Sugar Addicts’ Diet

Introduction: Nicki’s Story

As a fitness expert, I am regularly told, ‘You’re so lucky that you’re so slim.’ I always think, ‘You don’t know the half of it!’ I may be slim now, but that hasn’t always been the case. And even though I work hard to be this way, I used to fight a personal demon every minute of the day – my desire to eat sugar.

It was sugar that made me a chubby child and a chunky teenager. And in my 20s I gained even more weight thanks to my sweet tooth. Two pregnancies in quick succession made my weight problem even worse. My husband (now my ex) loved my spare tyres and discouraged my attempts to lose weight. I tried every diet under the sun, had acupuncture and hypnotherapy, and even resorted to slimming pills to shift the weight. But it didn’t go – in fact, it all came back on and more.

DISCOVERING EXERCISE

My saving grace, 18 years ago, was discovering the importance of exercise. An inspirational trainer got me off the powerful prescription drugs I’d grown dependent on. As a result, I lost five stone and decided to spread the word about how weight loss could really improve your life.

But behind the scenes I had developed an unhealthy tactic to keep slim. I’d learned that by exercising in excess, I could still eat the sweets I wanted and maintain a reasonable weight. I’d developed my own eating pattern – one proper meal a day and plenty of sugary foods – to sustain this weight loss. I knew it wasn’t healthy but it worked. Maintaining my weight loss, however, was a constant struggle. Although I looked slim, I was still flabby and covered in fat, despite my exercise regime. I was a ‘slim, fat person’ – someone with the unhealthy attitudes of an overweight person contained within a slim frame.

SHOCK DISCOVERY

I could have carried on like this for ever. I looked fine and no one would ever have known about my secret eating habits. But just a year ago, something shocked me into realizing that I had to change my ways. My mother-in-law was in hospital being treated for cancer. One day, when I was visiting her, her specialist came to talk to us about what she should eat when she came out of hospital. I’ll never forget his words – ‘Do not touch refined sugars – they will kill you.’

Thinking about how much sugar I was consuming on a daily basis made me realize that it could easily be me lying on my deathbed if I didn’t drastically mend my ways. On an average day I’d happily consume at least half a pound of pick ’n’ mix (my big weakness), large packets of American hard gums and jelly beans, a packet of biscuits and anything else that came my way (I can’t believe I’m admitting this to you!). Putting an end to my sugar addiction wasn’t just about me but other people too. I had a responsibility to my two children, husband, brothers and friends. This was the wake-up call I needed to help me tackle my serious sugar addiction head-on. I told all my friends, family and work colleagues that I needed their help and support. I was giving up sugar completely, and that meant no chocolate, biscuits, cakes – or pick ’n’ mix.

GETTING STARTED

Like all addicts, my decision to kick my habit wasn’t without pain – I endured three weeks of excruciating headaches, something I found almost unbearable but knew I had to go through. Different addicts have their own preferred method for distracting themselves in moments of weakness. A nicotine addict might chew a pen as a substitute for having a cigarette in their mouth. I knew I needed something to stop me going into the local newsagent to get my sugar kick, so I starting boxing lessons with a professional coach. While I was focusing on boxing, I wasn’t yearning for my next sugar fix.

Every time I ate something, I’d text my best friend so we had a record. I didn’t trust myself to write it down honestly. Different people – including friend and nutritionist Amanda Ursell – advised me on what to eat to help get me through my cravings.

DEVISING THE SUGAR ADDICTS’ DIET

But before I knew it, I was falling off the wagon. Willpower and exercise alone weren’t enough. I soon realized there was no point in just giving up sugar unless my diet was right too. Looking into it, I began to understand that I needed support – both physical and emotional – if my attempts to give up sugar were to succeed. That’s when I decided to devise my own sugar addicts’ diet. My aim was to even out my blood sugar levels, which I was told were probably a key part of my cravings. This would ensure I was never hungry (so never tempted by sugar!) and make me more capable of dealing with the inevitable emotions of trying to kick the sugar habit. To be honest, at first I was a little sceptical that it would make a difference to my life. However, I can honestly say – hand on heart – that the 21-day plan really did work for me.

The weight has fallen off me and so has the body fat. I have achieved this without the need for over-exercising, which is just as bad for your body as doing no exercise at all. It’s hard for me to believe that I don’t have a weight problem for the first time in my life.

A HEALTH-BOOSTING DIET PLAN

The Sugar Addicts’ Diet has had countless benefits besides reducing my weight and body fat. I used to wake up with big dark rings under my eyes, and my skin had an unhealthy pallor. I put it down to ageing but, since kicking the sugar habit, I realize my diet was to blame. In my experience, the old saying ‘You are what you eat’ is so true. The bags under my eyes have now gone, my eyes look bright, my skin glows with health and my hair is thicker. The sugar highs and lows are a thing of the past, which means I have so much more energy than ever before.

I’m not saying I don’t ever have cravings, but I seem to be able to control them a lot better. I control them – they don’t control me, as they did in the past. A big part of it has been developing strategies to help me avoid situations in which I might be tempted to slip off the straight and narrow.

A WIDESPREAD ADDICTION

Since I made the decision to tackle my sugar addiction, I’ve discovered how many ‘secret’ addicts there are out there. ‘And I thought I was the only one like that!’ is something I now hear a lot.Sugar is everywhere and it’s hard to avoid it. That’s why it can be such a battle to kick your addiction. But I’ve come a long way, and I want other people to know they can do it too. Like me, you will find you lose excess weight, feel fantastic – and lay the foundations for a longer and healthier life.

I’ve been shocked by people’s lack of knowledge about the hidden sugars in their diet. There are confusing messages about sugar all around us, whether it’s on food labels or in fast-food joints. I have written this book to help sugar addicts like me understand why they crave sugar, and how they can get it out of their system and beat the craving once and for all.

IT’S NOT ALL BAD

A lot of people think that all sugars are bad, but my focus here is on refined sugars. Due to illnesses in my family, I’ve had the (mis)fortune of spending time with some of the world’s leading oncologists. They all say that refined sugars – those found in processed foods, sweets, cereals, bread, etc. – are a real danger. Obesity is just the start of it.

Some people have said that naturally occurring sugars are equally bad; I vehemently disagree. Natural sugars in fruit, for example, are unbleached, unrefined and delicious. Mankind has been eating fruit since the dawn of time. Like everything, it’s sensible to eat it in moderation and as part of a balanced diet. While fruit may contain varying quantities of natural sugar, called fructose, most varieties are still reasonably low in calories and come with a whole raft of nutrients that keep us feeling and looking good – including vitamins, minerals and fibre, which can help protect against stroke, heart disease and high blood pressure, and may lower the risk of certain cancers.

A HEALTHY EATING PROGRAMME FOR LIFE

My co-author, Martha Roberts, is an experienced, award-winning health writer with an avid interest in nutrition. She’s also one of the few people I know who isn’t addicted to sugar.

People often say if you want something done, ask a busy person. Well, it could also be said that if you want to understand how to enjoy non-sugary food, ask a person who’s not hooked on it! Together, as a writing team, we represent two opposite sides of the sugar-eating spectrum. We hope to present an unbiased, balanced view of how sugar affects all of our lives.

The Sugar Addicts’ Diet is a healthy eating programme for life. It will teach you about sugar so that you understand what it does for you (both good and bad), where it is in your food and how you can have more control over it so that it no longer controls you.

It’s really about lifestyle – learning skills for life and changing your ways without too much effort or heartache. And whether you’re reading this book because you want to lose weight or you’re fed up with being controlled by sugar, we hope it gives you the guidance and support you need to finally kick your sugar habit for good.

1

Are You a Sugar Addict?

For many of us, being told how something can affect our health in the future is a big yawn. We’re told smoking can kill us and the sun can age us. Now we’re being told that sugar is one of our biggest enemies. It seems everyone’s out to get us. But many of us have the philosophy, ‘Why deprive yourself now on the off-chance that you will get ill in years to come?’

While eating sugar might not send you to the grave, it can lead to problems such as obesity and related illnesses that can make your life a misery. Symptoms or conditions linked to eating too much sugar may not be life-threatening but they can certainly threaten your quality of life. Even the government is now worried about the amount of sugar in our diets and has pledged to put it on its health ‘hit list’ after salt. And even before you start to suffer from the types of medical condition outlined in Chapter 4, chances are you’re already suffering from sugar overload. This can lead to troublesome symptoms that spoil your sense of health and wellbeing.

OUR NATURAL LOVE OF SUGAR

Most of us love sugar. We are biologically driven to enjoy sweetness because it helps us identify foods that are safe to eat rather than poisonous (as bitter foods might suggest). Experiments on 10-day-old babies show that when an adult gives them a dummy dipped in sugar solution, they gurgle and look pleased when they see that adult again. Our desire for sweetness is something we can learn from a very young age – and never forget.

But an extreme love of sugar isn’t an inevitability – that’s something we can prompt by our actions when selecting foods for our children. Professor Aubrey Sheiham, Professor of Dental Public Health at University College London, has written extensively on sugars and health. He says there’s a crucial ‘window’ for overdeveloping this natural preference for sweetness in children and it becomes apparent when a child is weaning. At this point, they become ‘picky’ as they learn which foods are likely to be ‘safe’ and which are likely to be ‘harmful’. If this preference is indulged with lots of highly sweet foods, they will generally prefer sweet foods from that point onwards. Professor Sheiham says, ‘If you give them lots of sweet food in that window between the ages of two and four, their threshold and their liking for sugar will increase and they’ll want more. Equally, if you give them mildly sweet things, like fruit, their threshold will be lower.’

So what can you do if you’re an adult with a sweet tooth? It is possible to retrain your sweet tooth so that you lower your sweetness threshold. One former sugar addict, Amila, says, ‘My love of chocolate meant that nothing but chocolate could satisfy my sugar cravings. But I’ve now weaned myself off it by eating other sweet foods such as fruit, and where I used to eat bars of chocolate at a time to get the sweetness I needed, I now find that just one piece of chocolate is sweet enough for me. It really has been a case of “retraining” my palate. If you’d told me before that you could do this, I’d never have believed you!’ As you’ll see as you read through this book, stabilizing your blood-sugar levels through a proper diet, and finding sweetness in new places such as fruit, can help you retrain your own palate. This also has implications for preventing your children from loving sugar too much (see Chapters 5 and 6).

WHAT IS SUGAR ADDICTION?

If you simply love sugar, does it mean you have a sugar addiction? Doesn’t it just mean you really enjoy the sugar taste and experience? It’s when enjoyment turns to compulsion – a need – that we begin to get into the realms of addiction. An addiction is:

• an intense desire for a substance, a desire so severe it disrupts normal life

• very difficult to stop

• something that prompts a severe physiological (bodily) response upon stopping.

People who are addicted to something experience a loss of control over their behaviour. They use a substance repetitively and compulsively, despite knowing it might have undesirable consequences. Some experts say that, unlike cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs, there is still insufficient scientific proof that physical addiction to sugar truly exists.

But many people say that their own overwhelming desire to eat sugar is proof enough. Some studies have also suggested that addiction to sugar can be demonstrated. In 2002, a psychologist at Princeton University showed in experiments that rats not only eat sugar excessively, but they suffer from withdrawal when denied it and continue to crave it weeks later. However, as we’ll see in Chapter 2, other experts suggest our desire for sugar (or, as they suggest, sugary, fatty foods) is more emotional than physical.

Whatever it is, there are lots of you out there who can’t get through the day without thinking about sugar – and probably eating it in excess, too. We don’t claim to be able to sort out the emotional side of why you want to eat sugar. That may be based on years of learning and habit, and addressing it may require soul-searching and even professional help. However, by focusing on sugar ‘dealers’ in Chapter 12, we hope to help you see that there could be emotional trigger points to your desire for sugar. In combination with our 21-day plan, this will help you start to feel on a more even keel, physically and emotionally, when it comes to your desire to eat sugar.

Nicki’s Personal Addiction

My sugar addiction was with me all the time. Sugar was an obsession – the desire for it, how I was going to get it and how long it would be before I could taste it. I just wasn’t satisfied until I knew I could have that fix. Even a five-course meal wouldn’t satisfy the yearning for sugar. It’s as if there was a ‘good’ voice and a ‘bad’ voice inside my head. The good voice told me, ‘You shouldn’t be eating the sugar and should choose something else instead’. The bad voice said, ‘Go on – go for it! You know you want to…’ I felt out of control, as if sugar had cast a spell on me and I was powerless to do anything against it.

What Other People Say about their Sugar Addiction

As soon as we told people we were writing a book about sugar addiction, they said, ‘That’s ME!’ Everyone we mentioned it to said they had a problem with sugar cravings. Before we started out, we thought we’d strike a chord but we didn’t realize it would be to this extent. Here are some of the things they say about their love of sugar:

‘I have to have it in the house or I don’t feel secure.’

‘Even after a huge meal I have to have two sweets to be truly satisfied.’

‘I’ve loved sugar ever since I was a child.’

‘I’ll ask to see the dessert menu before I order anything else – I often build the entire meal around the dessert.’

‘If I eat too much sugar I feel drained of energy, I struggle to open my eyes and I sleep more.’

‘Too much sugar and I feel like I have a hangover.’

Polly’s Story

I’ve been hooked on sugar since childhood. Sugar is a device I use to make me feel happy. But as well as giving me pleasure, I abuse it. Some days I really try and get myself in check. I think, ‘How can I let sugar rule my life?’ But it’s so powerful I sometimes feel it’s no different to someone who is on heroin.

Sugar Addiction: the Symptoms

Losing control over your behaviour when sugar is around, eating it repetitively and compulsively, problems stopping its use – already this may sound familiar to you. But to give you further guidance, listed below are physical and emotional symptoms experienced by many people who say they can’t live without sugar. As we’ll see in later chapters, addiction is often linked to the emotions sugar stirs up in you. But it’s also about what it does to you physically.

The symptoms listed here are typical of imbalances in blood sugar levels. They also reflect a diet low in nutrients and high in sugars and refined carbohydrates. Poor eating habits, such as not eating regularly enough, make matters worse. The Sugar Addicts’ Diet addresses all these imbalances to help reduce such symptoms.

As you read through these lists, you may recognize some – or even all – of these symptoms. However, even people who have none of these symptoms will find the Sugar Addicts’ Diet a sensible, healthy, balanced eating plan that will help them maintain good health and prevent these symptoms taking hold.

Physical Symptoms

• Trouble controlling your weight

• Restlessness followed by a slump

• Lack of energy

• Trouble concentrating

• Dizziness and/or visual disturbances

• Headaches

• Tiredness and drowsiness, especially during the day

• Insomnia

• Cravings

• PMS

• Any of the conditions defined in Chapter 4

Emotional Symptoms

• Irritable and easily stressed

• Frustration and anxiety

• Mood swings

• Miserable, even tearful

• Nervousness

• Never feeling fully satisfied with food

• Euphoria when you first eat sugar

• Lying about how much sugar you eat

• Taking extreme measures to get sugar (e.g. midnight visit to the shops)

• Confusion about what to do to feel better

You may well have gone through the lists saying, ‘That’s me!’ To confirm that you have a problem with sugar, take a look at the checklist below. Some people who crave sugar, like Nicki, describe the following:

Checklist: Are You a Sugar Addict?

Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following statements:

• You think about sugary foods more than any other types of food. YES/NO

Nicki says, ‘Every minute of the day, from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed, I’d think about sweet food, whether it was sweets, chocolate, biscuits or cakes. I’d even wake in the middle of the night thinking of it.’

• You’ve attempted to cut down on sweet food in your diet before. YES/NO

Nicki says, ‘I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve said, “Right, that’s it – from today I’m giving up sugary foods” and succeeded for a couple of days, only to be drawn back in by blinding headaches, grumpiness and sheer desire for sugar.’

• You find yourself eating more and more sugar as time goes by. YES/NO

Nicki says, ‘I ate a lot of sugar as a child and somehow managed to kid myself that I didn’t eat as much as an adult, but I definitely did. Back then it was a treat – as an adult you can make it part of your everyday life and no one will question you.’

• You lie about how much sugary food you eat. YES/NO

Nicki says, ‘I’ve lied so many times to friends, family and colleagues about how much sugar I’ve eaten. There’s direct lying, like “I haven’t eaten any sugar today” when I have, and indirect lying where I haven’t corrected people when they assume I never waver from a healthy diet.’

• If you miss out on regular sugar, you feel terrible. YES/NO

Nicki says, ‘If I didn’t eat sugar regularly enough, I was like a monster – irritable, grumpy, headachy and unable to sit still. It was as if I’d been possessed and the only thing that would put it right was a sugar fix.’

• You’ve altered your routine to get sweet foods. YES/NO

Nicki says, ‘When I needed sugar and didn’t have the right foods in the house, I’d make special arrangements to get it, whether it was leaving home half an hour early to ensure I could stop for it or ringing friends and asking them to pick it up on the way to see me.’

• The thought of getting sugar makes you focused and tunnel-visioned. YES/NO

Nicki says, ‘I know all the newsagents near me that sell pick ’n’ mix – and I used to use them as landmarks. If I knew I was going near one and had the opportunity for a “fix”, it was as if my senses were on red alert and my concentration was at its peak.’