Danielle from Indian Rocks Beach, FL, asked:
Hi Julie,
I’m super interested in spirituality and I’m blown away by you!
I suffer from what I think is an eating disorder (extreme addiction to sugar) and experience infertility. Are the two related?
Can you help?
Thank you!
Danielle
Hi Danielle,
Thanks for your kind comments.
Regarding your sugar addiction, welcome to the club!
Most of us have an addiction to sugar and I, in particular, have an enormous issue with it. So much so, that I completely gave up eating sugar over two years ago.
Statistics show the average American adult ingests 22 teaspoons of sugar a day while children eat a whopping 34 teaspoons of sugar a day!
The Cleveland Clinic suggests the following to break the sugar habit in 10 days:
1) Make the decision to quit
2) Avoid all sugars and artificial sweeteners
3) Drink unsweetened coffee or tea and avoid all juices
4) Add protein to every meal
5) Only eat non-starchy vegetables
6) Include good fats at every meal (I like Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil)
7) Manage stress
8) Avoid Gluten and dairy
9) Sleep
Now, to your other question about sugar interfering with your fertility. The answer is absolutely!
Stonybrook Medicine at the State University of New York says, “When processed sugars are eaten, insulin levels spike and flood the body. For purposes of fertility, they can interfere with the process of egg maturation. Insulin and hormones that make egg cells mature are so chemically similar, that when there is too much insulin in the bloodstream, the body confuses the insulin with the egg-maturing hormones, causing the levels to lower. Consistent occurrence of this may cause the amount of maturing eggs to decrease and interfere with ovulation.
Plus, when your hormone production is stunted, too much testosterone is released by the body which can lead the woman to developing PCOS, which make conceiving difficult.”
Lastly, there is hope. If I can completely give up sugar after a lifetime of failed attempts, you can too!
