Sugar and Caffiene

Hi Everyone,

What is everybody's opinion on sugar? I know it is frowned upon for everyone in general but do you need to cut it out 100% (even fruit, or ketchup or anything with the slightest bit of sugar in it)?

I've cleaned up my diet a lot. I will eat mostly brown rice, vegetables, lean protein. Sometimes as a treat I'll have popcorn. But I haven't given up my morning coffee with sugar. I also have the odd tiny treat here and there, nothing like how I used to be. Is it necessary to cut all sugars? Do any of you still drink coffee?

It is hard enough to feel miserable let alone cut out every little thing that brings you a bit of comfort and happiness. However if it was to cure me I would do it in a heartbeat. I just haven't had the motivation to go full force.

Thanks

I drink coffee as well. When I was really sick, I couldn't at all. There was something to do with my adrenals, because if I had even a small cup, I would shake like there's no tomorrow. Now I can drink a pretty decent amount. I have heard some place that some strict candida diets don't want you drinking caffeine. Not sure why that is though. I would think black coffee would be okay, but I don't know much about it.

Because our treatments (even herbals!) can really be hard on our gastro tract, it's always best to avoid just as much sugar as possible - including high fructose corn syrup. But, as PeteZa said, if candida is a possibility, then it all needs to be cut out of the diet.

Caffeine consumption is really only an issue if your adrenals are being affected. My adrenals almost completely crashed on me, so I'm completely caffeine free at the moment - notice I said "at the moment'? I'm a die hard coffee drinker! I love the flavor of good, black coffee! Likely didn't help my adrenals much while they were going down for the count!

Have you tried any of the sugar substitutes? Due to my gut being seriously affected by these infections, I had to give up sugar a long time ago and that's when I discovered Stevia. I can't use the liquid as I always use too much, which makes it bitter. I use the pure, organic Stevia (my innerds won't allow any fructose or other sweetener in it) - the only one I've found like that has been the "NOW" brand. The thing with stevia is, as I said, too much makes it bitter and it's 300 times sweeter than sugar, so a very, very small amount goes a very long way!

Evian - I have two cups of organic coffee - black every breakfast. Helps me go to the bathroom as my gut , etc is so freaking sluggish these days. I haven't had any problems with the coffee. I don't use any packaged sugar though - I guess I eat natural sugars because I do eat some fruit. After an article I read yesterday, I want to try organic whole leaf stevia liquid - not as a sugar substitute ( I have a salty tooth, instead), but to use it as a Lyme biofilm and cyst buster like Dr. Sapi explains. I do not know how effective this will be, but I am willing to try it. As for candida, my Lyme doc once told me that anyone who still has heavy metals has some level of candida.

needhelp4 said...
Evian - I have two cups of organic coffee - black every breakfast. Helps me go to the bathroom as my gut , etc is so freaking sluggish these days. I haven't had any problems with the coffee. I don't use any packaged sugar though - I guess I eat natural sugars because I do eat some fruit. After an article I read yesterday, I want to try organic whole leaf stevia liquid - not as a sugar substitute ( I have a salty tooth, instead), but to use it as a Lyme biofilm and cyst buster like Dr. Sapi explains. I do not know how effective this will be, but I am willing to try it. As for candida, my Lyme doc once told me that anyone who still has heavy metals has some level of candida.

I used to think that same thing about going the bathroom in the morning. I can't remember why but I had warm tea and it worked. Then once I had a blood test and water was the only thing allowed so I did just a cup of warm water. Found out both worked for getting things moving, it wasn't the caffeine at all.

Needhelp, I'd like to move this to it's own thread, as I have some questions for you, and don't want to take away from this thread.
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3611068

Because of my past kidney issues, my doc recommended no caffeine for a while. When things got back in motion she told me ONE cup of regular coffee in the morning. I have been off dairy and sugar for a long time and was trying to figure out how to enjoy my coffee with no cream and no sugar? Whelp, I get the sugar free chocolate almond milk and stevia and put it in my cup of joe in the mornings and I am very happy with that. Only about 45 calories and it gives me the little kick I need in the morning to get going. I don't miss the cream or sugar at all.

I guess everyone is different, but I did read somewhere that regular ground coffee is full of molds and toxins and you really should get whole bean organic coffee and grind it yourself - especially if you have any mold issues. I did notice at one time when my candida was giving me a hard time that I didn't feel well after my morning coffee and I think that's when I did my research on that and switched to organic. No problems since.

Good luck to you!

Jenny

Thank you everyone for the great tips! I am going to try Stevia and keep it to one cup in the morning. I have always grinded my own beans but I haven't bought organic beans.

This is a really good link for adrenal symptoms - you can have adrenal fatigue (which is serious in the later stages) without having them "crash" - which is actually Addison's, which is life threatening. I was at the bottom of stage 3, starting to enter Addison's 2 years ago. Here's that link:
/www.drlam.com/articles/adrenalexhaustion.asp

While some doctors claim they can determine this from blood tests, saliva testing is the only accurate test and it need to be tested 3 or 4 times in one day for an accurate reading of how your adrenals really are doing - blood tests are done only one time during the day, so they (like collecting saliva only one time) will only have the reading for that time period and your adrenals may just happen to be producing the right amount of coritisol for that specific time of day, yet no other time of day.

My last doc thought she could tell by blood tests, and every time I asked about saliva testing, she just told me that she understood the blood tests well enough - wrong! I have been in treatment for adrenal fatigue and hypothyroid for 20 months under her care, and I improved very little - I only stabilized. Once I fired her (just a few weeks ago), I went back to what I used last time I was dealing with this, and although I wasn't as bad, I'm still seeing improvements where I had not under her care. This is why it's so important that we advocate for ourselves - doctors think too highly of themselves too often. Had I stayed under her care, who knows when I might have finally started to feel better?

small amounts of low sugar fruits are still a good thing.

Here's a list of low sugar fruits: www.doctoroz.com/gallery/low-sugar-fruit-shopping-list?gallery=true

You're welcome!! I'm glad I could be of some help!!