Are you addicted to sugar, grains or sweeteners? Maybe you say you are not addicted … but can you stop? Prove it. Take the challenge!
- Are you still addicted to sugar or grain-based products?
- Are you still addicted to artificial sweeteners?
Take the challenge! Be sugar, grain and sweetener… FREE! Break the chains that bind you, keeping you from better health.
Our bodies do not require dietary sugar, grains nor sweeteners, so why not break the addiction? You have absolutely nothing to lose… and everything to gain.
Zero Carb Challenge
To join in the fun, I’ll take a Zero Carb challenge. The plan is for at least 30 days.
I follow a VERY low carb meal plan, it’s a meal plan that has allowed me to THRIVE for almost eight years. I eat between 10-15 grams of carbs most days… some more and some less. I do not believe we need plants to survive or thrive, I eat them because I like them.
Am I addicted to plants? I don’t think so, but I don’t really know.
I will go for days and not eat plants (veggies, nuts or fruits) but rarely do I go a week or more without plants. When I do eat plants its usually low-carb veggies like broccoli, avocado, pecans, kale etc.
Way back in 2010 I went two weeks on “Zero Carb”, (here is a post on that experiment), I have not done it since. Back then I felt great on Zero Carb, but it was only two weeks.
I started the Diabetes-Warrior.net Facebook Group with several long time friends a few months ago.
There have been tensions within the group in regards to sweeteners. Some like me, do not like them and there are others who use sweeteners every day. A discussion began about sweeteners and I stated my long time view…
“I do not use sweeteners … and my hope is that no one would.
In my opinion sweeteners (artificial or ‘real’) continue the addiction or at the very least prolong it. Therefore … I am against them.
The low carb boards and forums are full of people who never break the addiction… and some fall off the wagon never to get back on. It’s not worth it for me.
We have never set a group policy about sweeteners and I know that about half the admins use them, and about half do not.
Therefore posts about them are ok… although I would prefer not to see them. And comments against them are ok as well.“
To add to that…
- I am against sweeteners because they prolong the addiction to … sweets. The arch enemy of diabetics. Plain and simple … that’s why I am against them.
- Sweeteners (real or artificial) add nothing of value. People do not need them to survive… and there have been some studies showing problems with artificial sweeteners.
- I do eat foods that are sweet on rare occasions ‘out of season’ but typically I only eat berries in the summer and a few wild grapes in the late summer early fall.
I often hear people defend their sweetener usage with terms such as …
“Yeah, I use Stevia every day but I’m not addicted. I can quit when I want.”
or
“I can’t give up Stevia in my coffee”
and even …
“I need to add Stevia in my coffee.”
For those they may not know, the above is classic ‘addiction speak’. It’s things people addicted to drugs and alcohol say… and it’s those things that their enablers will say…. I know.
The Challenge
I wanted to challenge people to give up sweeteners … but I wanted to give up something too, hoping people would join in.
Is there something that you are addicted to that you would like to remove?
If you take sweeteners routinely daily or several days a week… but say you are not addicted to them… GIVE IT UP! Quit for two weeks…. and see if you are addicted.
I will quit coffee…something I am addicted to. We will start Monday.
State in the comments what you want to quit… for two weeks.
If you use sweeteners … but claim you are not addicted… time to fess up! :)
So there you have it.
I know I am addicted to coffee and I am giving it up for two weeks. Done deal! :)
If you say you are not addicted to (Fill in the blank) but consume it every day… find out if you are addicted and give it up for two weeks… I dare you. :)
I would hope that you would give up items that we know are causing you harm.
Give up grains, starches and sugars…. go ‘low carb primal’!! :)