Photography · Useful

White sugar

Gabriela Lupu

white and brown sugar

It’s been 2 months since I stopped eating white sugar. For me is a miracle. I am the person who eats 1 box of chocolate every day or 2-3 pieces of a chocolate cake. Why I stopped? Because I start feeling so bad.

We need sugar, but consuming white sugar in excess is so bad for us. So now, I take my sugar from fruits and I am feeling so good now, lots of energy to play around with my boy.

Naturally occurring sugar—which gives fruit, some veggies, and milk their sweet taste—is perfectly healthy. It is added sugar that we need to not OD on.

It’s not just sugary foods like candy and cookies either, but sugar has made its way into practically EVERYTHING we eat.

When you consume sugar, your body has two options on how to deal with it:

  • Burn it for energy.
  • Convert to fat and store it in your fat cells.

Depending on your genetic predisposition, your body might be better equipped to process sugar as energy, or you might be more likely to store it as fat.

Effects of Consuming Too Much Sugar:

  • It overloads and damages your liver
  • It affects your insulin and leptin signaling.
  • It causes metabolic dysfunction.
  • It increases your uric acid levels.

10 Ways Sugar Harms Your Health

  • Increases stress.
  • Increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
  • Causes blood glucose to spike and plummet.
  • Affects behavior and cognition in children.
  • Can cause gum disease, which can lead to heart disease.
  • Causes tooth decay.
  • Accelerates aging.
  • A high-sugar diet often results in chromium deficiency.
  • Interferes with immune function.
  • Is highly addictive (6 more times than cocaine)

 

 

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Published by Gabriela Lupu

Hi. My name is Gabi and I am a professional photographer, a new mom and a wife. I wanna learn to cook healthy food for my little one, so I made this blog to share my cooking experiments with everyone. It's gone be a long and a bumpy ride but a funny one, so stay tune for news and enjoy my ride.

170 thoughts on “White sugar”

  2. Hmm, this is something I really need to address too. I stopped using white sugar for tea and now use demerara or honey. My downfall is chocolate when those hormonal cravings kick in (more frequently when in perimenopause) and my problem is fruit tends to kick off a migraine for me. Shame as I love it but can’t eat it! I have put on weight too in the last year or so, again hormones rather than change in diet.

    Salad, salad and salad may be my future. What’s up, Doc? 🙂

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    3. I love tea w/o sugar, I stopped drinking tea without it a long time ago. Since I live in the south and everything has a triple serving of sugar. You always have to request, no extra sugar.

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    4. When I bake I will sometimes use agave instead of sugars, a lil bit goes a long way. I have also seen many recipes out there that use veggies such as beets, carrots, zucchini as the moisture in the cake/bread/brownie and then all you would need is to watch the oil & sugar component.

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  5. This reminds me of some of the sugars in my cupboard. I can’t resist putting different kinds of beautifully packaged sugar in my shopping trolley, like Amber sugar crystals for coffee…which actually resemble Amber, they’re beautiful!

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  6. Excellent post. It is scary how much sugar is in the foods we eat. I am very careful with fruit as well due to its sugar content and how it effects our blood sugar levels. What fruits are you eating?

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      2. I know that they are. I will read your post. They have also fibers. And imagine I won’t eat a whole watermelon or 1 kg of pears. Small portion of fruits during the day, a pear, a slice of watermelon etc.

      3. Yes of course i understand that. A whole watermelon would be a lot. I only eat strawberries, blueberries and bananas and i aim these around my workouts so the sugar is used to feed my muscles. Fruit is good for you but in moderation. If looking for more fibre id recommend pulses and green vegetables. Hope this is useul.
        Loving your posts btw😊.

      4. Thank you. I love vegies. I don’t eat process food very often. Maybe some cheese with my grapes once in a while. We all cook in my family, good or bad, but is home made meal with fresh ingredients.

  9. Well done for giving it up! There are lots of companies that make Raw Chocolate bars without any refined sugar and they are so good, much better quality chocolate than commercial ones, often organic and fairtrade, and you don’t find yourself wolfing down a whole bar in seconds because you savour the taste more. My favourites are from The Raw Chocolate Company.

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  10. Nice post and so good of you to give it up! It’s so hard to avoid added sugar. I try to eat as little as possible of this stuff, but I can’t give up my minty chocolate entirely!

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  13. Nice post. America is the worst for sugar. I only have a small package to make the food for my kombucha culture. I try to buy foods from Asia or Europe to get less sugar .Even healthy things like yogurt and kefir they ruin with added sugar. I am going to start making my own.

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  15. Congrats, it’s wise of you. I was always bit cautious around refined sugar due to a long history of diabetes in my family. But in recent months, since I relocated to USA, I also came to realize how sugar stealthily creeps in our system from so many other forms, especially processed food. One has to be cautious. Now, I always check per serving nutrient info and stick for unsweetened versions. The best way perhaps is to make your own sweet treats. Maple syrup or dates make a way better alternates of refined sugar in desserts. In tea and coffee, you can also try naturally sweet spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, or nutmeg. It adds much more complex and richer flavors than white sugar.

    Actually, you are right about addictiveness of sugar. In a way, we have forgotten how diverse taste flavors can be and once your tongue and brain settles into refined sugar-free life, you start rediscovering those natural flavors.

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    1. Thank you. So true about all the spices used to replace the sugar. I always ate healthy, but chocolate was my guilty pleasure. Now is not guilty anymore since I learned how o do it at home with healthy ingredients.

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  16. When I started my weight loss journey 120 pounds ago, white sugar and white flour were the 2 things I cut out first. I believe losing those 2 items had a tremendous effect on my ability to take off the weight and keep it off. Great post!

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  17. I got rid of all the white sugar and flour. I almost buy no processed food at all. And I always read the labels very carefully. Step by step I switched to a more healthy lifestyle with lots of organic vegetables and fruit. I agree, getting rid of white sugar is very important to regain health.

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  19. Well done you! I have terrible sugar cravings which send me opening all my cupboards in search for a sweet something. I have to steer clear of the sweet aisles! Watermelon, Strawberries and pineapple help me with my cravings. I know sugar’s bad for me because I have fungal nail infections and stomach problems. I need will power like you!

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  23. It’s so true! I have replaced added sugar with things like honey and maple syrup and I feel so much better!

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  25. Congratulations on kicking white sugar! I am passionate about limiting my intake of it, using natural sweeteners, etc. – but I haven’t been able to make the leap to eliminating it entirely. Kudos to you! 🙂

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  27. We go through pounds and pounds of sugar. Probably 14 pounds in the last month. I just went to the store and bought 4 more pounds. Sugar is for the birds. (Ha, ha. Not sure if you are familiar with that saying ” . . . for the birds.) In this case it really is.

    Nice post. I am just being silly with my comment. Although . . . seriously we go through a lot of sugar for our hummingbirds! 🙂

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  28. A lot of people still don’t realize how addictive sugar is, which is so surprising! How long have people been shamed for using drugs, and in more recent years they’ve been shamed for smoking, and even now this fat-shaming thing is taking off, but eating excessive sugar isn’t being addressed and it’s one of the worst things for us!

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  31. So so good for you. Wish I could replace it with anything better in my two cups of tea (or sometimes coffee)per day 😦 I tried green tea and trying to train my mind about it’s goodness. But I am so badly impacted by my tea ( consoling/conceiving myself that it’s only (!!!!) 3 tsp a day) that end of the day I missed them so much. Without sugar….no can’t be possible right now. Okay..just giving myself a little more (a little extra more) time to think healthy-eat healthy-be healthy.

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  33. Pingback: A Path to Wellness – A Perfectly Flawed Mom

  34. So true. Since the beginning of this year I’ve been doing the same, not only sugar, but also finding a more healthier way of eat. Choosing more vegetable and organic products, and discovering ways of cooking less food to keep all nutrient on it.

    I truly agree that is a hard battle (specially when we have kids, as I do!!), but very rewardable.

    Keep the good work. Love your photos.

    Regards

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  35. Have been off sugar for almost a month now and I am not missing it or craving it. There is sugar hidden in so many packaged food – one reason why it is so important to read labels and know all the different forms sugar takes.

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  38. Hi, this post is so true, I had candida so I went on a sugar free, (gluten free etc.) diet for a while and my candida went! God didn’t make sugar, he made the fruit and honey for sweetness! 🙂

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  41. Sugar was once used as a medicine and sold in apothecaries or pharmacies. However since it become available in large quantities, cheap and put in almost every type of processed food it has become an addictive drug that give rise to a huge variety of diseases. It’s not different from alcohol. In fact it has been described as the alcohol of children as they are the ones that are more addicted to it.

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  43. This is such a great post! I’ve also decided to stop eating sugar after watching Sugarcoated on Netflix. Lol at this rate I’m going to start cutting out everything I used to eat!

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  44. Thank you for liking my post about Kellogg’s adding marshmallows to Frosted Flakes. The response I received from Kellogg’s was that they have many low sugar cereals, implying that this new one is not a big deal. Astounding! There is just no logical reason (even if you love sugar) to add marshmallows. Diabetes, kidney stones and obesity are all rising in children and adults. I enjoy sweets in their right place – and that isn’t breakfast!
    Thanks for what you write. (And your photography is beautiful too!)

    Reply

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