My father still eats like a pre-teen on vacation. He will go through bags of cookies and chocolates, washed back by sodas, then refuse dinner. He rejects the idea that his arthritis or fibromyalgia will be affected by a change in his diet, or by a more active lifestyle. He isn’t fat, pills regulate his acid reflux and gerd, and his stomach doesn’t ache from the candy. So he doesn’t associate the sugar with the suffering, or, like most, he chooses not to.

When I think of his eating habits and health, I feel grateful for that little protozoan parasite that forced me to face my food. Due to candida and SIBO challenges, I have had to remove sugar from my diet multiple times, including all carbs that can be turned into sugars that feed yeast and bacteria. Amazingly, no matter how much fat I eat in the form of nuts and meat, I lose weight whenever I quit sugar.

Internal Guardians

This week, I ate my first pear in 6 months, and it was sheer decadence. As I ease slowly back into allowance, I notice how quickly my mind impulses for ice cream and chocolate. I am still just a child who yearns for her treats. I simply have also grown into the mother who sets loving boundaries.

There is a part of that motherly self who is scared that I will slip back into old habits someday. This makes me feel like an addict. This, in turn, makes me feel like a control freak. It is likely a bit of both.

America’s Fix

Sugar is the innocent party drug that soon becomes the all-consuming heroine. America is hopped up on it far worse than any narcotic. Then the subsequent candida’s neurotransmitters add to this vice by creating an actual urgency to consume more of the sweet stuff. Our country is being controlled by a fungal parasite that is causing far more actual anxiety than any terrorist threat.

This is not true everywhere. When I gave my Taiwanese elementary students a taste of Jelly Bellies, they made faces of disgust and said, “Tai tien!” for ‘Too sweet’. Can you imagine American children, or even many adults, uttering those words?

People try to lose weight by going “low-fat”, only to find hopeless results. The cruelty of American diet foods is that they are often higher in sugars, or worse, chemical sugar substitutes. It is nearly impossible to quit sugar without quitting all processed foods. It might be mind boggling to have that much time to cook, but it is the most effective way out.

Dependence Enablers

Mainstream doctors often refuse to see this association between food and health, and do not request that their patients make a dramatic diet change. It’s “cheaper” and easier to take a pill. I have been told that I would need to take Prilosec every day for the rest of my life. I went on the anti-inflammatory diet for a month and that particular health issue went away. A dermatologist recently informed me that eczema has no relationship to food. Then why does my skin get more red and itchy after eating certain items?

This blindness confounds me, especially from those who have taken the Hippocratic oath. Doctors today are afraid to ask their patients to do something that they themselves cannot conceive of doing. Have more faith in yourself than they have in you.

Anything You Cannot Quit, Owns You

It has been one of the greater challenges in my life to give up sugar. Over time, I will most likely return to this sullen mistress, and then build up the will power to tear myself away again. I may even delay until the necessity arises if my system loses a fight with the side effects of high sugar intake again. I aim to make peace with balanced choices as I move forward.

If you consume sugar daily, be brave enough to face this slave driver head on. You can start slowly, by maybe taking one little month off of only refined sugar. Even if you still allow carbs, fruits and honey, you will notice a difference. Anything that you cannot quit, owns you. Take your body back.