The 5 Steps Of The Bad Sugar Cycle: How Sugar Makes Me Sick

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From as early as I can remember, I have always been addicted to sugar. In all of its forms. Be it bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, OR chocolate and all other sweets and desserts. Later, in my 20s, sugar became my go-to whenever I was faced with ANY KIND OF STRESS. Have some emotional stress? Go to NUTELLA. Have some short deadline for a study assignment? Have some HONEY. Stressed out at work? Why not eat BROWNIE? Oh yes, sugar made my LIFE SO MUCH SWEETER, and I could NEVER have imagined ever being able to live without it!

Sugar Makes Me Sick (literally)

I have always been prone to catching colds. From a congested nose to anginas and sinusitis, there were some phases of my life where I did not know what it was to breathe freely. Conventional wisdom assumed that I was simply having a cold, or did not have enough sleep. But it was only in my mid-twenties that I started understanding the reason for all this. Once again, I was under much pain due to strong sinusitis. My strong headache and fever made me skip work and go to the doctor instead. I was new in the city back then, and just randomly picked the nearest doctor to my place. And for the first time, the doctor told me he would NOT GIVE ME ANTIBIOTICS.

I was puzzled.

All these years, I had consistently been receiving antibiotics against anginas, sinusitis or a simple cold. The doctor explained to me that the underlying reason for my sickness was that my immune system was down. And the CENTER OF OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE THE INTESTINE. His prescription to me back then was the following:

one week off work to rest and catch up with sleep
one week without sugar and alcohol
probiotics
eating whole-grains instead of white bread

And it worked. I recovered, and for some time after this, I felt like a rock! This was 6 years ago, but let me tell you that it was a turning point when it comes to my health. I since then have been under VARIOUS DIETS prescribed by different doctors to help my intestine re-build its bacterial flora. And although these diets often vary, they have ONE THING IN COMMON: You have to DRASTICALLY REDUCE YOUR SUGAR INTAKE. The results have been amazing. I have now observed an inevitable cycle leading to sickness when I start exaggerating with sugar. Since I am a sugar addict, I cannot stick long to “only a piece of chocolate a day”. I always end up eating the whole bar or more in the long run. And what happens then is what I would call the BAD SUGAR CYCLE:

1. I start eating lots of sweets and desserts (e.g. when it’s Christmas time)

2. My inner body starts feeling ACIDIC. It burns a little in my stomach and throat.

3. My nasal cavities become CONGESTED.

This one is very interesting. When my body already feels very fragile and acidic, it can even be an INSTANT REACTION to food that is not good for me. For instance, only a SMALL SIP OF WINE will cause my nose to be congested instantly and sometimes even a strong headache to be there in a second! Now that I am aware of this, I pay close attention and try to de-escalate the situation before I get really sick

4. Next, if I keep eating sugar, I start having a THROAT ACHE.

This, I have found out, is the ultimate signal of my body that I SHOULD QUIT SUGAR RIGHT NOW. And if I don’t…

5. Up to 24 hours later, I BECOME REALLY SICK: angina or sinusitis with fever.

There, my best way out is to quit sugar completely, to fast a little bit with broth and then eat mainly cooked vegetables for a few days. I also need tons of sleep and rest, without stress to be able to fully recover.

You Are Particularly Vulnerable During Festivities

Now I KNOW WHY I WAS ALWAYS GETTING SICK AFTER CHRISTMAS OR DURING VACATION. That’s when I most exaggerate with SUGAR!

I am a quite SOCIAL person and hate to say no to food I am being kindly offered. I also want to “be part of it” and eat and drink WITH the others and LIKE the others. But I think this is a natural tendency we ALL HAVE. It requires a lot of awareness and effort to learn how to say “NO” to sugar FOR YOUR OWN SAKE. What helped me was to see how SUGAR WAS ROBBING ME MY FREE TIME, hence also my TIME WITH OTHERS. Hence, in my opinion, it is a good trade-off to feel a little less social on one side, to be able to BE PRESENT and contribute MUCH MORE on the other side. The BAD SUGAR CYCLE now only happens to me on occasion. When, for some reason, I decided not to listen to the signals. Normally, I stop sugar when my body starts feeling over-acidic, or latest when a very slight throat ache appear.

My WAY OUT of SUGAR and Back to Health:

I cut sweets and desserts out. I switch to more veggies and less white carbohydrates. And it works MIRACLES! I am back on my feet completely after one day or two. Of course, everyone reacts differently to sugar. You should always seek advice from your doctor in the first place. But it does not hurt to also try out to cut out the sugar if the symptoms and the cycle I have described above seem familiar to do.