THE 3-STEP SUGAR DETOX THAT SAVED MY LIFE
from the Peoples Chemist.com
By Shane Ellison M.S.
By Shane Ellison M.S.
I began studying medicine at the age of 14 to cure myself of low blood sugar. Technically, it’s known as hypoglycemia. This disorder causes blood sugar to fall like an elevator with a snapped cable. It can cause seizures and permanent damage to the nervous system if left untreated... My plight for optimal survival forced me to learn some basic chemistry and how to detox my body of processed sugar. For me, hypoglycemia was a blessing and curse. It was the impetus behind my passion for medicine. I eventually earned a Bachelors degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. Then, I continued my studies to earn a Masters degree in Organic Chemistry, which I used to become a bench chemist for a top pharmaceutical company… But, at the same time, it almost steered me into a lifetime of alcoholism, as you’ll soon learn. Today, the majority of the population suffers from sugar woes...Whether it’s high or low blood sugar, the medical community is wildly confused about the symptoms and how to treat it. Therefore, very few are able to properly diagnose today’s massive decline in health for what it really is: Signs of too much sugar, artificial flavors and plenty of other chemicals lurking in our foods. If not treated, a slew of outcomes can result with hypoglycemia or high blood sugar: • Drug and alcohol addiction • Depression • Insulin resistance • Type 2 diabetes • Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) • Infertility • Heart disease • Cancer
The only way to save yourself is with my simple, 3-Step Sugar Detox. But first, there are some things you must know about my plight with blood sugar levels gone bad. As a kid, I thought low blood sugar (caused by high blood sugar) would kill me. There are a dozen other ways I’d rather die. First you get dizzy, a sign that the Grim Reaper is closing in. Your world shrinks to focusing on what’s right in front of you as an attempt to stay conscious. Then, uncontrollable hunger sets in – the kind that gives rise to cannibalism if that’s your only option. If you don’t pass out, you’re possessed with “psychoglycemia,” which is an emotional whirlwind of confusion, rage, frustration, anger and desperation. Those around you either get out of your way, or get eaten. Stealing Candy For The Cure When my blood sugar registered 47 mg/dL (normal is about 80 to 95 mg/dL) at a routine doctors visit, physicians told my mom to give me “more sugar.” She acted as if “doctors orders” were so special that they should be carved into a plaque. She complied by giving me Jolly Ranchers...Jolly Ranchers! It stopped the attacks for a bit. If I failed to carry my new “preventive medicine” with me, I simply ditched school for a trip to the nearest gas station for sugary evil. I had less “attacks,” but when they did come on, they hit harder. Eventually, I was stealing candy since I couldn’t keep up financially as a young, jobless teen... I was officially a sugar addict. My brain chemistry had changed for the worse.
The Sugar Addiction
In my book, Over-The-Counter Natural Cures, I highlighted recent studies showing that sugar was more addicting than cocaine and heroin. Understanding why is crucial in overcoming it. The term sugar refers to sucrose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup and milk sugars such as lactose and maltose. It has a long history of wanton destruction. Christopher Columbus began cultivating sugar on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Within decades, the rain forest had been cleared and the native population was completely eliminated by disease and war courtesy of sugar production. In time, the demand birthed the slave trade! African slaves were shipped over to carry on...Sugar, greed and addiction fueled these injustices and gave us the sugar overdose that almost killed me…So much for celebrating Columbus Day. Unlike natural sugars consumed via whole fruits, the processed sugar forges an emotional addiction by triggering the same pleasure centers in the brain that illegal drugs do. Thus, the more you have, the more you want. Sugar use over the centuries underscores the addiction. In 1700 the average Englishman consumed 4 pounds a year, according to The National Geographic. A hundred years later, the average man ate 18 lbs. In 1870, 47 pounds annually. By 1900, a whopping 100 pounds a year were being choked down. Today, it’s worse and people are dropping like flies from it, yet wanting more! The need for more stems from the surge in feel-good molecules triggered by sugar consumption. Once the sugar-high dissipates, the brain is depleted, leaving us wanting and needing more. It also leaves the sugar user feeling lethargic and lazy, pushing the user to seek out more sugary feel good.
In my book, Over-The-Counter Natural Cures, I highlighted recent studies showing that sugar was more addicting than cocaine and heroin. Understanding why is crucial in overcoming it. The term sugar refers to sucrose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup and milk sugars such as lactose and maltose. It has a long history of wanton destruction. Christopher Columbus began cultivating sugar on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Within decades, the rain forest had been cleared and the native population was completely eliminated by disease and war courtesy of sugar production. In time, the demand birthed the slave trade! African slaves were shipped over to carry on...Sugar, greed and addiction fueled these injustices and gave us the sugar overdose that almost killed me…So much for celebrating Columbus Day. Unlike natural sugars consumed via whole fruits, the processed sugar forges an emotional addiction by triggering the same pleasure centers in the brain that illegal drugs do. Thus, the more you have, the more you want. Sugar use over the centuries underscores the addiction. In 1700 the average Englishman consumed 4 pounds a year, according to The National Geographic. A hundred years later, the average man ate 18 lbs. In 1870, 47 pounds annually. By 1900, a whopping 100 pounds a year were being choked down. Today, it’s worse and people are dropping like flies from it, yet wanting more! The need for more stems from the surge in feel-good molecules triggered by sugar consumption. Once the sugar-high dissipates, the brain is depleted, leaving us wanting and needing more. It also leaves the sugar user feeling lethargic and lazy, pushing the user to seek out more sugary feel good.
All are the result of high, then low, blood sugar. At the same time, this roller coaster injects enormous cravings for alcohol and nicotine into the brain, which is why abstaining from both without addressing blood sugar woes and sugar addiction is futile... In addition to the damn candy, I started drinking at 14 years old, as often as I could. Since I lived 45 minutes from the Mexico border it wasn’t hard to get alcohol. Little did I know, the alcohol was soothing my low blood sugar and helping me feel normal again! But it wasn’t sustainable - obviously - due to the overt toxicity and intoxication of alcohol and the behavioral problems associated with it. After a few months, I finally accepted the absurdity of it all. Wouldn’t it be more advantageous to figure out the cause of my low blood sugar and addiction, rather than use candy as the cure (early sign of my future as The People’s Chemist)? The doctors insisted there was no cure to hypoglycemia, only something I had to treat when it set in. Incredulous. I immediately sensed bullshit. There’s no way in hell I’m supposed to be eating candy to be healthy...I didn’t need a medical degree to figure that out....So, I bought a basic biology book. I read it. Then, I applied what I learned. Causes of Hypoglycemia Hypoglycemia is usually caused by high insulin and glucose levels brought on by over-consumption of: • Sweets • Artificial flavors • Alcohol • Nicotine • Lack of sunshine • Skipping breakfast
NOTE: Commonly used drugs like birth control, antidepressants, blood pressure drugs and cholesterol-lowering meds can do the same thing…So too can excess exercise, coffee and tea. Any one of these above variables cause overtly high levels of sugar (sometimes mistaken for Type I diabetes) and a corresponding plunge (diagnosed as hypoglycemia)…Memorize that! Alternating levels of blood sugar can change you from a normal, withdrawn teen with-an-attitude, into a baseball-bat-swinging, crazed young man who has no social boundaries and only sees “red,” or just cause you to be dead-tired…immobile like a snail in mud. That was me. Worthless and pissed off. I started to take action and based my progress not on “hope” or “hype,” but instead on “measurable results,” which are things that are quantifiable like blood sugar and insulin levels, strength, muscle growth, resting heart rate, mood and more. (Thank God the Internet wasn’t around, otherwise, I would have been thrown off track with disinformation and flim-flam. Just the other day I read in The New York Times that medical researchers now “suggest that dieters should eat cake for breakfast” as a method for controlling hunger throughout the day. If that’s not proof that there’s a master plan to put us all into The Fat Cow Hall of Fame, or that the medical community is a bunch of clowns, I don’t know what is.)
Surprise Discovery about Hormones
In time, I learned that the hormone insulin – from my pancreas – was being spiked due to my own massive sugar intake from breakfast cereals, processed milk, yogurt, rolls, donuts, fruit and juice. Since insulin forces muscle cells to suck sugar out of the blood, my system was being inadvertently drained of it as the hormonal wave of protection flooded my bloodstream. Therefore, the real problem was HIGH BLOOD SUGAR...CANDY WAS EXACERBATING the entire problem! Furthermore, my sugar balancing hormones known as glucagon and testosterone weren’t doing their job due to lack of amino acids, protein and healthy fats in my diet, which meant my body could not manufacture its own sugar when needed… And why should it if I’m choking down Jolly Ranchers? I was furious that doctors couldn’t help me, especially considering that the answers were easily extracted from a college textbook. I learned more... My Body Doesn’t Need Processed Sugar The body regulates its own sugar requirements by converting fats, protein and amino acids into sugar (glucose) as needed. Any disruption in this precarious ecosystem is going to shunt this innate hormonal protection. Therefore, nobody requires processed sugar, whatsoever. I also learned that if my rate of sugar consumption continued at its current pace, I’d become insulin resistant, then Type II diabetic.
In time, I learned that the hormone insulin – from my pancreas – was being spiked due to my own massive sugar intake from breakfast cereals, processed milk, yogurt, rolls, donuts, fruit and juice. Since insulin forces muscle cells to suck sugar out of the blood, my system was being inadvertently drained of it as the hormonal wave of protection flooded my bloodstream. Therefore, the real problem was HIGH BLOOD SUGAR...CANDY WAS EXACERBATING the entire problem! Furthermore, my sugar balancing hormones known as glucagon and testosterone weren’t doing their job due to lack of amino acids, protein and healthy fats in my diet, which meant my body could not manufacture its own sugar when needed… And why should it if I’m choking down Jolly Ranchers? I was furious that doctors couldn’t help me, especially considering that the answers were easily extracted from a college textbook. I learned more... My Body Doesn’t Need Processed Sugar The body regulates its own sugar requirements by converting fats, protein and amino acids into sugar (glucose) as needed. Any disruption in this precarious ecosystem is going to shunt this innate hormonal protection. Therefore, nobody requires processed sugar, whatsoever. I also learned that if my rate of sugar consumption continued at its current pace, I’d become insulin resistant, then Type II diabetic.
You see, eventually, muscle cells get so “overworked” by excess insulin that they become “resistant” to its sugar-removing properties. Plus, since most nutrients - along with sugar - are ferried into the cell by insulin, I’d suffer from malnutrition for years to come, and therefore age prematurely! How Sugar Ages You Sugar’s ability to age you is not inexplicable. Sugar consumption revs up a biological process known as “cell division.” Normally, this allows your body to repair itself. But, with excess sugar, it forces cells to divide prematurely and puts aging into overdrive. Every time your cells divide, a small portion of your DNA is lost. This is the shoestring section at the end of the chromosome, called the telomere. As you blindly consume sugar, the telomere gets shorter and shorter. Finally, it disappears and the cell stops dividing and dies. Physical aging occurs as more and more cells reach the end of their telomeres and die. As sugar consumption continues, your muscles get weaker, wrinkles appear and eyesight fades. Eventually the organs begin to fail and death occurs. You cannot avoid your telomeres becoming shorter as time goes by. But the good news is that by learning how to stop craving sugar (and stop eating it), your hormones can dramatically influence the speed at which it occurs. Think of it just like the wear and tear you might put on a car. The true “age” of your car has very little to do with the number of years that go by since it was manufactured. After all, a car can sit in the garage for many years and still run like new and have its entire useful life ahead of it.
On the other hand, a two-year-old car, which has been driven every day and has 150,000 miles on the odometer, might be near the end of its useful life. In other words, it has little to do with the chronological age of the car... and everything to do with the number of miles and the amount of fuel the car has burned during that time. The same is true for your body. The more sugar calories you eat, the faster you age, and visa-versa.
Are Doctors Asleep at the Wheel?
I couldn’t help but wonder, “How come my doctors don’t know this shit?” My cure was to force my body back into its natural hormone state with a sugar detox. No drug can do this. I had to lower my insulin levels while simultaneously force my muscles to be more sensitive to it. I also needed my glucagon and testosterone to work more efficiently. To this end, trial and error – along with requests for my own blood work – showed that abstaining from sugar and snacks while consuming 3 meals per day reversed my hypoglycemia! That was just the start... The 3-Step Sugar Detox I ultimately designed my own 3-step sugar detox. The goal was to stop sugar dependency and restore my natural hormone balance. It looked like this:
Are Doctors Asleep at the Wheel?
I couldn’t help but wonder, “How come my doctors don’t know this shit?” My cure was to force my body back into its natural hormone state with a sugar detox. No drug can do this. I had to lower my insulin levels while simultaneously force my muscles to be more sensitive to it. I also needed my glucagon and testosterone to work more efficiently. To this end, trial and error – along with requests for my own blood work – showed that abstaining from sugar and snacks while consuming 3 meals per day reversed my hypoglycemia! That was just the start... The 3-Step Sugar Detox I ultimately designed my own 3-step sugar detox. The goal was to stop sugar dependency and restore my natural hormone balance. It looked like this:
1. Eat only three meals per day, consisting of 50% healthy fats - butter, avocados, seeds, nuts, grass-fed beef, organic poultry, pastured pork, fresh-caught fish - at each meal combined with vegetables and protein, usually from eggs – not Jolly Ranchers. I also eliminated fruits, completely! Fruit only makes the sugar addiction worse. Like having sugar flashbacks, the body will fight you and start wanting processed sugar...Fortunately, all the micronutrients you get from fruit can be obtained from vegetables. Historically, fruit is only to be had minimally and seasonally, if at all.
2. Supplement with L-tryptophan to replenish feel-good molecules in the brain that are depleted by sugar and to halt the sugar addiction.
3. Supplement with 500 to 1500mg of cinnamon daily to increase “sugar sensitivity.” Doing so ensured that my body responded to naturally occurring sugars from food. Getting Your Life Back It took about 2 weeks to rebound back to normal. Life changed for the better in so many ways... Once I did, I felt so good that I finally gave in to my moms plea to try out high school wrestling. This one change set me up for life, as I eventually got a wrestling scholarship and decades later won the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships for my division at 39 years old. With a sugar addiction, I would have never been able to experience the many benefits that accompany the sport. In total, this protocol not only saved me from being a thief, but also warded off future mental and physical distress. If hypoglycemia goes untreated, it manifests into all kinds of medical problems that carry labels like:
2. Supplement with L-tryptophan to replenish feel-good molecules in the brain that are depleted by sugar and to halt the sugar addiction.
3. Supplement with 500 to 1500mg of cinnamon daily to increase “sugar sensitivity.” Doing so ensured that my body responded to naturally occurring sugars from food. Getting Your Life Back It took about 2 weeks to rebound back to normal. Life changed for the better in so many ways... Once I did, I felt so good that I finally gave in to my moms plea to try out high school wrestling. This one change set me up for life, as I eventually got a wrestling scholarship and decades later won the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships for my division at 39 years old. With a sugar addiction, I would have never been able to experience the many benefits that accompany the sport. In total, this protocol not only saved me from being a thief, but also warded off future mental and physical distress. If hypoglycemia goes untreated, it manifests into all kinds of medical problems that carry labels like:
• Attention deficit, • Depression, • Alcoholism, • Bi-polar disorder Fact is, in most cases, you’re not sick, you’re being poisoned by sugar and artificial flavors. A simple blood test can help you monitor your future health.
How To Read a Fasting Blood Sugar Test
Even today, most doctors aren’t reading or interpreting blood sugar levels accurately. When the test result comes back, it’s like the Mothership landed on The Planet of The Apes and everyone is sitting around, pondering what it could mean. It isn’t that hard. Whether you’re an adult or child, here is how to read a fasting blood sugar test:
How To Read a Fasting Blood Sugar Test
Even today, most doctors aren’t reading or interpreting blood sugar levels accurately. When the test result comes back, it’s like the Mothership landed on The Planet of The Apes and everyone is sitting around, pondering what it could mean. It isn’t that hard. Whether you’re an adult or child, here is how to read a fasting blood sugar test:
How to read a fasting blood test.
Blood Sugar Range in mg/dL Type
70 mg/dl Hypoglycemic
70-99 Normal
100-125 Insulin resistant ; Pre type ll diabetes
126 or higher Type l or type ll diabetes
Blood Sugar Range in mg/dL Type
70 mg/dl Hypoglycemic
70-99 Normal
100-125 Insulin resistant ; Pre type ll diabetes
126 or higher Type l or type ll diabetes
None of these values are labels for life! In fact, these numbers alone are not very helpful and they should never be used to dictate what actions should be taken.
Blood Tests Alone Can’t Diagnose You
Your test results are only a snapshot of a much bigger picture, not a tool for diagnosis. It’s very likely that your blood sugar right now is vastly different than it was one hour ago, which means that if you go by blood sugar levels alone, you could be diabetic one hour, healthy the next. To get a better idea of your overall health, couple your fasting sugar levels to other symptoms of illness like body fat percentage and insulin levels.
Why Insulin is The Worst Medication for a Type II Diabetic
If you have high blood sugar coupled to high body fat, then you can bet your ass that you’re headed toward Type II diabetes. No prescription drug or any type of insulin – commonly being used today – is going to help you. In fact, insulin is the worst thing for a Type II diabetic. It’s like throwing gas on the Type II diabetes fire. Type II diabetes is an illness of too much insulin…. Would you give more rotten food to someone suffering from food poisoning in hope that they’d get nutrients? If you are a child or teen showing high blood sugar numbers, and are overweight, you are NOT Type I diabetic simply because you registered high sugar. You are most likely Type II diabetic and you can verify with another blood test for insulin.
Blood Tests Alone Can’t Diagnose You
Your test results are only a snapshot of a much bigger picture, not a tool for diagnosis. It’s very likely that your blood sugar right now is vastly different than it was one hour ago, which means that if you go by blood sugar levels alone, you could be diabetic one hour, healthy the next. To get a better idea of your overall health, couple your fasting sugar levels to other symptoms of illness like body fat percentage and insulin levels.
Why Insulin is The Worst Medication for a Type II Diabetic
If you have high blood sugar coupled to high body fat, then you can bet your ass that you’re headed toward Type II diabetes. No prescription drug or any type of insulin – commonly being used today – is going to help you. In fact, insulin is the worst thing for a Type II diabetic. It’s like throwing gas on the Type II diabetes fire. Type II diabetes is an illness of too much insulin…. Would you give more rotten food to someone suffering from food poisoning in hope that they’d get nutrients? If you are a child or teen showing high blood sugar numbers, and are overweight, you are NOT Type I diabetic simply because you registered high sugar. You are most likely Type II diabetic and you can verify with another blood test for insulin.
Type I diabetics don’t have insulin. To make this more clear:
Blood Sugar Range in mg/dL Type
126 or Higher AND Overweight Type II Diabetic
Plus Showing Insulin in Blood
126 or Higher AND Thin With Type I Diabetic
No Insulin in Blood
Blood Sugar Range in mg/dL Type
126 or Higher AND Overweight Type II Diabetic
Plus Showing Insulin in Blood
126 or Higher AND Thin With Type I Diabetic
No Insulin in Blood
Your entire hormone balance rests in blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity. Taking charge of it is taking charge of your future. Don’t leave it up to your doctor because you’re the one who has to live with it. And managing it is a constant battle, especially today considering the barrage of “health foods” doped up with sugars and artificial flavors and lacking in healthy fats and proteins. No doubt, “healthy eating” is killing us, slowly. Best Way to Exterminate Candida Eat too much sugar and you also get candida, inside you. Just like bacteria, candida is a living thing. Since it has a cell wall made of chitin (a molecular cousin of sugar), scientists classify it as a fungus. This bug causes all kinds of trouble like headaches, depression and even autoimmune diseases. And if you want to get rid of it, stop eating sugar and use the following supplements daily, for about three weeks, to exterminate the pesky invader:
• Andrographis • Cayenne • Pau d’arco • Comfrey • White oak bark
Sugar Isn’t Worth Dying For
It’s better to risk your life doing something you love, not sucking down sugar like a glutton. Once you divorce yourself from this granular evil, your life and hormones will change for the better. It’ll be like upgrading cars from a Chevy Cruz to an Audi A-Whatever. You’ll be amazed at how you look and feel. Vibrant health is just around the corner.
About the Author Shane “The People’s Chemist” Ellison holds a Masters degree in organic chemistry and is the author of Over-The-Counter Natural Cures (SourceBooks). He’s been quoted by USA Today, Shape, Woman’s World, US News and World Report, as well as Women’s Health and appeared on Fox and NBC as a medicine and health expert.
Sugar Isn’t Worth Dying For
It’s better to risk your life doing something you love, not sucking down sugar like a glutton. Once you divorce yourself from this granular evil, your life and hormones will change for the better. It’ll be like upgrading cars from a Chevy Cruz to an Audi A-Whatever. You’ll be amazed at how you look and feel. Vibrant health is just around the corner.
About the Author Shane “The People’s Chemist” Ellison holds a Masters degree in organic chemistry and is the author of Over-The-Counter Natural Cures (SourceBooks). He’s been quoted by USA Today, Shape, Woman’s World, US News and World Report, as well as Women’s Health and appeared on Fox and NBC as a medicine and health expert.
From the Store
Cinnamon
L-tryptophan
Andrographis
Cayenne
Pau d’arco
Comfrey
White oak bark
Cinnamon
L-tryptophan
Andrographis
Cayenne
Pau d’arco
Comfrey
White oak bark