Root Causes Of Chronic Fatigue Part 1: Sugar
Health Tips / Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 14: Sugar
Picture a bowl filled with granulated sugar and a can of Coke next to it. How many rounded teaspoonfuls of sugar do you need to scoop from that bowl to equal the sugar in your Coke? Five? Ten?
Its 16. Yes, 16 teaspoonfuls of sugar in a single can.
But, you think to yourself, I dont drink Coke. And yet you split a bottle of Cabernet at dinner , maybe sharing one more glass to accompany a gooey dessert .
In 1975, Sugar Blues, one of the biggest-selling self-help health books of all time, arrived on the scene. Author William Dufty traced the history of sugar through the ages and then went on to attribute virtually all the physical and emotional ills of mankind to sugar.
But Dufty wasnt a scientist or physician. He was, in fact, the husband of silent film star Gloria Swanson , who had first alerted Dufty to the health risks of sugar. Sadly, their work was not taken seriously by the medical profession.
We learned from Sugar Blues that although sugar has been around a long time, it was Napoleon who industrialized sugar production, first for his troops and later for the public who liked to sweeten their tea. Personal use of sugar then was not the insanity it is today.
Were affected by sugar in several ways, none of them healthful and all linked to fatigue.
Tips To Beat Your Sugar Addiction July 31 2017
Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, is a board certified internist and nationally known expert in the fields of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, sleep, and pain. He is also director of the Practitioners Alliance Network and the author of numerous books, including The Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Solution and Pain Free 1-2-3. If you are hooked on sugar, you will want to read Dr. Teitelbaums Complete Guide to Beating Sugar Addiction. Salonpas offers an excerpt of this book below:
How Sugar Causes Inflammation and Chronic Disease
Too much sugar, white flour, and other refined carbohydrates in our dietabout 20 percent of our total caloriesincrease inflammation in the body.
Your immune systems job is to protect you from outside invaders. Antibodies are a type of protein that detects invaders and sees them as other so that immune cells, like white blood cells and natural killer cells, can recognize and kill them. When this happens, inflammation results, which can be a good thing, a protective response by the body that helps you heal.
However, if inflammation lasts too long and becomes chronic, it can actually damage the tissues of your body. When it becomes chronic, this inflammation is the key factor behind the plaque buildup that causes heart disease and stroke the #1 and #3 killers of Americans.
Chronic Medical Problems Associated with Sugar in Our Diet:
- Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia
- Pain of many kinds
- Candida and yeast infections
The Value of Sugar Detox
Add Some Sweetness To Your Life
Some people crave sweets out of boredom or loneliness. Are you missing some sweetness in your life?
If so, what sweet acts can you do that dont involve eating?
It could be listening to a favourite song, watching a cat video on YouTube, connecting with a loved one, going for a walk, journaling, or doing something kind for yourself
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Can You Make Your Life Sweeter
If sugar feels like a reward to you, try replacing it with a different treat that makes you happy. A walk with someone you love, a trip to the movies, an excellent new book, or a bouquet of flowers for your bedside can lift your spirits and make you smile.
And dont rule out the bump in serotonin and beta-endorphins you get from exercise, a well-balanced meal, work that makes a difference, even a sunny day. When you experience joy and fun, they spell happiness to your body so you dont need to fill yourself up with sugar.
Letting go of sugar is stressful but the benefits you feel will keep you moving forward. Go for progress not perfection!
https://health.usnews.com/wellness/food/articles/2017-05-12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sugar-cravings
http://www.cookinglight.com/news/sugar-craving-gene-keeps-body-fat-low
1 Rouch, C., et al. 2003. Extracellular hypothalamic serotonin and plasma amino acids in response to sequential carbohydrate and protein meals. Nutr. Neurosci., 6 , 117-124. URL : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12722987 .
Wurtman, R., & Wurtman, J. 1995. Brain serotonin, carbohydrate-craving, obesity and depression. Obes. Res., 3 , 477S-480S. URL : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8697046 .
2 DesMaisons, K. 2008.Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity NY: Simon & Schuster.
3 DesMaisons, K. 2008. p. 145.
4 DesMaisons, K. 2008. p. 75.
5 DesMaisons, K. 2008. p. 145.
6 DesMaisons, K. 2008. p. 185.
7 DesMaisons, K. 2008. p 84.
Win The Inner Battle With Sugar
Sugar cravings, as well as cravings for reward, solace and celebration, are natural. Remember its ok to use sugar to deal with lifes problems some of the time most people do. Difficulties occur when sugar becomes the go-to way of dealing with problems it wasnt designed to fix. By figuring out what you are truly craving, and developing a range of ways of dealing with it, you will be in control, not the sugar.
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A Fluctuation In Blood Sugar
If youre craving sweets all of a sudden, most likely you are experiencing blood sugar fluctuations, Goodman explains. When your blood sugar drops, your body may be trying to get you to give it more fuel to keep your blood sugar levels stable.” To keep your blood sugar balanced, she recommends eating a healthy amount of protein and adding more high-fiber foods, like beans and legumes, to your diet, along with complex carbs. This will give you the fuel you need without the blood sugar spikes, she promises.
When your blood sugar drops, your body may be trying to get you to give it more fuel to keep your blood sugar levels stable.
How To Stop Sugar Cravings
Dr. Sarika Arora, MD
Craving sugar is an irresistible urge. If you love sugar, you already know its a highly addictive substance it affects your brain the way drugs do, with plenty of unpleasant aftereffects.
Eating too much sugar can lead to weight gain along with serious health consequences, like hormonal imbalance, Alzheimers, skin and dental issues, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, and even some forms of cancer. You can stop your urgent sugar cravings but you have to know whats causing them first.
If youre ready to stop riding the sugar rollercoaster, we can help.
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There Are Many Reasons To Quit Sugar
Page Contents
Ever wondered how to quit sugar for good? Or even why you should? If you are aiming for good health and an improvement in your chronic fatigue symptoms there are good reasons to quit sugar. Sugar is hiding everywhere. Read labels on the food you buy at the supermarket and youll see how many foods unexpectedly contain sugar. Approximately a whopping 80% of packaged foods contain sugar.
Sugar comes in so many forms and may not be obviously named as sugar in the ingredient list. If an ingredient listed ends in ose it means it contains sugar. Sucrose and fructose for example are forms of sugar.
Added sugar is one of the worst ingredients in our modern diet and is associated with many modern diseases e.g., diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity. It contains no vitamins or minerals, protein or essential fats. All in all, there is no reason to include it in your diet.
Consuming sugar also has a detrimental effect on your hormones and adrenal glands. For more information on the adrenal glands and the effects of sugar on them click here.
In addition to sugars effect on the adrenals, when we consume sugar, insulin is released by the pancreas to transport the glucose from the blood. With constant sugar consumption eventually the pancreas is less able to produce the same amount of insulin which leads to insulin resistance and this is known to be a precursor of diabetes.
Sweet Steps To Stop Sugar Cravings
Step 1: Mix pleasure with protein.
When you have a little protein with your sugary treats, it helps balance your blood sugar. Add a handful of nuts when you eat sweets or mix high-quality protein powder into a sweet smoothie. Having protein at the same time counteracts the spiky sugar surge to the brain that makes you crash afterwards.
Step 2: Rebalance your hormones.
Just before your period when estrogen is low and progesterone is on its way down, levels of feel-good beta-endorphins in your brain bottom out. This hormonal imbalance can cause intense sugar cravings for women in perimenopause or with PMS as your body attempts to boost serotonin and endorphins. Hormone balancing options like Herbal Equilibrium can help kill cravings and other symptoms by restoring natural balance to reproductive hormones.
Step 3: Go no-sugar for 3-5 days in a row.
Toughing it out and avoiding sugar for just three days can make a huge difference in reducing your cravings. Though it may take longer for cravings to completely go away, eliminating sugars cyclical bursts of serotonin and beta-endorphin can normalize your sugar receptors and neurotransmitters. Then your brain isnt constantly sending the message that it needs more sugar.
Step 4: Plug in targeted nutrients to calm cravings.
Step 5: Balance your belly bugs.
Step 6: Watch out for acid-forming foods.
Step 7: Investigate food sensitivities.
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Craving Sugar Your Body Is Probably Lacking This Nutrient
In This Article
Like most people who think about food constantly, I take snacking very seriously. Growing up, Id gravitate toward salty and crunchythe crisp bite of a Lays potato chip or whatever those disturbingly orange, peanut butterfilled biscuits were. Lately, however, Ive noticed my salt tooth taking a decidedly sweeter turn, and its baffled me to no end. Suddenly Im craving chocolate, doughnuts, candy, those green Haribo frog gummies that are inexplicably peach-flavored The list goes on. Surely this must mean something about the inner workings of my body.
This cant be a good thing, right? According to research, sugar is said to be as addictive as some street drugs, with similar effects on the brain. Excess sugar consumption may also lead to cavities, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and a slew of other health problems. Knowing all of this, I was determined to stop eating sugarbut each day, Id get tempted by a new sweet delicacy and thus, fall off the wagon . Why cant I quit something thats so clearly bad for my health, my brain, and my body? All around me, my fellow sugar worshippers bemoan the same question, all while stuffing more chewy morsels of Momofuku birthday cake into their mouths. I was determined to get to the root of the issue, and consulted two top nutritionists to help me find out what my sugar cravings mean, and hopefully, quell them.
Meet the Expert
Can Diet Help With Me/cfs
Your diet should be assessed by your healthcare professional when you are diagnosed. They will determine if you would benefit from a referral to a dietitian.
If you suspect or have a diagnosis of ME/CFS, it is important to maintain a healthy, balanced diet with adequate fluid intake. This will aid energy management and help manage your symptoms. The NHS Eatwell Guide shows how much of what we eat overall should come from each food group to achieve this. You do not need to achieve this balance with every meal, but try to get the balance right over a day or even a week.
You may find it helpful to plan your meals in advance, and to batch-cook and freeze meals in individual portions for days when you are lower in energy.
There is a lot of conflicting information about ME/CFS and diet online. There is no scientific evidence to support the use of restrictive diets in ME/CFS, which can use up time, energy and money, as well as leaving you vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies. Such diets include the ketogenic and anti-candida diets.
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What To Do About Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal Fatigue hits home with me, as I battle now as a result of a recent move. The first step to take is find a functional doctor and get tested. This helps to know the severity of the problem, and gives you direction. Then find someone to help you pin point the cause and give you a solution with foods and lifestyle practices, such as a nutritionist or health coach!
Other things you can do:
- Change your diet
- Increase nutrient-dense foods
- Identify food sensitivities and intolerances
- Eat more protein and fat
Functional Doctor I recommend:
I highly recommend the following doctor as he sees patients from all over the United States. Please tell him you heard about him from me!
Dr Michael Brown
One Of The Most Common Questions I Get From People Is How To Stop Craving Sugar
The typical story: theyve tried to kick their sugar habit, yet sugar cravings kick in and are too strong to ignore.
Before they know it, theyre at the store buying their favourite sweet snack, then feel frustration, failure and regret shortly after eating it.
If this is your experience too, this article on how to stop craving sugar for you!
Kicking a refined sugar craving can seem tough, yet when you resolve the root cause of sugar cravings, youll be able to accomplish it with greater ease, while reaping many benefits to your health including a boost in your energy.
In this article Ill share ways to do this. Heres what Ill cover:
- The link between sugar and fatigue
- How to tell if you have a blood sugar issue
- The benefits of quitting sugar
- How to stop craving sugar
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When To See A Doctor
Maskot / Getty Images
If you find yourself feeling dizzy without sugar, or having regular cravings, it’s time to call a professional, as it could indicate a deeper problem. If you are craving sweets chronically, Goodman says this may indicate that you have hypoglycemia, for instance.
Even if it’s a sign of a nutritional deficiency, a professional can help determine what you’re lacking, how much you need, and ensure the lack of the vitamin or nutrient doesn’t lead to further problems. Magnesium deficiency, for example, has been linked to everything from osteoporosis to type 2 diabetes to heart disease. . When our body doesnt have enough magnesium, it will have trouble bringing energy into the cells and thus, feel deprived and crave sugar, Fahad explains.
Why Quit Sugar To Help With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
I quit sugar whilst suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome for a few reasons. After comprehensive stool testing showed I had gut dysbiosis, candida overgrowth, and a parasite called Blastocystis Hominis it was really important to cut out sugar completely to rid myself of my gut problems and help with resolving my chronic fatigue syndrome.
Knowing there was an adrenal component to my chronic fatigue syndrome it was critical to de-stress my adrenals and stop thrashing them with sugar and caffeine in a vain attempt to feel more energetic.
Both Candida Albicans and Blastocystis Hominis feed on sugar. I was determined to kill both of these organisms and starving them of the food they loved and stopping their growth was the first step in getting rid of them.
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Chronic Fatigue Doctor Recommendation: Cut Out Sugar
Any chronic fatigue doctor will tell you that sugar is a poison that everyone with this illness should avoid completely. Glucose is sugar in its simplest chemical form. Carbohydrates are all foods that break down into glucose when eaten and include sugar and starch. They are broken down into glucose the only form in which it can be absorbed by the body and turned into energy. This glucose enters the bloodstream as soon as digestion is complete. Normally, the pancreas then reacts by producing a hormone called insulin, which takes the glucose out of the blood and into the cells. The body is constantly attempting to regulate the blood glucose levels. For optimum health, it must provide energy to the cells which need it without leaving unwanted glucose circulating in the blood.
Blood Sugar and Glucose
When carbohydrates are eaten in their refined form, as in white sugar, sweets, chocolate, white flour, the body digests it extremely quickly. Because it is processed so rapidly, the glucose enters the blood in a violent rush. Every time these foods are eaten, the blood sugar levels rapidly rise. In a panic, the pancreas can over-react and produce too much insulin.
If this over stimulation happens too often, the pancreas can become exhausted. Eventually it may start to produce too little insulin and then too much glucose remains in the blood . In its most severe form, this condition can become diabetes and increased risk of cardio-vascular disease.
What Can Go Wrong?
Symptoms
The Sour Side Of A Sweet Tooth
Ever raided the biscuit tin? Tucked into treats at the office? Added an extra spoonful of sugar to your coffee? Sugar has become a staple ingredient of modern day eating, and everyone, with or without diabetes, can benefit from limiting their intake.
But, in our sugar-laden diets, this is easier said than done, particularly as sweet food is often offered as an expression of love in our food-abundant cultures. We take a look at the psychological reasons behind sugar cravings, in an effort to help you master them…
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Reasons To Heal Adrenal Fatigue
We sometimes play off stressful influences in our lives not realizing just how much of an effect they have on our health. Stress and adrenal fatigue are closely interrelated and share many mechanisms of action. Adrenal fatigue can be seen as a collective or spectrum of debilitating symptoms. It can be attributed to the metabolic deregulation or dysfunction of our adrenal organs. The ability of an individual to cope with stress is key to his or her survival and at the center of this defensive mechanism are the adrenal glands. Our adrenal glands sit just above our kidneys and play an important role of producing and secreting cortisol, one of the main anti-stress hormones produced in our bodies.
One of the strategies one can adopt when concerned with how to heal adrenal fatigue is to provide the body with a balanced diet including the seven foods mentioned previously. These foods are filled with the proper essential vitamins and minerals. These food alternatives are a great dietary supplementation, not only for beating sugary food cravings, but for adrenal fatigue. At the same time not loading our body with potentially harmful and toxic by-products from the consumption of junk food and sugary temptations.
