I had forgotten to take my own snack along with me. This was something that plagued me daily.

But being hangry seemed to be normal. Everyone gets hangry, right??

This was my thinking until I challenged myself to go off of sugar for as long as I could. This seemed like an awful idea at first, but I had just discovered the keto diet, where you eliminate sugar from your diet and instead replace it with healthy fat. This was SO MUCH better than my previous attempts to simply stop eating sugar which just resulted in bland boring food and dreaming of the end date when I could start to eat sugar again.

When you add healthy fats to your diet, you can eat richer meals that fill you up for longer. You are able to eat food that you wouldn’t have considered as healthy before. I ate creamy alfredo sauce on zucchini noodles. I ate “fat bombs” made out of coconut oil, peanut butter and cocoa sweetened with stevia. I put cream in my coffee. And it was all considered part of the plan!

I clearly remember the moment I finally experienced what it was like to not be hangry.

I had my regular busy day at work. I had some meetings in the morning but was at my desk quite a bit. I would say that I was “in the zone” that day. I was focused on my computer monitor, documenting some recent project progress, planning the next initiative and being my usual productive self, when it happened…I noticed people walking by my office on their way to lunch. It was noon AND I HADN’T HAD A SNACK ALL MORNING!!!

This was the first time I could remember, in my entire life, relating to people who say, “Oh! I forgot to eat breakfast.” I cannot remember a time, ever, where I had forgotten to eat a meal or snack. Usually, as I would be eating my current snack, I would be thinking about what I would be eating next. I literally said to myself, “OMG this is what it feels like to skip a meal!”

Looking back, it seems so silly now, but I know, for a fact, that there are many people out there who can’t fathom the idea of going without sugar (and heaven forbid…bread) for a single day. Let alone weeks at a time. This is called addiction my friend. And you may be one of the ones afflicted.

But sugar is not a poison as long as you don’t overdo it.

Sugar is tasty food that we know will make us fat if we eat too much. So, a little is ok. Everything in moderation…right? But what does “in moderation” mean? It most certainly means something different for everyone.

According to Dr. Mercola in his article Research Shows Causation – Sugar Consumption Increases Risk for Chronic Disease, he states that the safe daily threshold for sugar consumption is 6-9 teaspoons a day (25-39 grams). The average Canadian consumes 88 pounds of sugar per year, 109 grams a day.   In this article, Mercola also explains that it is not directly sugar that causes weight gain, it is insulin that drives weight gain. When you eat sugar, insulin pushes it into the cells and if you don’t use it right away, you store it as fat.

We have been led to believe that we need to eat small frequent meals and that we just need to exercise to burn the sugar calories we eat. The intent of the small frequent meals is to ensure that we have a constant, even flow of energy all day long. This is intended to prevent the “insulin spike” we get when eating high carb foods. You know how it goes, you feel weak and need some energy, so you eat food. You get that boost of glucose in your bloodstream and then insulin pushes it into your cells. Your cells use what they need and store the rest as fat. So if you haven’t done much for exercise and you haven’t properly balanced your intake vs outtake that day, the extra energy is stored as fat. But you will burn it later, so no big deal, right?

That would only be the case if your body wasn’t used to having that insulin coursing through your veins consistently all day. Your body processes the sugar and then you move into the lethargic period. You have just come off of the sugar high and now you yawn and need a nap. Your energy is low compared to the sugar rush you just had. But wait, insulin is feeling neglected. Insulin makes you feel hungry, hangry, and your body decides that since your blood sugar is getting low that maybe you should have another snack!

It really is a vicious cycle. In Dr. Jockers article 7 Ways to Stop Sugar Cravings For Good, he does a great job of explaining this sugar addiction cycle. He references this graphic:

This cycle really hit home for me. This is definitely what I was experiencing. I really did feel like a slave to my snacking. This made me obsessively eat vegetables to get away from eating sugary snacks. But it turns out, some vegetables contain a lot of natural sugars as well that also activates insulin. To burn off the calories, I was also doing as much cardio as I could fit in. I was doing it all wrong. In fact, I had it completely backwards. But I was only doing what I had been told was healthy.

Once I committed to cutting out sugar and bread and other high carbohydrate foods, I was able to experience what it was like to not be a slave to food. I now eat until I feel full, but I include fat in my diet instead of sugar. I don’t have insulin constantly coursing through my arteries and veins, because I don’t need it. Insulin is not needed to metabolize fat. It is needed to metabolize carbohydrates.

So how much sugar is ok?

Well…how much beer is ok for an alcoholic to have? Sugar addiction is real. Will it throw you into an all-night binge and require bail money in the morning? Maybe not. But for some, it causes severe stress because they are gaining weight, they panic because they can’t stop eating, and they are experiencing severe health challenges because they are overweight. To me, that is just as damaging and as dangerous as any other addiction.

How do you prevent this cycle?

I am personally preventing it by learning how to cycle between a low carb and a ketogenic way of eating. I have never felt better and am able to sustain and maintain this way of eating because I never want to go back to the insulin roller coaster again. I have learned to eat whole real foods mixed with delicious fats that make me feel full. I limit my sweet treats, but I am still able to have some, only they are homemade with fresh ingredients and alternative sweeteners made from stevia and monk fruit. This way of eating has resulted in so much less stress. Now I realize that it is the type of food that you eat that causes weight gain, not the calories and level of exercise. A calorie from sugar impacts you in a very different way that a calorie from fat. 

I challenge you to consider a low carb, high fat diet and see for yourself.

Best of luck in your health journey! It is an interesting adventure for sure.

Do you want to kick your sugar addiction? Join me on a 7 Days to Ketosis Challenge to receive everything you need to learn how.