How does sugar affect you?

[Cavecloth.com]

I have a customer that is having a horrible time with inflammation issues. He is a closet candy lover and will have a candy bar three times a week, at nighttime.

He complains about feeling bloated and inflamed and I keep telling him to cut out the sugar!

Have you had an experience where sugar has inflamed your body to the point where you're uncomfortable enough to ask for help?

[TylerDurden]

We already mostly avoid inflammation-inducing foods like cooked foods, so that a little sugar in the form of an occasional doughnut once a week/month/year or whatever  doesn't seem to harm the likes of me. I'm sure that if I were eating a cooked diet again, that a little extra sugar would be a disaster.

[eveheart]

Have you had an experience where sugar has inflamed your body to the point where you're uncomfortable enough to ask for help?

I realize that I'm reading between the lines of your query, but for me, cutting out sugar, grains, starches, and cooked foods was something that I did myself, never asking for help. Once I identified the cause of my misery, I welcomed the solution. I don't think I would have done this at a younger age - I wasn't miserable enough then.

I had to confront my demons first before I could cut out the offending foods free of cheating. The demons are the thoughts that intrude, such as "How come everybody else can eat sugar and I can't?" and "Just a little cheat won't hurt, and I deserve it now because (insert lame excuse here)."

I watched my mother decline for decades. Nobody could have helped her because she did not want to help herself. Your customer sounds like that sort of person. Let him eat his sugar and complain, but don't listen to him. If he is eating candy bars and then telling you about it, he is playing some kind of sick "rescue me" game. Do you want to play that game with him?

[raw]

eveheart, I m totally agree with u. One thing must we should remember that, it is more difficult job just advising the patient , no to eat sugar. Usually that does not work  like. Eating raw protein and fat beginning of the day, can cut off ultimate sugar addiction

[raw-al]

If I eat sugar my teeth usually start to get sensitive.

Sugar is one of the worst things there is to eat. It causes gas, dizziness, pains, you name it, because it gives bacteria a huge ultra easy to digest feed. No doubt there is other things but it forms alcohol in your gut just like it does in a wine bottle.

In it's raw form it may not be as bad because of the coatings and so forth it has naturally.

[Adora]

Wow, it's insidiously easy to forget how horrible sugar made me feel, and raw natural sugars didn't make me feel bad, just not good. As a diabetic, I'm used to living with a range of BS from 75-250/daily. When, I'm super strict and all of the planets are aligned, I'm under 150, then I'm amazed at how much better I feel.
    Point is, IMO sugar addicts get used to feeling bad, but no matter how bad it gets, the withdrawal and sugar crashes feel more urgent and scream louder and more irratioally than any desire to be healthy in the moment they are occcuring.
     I looked so aweful after a binge, I would explain my resulting agony as molten glass running through my veins. It is hell. I had to get clean for a couple of weeks and rest, because the detoxes would wipe me out too. Then, I was able to think clearly. I have pages of notes to myself on my iPhone. Some motivating, others terrifying. When, I've had cravings I read them to help me through it. Not one bite of sugar since Nov. and I still get cravings. I wanted cigarette for 10 years after I quit cold turkey. One day at a time. Good luck to your friend.

[Cavecloth.com]

I appreciate all the replies. I am on a mission to help this individual get off the sugar. I know for me, when I went paleo, all my "mysterious" problems just went away. I began to feel more level and didn't have any crashes during the day. If it weren't for paleo, I would still be overweight and miserable!

Sugar is a drug and I have got to convince this customer that it truly is addicting.

Thanks for the input 

[raw-al]

I appreciate all the replies. I am on a mission to help this individual get off the sugar. I know for me, when I went paleo, all my "mysterious" problems just went away. I began to feel more level and didn't have any crashes during the day. If it weren't for paleo, I would still be overweight and miserable!

Sugar is a drug and I have got to convince this customer that it truly is addicting.

Thanks for the input 

Unfortunately none of us are capable or should we be, in charge of another human being. Not even our children. People have to live their own lives. You can lead a horse to water, but if you try to make them drink you will be rightfully told to MYOB.

It's like the thing about ex-smokers being the worst PITA.

Show by example and let the person find out for themselves, just like you did.

WE all know somebody who has tried to talk us into some hare-brained idea and what we thought of them. They may have been right and maybe we eat our words but......

[eveheart]

Point is, IMO sugar addicts get used to feeling bad, but no matter how bad it gets, the withdrawal and sugar crashes feel more urgent and scream louder and more irrationally than any desire to be healthy in the moment they are occurring.

You just gave the official definition of addiction!

...I have got to convince this customer that [sugar] truly is addicting.

@Cavecloth - Karl Jung is quoted as saying, "What you resist persists." In my own words, "If you give a suggestion more than once, that's nagging. Nagging is a form of resisting someone else's behavior. If Karl Jung is right on this point, and he is, you are creating persistent sugar addiction in this customer.

I have watched silently as my own children went through and overcame various addictions. If you really want to help your customer, or anybody else, learn how to help people in a way that leads them into the truth.

Okay, one more quotation, this time from Benjamin Franklin: "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." So, yeah, even if your customer does quit sugar based on your nagging, he will still think that sugar is not truly addicting.

[Cavecloth.com]

I have watched silently as my own children went through and overcame various addictions. If you really want to help your customer, or anybody else, learn how to help people in a way that leads them into the truth.

This is so true eveheart. I agree with you. It's just hard to watch this person go through all the peaks and valleys, when a simple solution can ease their pain....

I just want to help, but it's obvious that I need a different approach.

Thanks for the perspective