What’s all this about sugar bombs?

I love when my work flows together. . . when this teaching leads to that concept and all of a sudden another piece of the health puzzle comes into crisp focus.sugar and your health
That’s the experience I’m having this week.
Just last weekend I taught the Immune Intensive as part of my Holistic Nutrition Lab training for health coaches. In just a few short days, I’ll be co-leading the You’re Not the Boss of Me! detox (renamed from Sweet Victory in March of 2013) with superstar Canadian chef, Ricki Heller. This week I get to sit between the two worlds of immunity and sugar. I can connect the dots and find the excellent melding of the two ~ sensibility that blends as beautifully as cacao and almond butter or apples and cinnamon, leading to the purity of one of those AHA moments.
The amalgamation of the realms of immunity and sugar lead to one place: inflammation. . .
The ultimate sugar bomb.
Let’s start with inflammation
Thousands of years ago the Romans described the major components of inflammation:

  • calor (heat)
  • rubor (redness)
  • tumor (swelling)
  • and dolor (pain)

All four of these symptoms are due to increased blood supply to the infected area.
Then comes the bomb.
Inflammation is a key part of the immune response and as we now hear more and more, it’s the root cause of all disease. Diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune disorders and cancer are linked back to chronic and invisible inflammation that lies just below the body’s pain threshold. But inflammation is also to blame for these common health challenges:

  • body aches and pains
  • congestion
  • irregular elimination
  • indigestion
  • skin outbreaks
  • frequent infections
  • advanced aging
  • arthritis
  • weight gain & weight loss resistant

That’s stuff that’s effecting just about all of us!
So how do you turn off the heat, redness, swelling and pain when you might not even know it’s there?
Now let’s talk about sugar
The cool thing about diet is that its’ well, cooling! Diet has the power to either turn up the heat or put out the fires, those fires of inflammation.
Foods can either be pro-inflammatory, exciting those states of chronic disease or foods can be anti-inflammatory, suppressing that entire response.
The coolest part is that you make the vote!
Sugar causes a rise in your blood sugar. A rise in your blood sugar releases the bomb, resulting in a burst of inflammatory chemicals that spread throughout the cells in your body like wildfire. There are many of these inflammatory chemicals, including ones you might have heard about like histamine, prostaglandins, kinins and interleukins. These chemicals cause the inflammatory fallout, a cascade of internal responses that require your immune system to try to go do some non-stop wildfire clean-up.
But the effects of sugar don’t just hit you on a cellular level. They bonk you over the head on a psychological level as well, locking you in a yo-yo pattern of deprivation and indulgence that you just can’t seem to break, doing damage to your poor psyche and your cells.
And this is precisely why I’m so excited about You’re Not the Boss of Me!.
You’re Not the Boss of Me! is the ultimate sugar detox. By addressing your psychological ties to sugar you not only find peace of mind in your ability to end an addictive relationship with your snack-attacks, but you also find the peace of mind that you’re putting your body’s fire department to work, quelling the inflammation that can lead to increased risk of disease and accelerated aging.
Here’s what some previous You’re Not the Boss of Me! Detoxers have said. . .
Last year at this time I was eating a chocolate candy bar a day, at least. After doing the You’re Not the Boss of Me Detox last July, I’ve not only given up sugar, but I don’t even crave it or want it anymore. It’s changed my life – I know I sound like a commercial but it’s true! My moods are much more even, I have more energy, make better decisions for myself and in general have been enjoying an overall contentment void of all the roller coaster rides on the sugar highs and lows train! Thank you for your good work.
~ Jenna Dalton
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to do this Sugar Detox! Lack of sun, lots going on at work, feeling like I was just coping and not really feeling like I was thriving all led to a really bad backslide into sugar and caffeine consumption. I was really glad to get more guidance around kicking the sugar habit and to latch on to a community of people going through the same struggles. I came in committed, but very very concerned that I wasn’t going to be able to pull it off. And SURPRISE – it’s been relatively easy so far! I feel really good. Even times when I’ve ended going longer than I meant to without eating something, I’ve felt fine, no serious cravings or crashing feeling! Feeling good, and feeling good about what I put in my body, and not beating myself up for eating “BAD” things, make every part of the effort well worth while. A million thanks to Andrea and Ricki for this opportunity!
~ Linda B
What will you say?

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Functional Nutrition Alliance provides the comprehensive online Functional Nutrition training in the Science & Art of the Functional Nutrition practice. Learn to address the roots of your clients’ suffering with client education, diet & lifestyle modifications.