I’d say for me there were two phases: the actual abuse of sugar and then the realisation of what I was doing (as well as my body showing me pretty directly).
Growing up I ate as much as any other kid and into my late teens I was a “normal” size. I think at university I started getting exposed to bad choices, started drinking regularly (because that’s how you’d meet people), and ate a lot of carb heavy food, but still didn’t really have a malformed appetite for sugar. Then later, I was a vegetarian and then a full-on vegan. I was pretty hardcore about it, and it was all for reasons of morality rather than health. I mention this because some years later when I went back to eating meat, I was making up for lost time – I had much more of a savoury tooth than a sweet one. I loved burgers, fish and chips, any way I could get meat or fish quickly in big quantities. I think that’s honestly where the downward journey began, because with those fast servings of protein you’d get a lot of carbs, and cravings would go up. Soon I’d be hunting down the best fries and almost treating the burger as a side (weird, I know). If I had a good day, I’d reward myself with a cake or some chocolate. If I had a bad day, I’d make myself feel better with a cake or some chocolate. And ice cream. You get the idea.
Where I ended up was, I felt I was eating a reasonable diet and not in excess, and occasionally treating myself (like I saw everyone else doing), yet my weight was gradually climbing up. It felt unfair, like I was missing something, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I never once thought it was tied to excess carb or sugar consumption as I was just eating like everyone else.
That’s when the second phase came in. I must have pushed things way too far because my body started directly telling me I had a sugar problem. I remember it was in the autumn a few years back because I was out with my family picking pumpkins for Halloween. I needed to pee so much during the day that it was weird - I needed to use the bathroom every hour. Just like that, out of nowhere. I remember buying a glucometer and seeing crazy readings, like 300-400 mg/dL after eating “normal” meals. At that point I was doing really [spoiler]fucking[/spoiler] stupid things as well like eating an entire bar of chocolate at night when walking the dogs (those big Lindt bars you can buy) and then drinking a beer when I got back home. Duh.
The peeing was noticeable, I also felt very lightheaded at times and had a few occasions where I nearly passed out just from laughing at something funny. I dragged myself to the doctor, worried, and that’s where everything started making sense and I took things seriously. Sugar was a big problem. I started avoiding sugar in my diet (low carb, not keto) and lost a lot of weight, but gradually sugar took hold again and I piled my weight back on. Then just over a year ago I woke up again, saw my doctor, confirmed I was back squarely where I’d been before, and needed to do something about it. I read up online, discovered keto and the 2KD podcast, and over a few months got the confidence to take the next step. The rest is history.
I really hate sugar and everything it did to me. Even though things are on a good track now, I still think how much better the last decade could have been if I’d never become so obsessed with it.
Paul, we are a crazy group, we humans on this earth, and stories like this (for better or worse) are priceless.
