Though I plan to, I haven't yet read these books so my knowledge only goes as far as Sarah's blog posts. In a similar way to my reason for believing humans weren't designed to eat meat, (which I will talk about one day), it seems that David Gillespie has managed to find seemingly good reason why humans aren't designed to eat sugar, or more specifically, fructose, and why it is sugar and not fats, (we're talking avocados and nuts, not cheeseburgers), that are making us fat and causing disease.
Now I don't see anything wrong with cutting out things like lollies, chocolates, cakes and biscuits, but from what I've read in Sarah's blog, he also suggests that honey is incredibly bad for you and we should only really consume 2 pieces of fruit daily. Though I haven't read it, I have no doubt his theory also warns people off dried fruit and fruit juice, which I find hard to get my head around having not read the book.
Either way, I am inspired. Not completely, as I am a huge fruit eater and I adore the dried fruit I put in my muesli and the Jalna yoghurt I eat it with, (which I have no doubt contains fructose), but enough to make some changes. I can't commit to no chocolate or cake for months yet, that's overwhelming, but I am committing, just for the next week, to no obvious sugar. So cakes, chocolate, lollies, biscuits, jam, ice creams and all your friends, I bid thee farewell. At least for a while.
I've started by giving away the super-sweet cereals I eat for dessert almost nightly.
It's not the full hog, but it's something, and as a person who has to have at least 2 or 3 pieces of chocolate a day, and some honey in the morning to get me going, (I'm not saying I'll ban honey, but at least try not to do it), it's not going to be easy. I hate admitting it, but I am heavily reliant on sugar and carry a chupa-chup everywhere in case I get tired. Really.
Not having a little dip of a cookie in my coffee this morning was the first hurdle, but I'm hoping I'll feel some positive effects by the end of the week.
I'll report back.
Anyone else want to try this less-extreme version?
Stay well,
Nat x
I've read the book - it's interesting, though there are bits here and there that sound like hokey pseudo-science. His general thesis that sugar is essentially bad for you and not necessary to sustain you is sound, though. We all know that, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI don't have that much of a sweet tooth - I find if I cut out sweet things for a week or so I completely lose the urge for them, and I never add actual sugar to anything (coffee, cereal, etc) - a bag of sugar lasts about 3 years in my house. I'm more of a salt fiend - give me something crunchy and salty and I go a bit crazy!
P.S. A dentist told me once I should never let Lily eat dried fruit; she said it was worse than lollies for rotting teeth because it's so sticky and gets stuck in the crevices.
Interesting!! Yet, honey has scientifically proven antibacterial properties for both inside and outside the body. So much so that we have dressings designed with honey in them.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have much of a sweet tooth anyway, that said I'm having Blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Hahahahaa
Plus the past few recipes on my blog have been cocktails which involve sugar hahahaaa
I'm a failure David Gillespie :) :) :)
Dee I hope I lose the urge for them after a week. I have high hopes! Every time I feel like it I am just telling myself it's poison and that I'll feel amazing withhout it. I never add it either, which I guess helps. I used to be like that with salt but I no longer add it to anything due to a family member's health scare partly due to a high salt diet.
ReplyDeleteVery true Merowyn! I guess because, back in the caveman days, they came across it so rarely (honey) that the benefits were fantastic, as were the energy benefits of sugar, but you'd never get enough for it to be detrimental. The discussions on Sarah's blog replies are super interesting.
I make pancakes with honey, in fact I always use honey to substitute sugar (even if it's not really a substitute), so I'll see how I go. It's not going to be easy!
I think you would need sugar syrup for the cocktails... Hamish said used pure castor sugar as opposed to sugar syrup. He said honey would work but it would give it a honey flavour so maybe not for a mojito.... it is such a tiny bit anyway and cocktails are not an everyday occurrence. My breakfast was SO sugar laden with the pure Maple Syrup - at least the sugar is natural I guess... plus we had bacon (with the fatty rind removed)... still salty... GAH! The "good" bit was the pancake an organic mix :) :) :)
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely weekend honey!!
hey,
ReplyDeletethe first time on your blog... seems to be really interesting ;-)
hmmm about the sugar thing... well i think too much of everything is NOT-good! BUT honey is soooooo important! As far as i know it has the same effect like antibiotics! So why not one spoon a day? Hmmm...
Anyway...it was fun visiting :-)
greetings form Paris
xxx
Lina
(http://www.linassoup.blogspot.com)