I think that a big, big reason that people are scared of trying something like the SCD is the total absence of sugar.
On SCD you can use fruits and honey, sparingly. That's about it.
Here's some fun blog posts that I found on the topic:
Modern Forager confirms that the best sugar for us is honey, sparingly. I agree!
Pay Now, Live Later tells us that we're all sugar junkies -- well, those of us not on SCD, at any rate.
Sugar is a drug. Don't believe me? How about all those people in this country eating themselves to death, with skyrocketing rates of obesity?
That's not lack of willpower, kids. That's ADDICTION.
I was completely and wholeheartedly addicted to sugar before SCD. I did not know what it was like to not be hungry, because I was always hungry. My blood sugar was out of control along with my appetite.
During my first week on SCD, I thought I would die. It was a true and serious withdrawal.
And then I felt great afterwards, and forever more.
I can walk right by those giant muffins, because to me they are no longer food. People look at me with pity. But then I see them returning to the muffins again and again...telling me they just can't stop thinking about them, that "it was calling to me."
Yeah, that's one voice in my head I do not miss at all.
6 comments:
F'zer and I are reading a book called The Sugar Fix. The author has all kinds of studies to back up his assertion that humans were never meant to consume so much fructose (half of table sugar is fructose). He's got me convinced. Whether F'zer can be persuaded to give up eating fruit for two weeks (to "detox" before switching to low-fructose eating thereafter) is still up for grabs. I personally think it's worth the effort.
I wouldn't be as concerned about the fructose in fruit. As one of the blog posts rightly pointed out, it's quite preferable to eating sugar. :)
Modern forager did not exactly confirm that. Note that HFCS and honey are just about the same: "Honey typically has about the same ratio as HFCS"
HFCS is essentially synthetic honey. The problem is with quantity. HFCS is much cheaper than honey, with little additional flavor, so is used much more liberally. If you used honey in the quantities that most people use HFCS it would also be problematic (and taste bad, too).
I did say sparingly more than once. But I don't think honey is anywhere near the same as HCFS due to the enzyme and anti-microbial benefits that honey can provide.
But, as this is routinely pointed out to those on SCD -- make sure your honey states "100 percent pure" somewhere on the label, or you run the risk of getting honey cut by corn syrup in some ratio.
And, once again, use sparingly! :)
Most, if not all enzymes in honey are disabled in the manufacturing and transportation process (heat, light, etc. deactivate [=break] enzymes), and the primary anti-microbial effects are due to osmotic pressure from the sugars, which are also found in HFCS. (This is why sweetened wines are almost always shelf-stable after opening, and why sugar is included in most cured foods.)
The key is, as you noted, "use sparingly" - be it sugar, HFCS, honey, or any other natural sweetener. (It goes without saying it's worthwhile to avoid all synthetic sweeteners, even those that are SCD compliant.)
I have seen with my own eyes, what sugar can do to my son with autism. It's as if he had a parasite inside him and he must have more sugar-so he just not allowed to have any. Great Blog!!
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