THE SUGAR DELETION EXPERIMENTATION PROJECT

Sugar.

Sweet.

Addicting.

Crack.

I have to say that sugar is my drug of choice. I love it. I can't have too much otherwise I go into a hypoglycemic sugar crash that is terrible. There are certain things that set it off. If I would have a regular soda......the sugar glaze that is on ham......cotton candy. Definitely not good.

Then there is the gray area.

Lemon Oreos fall under this category. So does cake without a ton of icing. M&M's, Lancaster caramels and sour gummy bears. For some reason I can have these without going into a severe crash. I have no idea why. 

Here's the funny thing. I'm a food snob. I love fresh, good food. I rarely go out to dinner and if I do it better be a great restaurant. I love to cook so if I can make it better......I'd rather. My dream is Masterchef but I don't have the presentation or knife skills.

BUT.

I DIGRESS.

Food is one thing and sugar is DEFINITELY another. You'd think I'd kick it to the curb but it took one lovely lady to help me do it. Her name is Judith Westerfield and she writes a blog called Curious to the Max. I had written a post and she had commented on how bad she'd been feeling and that she was ready to kick sugar.

Was I in?

I have to admit that apprehensive wasn't even close. 

I was making a commitment and I'm a commitmentphobe. It's like taking a medicine long term. I probably wont. Anyway, knowing that it was time and that I should......I agreed. She even posted it on her blog so I was all in.

Day 1-3 I was beyond snarly. Now, let me come clean. I didn't count sugar free stuff in this little venture. My coffee has sweet and low, a sugar free vanilla powder. That and a diet coke is my caffeine hit for the morning. It doesn't count any little bit that I use in dressings or food. I gave up my nightly ritual of Oreos and sour gummy bears.

I don't usually have THAT much sugar.....(ok.....I do but I don't think I do). Again, I use a little in cooking at times and everything else is sugar free.

Oh, I forgot. 

I love ice cream.

Good ice cream.

Like McConnell's salted caramel chip.

Anyway, I gave that up too.

So.......here I am missing desperately my sugar. You'd think I'd mean a person but.....no....

You must ready Ms. Westerfields blog about the sugar shun.

She says it much better than I do.

I gave in and had my ice cream last night.......

But, hey.........

no Oreos!!

Here's the link and while you're there check out Freddie Parker CDT. (canine dog therapist)

Thanks Ms. Judith........

I'm getting there!

http://judithwesterfield.com/2014/09/06/sugar-shun-parenthetically-yours-8-steps-to-kick-sugar-cravings-to-the-curb-ouch/

THE DIET CONNECTION

Is there a diet connection?

There are seven foods that people with Fibromyalgia should NOT eat. These dietary guidelines help a significant number of people but having said that, what helps one person may not help another. That's a good thing because some of the foods listed I will have a real hard time giving up.

1. Nutrasweet
2. MSG and Nitrates
3. High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar and Simple Carbs.
4. Caffeine
5. Yeast and Gluten
6. Dairy
7. The dreaded nightshades

Nutrasweet is an excitotoxin. Here is the controversy that I went through on my Diet Coke segment.  This is difficult because I love fountain Diet Cokes. What does make sense is that people with Fibromyalgia already have over-active pain receptors  so why push the envelope by giving your body more to deal with by drinking something filled with excitotoxins. 

Crap. That one is awful. Give up Diet Coke?? 

MSG and Nitrates.  This one? Not so tough. Experts say that the MSG and nitrates that are commonly found in lunch meats and bacon intensify the pain sensation.  No prob. I don't eat that stuff anyway.

Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup and Simple Carbs.

High Fructose Corn Syrup isn't hard. I hate how quickly it gets into our cells and I try really hard not to have anything with HFCS in it. I think it's terrible for you. Sugar?? Sometimes that is a little difficult especially when I need a Peanut Butter M&M fix. Ok......I can live with that. I don't like it but I can live with it. I don't need simple carbs because it all goes to the back end anyway.

Caffeine which can include tea, coffee, diet coke and chocolate. OK........all of this is just BAD. No way around it......it's just bad. I don't even know what else to say except negotiations shut down when it involves chocolate OR caffeine. I honestly think I'd be comatose without it. I mean, I get tired now....let alone if I don't have a little caffeine in my system. 


NO WAY, NO HOW.

Yeast and gluten. Well, at least after the last one, which I honestly don't see me giving up, here's one I can live with. I've never tried to go gluten free but I don't have a lot of bread so the yeast thing isn't tough for me. 

Dairy. Not a major deal. I could care less.

Nightshades are bad too. I love tomatoes, peppers, potatoes. Eggplant?? Don't care. I read an article that stated nightshades contain nicotene. Really? It isn't as bad as the chocolate negotiations but my three favorite veggies are all color peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Crap again.

Most of these foods are tough for me. Do they exacerbate the pain? Could the researchers be right? 

I'll have to track my symptoms more closely and see what happens when I eat certain foods. Damn. I hope it's not the Diet Coke or caffeine.

That would really tick me off.




Reference article on WebMD by Collete Bouchez.

I'LL HAVE A DIET COKE WITH A LITTLE CONTROVERSY ON THE SIDE

There is a growing number of researchers and holistic advocates  that are convinced that these toxins are the cause of a number of diseases and Fibromyalgia is one of them. Excitotoxins  are chemicals,  amino acids or food additives that over-excite the brains neurons and may cause them to burn out. They react with specialized receptors and cause their destruction and, according to several articles I read,  these toxins are present in almost all processed food. 

It seems that the liquid form of these toxins are giving scientists the most concern because the toxins reach your bloodstream quickly. The most common form is in diet sodas. Since the average person drinks of 43 gallons of diet drinks a year, if this is true, we could be drinking a lot of poison. As a Diet Coke or Pepsi  (I like both) junkie, I decided to investigate.

I've read the emails that went around. I got them all. I carry Diet Coke's everywhere. I'm partial to fountain drinks and enjoy them so my friends made sure that I was aware that I was drinking something that could clean batteries and at the same time eat up my insides. I used to say that I had it running through my veins.

While I'm sure it's probably not the best for you I'm not ready to buy into the aspartame controversy yet. I know that there will always be people that are hyper-sensitive to aspartame. There may be severe allergic reactions as well.  I know it's not a "natural" sweetener and I'm fine with that.  

The makers of Nutrasweet have also developed a sweetener called Neotame was approved in 2002 but it is not widely used in foods at this time. Neotame is heat stable and does not break down into phenylalanine. Phenylalanine, rather than being a dangerous chemical,  is actually one of the essential amino acids. From what I've read, the reason labels declare it on the label is for those with a sensitivity to it. There's controversy about that also.

So, while there is a ton of controversy floating around, there is also enough evidence to refute the claims. I personally don't think there is a conspiracy in regards to aspartame and will continue to read articles on both sides of the fence.