The world of health and nutrition information is really quite full of bad advice. Most of the places that you would think of first to get this kind of information will be the most frequent dispensers of this bad advice–eat less calories, exercise more. The worst thing about that advice is that for most of the people that need help the most, it is least likely to be successful.

Eating sugar and starches is addictive. When I personally am craving sugar it is behavior that I am willing to sneak to do. All of my friends know that I am anti-sugar, anti-carb, anti-processed food. When I really really crave sweets I have been known to hide the act, to do it in secret, to feel shame as I did it. These are hallmark behaviors of the addict. If you are eating all of your sweets in plain sight then that behavior is not unhealthy. The second you try to do it out of the sight of friends and family, you have made the jump into pathological behavior.

It is so easy to be addicted to food. Being addicted to food is so much worse than being addicted to some illegal drug or to alcohol. Food is required to live. Telling a food addict that they have to eat less of it is so unproductive. Especially since people who are overweight are not that way because of how many calories they eat in a day. People gain weight by eating carbohydrates. People who eat carbohydrates are going to gain weight because eating carbs makes you crave carbs. That cycle is not present with any other food type. Eating steak does not leave you hungry for steak in an hour or two. Eating meat leaves you satisfied for hours. Eat meat and potatoes and you will be hungry before your next meal. It’s not the steak.

What is needed for us sugar addicts is a group that is not going  to recommend counting calories. Counting calories is foolish, because all calories are not created the same. There are those who will tell you that if your ‘calories in are greater than your calories out’ you will gain weight. For them your body is a simple boiler, where every calorie you eat (input) must be balanced by every calorie out (work). Your body is not a simple machine, though. Some of the calories you eat will leave in your waste. One example of this is for the Type I diabetic–they cannot metabolize carbohydrates at all. They produce no insulin. The sugars that they eat end up in their urine. This is one example of calories in, calories out in waste. Some calories you eat will end up in your stool. If you eat lots of carbs, this is where the fats that you eat which are not being used end up. As a simple energy balance, calories in/out works, but you have to account for all of the ways you lose them. Exercise is but one way.

The really good advice for the overweight, obese, and over eaters that are looking for it is this–stop eating carbohydrates. That leaves the question, “How?” Well, my own personal journey took me to the 21 Day Sugar Detox route. The link to my experience is in my WordPress blog found at dcarmack.com.

If you need more personal assistance, if you need a group to be in, if you need the support of a community of like-minded and like purposed men and women, you might try a program called “Restart”. Here is some information on the program:

What is The RESTART® Program?
RESTART® is a 5-week program with a 3-week sugar detox built into it. Part nutritional class, part sugar detox, and part support group, it is a powerful and empowering combination for success!

Discover how good you can feel when you give your body a vacation from processing the toxin sugar! You will be fully supported as you go through a gentle, yet powerful sugar detox that will remove the negative effects of sugar from your body and your life.

You will also learn:

How to prepare mentally, physically, and emotionally to make successful changes to your diet.
How Digestion is supposed to work and simple ways to enhance yours.
What sugar really does in your body, the stages of dysglycemia (Hypoglycemia, Hyperglycemia, Insulin Resistance, Type 2 Diabetes), and effective ways to reduce your risk of these conditions.
The truth about FATS and why healthy fats are essential for healthy Blood Sugar Regulation, as well as your general good health. You will learn which fats to eat, which fats to avoid, and why!
How to move forward from the sugar detox and re-introduce foods in a healthful way back into your daily diet.

If that sounds familiar, Dear Reader, it is because you have been reading similar advice and facts on these pages for many months! I can wholeheartedly advise you to go to this location, read more about the program and then sign up, or ask my good friend Heather Page for more information. She is full of it.

I can advise you that you should quit eating sugar. You might be the kind of person that can take that advise and just do it. I could not. I needed a group of people around me on the same journey. When I did it, it was my wife, and our best friends. The four of us supported one another and compared notes. I began to blog about it–this blog. I hope my efforts have been a help to you and yours, but they have definitely been a help to me and mine. If you need a group then look to Heather and her group as one option. It really does help to have friends in need right along side you.