Sugar and fatigue.
This topic contains 6 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by 
minime 7 years ago.
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The other day I saw here that sugar can cause fatigue and depression. Is that true? The low sugar diet is equaly to a candida diet? Or csn I eat chesse? What can I eat in the low sugar diet?
I am surprised that you haven’t heard this before, but its a widely known fact. Here’s a good article that talks about the link between depression and sugar:
http://www.foodforthebrain.org/content.asp?id_Content=1635
“There is a direct link between mood and blood sugar balance. All carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose and your brain runs on glucose. The more uneven your blood sugar supply the more uneven your mood. In fact, our experience at the Brain Bio Centre is that poor blood sugar balance is often the single-biggest factor in mood disorders amongst the people that seek our advice.”
You might also want to check out this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar
“Studies appear to conflict with some suggesting eating excessive amounts of sugar does not increase the risk of diabetes, although the extra calories from consuming large amounts of sugar can lead to obesity, which may increase the risk of diabetes.”
“A number of studies in animals have suggested that chronic consumption of refined sugars can contribute to metabolic and cardiovascular dysregulation. Some experts have suggested that refined fructose is more damaging than refined glucose in terms of cardiovascular risk. Cardiac performance has been shown to be impaired by switching from a carbohydrate diet including fiber to a high-carbohydrate diet.”
-raster
There are a good few books on sugar addiction and you can probably find info all over the web. I remember seeing a list of 77 reasons why sugar is bad for you. It’s long been known to have negative effects on the brain and cognition. Here’s a few mentioned in Rewire Your Brain (good book to learn about overcoming anxiety).
Researchers in Finland assessed the effects of sugar consumption on 404 children ages ten and eleven. They found that withdrawal, anxiety, depression, deliquency and agression were twice as frequent in those who consumed 30% more sucrose in the form of soft drinks, sugary snacks and ice-cream.
MIT researchers found a 25% difference between the IQ scores of children with high versus low consumption of refined carbohydrates (sugar and white flour) in 1984.
Studies comparing sugar consumption in various countries found a link between lower sugar consumption and lower rates of depression.
Here’s a good article about how excess sugar will make you look like an old woman, in case you needed more motivation to give it up: Dr Perricone on sugar. That’s if you’ve been lucky enough to avoid accelerated ageing so far. There’s a guy at my workplace who has a can of Dr Pepper and candy (30-100g of sugar worth) with every meal and nothing but fries for lunch. He looks like an absolute wreck, and although he’s 25, I’d believe you if you told me he was 35. He’s a nervous wreck and suffers from eczema, hair loss, fatigue and arthritis too. Doesn’t seem able to make the link between his problems and his diet though…
If you think sugar is your only problem, then get a book on the GI Diet. That’s essentially all there is to it. If you pretty much just avoid refined carbohydrates and anything containing high amounts of starch (potatoes and other starchy veg) and sugar (certain fruits like pineapple) you should notice an improvement in the stability of your blood sugar. If you’ve developed a lot of negative thought patterns, habits and behaviours, you’ll need to work on the psychological side of things as well. The book I mentioned above is a good starting point. It covers some of the best therapies like CBT and meditation, but I think it has enough information to be effective in itself.
UAU thanks able and javizy that was useful. I hear the other day a person here saying that sugar was like a drug and provoque bloating and constipation. I would so the candida diet but I even lnow if I have candida. But maybe is sugar the cause of my symtoms because depression, fatigue and some bloating are symptoms also of candida. Well so confuse. I will try the diet withour sugar but eat chesse and eat one natural yogurt. If I stay better I continue if I´m worst I will make the candida diet. 😀
Sorry raster I forgot to tell you one thing. If I don´t have candida i can make a less strict diet right? I mean I would enjoy making a non sugar diet. But my question is: Can I eat chesse, yogurt natural, some integral bread with no gluten? Some integral rice toast? What I realy can eat to my blood sugar stay stable?
If you don’t have candida you can do whatever diet you want. I would consider doing a low GI (glycemic index) diet that removes white and cane sugar. I would feed those cravings with something healthy like strawberries instead of donuts/cupcakes or something like that.
I would also increase fiber intake while lowering foods high in trans fat and other oily foods. I would consider not eating processed foods as well.
-raster
Hi Candi,
Please let me tell you my story with candida and sugar addiction…
Looking back, I believe that I’ve always had a problem with leaky gut and/or candida due to various ailments since I was young, but it never was a major problem as I was relatively happy and healthy.
That was until the birth of my first son. He and I almost died and immediately afterwards I was placed on strong antibiotics for womb and kidney infections. I also started with deep depression and major fatigue. I believe that my immune system may have been compromised and as a result of the fatigue, I would reach for sugary things instead of sleeping as a way to boost my energy so that I could look after my son. This carried on for 2 years and I was a complete wreck and overweight to boost.
After trying various anti-depressants and around that time, I found out about candida and decided to try the diet. Within a few days I felt like a new person literally, the result was so amazing.
I had a second son but contracted MRSA so was hospitalised, again with strong antibiotics. I carried on but always reaching for that sugary snack, again for an energy boost. Over the last couple of years (my second son is now nearly 4), things have gone downhill again. I put on huge amounts of weight thanks to sugary snacks, went on a stupid diet and lost it all again and now I’m putting it back on again faster than it came off. I have bad skin, hair loss, depression, anxiety attacks, brain fog (which I find the worst symptom of the lot) and on top of that, if I’m not dieting, I’m now binge eating.I have no self-control at all and have such an unhealthy addiction to food, in particular sugar. This may or may not be related to candida or it could be plain sugar-addiction I don’t know. What I do know is that thanks to the associated depression and fatigue which makes me unable to look after the children properly (I don’t even have the energy to play with my kids or help much with homework for crying out loud), I feel so ashamed and disgusted with myself. Until last week.
I found this forum and found a wealth of information which made so much sense and with so many fellow-sufferers. I have managed to abstain from sugar for 1 week – woohoo! – that is such an major achievement for me. It wasn’t and still isn’t easy, but I have felt the effects starting to subside and that’s before taking any probiotics.
I’m sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to illustrate what sugar addiction can lead to – it ain’t nice!! If you feel that you are addicted to sugar, try cutting it out. The cravings are tough but you don’t want to get so low that you have to dig yourself out of a hole. I believe that this diet does allow stevia at some point – maybe try that if you really need the sweet stuff. Even if it’s not candida, why not try this diet from scratch anyway? It’s very healthy and you can only feel better afterwards, even if you’re on it for a short while. If you did have candida, then hey, maybe you cured it – bonus!
Anyway good luck in whatever you decide to do and sorry again for the life story,
Stephanie x
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