After an entire career of accepting sugar as a performance enhancement in athletes’ diets; after a decade of fighting fear-mongering anti-carbohydrate propaganda; after years of helping athletes heal themselves of disordered eating by enjoying freedom around all food including sugar… everything suddenly changed on May 20th, 2023.
My son Levi was unexpectedly born with a rare metabolic disorder in which his body cannot metabolize sugar … of any kind.
I won’t get into the complicated nature of his disease but the nutritional component relative to this conversation is that sugar truly is toxic to his liver. He cannot metabolize anything other than pure 100% glucose, which for reference is never found solely in nature. All the other sugars: sucrose, fructose, lactose, maltose, and galactose set his body down a series of complicated and unhealthy metabolic pathways leading to liver failure and life threatening hypoglycemia. Let me say this more simply: No fruit. No honey. No brown sugar. No raw sugar. No milk. No greek yogurt. No beer even after he turns 21… And frankly there are even some vegetables that are too high in sugar for his body: No carrots, no sweet potato, no beets … the list of what he CANT eat seems to go on and on.
People often speak of the ‘sacrifice of motherhood’ and I’ve felt that on many levels throughout my journey with two young boys. Levi’s condition and his dietary restrictions plummeted me into the sacrificial offerings of motherhood on another level.
I would do anything for my children to be safe and thrive.
So, one year ago I decided I needed to be 100% sugar-free too.
I decided we needed a sugar-free household for my baby to grow up in a safe and supportive environment.
As an experienced dietitian, I had the education and resources to do this in the most reasonable and healthy way possible. If anybody could do this in a way that was NOT going to lead to an eating disorder…it would be me! I was confident in my abilities as a dietitian and I was up for the challenge.
I started by reducing fruit. I only bought bananas (my toddler’s favorite) and the occasional berries, lemons and limes but that was it; a drastic reduction from our previous fruit intake and of course I stopped buying all fruit juices and sugary beverages too. Water, seltzer water, and milk were our only beverages and I also added unsweetened plant-based milk to the mix. I switched to plain unflavored plant-based yogurt. I stopped buying graham crackers and granola bars for my toddler and opted for plain pretzels and homemade sugar free snacks instead. And a very personal sacrifice: I stopped buying ice cream. I tried savory night snacks like nuts, popcorn, cheese, and protein shakes.
My eyes were opened and frustrated by the high amounts of sugar in nearly every food product on the grocery store shelves. Even plain old-school Cheerios have 1g of sugar per serving - and they don’t taste sweet! “Why is there sugar in this?” became a common saying of mine all throughout the week.
My frustration only worsened as I continued …
Just a few weeks into this attempt of a sugar-free household, my husband suddenly came home from the store with chocolate milk. It frustrated me that he wasn’t on board and was a cause of tension in our relationship.
When we went to a holiday event with the kids there was always candy and sweets. I didn’t want to deprive my toddler of his normal eating experiences and fascination with candy. But the guilt I felt for allowing this into our house, anxiety over building a sugar addiction, and pressure to monitor portions overwhelmed me.
And eventually as a full-time stay-at-home mom, caretaker, and part-time working mom, I naturally ran out of time to make homemade-everything. I had to go back to buying a few store bought snacks to make life easier and more manageable. But even when choosing the highest quality brands, I was amazed at the high sugar content in nearly all foods - especially baby foods that are so often made with fruit purees. Of course, I knew these were healthy products, but not for Levi, and therefore my frustration continued: “Why does this have so much sugar in it?” Nobody could answer me.
To give more options for Levi and the family, I began to choose some of the food products labeled “zero sugar” - often marketed to keto dieters and carb-conscious individuals. However, I was shocked to see an extremely high content of sugar alcohols including erythritol. Not only do I question the safety of providing these products to young children and adults alike, but they truly tasted awful. Both my husband and I could not make it through a bowl of Kellogg’s “Eat Your Mouth Off 0 sugar 100% plant-based fruity flavored" cereal. We dumped it in the trash and washed our mouths out to get rid of the unnatural texture and taste.
I was eating decent carb portions at my meals and fueling well for life and sport but I just wanted something sweet. I’ve always loved chocolate! In an attempt not to deprive myself, I bought Lily’s sugar free chocolate chips and sugar free ice cream.
And then the stomach issues started…
Scientifically I know this is a side effect of sugar alcohols. I’ve experienced it in small doses in my past after eating a Quest bar or something of similar nutrition with sugar alcohols and sugar replacements. But now, after eating these “fake sugars” multiple times a week, my stomach was experiencing more bloating and gas than usual and it was uncomfortable!
And while these negative side effects were popping up (stomach problems, lack of time and resources, other people in the house having different needs & wants, feeling guilt or worry or frustration) the truth is, there were zero positive side effects.
No change in my performance or energy levels or body composition. No change in my joint pain or my blood biomarkers or my sleep.
And remember …I do NOT have an issue with blood sugar control. I do NOT have the disease my son has. So, after a year of experimentation I’ve come back to the same conclusion that I’ve always known to be true:
What is right for one person’s health and nutrition isn’t always right for another.
What is healthy for one may or may not be for another.
And health goes beyond nutrition and the body and includes social, relationship, mental, and financial health as well.
It is not healthy for myself, my husband or my toddler to live a sugar-free life.
What is healthy for Levi is not healthy for the rest of us.
I had to go back to real sugar.
The truth is, 1 year ago I was dealing with a bit of post-partum birth trauma and the stress of a medically complicated child which temporarily confused me into thinking I had to follow the same diet as him. But as time went on, and I realized how difficult and potentially ‘unhealthy’ it was, I scaled back. This turned into an experiment to learn moreso than a true change in lifestyle.
We are not a sugar-free household. We are simply sugar-conscious. And here are two good things that came out of this well-intentioned, though failed, attempt at cutting out sugar:
I branched outside my comfort zone and tried new products, recipes, meals & snacks. Though I still love ice cream and have re-incorporated it… I also remembered my love for salty popcorn or savory trail mix with nuts in the evening! I’ve also tried more plant-based products that I likely never would have before. There’s a big variance in brands but I'm happy to have found a few yogurt and cheese options that we all enjoy! Here are a few foods our family now eats regularly that we didn't 1 year ago:
Forager Cashew based Yogurt
Violife dairy free cheese & cream cheese spread
Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk & Silk soy milk
Homemade coconut milk popsicles - we do it without fruit for Levi but many recipes online mix fruit in as well!
We make homemade country bread and often buy sourdough fresh from the bakery.
We use brown rice syrup to make homemade energy bars or balls - It’s hard to find in grocery stores but can be ordered online.
Primal Snackmates meat sticks - a great toddler snack for on the go!
Pretzels popcorn and tortilla chips are always in the house for snacks.
We make every variation of eggs for breakfast: scrambled, frittata, egg muffins, quiche's, hard boiled and deviled etc. They're great for breakfast and high protein snacks too!
2. I solidified my stance that I’m not a fan of sugar replacers and sugar alcohols and believe the healthiest option for most people includes real food including real sugar . Ultimately, I am thankful that these sugar free products exist as many of them will be options for Levi in the future. However, these products are marketed to the general public as ‘healthy alternatives' and I do not believe they are. Your body does need sugar & carbohydrates and replacing it with non-nutritive, sometimes unnatural, and sometimes new and un-researched sweetener replacements is questionable! For example, allulose is very new and suddenly it's in many food products here in the US. Though it is found in and extracted from natural foods it's so new that many countries including England and Canada have banned it due to a lack of research. Maybe it is safe. But I’m just not sure about it yet.
On top of the questionable research, over the years of working with hundreds of clients on their nutrition and health, choosing real whole foods produces the best results for satisfaction, hunger and fullness cues, satiation, and gut health. Instead of eating a birthday cake-flavored protein bar, or something of the like, I've found it’s always best to eat protein and then eat your cake too ;)
Stay Fierce Fit & Fueled,
Lindsey
Comentarios