I make this statement probably three or four times a day:
“Oh, no, no thank you, I am sweetener free!”
Oh, the looks I get when I say I am “sweetener-free”. I used to say sugar-free but that does not really make a true statement. Also sugar-free reminds me of diabetic candies from the ’70s that were so unpleasant and not even worth unwrapping to eat.
People are always offering me sweets, chocolates, pastries, condiments, and more and I say it more to remind myself than to tell them. See, I don’t do anything “sweet”. Not in my tea, desserts, sauces, condiments, or anything. If I do happen to buy something that contains a sweetener it won’t be sugar but it also won’t contain over 2 grams of sweetener in it
I’ve been sweetener free for almost two years. I used to say I was sugar-free but every time I said it I thought of a family friend who was a diabetic and he would eat this very gross looking round hard candies that were “sugar-free’. They were gross.
Plus, to say I was sugar-free was really not giving people the complete idea, what I mean to say is I don’t eat:
- Sugar
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Molasses
- Brown Sugar
- Cane Sugar
- Palm Sugar
- Cane Juice
- Dextrose
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- any Syrup
- Corn Syrup
- Lactose
- Malt Syrup
- Maltose
- Raw Sugar
well, I think you get the idea, I don’t do it. Ha, okay but, seriously I use Monk Fruit, Monk Fruit is a plant and its amazing qualities are found here in an article by Dr. Axe
“Monk fruit, also called Luo Han Guo, is part of the Cucurbitaceae (gourd) family and grows on a vine. It’s named after the monks that harvested this fruit in southern Chinese mountains as early as the 13th century. Rarely found in the wild, the fruits were originally harvested in the southern regions of China, mainly the Guangxi and Guangdong mountains, as well as a few other areas of southeast Asia. The mountainous region provided shade and mist for the fruit to grow successfully.
Matches the Sweetness of Sugar: A healthy cup-for-cup alternative to ordinary sugar. Monk fruit contains zero calories and is about 250 times sweeter than sugar.
This region was also home to many Buddhist temples, which is why the fruit is also called the Buddha fruit, and the Lohan or Arhat fruit, which in Buddhism refers to someone who has achieved nirvana.
The fruit was originally brought to North America in the early 20th century by a group from the National Geographic Society, who later named the fruit’s scientific name (siraitia grosvenorii) after its president, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor.
The Chinese government has a ban on monk fruit and its genetic material from leaving the country. Therefore the fruit must be grown and manufactured in China. This, combined with the complicated process of mogroside extraction, makes monk fruit products expensive to create.
Monk fruit contains compounds that, when extracted, are natural sweeteners 300–400 times the sweetness of cane sugar but with no calories and no effect on blood sugar.
Sound too good to be true? It’s not! This fruit has been used as a sweetener for centuries, and after many years being only available overseas, it’s recently become easier to find in grocery stores in the U.S.”
For an in-depth look at Monk Fruit read more HERE
However, I am a realist and realize as much as we cannot be toxin-free I have to give myself a bit of leeway. I allow myself up to 4 grams of sugar in a product if I NEED to have it and yes, sometimes this girl NEEDS a cookie, or a cracker, or I have to use that restaurant ketchup on the table. So I give myself a little bit of leeway.
Great for Cooking and Baking: Raw cane sugar substitute that's perfect for cookies, coffee, desserts, and other sweet, sugar-free treats. Tastes, bakes, and cooks like sugar. Great sugar alternative. Made with only monk fruit sweetener and erythritol.
I said ALL THAT to say this because I am very open about how I eat and the other fact is I work in a department that is so loved by its citizens they are always bringing us lovely sweet things to eat. So I am constantly asked “do you want a cookie”, “Lisa, don’t you miss eating a donut?”
Honestly, I think I’d go into a coma if I ate any of that now. That donut however has so much sugar in it I’d probably keel over from eating it.
I’ve even been told: “Lisa, a little sugar is good for you” Umm actually it’s not and that is the comment that brings me to this article. Another amazing doctor I follow just put up a post on the effects of sugar and carbs on our body. Dr. Myers is well known for her work with Auto-Immune as well as the AIP diet and Thyroid disease. She recently put up a step-by-step of what happens when your body takes in a little bit of that sugar or carbs and it always easily explains why the Keto Life Style works for so many people.
Here is that are article from Dr. Amy Myers:
So what’s the cause? Well, it’s called the blood sugar rollercoaster
- When you eat too many sugars and carbs at snacks or meals, your blood sugar rises too high.
- This causes your body to produce huge amounts of insulin to get the inflammatory sugar out of your bloodstream.
- The insulin brings the sugar to your muscles for energy (HINT: you very often don’t need it) and the rest is carried to your liver to be converted into body fat.
- The flood of insulin you overproduced pulls all of the sugar out of your bloodstream too rapidly Your brain actually picks up on this and sounds an alarm…
- The alarm signals to your entire body that your blood sugar is dropping dangerously fast. Hormones are produced that increase your appetite (even though you JUST ate an hour ago).
- Your body also produces loads of cortisol, a stress hormone, that breaks down your muscle tissue, suppresses your immune system, and increases fat storage.
- The next thing you know, despite having had lunch an hour ago, you’re heading to the kitchen for chips, sugary energy bars, or you’re off to Starbucks for that sugar bomb latte.
And then? Your blood sugar shoots back up to the top of the rollercoaster, and the vicious cycle begins all over again…
Your body does not NEED sugar, it wants it. It’s a conditioning and an addiction very similar to that of cocaine. Cocaine? Yes, really!
and one more thing about that addiction:
which brings us to Dr. Mark Hyman: Dr. Hyman shares with us the way to detox from sugar, the how-to’s what works, what does not.
Dr. Mark Hyman How to Detox from Sugar
So next time we start to talk about drug addiction maybe we should think a bit more about that.
I was watching a Summit on healthy eating last week and a man was saying how we start to become so exclusive in our eating and we take it to the depths it does not need to go.
- I eat Gluten Free
- I eat GF but from a Grass-fed Farm
- I eat GF from a GF farm that feeds the cows only this grain
- I eat GF from a GF farm that feeds this grain from only one farmer
- the farmer has one arm
- he pets the cows often
You see what I mean… it does become silly at some point.
Our bodies are machines and they can handle a little bit of this or that and in this case sugar, or even whole wheat, etc. The problem comes when we take in SO MUCH of the bad things that mess up our molecular being. That is when the problem arises. Sugar is bad for us, it’s the cause of disease and it adds noting benefits to our organs or ourselves. Does it taste good? Sure, only because you have either been conditioned or have conditioned yourself to believe so.
So how does it go leaving sugar? So how do you kick the habit? My preparation started a few years back when I gave up Soda or Pop, then all sweet drinks. Today I eat nothing like that and honestly I’m not even tempted any longer. I found this video o a person who went 30 days and videotaped the time. I think it’s great because it’s real, she’s not selling us a product she is just telling us how it went
You can view Neonfiona video HERE
And if you are up to check out Dr. Jockers Blog about Sugar HERE
and Dr. Axe’s HERE
I gave up sugar because it is so bad for you and we eat SO MUCH SUGAR it’s unreal and it’s addictive and I was tired of being controlled by food.
Yes, I did become the food snob and my daughter would have to remind me it’s a choice that I gave things up and eat the way I do.
So, what do use? I use two products that I share about all the time.
For all my sugar needs I use Lakanto
products. They carry amazing maple syrup, brown, white and powdered sugar and they also came out with their version of a chocolate hazelnut dip. Oh yes, ad they recently came out with a brownie mix, I’ve not tried it yet but I am very sure it is amazing.
- Better for Baking: Dissolves effortlessly, retains moisture, can control cookie spread and provides better browning for your desserts.
Sign up for their emails because they have some awesome sales as well.
Here is a link to the exact products I do use:
Classic Sweetener (just like sugar)
Next is my chocolate and I have to admit when I first started eating no sweeteners I LOVED chocolate I had some amazing candies I loved. Now, two years into this I barely eat or even desire chocolate. When I do I exclusively use Lily’s Chocolate Chips and Chocolate Bars. Lily’s has a great story as to why she got into the creation of her company and you can read all about her journey HERE
So that is what I do, how did I get here? Well, that was a journey you are going to have to follow HERE
on YouTube. It was a 15 day documented fast. Don’t shake your head take your time and walk your personal journey with the help of all the information you have available to you right at your fingertips.
While I appreciate the people so much that bring us all the lovely sweet things, I’m even more thrilled with I see veggies, fruits and nuts come our way and if you really want to see Lisa happy make them non-GMO and organic. Now that’s the way to roll!
I say this with all things, I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on the internet but what I am is a person who has eliminated sugar, dropped over 60 pounds and I feel amazing. I’ve reduced my glycemic levels, my inflammatory issues, my joints don’t ache, I don’t ache, my stomach digests food property, no more leaky guy, my cellular structure is getting the proper nutrition it needs.
Any problem you have, begins in the gut, clean up the gut balance out the microbiome and you’ll live a better life. What’s a microbiome? You’ll be hearing a lot about that in the near future. For now, we will stick with sugar, or remove it. It may not be the easiest thing you have ever done but it sure will be worth it.
I promise!
By the way, I feel amazing and I’m very sure my heart and organs are happier also.
