Large amounts of refined sugar consumption can lead to a range of health problems, weight gain and even death.
I can relate to where it says it causes headaches. With a brain injury and headaches may be expected. When I had my first set of operations I was still consuming a lot of sugary foods and I did get the odd headache every now and then.
Now, my diet is different and I try not to consume so much sugar and eat more cleanly and I don’t get many headaches at all now.
I know people can read this and find it hard to believe but all I will say “Is try it for yourself and find out rather than slag it off”.
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Matt2584
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I would not go so far as to say sugar is healthy, very far from it. However the story around sugar being unhealthy has its challengers. Take Dr Kempner's rice diet drmcdougall.com/2013/12/31/... who fed critically ill patients rice, sugar and fruit juice and all of them got reliably better.
"Dr. Kempner began treating his patients for extended periods of time, and expanded the indications from only serious troubles (glomerulonephritis and malignant hypertension) to patients with relatively minor illnesses, such as routine hypertension (160/100 mmHg), headaches, chronic fatigue, chest pains, edema, xanthoma, pseudo tumor cerebri, and psoriasis." And don't forget obesity.
Okay primarily it was the rice that was providing health as well as the vitamin c from the fruit juice, I am sure. Also the fruit juice in the 1940's is not the same as fruit juice today.
I wouldn’t go saying refined sugar wouldn’t have changed much, I mean how do we really know what goes on with our foods/condiments/etc?
Kempner used white table sugar but the thing is, this was back in the 30s. We live in a very very different world now where additives are everywhere in the food industry.
Look at America with all the fast food chains. Fast food contains sugar! Processed foods from supermarkets all contain sugar. Now look at the American public and you will find a lot of obesity as well as diabetes and other health problems. The UK is not so far behind.
I can’t say for sure that srefined sugar is THE problem but I can take a pretty wild guess.
If sugar is not a problem then it has to be something in our food that is the problem... alongside carcinogens, chemicals, GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), pesticides...
Here is something to think about, I am in the supermarket, I walk down the healthy food section. I see a brand new cereal that is deemed ‘100% natural’ but upon looking at the ingredients sugar is listed under 4 or 5 different names. Sugar, glucose, dextrose, fructose...
I've been cutting down for the past year and managed to reduce from 2 & 1/2 spoons of sugar in tea & coffee to just one, and now aiming for 1/2 ! I must say I never thought I could do it (after a lifetime) but now, if someone forgets and puts more in, I'm appalled at the sickening sweetness.
I've always had a healthy diet otherwise, eating loads of salad and fresh veg (can't eat fruit though I love it) but now I keep a stock of oat biscuits and Activia yoghurts for snacks instead of cake/biscuits. Old habits are hard to break, but the ciggies are history as is the alcohol and the sugar's on it's way out. I actually find sweet foods revolting now yet I've never enjoyed food more !
And I don't have so many headaches. My God, I sound like such a 'Goody-goody'....
See, a lack of sugar can really help. Glad you are cutting down :).
When I first read about refined sugar I practically dropped the sugar intake like it was hot. I started eating bags of dates more and could easily swap those over a bag of Galaxy Minstrels.
I used to have 2 tsp of sugar in my coffee, then I went to 1 and now I have no no sugar in coffee.
I used to eat biscuits with my coffee a lot but now I don't have any.
Quite a good boy really but that is because sugar is so addictive.
Once you come away from so much refined sugar and consume more natural sugars in fruits or by eating Xylitol sugar you won't really want to go back to your old habits cos you will gradually lose the addiction.
I shed quite a few pounds by doing this... apparently.
To me it looked like I hadn't lost a lot at all but my mum said it had come off of my back and bum.
I reckon you will be able to not have any sugar in your tea/coffee in time. It’s all about training your brain. Some people are different and it can be harder for some if they have a brain injury too.
I am not a health freak and just because I have lost weight I am still a bit of a chunky monkey haha. But I hope to lose even more weight and my mum says it is coming off very slowly.
I do consume refined sugar at times... I have to really, can’t escape it, that stuff is everywhere. Even in tomato sauce!!
I remember when I was young and medicines used to taste positively gross. Calpol was one of those medicines. Once I got a little older it was more managable to consume. That’s because it has sugar in it.
Also, most yogurts used to be vivid in colour and could have a sharp, tangy taste when I was young. Now, most yogurts are pale in colour and don’t taste so sharp and tangy.... because they have sugar in them.
When I was little, I used to drink gallons of fizzy drinks which obviously contain sugar. Diet drinks are worse as they have a sweetener called Aspartame in it, which I am highly against if you have seen my posts.
Anyhow, I was a pasty looking kid... reason why... refined sugar.
Once I started coming away from all that sugar, the colour came back to my face.
After the fizzy drinks had gone I was drinking more cordial where I found out in the long run wasn’t much better because that also has Aspartame in it.
Sadly, my lifetime of being slim might not have been so much down to genes........ as smoking. After stopping I quickly went from size 8 to 12 (and so the motivation for lowering the sugar intake).
But like I said earlier, once I got through the struggle of reducing sugar drastically, I regretted all my past binging on chocolates, cakes, biscuits etc. and the fact I'd assumed it was justified simply because I was thin ! It's a shame we're not taught the importance of healthy lifestyle through general education.......... x
It isashame we are not taught about a healthy lifestyle through general education. Actually, I think there ould be a few things we should have leant through school. Life skills. We should all learn to do gardening. That is important. I know some schools do teach gardening now which I am glad to hear :).
Why is it that we were all taught to use one hand? We have 2 hands, so why not use them both. We should all be ambidextrous really.
Not the first bite Fred, and I can still be seduced by a box of Black Magic. But I used to sit & eat a whole layer 'til the box was wrestled from me ; now after 2 or three I actually feel sick !
I shall add that there is a healthier alternative to chocolate. Cacao. It is full of nutrients where cocoa isn’t. Cocoa is cheaper as well. Cacao tastes bitter but it can be sweetened with Xylitol sugar or honey or dates/date paste.
I made a healthy chocolate pudding once with my Nutribullet. Avocado, peanut butterand cacao powder whizzed up and chilled. It was lush but I think next time I might put a bit more peanut butter in it. I might even do one where I take out the peanut butter and put raisins/saltanas in instead :).
I've never even tasted peanut butter ; never fancied it. But time to try some I think. I'll get some tomorrow & if I don't like it I know a squirrel and/or fox who will ! xx
As I have said before, I hardly ever used to eat any REAL food like fruit and veg when I was little and I hardly touched nuts either.
I do remember when I was a toddler eating mixed nuts from the tub, so there was a time when I liked nuts. I think it was because when I was introduced to more sugary “foods” I got addicted to only eating them.
But anyhow, I wouldn’t eat peanuts and I would not touch peanut butter either.
Growing up, your tastebuds change and you like foods that you didn’t like before.
I love most sweets with Reece’s peanut butter in it. It is a big shame though how Reece’s peanut butter uses Gentecally Modified ingredients though. Plus with the refined sugar, you have a cocktail of bad news right there.
It’s weird how the bad stuff tastes so nice... but having said that, there are so many good things that taste even better than store bought food... like wagon wheels for instance.
I visit a Vegan Bakery exclusive to Gosport and the lady there makes wagon wheel slices and they are lush and so much better than the real thing in taste and in health.
Each slice costs £2.50 and I think is well worth the price too but a friend of mine was saying how they can buy a pack for 99p. I was telling them that the store bought, processed food is full of crap, that is why it is cheap. Same with McDonald’s. There food and drink is full of crap which is why it is so cheap. Crap stuff is cheap :).
Sorry Matt, I'm confused. Are you saying that peanut butter isn't such a healthy option then ; I've no idea what it contains besides peanuts.......... x
Sorry about that. My last comment didn’t make total sense when I read it back to myself either :).
When I said “But anyhow, I would not touch peanuts....”, what I meant was I did eat nuts when I was a toddler, then more sugary foods came along and I was more addicted to them and that must have been where I stopped eating nuts, I wouldn’t touch peanuts or peanut butter for a fair few years then. It must have been in my late teens/early 20s when I started eating peanut butter.
But I just thought when I was writing about the sugar addiction. Notice all these sugary sweet wrappers are eyecatching, with the colours and bold text and some even have a cartoon-like mascot. This is all to draw people into buying these foods and then they get hooked and once they’re hooked problems occur.
I heard something interesting Stephen Fry said on the tv show QI. He was saying that the french sounding words like ‘encore’ and ‘ensuite’ and things like that are not real french words at all. The french don’t know what they mean in France, they don’t say “encore” they say “bis” which means ‘one more’.
Now, biscuits are moreish (as you know) and people can’t seem to help having just one more... bis-cuit :). If a biscuit had no sugar in it, I doubt people would eat them so much.
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xx
Post concussion syndrome new sufferer part 2 - low blood sugar type symptoms and shaking
Concussion 
Headache is a pain in the ****
Near Constant Headache
Tough stuff.....
