Giving up sugar was one of the most significant achievements of my life. I am the world’s foremost recovered sugar addict (!!).

While sugar is the most addictive food there is, it doesn’t affect everyone that way. One of the key factors in sugar addiction is susceptibility.

I am one of the susceptible people and have had strong reactions to sugar all my life.

How can you tell if you are susceptible to sugar?

Well, it’s often genetic.

Do either of your parents have hypertension? Diabetes? obesity? Alcoholism?

What about depression? Or hypoglycemia (low blood glucose)?

Do you have an apple shaped body type? (This really matters if you’re a woman.)

Do you display any of these behaviors around sugar: compulsion to eat it, loss of control over how much you eat, failed efforts to quit, cravings?

Does sugar interfere with your health? Does it cause you to isolate yourself, miss important events, or use excessive exercise, self-induced vomiting, or laxatives to counteract the effects of the sugar you eat?

If any of these sound familiar, you may be addicted to sugar. But what if you gave up sugar? How could that change your life?

What Sugar Recovery can do for you

Sugar, actually, the high insulin it causes, promotes inflammation and disease: diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cholesterol, obesity, cancer, and more. Quitting sugar can reverse many, if not most, of those. In fact.

Sugar can cause mood swings, anxiety, depression, irritability. Quitting smoking can help reverse mood problems and make you feel good.

Masses of sugar with your energy. It can make you lethargic and sleepy all day. Quitting smoking can restore your energy levels.

Sugar makes you eat more. Giving up sugar can help you regain control of your appetite.

Sugar makes you want junk food. Change your food preferences so that you want sugary and/or high-fat foods. Quitting smoking can make healthy foods look good again.

What else can sugar recovery do?

If you’ve recently given up alcohol, sugar can make you crave and even lead to a relapse. Quitting smoking can help prevent that and make you feel much better during your (continuous and hopefully permanent) recovery.

Quitting smoking can make you a better role model for your children.

• Show them how you handled a big problem.

• Show them you mean what you say.

• Reverse previous health problems so that you are present at the key events of your life.

• Behave differently to treat them as they deserve.

• Become more ‘equivalent’ and less reactive in order to better handle other things as well.

In this and other ways, giving up sugar may be one of the best things you’ve ever done for your health, your attitude, your appetite, your behavior, your recovery, your children.