WHAT DOES "QUIT SUGAR" ACTUALLY MEAN?
And why does it matter?
Excellent question! Glad you asked! Wait, what? You didn’t ask?? That was just me talking to myself again?
Four or five years ago, absolutely NO ONE wanted to hear a “sugar free” message, and it was just ole’ Mimi, here, hollering in the wilderness, alone. The Nutrition Space has made some progress since then — new studies, new voices — but, still, there’s confusion about what “sugar-free” really means, or doesn’t mean, and whether or not this is something humans should aspire to, or think about at all, when civilizational collapse looms right around the corner.
Let’s take that one first. Should you care? Is it important?
Big fat YES.
If you do only one thing for your health right now, a thing that will make an immediate and obvious difference in how you feel, increase your life/health span, improve your skin, reduce/end inflammation, improve your immune system, improve your metabolic health, improve your odds agains cancer, this is that thing. Quitting sugar is that powerful. Because “quitting sugar” also means quitting over-processed foods, which all contain added sugar, and quitting white flour and white rice, which are—as far as your body is concerned— more sugary than sugar — you will be eliminating a whole category of foods that don’t actually nourish you, making room for the nutrient-dense foods that DO actually nourish you.
And you can still eat sweets!
Fabulous sweets! You just have to make them yourself, or talk somebody else into doing it.
And here’s the part that may be news to you. There are a couple of great, kinda new, sugar substitutes, that are natural, whole — as in one ingredient only — foods, that are actually….wait for it….good for you. Yup. Allulose (icky name, great product) may even help with blood sugar management. So far, studies are showing that when people ate allulose along with carbohydrates, the blood sugar impact was less with allulose than without.
Even better, allulose and my other fave, monk fruit, taste great — truly like sugar, with no funny aftertaste or metallic edge. Don’t believe me? Use that swell new AI app you have on your phone and look ‘em up. Get the whole story from Perplexity or ChatGPT or whoever you want, then try one for yourself.
Be aware that monk fruit or allulose are sometimes packaged with erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol that can be upsetting to some systems. In extremely small amounts, it probably won’t bother you, but you’re better off not tempting fate.
So what actually happens if you should make the decision, for real? As in, really stop eating sugar, and therefore all the crappy non-foods that contain sugar? Here are two biggies:
Biggy One
Your saliva will chemically change in about 3 weeks. Sugar will no longer taste the same to you. It will likely be too sweet.
Biggy Two
You will drop extra weight. Because you will break your addiction (yes, that’s what it is) to sugar, you will be less hungry less often. You’ll be eating foods that fill you up and satisfy you. (Like Mimi’s Badass Brownies, Page 59, “Brownies for Breakfast.”)
Longer term, you’ll notice improvements in your teeth and gums, your microbiome and your sleep. But you don’t believe me. You need to commit, to start, and see for yourself.
Then — most important — tell me how you’re doing! Which is what, after all, this whole dang thing is about.
I’ll be back in a few days with a report from LA with a bit of a showbiz twist. If you know anybody who might enjoy seeing this Substack, please forward it to them, and don’t forget to subscribe (button below) if you haven’t already. And ferpetesake, send me feedback!
For your looking/listening pleasure in the meantime, here I am with new pal Amy Fagan, talking about All Things Eating. Watch it now! Because I said so! xoxoxo