Day 23: Body Changes
Sunday, September 29, 2013
7:30 am
I discuss Robert Lustig’s book “Fat Chance”. My body seems to be going through some significant transition with respect to sugar withdrawal.
Video Summary:
The drink contains 4 tsp or 16 grams of sugar. This is not much sugar, about the same found in a piece of fruit. I was actually looking forward to the sugar hit this morning. I feel that in the last couple of days my body has been changing. I feel like I’m undergoing some kind of transition related to not having much sugar in my system. I’ve been having some sugar cravings in the past few days and I feel just a little odd or a little different. The primary benefit is that I am definitely losing weight. I’m back down to 191.5. (a six pound loss). I also had a bit of a headache yesterday. I think that when you are losing weight your body goes through some changes that are hard to explain and are a little bit uncomfortable. But overall I feel pretty good.
I usually exercise 2 or 3 times a week but lately I’ve been trying to exercise every other day, and I’ve been pretty consistent with this over the past few weeks. My energy has been very good in terms of working out, so this program has not compromised my ability to work out at all. In terms of food, I’ve been eating pretty well: fruits and vegetables, chicken, etc. with the main thrust to be not eating any sugar. So last night I had a sugar craving and just mixed up some peaches and raspberries as a little dessert.
I started the book “Fat Chance” by Robert Lustig. He is the guy with the semi-viral video: Sugar the Bitter Truth on YouTube with more than 3,000,000 hits. He’s a pediatric endocrinologist, so the book is a bit technical in terms of the hormonal system, the endocrine system, the lymphatic system, etc. He introduces a lot of technical terms that the average person might not be familiar with.
One concept he introduces is that of the importance of the hormone leptin, which is produced by fat cells and which sends a signal to the brain that we are full. He also discusses that obese people are not to blame for their condition. We are in an environment where, particular for poorer people, there are not many affordable options for eating healthy foods.
I’m definitely losing weight and going through some changes. I almost feel that I’m at the sugar free stage right now. I’m also wondering to myself whether I will be able to sustain not eating sweets for an extended period of time. Is that something a normal person could do? I think I will be able to do it, but it remains to be seen.
The changes I am feeling are not as significant as the withdrawal symptoms I experienced in my caffeine withdrawal program on day 17. But I feel that today – day 23 – I’m experiencing a similar event where I’ve crossed some kind of threshold, but it’s not as pronounced as it was with caffeine. And maybe I am going through some kind of sugar withdrawal now that manifests itself in a way thats hard to describe — a feeling that my body is entering a new phase.