I have recently started taking a good hard look at my health. A few months ago, I reached a point where I was suffering from Chronic Fatigue, severe Gerd (to the point my esophagus was just burned and raw and incredibly painful), and constant, seemingly endless nausea. Everything changed when I started taking quality products to counter that. My Gerd healed, my nausea disappeared and I had energy again.
One night, (a month or so after feeling total relief from heartburn) I ate a big cup of ice cream. My stomach started to burn shortly after finishing, and my nausea and fatigue came back. I realized then and there that eating larger amounts of sugar are making me sick. So I started to investigate this sugar thing. Why was cane sugar and corn syrup hurting me? Why was I getting so sick from it?
That’s when I learned about glycemic loads. Different sugars have different glycemic levels that affect the body in different ways. I also learned that for whatever reason, coconut palm sugar didn’t have all of those negative consequences for me. In fact, I actually liked the flavor better and got to enjoy my sweets (still in moderation though).
In my case, I wasn’t able to get rid of all additive sugars and quit cold turkey. I am probably consuming somewhere around 40-70g of sugar each day (some of which is from fruit) when the suggested daily intake amount is 25g. But switching to coconut sugar and significantly decreasing my additive sugar intake has made a world of difference!
Improvements are never lasting if they don’t require effort. We become better people by identifying what is making us dysfunctional and replacing old habits with new ones: better ones. Ones that don’t leave us hurting and miserable.
It’s not an overnight process, it’s an intentional journey that you choose to go on one step at a time.
Changing old habits is hard, most days I lack the motivation entirely, but keeping my goals of living a thriving life, being totally present for my family, and helping others find wholeness and joy in life keep me moving through the utter lack of “feeling like it.”
Take away: Set your goals. Write them down. Then do at least 3 things daily that will inch you closer to that vision of yourself. Don’t wait to feel motivated, or to have everything perfectly figured out. In the great words of Nike, “Just do it!”
Also, if you want to learn more about the importance of blood sugar, click here
Live like you mean it 