I’m not usually one for watching reality TV programmes, but the title of a new series ‘The Sugar Free Farm’ caught my eye, where celebrities try and live for 2 weeks without any sugar in their diet.
About 20 years ago I was overweight and decided to try to eat more healthier foods. I adopted a low-fat non-dairy diet, started exercising, and generally felt a lot better. Migraines stopped, and also nausea vanished as I no longer drank cow’s milk. However, it soon became clear to me that foods low in fat did not necessarily mean that they were low in sugar. In fact I came to realise that sugar seems to be in most of the things we eat and drink in some form or another, causing quite a lot of the population, me included at the time, to be addicted to it.
I was lucky enough to be working in a hospital and to have a friend who was a dietician. I started to become interested in the effect that certain foods have on the body, and began to ask my friend questions. She informed me that very sweet foods cause a spike in the blood sugar levels, causing insulin to have to be secreted from the pancreas to try and combat the spike, subsequently causing a dip in blood sugar and the person to maybe feel tired. The same person might then eat something else sweet to try and raise the blood sugar again to combat the tiredness. These constant spikes and dips could eventually cause the pancreas to become exhausted and for type II diabetes to start. She also told me that sugary foods open up more and more sugar receptors in the brain, causing anyone with a sugar addiction to crave more of it.
Okay, I said to myself, where do I start to find non-sugary food? I began to eat more vegetables and lean meat and salads and lost some weight. I thought I was being good making fruit smoothies, until my friend told me that these are loaded with natural sugars! I suppose I’m fortunate in that I drink no fizzy drinks and next to no alcohol, as these are also loaded with sugar. I gave up taking sugar in tea years ago; the initial taste was vile, but I persevered. After about a month I found I liked the taste, and when I added the amount of sugar I used to have as an experiment I found the tea was too sickly-sweet. However, now I only drink green tea, ginger tea, or water. At least these are actually doing me some good!
Back to the TV programme, and the celebrities initially started to complain at the taste of fresh foods not loaded with sugar. A couple of them began to have sugar withdrawal; headaches, irritability, fatigue, and ‘flu-like symptoms. One even collapsed with tiredness! However, at the end of programme one they were finding foods to eat that they liked.
I look forward to the next programme in the series. I assume that after a few days or weeks they would have gone through detox and will start to enjoy fresh unadulterated foods. I know that now I prefer food that does not taste sweet, although I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have a non-sugary diet altogether due to that old bugbear, hidden sugars. We shall see how the celebrities get on; the results will be interesting.
Stevie Turner 
Great information. Thanks for sharing.
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I wish we had something like that in the States! I’ve lived a vegan diet all my life and have never had dairy and don’t eat sugar. All of my children are also vegan as well as my grandchild. We have to make our own health a priority in this country! Thanks for the article SJ
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Thanks for your comment. What are your main type of foods as a vegan?
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Plant based. I don’t eat meat, dairy, flour, sugar. I personally don’t eat bread or sugar because it messes with my Crohn’s issues. Mainly lots of fruits and vegies and beans. Quinoa for protein and Almond and Cashew milk for my tea or coffee.
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I’d like a dairy and sugar free diet, but it’s difficult to find recipes.
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It is but I’ve never had dairy. I’ve always hated it. And sugar I’m not fond of either. My children and 2 grandchildren have never had dairy, sugar or meat. I hate to cook so I only do it one day a week. I make up brown rice, quinoa and cook a bunch of beans in the crock pot and pop them in the freezer. Then I just add some vegies and go. One of the best desserts for me is taking a frozen banana and popping it in the blender with a little bit of almond milk. It tastes just like homemade banana ice cream! So good.
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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Thanks for the re-blog!
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I too, have been following a sugar free lifestyle. Actually, I try and avoid anything white, bread, rice and sugar. Not sure about sweeteners though. Are they allowed?
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Sweeteners are not good either unfortunately.
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Oh no, I can’t drink coffee without one. Why are they so bad?
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When you have a minute, Google ‘Aspartame’, which is the main constituent of sweeteners I think.
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Will do…
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I’ve taken an interest in my diet as I’ve gone through my forties and into my fifties. Men of my age start suffering from all sorts of dietary issues and apart from clogged arteries I wanted to avoid the inevitable ‘beer belly’ look. But the thing I found about sugars was, as you say, natural sugars seem to be everywhere.
But avoiding too much bread and pastry, eating fresh meat, fresh veg, not using a lot of salt and no sugar added to stuff, my beer belly is hardly noticeable (not quite a six pack, but that’s not the target).
I think one reason why people find it hard to control their weight is because the advice is so mixed and often comes from the wrong people. If you look at athletes and sportstars their bodies and their health is often at a peak and it’s down to the health advice they get from properly qualified experts, not celebrities and Californian cranks.
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I listened to my dietician friend. Pastry clogs up the poor old arteries, as does cheese. The fresh veg and lean meat diet seems a good one (for non vegetarians!), and of course cutting out the salt and as much sugar as possible. I eat wholemeal bread, as apparently white bread turns to sugar in the body, as does white rice. I think that all the food sins of our youth eventually come to haunt us in our fifties and beyond!
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I can’t remember the last time I had a slice of white bread!
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We do if the grandchildren stay, because that’s what they eat. They think I’m a little strange…..
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