10 Ways Reducing Sugar Changed Our Lives

My genetics and those of my husband dictated that we were unlikely to be skinny. But watching our parents and grandparents age (and die too young, some of diet-related illnesses such as diabetes) caused us to want to find a prescription for a healthy old age.

I tried to follow the dietary recommendations set down by the federal government. I learned more and more about whole grains, legumes, and low fat. We tried vegetarianism, macrobiotics, Weight Watchers, vigorous exercise programs. It didn’t make a difference. Over time, we continued to get fatter and fatter, and sadder and sadder.

When we moved to Baltimore in 1991, my mother came to live with us. She was suffering from years of severely neglected diabetes. As I learned to care for her, I made regular visits to the local drugstore. In those days, the shelf containing medicines and food products for diabetics was the size of a small chest of drawers. By the time we left in 2007, the supplies for diabetics took up both sides of an entire aisle, as the country got sicker and fatter.

Another failed piece of “wisdom” until recent years is that the reason people are fat is that they have no willpower (to push away from the table) and that they are lazy (so they don’t exercise enough). We who were overweight and obese decided to believe this, laughing shamefacedly, shrugging our shoulders, and continuing to periodically starve ourselves to try to achieve the bodies of “normal people.” The approach had little to do with health, and was doomed to failure.

My husband and I continued our research. We all have known for some time that refined sugar is not good for us. But knowing this, and getting past the addiction, especially when sugar is secreted into so many food items under different names, is a very difficult process. The approach that finally worked for us had most to do with reducing sugar in our diets over a period of time. (I have eliminated refined sugar from my diet, and my husband is cutting back. While we still enjoy small helpings of fruit, honey, date 

honey, and maple syrup, refined sugars are mostly history for us.) We are both seeing results. 

Here are some of the dramatic changes in our bodies and health since we started this program:

• We are losing weight, without starving. I have no need nor desire to snack between meals.
• Our health is improving. Our recent blood tests show that our bodies are doing fine with this new style of eating. My husband is no longer pre-diabetic.
• Movement is less painful. The chronic arthritic pain both of us struggled with has diminished.
• We get sick less often, and less severely. Even pre-COVID (before we started being around people and their germs less frequently), I stopped getting bronchitis, possibly due to reduced inflammation, according to anti-sugar nutritionists.
• We’re minimizing clutter. Since this feels like a lifestyle change we can maintain for the rest of our lives, rather than a short-term diet, we’re getting rid of the excess clothing we kept around for years to deal with our ever-expanding waistlines.
• Our skin is looking healthier and more toned.
• Our budget is more manageable. Those snacks and processed foods cost a lot more than we realized.
• We have more energy. It is a pleasure to walk together as we used to, without as much discomfort or shortness of breath.
• Our intimacy has improved. It is no secret that as we age, the sex drive diminishes. But since we started our new way of eating, our hormones are conspiring toward romance much more than in years past.
• Food tastes better. Who could have known how much our taste buds are blunted by the overconsumption of sugar? Since we have made this change, we can taste the nuances in flavors we have been missing for years.