I’m sitting in the doctor’s office in disbelief as she hands me a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. What the heck? This really was the last straw for me. A couple months later, I quit my corporate job and decided to take some time off to figure “it” out.I’m not exactly a typical American Diet eater. My base calories aren’t filled with bread, pasta and soda. I’d been living on a pretty good Paleo Diet in fact – or so I thought.

Then, I learned about Sarah Wilson and her “I Quit Sugar” work. She was diagnosed with Hashimotos and was able to get her antibodies to zero by removing sugar from her diet. Pretty amazing right? She also reports her complexion improved – ladies, who doesn’t want that?

Here are some effects of sugar:

• Uric level spikes
• Increase chance of kidney disease
• Gut micro biome imbalance
• Inflammation
• Increases cortisol
• Shuts down digestion
• Lowers sex hormones
• Increases destruction of thyroid gland
• Sluggish liver
• Insomnia
• Obesity

There is also a correlation between excess sugar and PCOS.

The American Heart Association recommends women eat no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day and men eat no more than 9 teaspoons of sugar a day. The average american eats 23 teaspoons of sugar a day!
So back to my paleo diet – I included maple syrup as a sweetener and occasionally honey. Full disclosure – I also had been drinking wine which is a weakness of mine. Even though these may not be “as bad” as high fructose corn syrup it still reacts in my body.

Sarah Wilson recommends 8 weeks to detox from sugar (including alcohol and fruit). This can seem insurmountable to some but with the hope of getting my thyroid antibodies down to zero I’m up for the challenge!

Are you up for the challenge?