The Kind Diet: How White Sugar Affects Your Body
This is part of a series of thoughts and reviews of Alicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet. The first three parts of the series are the General Review, The Importance of Putting Yourself First and How Well Do You Chew Your Food?
Last year for “Lent”* I gave up “sweets” – 40 days without cookies, candies, chocolate, muffins, my beloved Dots… you get the idea. I still ate fruit, granola bars and sports beans, but that was it. No indulgent baking at home (which you know we love to do).
Yeah, it was a little difficult at first, but then I started to feel wonderful, and saying no to an after-dinner sweet was no big deal. At the end of the 40 days I was nervous about adding sweets back in to my diet. I saved a sugar cookie for myself to eat, and remember eating it, thinking it didn’t taste so great.
Then I eventually built my sugar tolerance back up and forgot all about it. What a waste, right?
I am still trying to decide if “No Sweets” is something I will pursue again this year. It worked really well for me, and I didn’t have many feelings of restriction. But it’s just… kind of easy, because there already aren’t many sweets I can eat, being vegan. What I would love to do is 40 days without processed foods. We just aren’t prepared right now. We would have to make our own bread and cereal, which I am sure we can do, but haven’t been experimenting with.
Oops, I am babbling! And that is one thing that is annoying me big time in my life right now (other people babbling… get to the effin’ point!). So, I would like to share some of the discussion on white sugar from The Kind Diet.
As I mentioned in the General Review, Alicia Silverstone devotes an entire chapter to White Sugar and Processed Foods. She points out that while they are not as harmful to animals or the environment as meat and dairy, they still wreak havoc on your body.
She recommends cutting out white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, organic evaporated cane juice, and honey, and replacing them with brown rice sugar, barely malt, agave syrup, molasses and fruit.
So, what is so “wrong” with white sugar anyway?
- It’s highly processed – when we eat foods that have had bits and pieces of them removed during processing, our bodies get stressed out and try to make up for the missing elements, creating an imbalance in the body.
- It steals vitamins and minerals from you – to make up for the “imbalance” and process white sugar, our bodies attempt to fill in the missing vitamins and minerals. But by diverting this vitamins and minerals from other parts of the body, we get tooth decay, bone loss, weak blood and depression.
- It suppresses your immune system – when you eat something very sugary, your blood sugar soars, so your pancreas releases insulin to handle all the extra sugar and bring your blood sugar level back down. Once all of the sugar has been metabolized though, the extra insulin remains, creating an imbalance in your hormones and immune system. Sugar also overworks the liver, as it takes on toxins during processing, which the liver deposits in your system, also weakening your immunity.
- It puts you on a roller coaster – the extreme peaks in blood sugar cause nausea, headaches, and fatigue, and as the sugar wears off, it can bring on irritability, anxiety, heart palpitations, crying and depression.
- It’s linked to cancer – the extra insulin produced to handle the high amounts of white sugar promotes the growth of certain types of cancer cells.
- It makes you fat – excess refined sugar converts to fat.
- It contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes – if you are constantly eating sugar, and your pancreas is working in overload to create insulin, the insulin will lose its effectiveness, creating insulin resistance. Your blood sugar remains high, but your cells are starving, so the body craves more sugar. If the pancreas stops working, you could get diabetes.
- It’s not animal-friendly – Silverstone didn’t mention it in this section, but most white sugar is processed on bone char.
Whoa, that is a lot of information to process. I’ll admit, some of these points seems a bit extreme to me, but then again, I can completely relate to the feelings in the “roller coaster” point.
Silverstone is recommending cutting back on white sugar, and replacing it when possible, which I think is very reasonable. The scary thing is, most people probably don’t realize just how much sugar is added to almost everything processed. When they think of sugar, they think back on their day and say “I didn’t add sugar to anything!” But, it is already in so much. I suspect that is a huge contributor to Type II Diabetes and Child Obesity – but I am not well-versed on those topics.
What do you think about white sugar’s affect on your body? Can you relate to the “white sugar” roller coaster? Do you try to limit your white sugar intake?
Do you participate in Lent at all? What do you “give up” or how to you “give back” to the community?
I have to give a call out to my buddy sizzle – our conversation yesterday inspired me to finally write this!
*That’s Lent in quotation marks because I am not Catholic, nor do I follow a specific religion, but can appreciate the theory behind giving up something.
Themocracy
hmmmm I don’t really eat much white sugar to begin with, but for sure I could cut out more, and more sweets in general. I’ve never given up anything for lent, but interestingly enough . . . Brad gave up Ketchup for lent like 15 years ago and has never had it again since.
I try to stay away from added sugars altogether… if I consume too much of it, I can practically feel my teeth rotting out of my head! Still, I think a small amount of it is fine… everything is, in moderation. The problem is that people are way too reliant on it!
<3 <3
Oh gosh. I have had that nasty teeth feeling after eating too much sugar too. Yuck!
I didn’t know the very last fact that you put about white sugars “It’s not animal-friendly – Silverstone didn’t mention it in this section, but most white sugar is processed on bone char.”
I personally do think that processed sugar is addictive. I feel like whenever I have something that is sweet like cake, cookies, etc I can’t get enough and that week I end up baking more.. but if I satisfy my sugar craving with natural options like dates, raisins, sweet potato then I have no problem to have a serving and be done until days later I want something sweet.
If I try to do what you did and say for the next 40 days I won’t have any processed sugars that I want it even more.. I can control my daily intake by making an healthy choice one meal at a time.
I feel the same one – I cannot eat JUST ONE of ANY sweet! They’re so addictive.
I was surprised I didn’t want sugar more. You may be surprised. Once you stop eating those really sugary treats, your body doesn’t want them anymore!
White sugar is completely addictive. Once I kicked that habit I noticed how much better my skin was and how much better I felt overall. I am always nervous to start eating desserts again because I feel like I can spiral back to my old habits really easily.
I need to get this book!
I also don’t eat much white sugar and have never felt that white sugar rollar coaster before so I have never given it much thought to be honest. Thanks for the info, I didn’t know that it steals minerals and vitamins.
I’ve never given up anything for lent and can’t imagine how such a long time without chocolate would be like. 😉 I’m intrigued by the challenge but I’d definitely miss my choc.
However, I believe that giving up processed foods for that time would be much easier! Making bread is so much fun and EASY! My boyfriend and I made one every week but I don’t know why we gave up that tradition.. You should definitely try it :)!
Do you have any good bread recipes for me? We have a bread maker, but love to make things the old fashioned way too!
P.S. I have not had chocolate in a long time. I have not seen many vegan chocolate bars. SADNESS!!!!
I’ve never participated in lent. My family isn’t exactly religious. My dad and I are agnostic, I’m not sure what my sisters views are, and my mom just recently started going to church (her uncle is a preacher where she goes). I didn’t even really hear about lent until I was in about middle school (I have a friend who is catholic) and when she was doing it, I just thought it was weird. If I were to give something up for 40 days, it would just be for personal reasons. Giving up white sugar would definitely be something I’m interested in though. I have a really hard time turning down my sweet tooth and if it started to be natural for you after a while, maybe it would have the same effect on me! (affect? effect? umm.. lol)
LOL. You got it right with effect. Effect is a noun, and affect is the verb.
I bet giving it up for awhile would have a similar effect!
White sugar got cut right out when we changed our diet. I used organic cane sugar now or maple syrup or honey when I need a sweetener. I don’t like sweets much but after I started baking, I realized that what I didn’t like about sweets were just that, the sweet. I started playing around with recipes and realized that holy crap there is no reason for cookies to have 2cups of sugar. That’s a shitload of sugar for a wee cookie! I try to bake my stuff using as minimal sugar as I can. I also try to keep all my baking strictly vegan for loads of reasons that I won’t take up a ton of space in your comments explaining. LOL Now my sugar tolerance is even less than it was before! So much that I don’t even attempt eating something someone else has baked because I know it will be way too sugary for me (plus other nasties I’m sure it contains).
I want to read your loads of vegan baking reasons!!!
You know, this reminds me of a funny (I was pissed off at the time) story. We were excited to share our homemade wheat thins with family, and one family member said “These are so sugary.” Uhh… I think the whole batch has 3 TBL of sugar. I guess that is a lot? I wonder if you would find them too sugary. I couldn’t even taste the sugar. I thought the family member was just being a judgmental snob. Oops, did I just say that?
I wonder if my dad will catch this comment.
I’m giving up chocolate for Lent…but I think I’m going to give up sweets for a week or two (and Diet Coke – ahh! – for a week or two, as well). I am scared to give up sweets for 6 whole weeks – you are so brave! Did you find that your body stopped craving them after not having them for so long!
Oh yeah. I stopped craving them after a week. I could even bake them (for others) and not want them. I bet the same will happen for you!
LOL – I meant for that to end in a “?”.
Got it 😉
I tend to avoid white sugar but do replace it with sweeteners which is not the best solution. Plus I do eat chocolate.
I do love to bake and use sugar in that. I’ve been trying to cut it out except for special occasions. The thing is that it is everywhere.
I used to give up things for lent but not so much anymore.
You know how I feel about the white stuff. It wreaks havoc on me and I try to avoid it whenever I can. I’ve found a lot of alternative recipes that do not include it or white flour. I feel SO MUCH BETTER when I don’t eat it.
There is new information about agave though which is disheartening (I was using it to cook with). Check it out: http://myyearwithout.blogspot.com/2010/02/showdown-agave-vs-high-fructose-corn.html
Thanks for the link. I have not jumped on the agave bandwagon yet, but am not surprised to read those facts about it!
I really have no idea what white sugar does to me because I’ve never considered going without it. I’m also not willing to screw around with baking to compensate for honey…for now. It makes me sad that it’s so not good for you. 🙁
I had no idea either. And you are not going to see me changing my baking with applesauce and honey and shit like that! No siree, I want my BAD FOR ME food to taste AWESOME!!!
I’m not religious so I’ve never participated in Lent. It is intriguing to give something up for a length of time though.
I think most of the health issues described are really only associated with consuming (far) too much sugar. Which, of course, most people probably do. Consumed in moderation by a healthy (non-diabetic) individual, processed sugar (sucrose) can be handled effectively by the body. Likewise, if “natural sugar” (fructose) is consumed in abundance, it can have its own set of deleterious health effects.
The point being that moderation of sugar consumption is far more important than the type of sugar consumed. (Diabetics are a different story altogether and there is strong evidence that fructose is less dangerous than sucrose.)
I don’t think I could participate in any lifestyle which prevented me from enjoying the occasional Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen. 🙂
I agree with you – it is fine in moderation. But… how much is the normal American consuming a day? I would love to know!
I don’t really relate to the white sugar roller coaster because I don’t really eat much of it to begin with. I use agave, evaporated cane juice, maple syrup, and stevia as my sweeteners, so I have no need for the white stuff. Very informative post for those looking to give up white sugar. 🙂
i’m not a fan of white sugar, but i actually try to eat MORE of it just bc it scares me so much! i want to be able to avoid it bc i truly don’t enjoy it and prefer natural sugars instead of avoiding it bc i’m terrified ;). oooh child, if you lived in berkeley being vegan would not have anything to do with limiting your sugar intake, there are SO many vegan treats around here!!
Sniff sniff. I wish I had more vegan sweet treats. Why isn’t Chicago more trendy?
it’s amazing what we are used to eating. i like to try to eat as whole/ less processed / less sugar as possible but i don’t actively restrict/cut out just because then i would get to caught up in it. i do notice i feel better the closer to “real” that i eat.
I was all ready to ask you the following: Isn’t the whole point of Lent to do something that’s hard? Isn’t giving up something easy sort of beyond the point? I say, go for the no processed foods. And even if you have to cheat a little bit, I bet you’ll do better than you think.
And then I read you’re not Catholic. And so, to hell with it. Give up processed foods when you’re ready. And instead of strictly following Lent, do it like the yogis do. 30 days of Bikram. 101 days of Bikram. 50 days of un-processed foods!
Last year, sweet treats was a challenge at first, but really wouldn’t be now.
I can’t wait to do our no processed foods challenge. I think it will be a lot of fun!
I don’t eat much white sugar so when I do, I can feel it. It tastes way too sweet to me. Most of my sugar is from fruit. I do like honey sometimes. I try not to take too much of an absolutist view on these things. I like desserts full of white sugar from time to time, and I prefer to keep things that make me feel guilty to a minimum 🙂 In general, it probably is healthier to cut back on it, especially when there are so many delicious options without white sugar.
I’m the same way, I’m not Catholic but the idea of challenging yourself & giving something up sounds very good. This year and in years past, it’s pop. One year I did give up everything but H20 and that included Gatorade. I found that very hard to do with training for races. One year, I should try for something like chocolate.
As a non-religious person, I don’t participate in lent, but in the course of trying to eat healthier, I’ve removed a lot of white sugar foods from my diet. I still like the sweets here and there (like gummy worms, which I love, pudding and Mother’s Circus Animal cookies), but have reduced how often I eat those. Most others, I’ve completely removed from my diet.
Sugar tends to build up a false energy level and then drops it too quick, so I have issues eating a lot in a short period of time. I’ve found that to increase my energy, a bag of fruit snacks works better than any candy bar. That and a decent sized glass of water help me more than any soda or candy.
I definitely think white sugar is bad in the quantities that a lot of us, myself included, eat it. Like anything a little here and there won’t kill you, but very few of us only have a little here and there.
One of my issues with giving something up for a set period of time is exactly what happened to you…you just start doing it again once the time period is over! Okay, maybe not everyone, but I think it’s silly to say you’re only going to give something up for a set period of time and then just revert back to the way it was before. I could see saying “I’m going to try and do something for x number of days and if it works then I’ll keep doing it. If it doesn’t then I’ll go back” but to say that after that last day you will just automatically go back then I think it’s silly.
Could I give up white sugar? Maybe. Except for ice cream. Could I give up honey? Probably not. I’ve never tried, though, so I don’t know how it would affect me. I will say, though, that I’ve thought about dropping high fructose corn syrup from my diet but it seems to be hiding in everything! I just realized last night that it’s in the beans I buy when I make chili.
Yeah… that is why Lent can be kind of silly – if you don’t learn anything from it, and revert back to whatever “bad” things you were doing before. I wish I would have stuck with not eating sweets more. Because I did feel a lot better!
HFCS is every where! Muah ha ha. I bet it has an evil laugh.
Two years ago I gave up Sprite for Lent (the only soda type drink I even like). It was hard at first, but I never would drink it every day (usually like once a week) so it wasn’t impossible. After the 40 days, like you I was really excited to have a nice refreshing glass of sprite.. and well not only did it not taste good, but it made me feel sick! Since then, I’ve never gone back.
Great post! I don’t know what i want to do for Lent yet…I thought about giving up sweets but I really dont eat that much. I know that I don’t eat sugar a lot at all already but i still crave it sometimes which is weird because with some things that i have stopped eating my body doesnt crave those things and when I actually eat them i feel sick.
I think Alicia pretty much got it right in her description of how bad sugar is for us. In my course, I’ve been learning pretty much all that she went over and yes, sugar is shitty. Natural sugars in fruits and veggies is perfectly fine but the majority of processed stuff is not.
I’m not religious either but I’ve been considering doing something similar to Lent this year. I really like your idea of giving up processed foods! That could end up being really interesting.
I’m not Catholic but I was debating giving up sweets for 40 days. I believe I can do it…last couple months has been filled with to many baked items. I think i can survive with natural sweets from fruits. cross fingers.
You can do it!
I think that this is something we should all strive for. When you read all the bad things about white sugar it makes me even more determined to eat healthier!
You know me, I’m a white sugar junky and it turns me into a complete crazy person. I think its incredible that you gave it up for 40 days! P.S. I like you babbling.
LOL, thanks on the babbling 😛
Two awesome posts, the fasting one and this one. For the Kind Diet, I have not read the whole book, just bits and pieces and saw her on Oprah and I want to pick up the book b/c I like how she seems non dogmatic. I am a high raw vegan but I hate labels and only use it to covey in 3 words how i eat. Sounds like she’s the same.
Fasting. I dont intentionally fast. Sometimes life as a mom gets in the way and it’s 1pm and i havent eaten all day. Not by choice though 🙂
The comment you left re not caring about people’s food…same. It’s the people, not their food, i care about. And posts like these of yours are wonderful. Not nut butters and oatmeal, real life thoughts are what i enjoy 🙂
You will love Alicia’s book, especially since she is not all preachy, and is well, kind, and down to earth, like you!
Thank you for your kind comments on my post and for letting me speak my mind freely! It’s the people, like you said 🙂
I love your idea of going without processed foods for Lent. I do understand, however, the great preparation (mental and logistical) needed for this endeavor, unless you just plan on living on oatmeal for a month! If you do go without processed food, will you write about it regularly? This would be fabulous for those of us who have given this serious thought but haven’t tried yet…
Silverstone’s book sounds interesting. I’m curious about the chapter on White Sugar….does she give pointers for HOW to cut out sugar and corn syrups? I will have to look for this next time I’m at the book store.
I will definitely be writing about our no-processed foods challenge once we start. I think we are actually really close. We just need to set up the defining factors, like – can we eat canned beans, or do we have to use dry beans? Probably dry, but we need to decide in advance!
She does give recommended substitutes and mentions to cut back on sugar slowly, until you have it as removed from your diet as possible.
I have pretty much cut out white sugar from my diet and the difference is just crazy. I feel SO much better all around.
Obviously I dont completely refuse to eat sugar, I like my treats every now and then. But when I do eat it, Im bouncing off the walls.
But regularly, I dont eat it. I read the labels of everything I buy, and if I can get a no sugar version I will, otherwise I’ll usually go without.
I should try to cut out white sugar. I have a huge sweet tooth!
I feel like maybe if I didn’t have it so much I wouldn’t want it as much. Stress isn’t helping either. I wonder if less sugar would help my stress level? Maybe?
As for Lent, I’ve been reading a lot about people giving up sweet for Lent. While I’m not a hardcore Catholic (I am not observing Lent, nor did I go to Mass today), I was raised Catholic. It’s a little bothersome to me to see people use Lent as an excuse to diet. Lent is supposed to be a sacrifice, where you give something up and it reminds you of God. I wonder if people are following the rest of the Lent traditions (i.e. no meat on Ash Wednesday and no meat on Fridays). Ok I’m done ranting 🙂
Thanks for the info on sugar!
I think less sugar could help with the stress, at least a little! 🙂
I hope my post did not offend you! While I am not giving anything up this year, last year, I did come up with a few things that I thought of as sacrifices that would make me feel more grateful. Are a lot of people blogging about things they are giving up that just sounds like dieting?
LOL, my mom was all gung-ho about eating her fish last night. I kept telling her she should go all vegetarian on Wed. and Fri. Hee hee.
I’m not a big sweets eater, but my kids sure are! One of the changes I have made is to stop buying white sugar and replace it with sucanat instead. This is an easy change for baking. My friend Linda and I did a whole workshop on this topic last fall and there are actually a lot of other things you can do, some of which you mentioned. I think the main thing, though, is to change our palates to a lower tolerance for super sweet over processed foods…
What exactly is sucanat? I think maybe the book mentioned it. Did you write about it on your blog at all?
This is such a great and timely post. I was going to update my whole foods diet progress on my blog–I’ll have to link to this. I’ve found that by eliminating processed foods the ‘work’ (of watching sugar, sodium, etc) is virtually done for me. Sugar is also inflammatory which prolongs healing/recovery time and promotes autoimmune diseases like RA.
Ooo, I cannot wait to read your update! 🙂
And thanks for the additional info on sugar!
I’ve been making it a point to not purchase anything with HFCS in it; in general I’ve been successful, even if it meant just not having any barbeque sauce anymore (HFCS was listed as the top or #2 ingredient in every bottle/brand I looked it! Horrors!!). One thing that’s NOT gone well is I totally forget about it when I’m satiating the cookie craving. Maybe because I *know* it’s an item that’s not good for me, I don’t even bother looking at the ingredients? Weird, when everything else gets scrutinisation before purchase :p
For my March month of resolutions, I’m thinking of focusing on cutting out sweets/(added)sugar; *and* adding a few days of fasting. Your posts have helped inspire me, thanks!! 🙂
Thank you 🙂
It is scary how HFCS ends up in everything! 🙁 Good for you for watching out for it!
Love this post! You know I just got this book, and I am reading it now and it is great. I generally avoid white sugars, and if i do consume it it would be in tasting a baked good ive made. I love using agave or maple syrup but somtimes it can be more expensive! 🙁
I am so happy you are reading the book! 🙂 Already being vegan, I felt like it was still opening my eyes!
I want to try using those alternatives to sugar too, but I have a very limited budget. Wah!
It’s interesting to me that nobody (I think? I may have skimmed the comments too quickly…) thinks of “non-treats” as sources of white sugar. Like non-whole grain pasta. White bread. Most yogurt. Other refined carbs.
THAT is what was hard for me. I didn’t realize how much sugar I was ingesting before because I didn’t think about these non-dessert items as “sugar”. But they are, and cutting those things out of my diet was hard and at times painful, but wow, what a difference! I don’t think I’ve had white pasta in close to 2 years now. I don’t miss it. But chocolate? Oh, I still have to give in on that one. And the occasional cookie. 😉
Right after I posted this I realized I wasn’t making a lot of sense. Regular pasta doesn’t contain table sugar per se’, but it contains the same kind of carbohydrates that break down the same way. Everything else I mentioned does have sugar though. 🙂
Don’t worry! I knew what you meant. That is actually where I am trying to cut out sugar now – in processed foods. I don’t mind adding a bit to make sweets. I know! I am so bad. Shh!