Climbing down the sugar mountain
For as long as I can remember I have had a proverbial sweet tooth
Highlights of my childhood, apart from day trips to the beach slathered in Coppertone, were days perched on the kitchen stool watching my mum make cakes. Whenever she made a cake she would make two additional mini ones for my sister and I to delight in.
Fast forward a few decades and my sweet tooth is getting out of control. Certainly, my sugar bingeing is very much aligned to emotional distress.
Just as an alcoholic would reach for a bottle, I would shove chocolate into my mouth. I was starting to consume so much of it that I would feel giddy afterwards. I was seeking oblivion and numbing my pain through sugar.
Before conceiving my daughter I gave up sugar and lost five kilos. After her birth, I resumed my love affair with sugar. I remember telling the owner of the local cheap shop that his bargain blocks of, soon to be out of date, Lindt chocolate were my downfall.
In my post natal, sleep deprived, anxiety ridden state I would think nothing of scoffing a whole block of chocolate in one go. I now dread to think how much sugar was being passed on to my daughter through my breast milk.
At playgroup I recall describing to a friend how I felt there was a huge sugar monster inside me who periodically screamed in a deep voice “Feed me sugar!!”
This ticked on for another few years until I had my son, when truly my sugar addiction became out of control. One hundred gram binges grew to two hundred grams and more.
About that time I started seeing an amazing kinesiologist who on the first session asked me what was my addiction was. Without a pause, I answered sugar. She then went on to clear the addiction.
The next day at playgroup, as a plate of homemade brownies was being passed around, I felt nothing but curiously disinterested. And how liberating was that?
For about two weeks I was free of any sugar cravings but then came my birthday and I thought that it would be somehow churlish not to have any of the mini-mudcakes that my mum had brought over. Instead of having one or two, I had half the tray. And the sugar monster was reawakened. Before I knew it I was back on the binge and fleeting emotional relief cycle.
In 2013, in an attempt to break my addiction I went on Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar program. It truly worked a treat and for about six months I was clear of sugar. I felt emotionally stronger, cleaner, better and brighter.
But going on holidays later that year, I succumbed to having a Magnum ice-cream, which I then chased with a family block of chocolate and hello again to addiction. This was then followed by my daughter’s birthday and Christmas and who could say no? Not me, obviously.
This was then followed by a pattern of sugar abstinence and sugar bingeing. Last year another round of I Quit Sugar beckoned and all was good for a while. Then came the silly season and I hesitate to think of how much sugar I consumed.
But come New Years Day 2015 and I went cold turkey. Much of January was spent sobbing. I thought I was just being hormonal but when I mentioned it to my kinesiologist she tested me for candida and there it was. She described how candida almost has a consciousness and what it wants is for the host body (me) to just sit on the couch and give up on life.
This resonated with me. Since having my children, I have fought against periods of such intense fatigue and despair that I just felt like fading away. If it wasn’t for my beautiful cherubs, I truly don’t think I would be here anymore.
But here comes the good bit
Since the 6th of February this year, I have been slaying that sugar monster with carefully monitored and diluted drops of food grade hydrogen peroxide. At the risk of sounding like a hydrogen peroxide zealot, may I say that I now feel brilliant.
Energy, optimism and positivity are back. Hooray. Things I’ve been stalling on for over a year, like printing my business cards and commissioning someone to build me a website, are getting done. I feel better than my old good self. Life is blossoming beautifully.
You may be wondering if my candida is gone?
Just from how I am feeling, I would say yes. Have I had a blood test or kinesiology check? Not yet.
If you have candida, you may be also be wondering if hydrogen peroxide is for you? I would say do some research.
There’s a brilliant book called, The One Minute Cure by Madison Cavanaugh, which sings the praises of Hydrogen Peroxide. An ebook copy of it comes free when you buy food grade hydrogen peroxide from Hydrogen Peroxide Australia ([email protected]).
One of the things I like in the book is how nobody is making a profit from hydrogen peroxide. Since it already exists it cannot be patented. Madison estimates that it costs one and a half cents a day to take. I also learnt that hydrogen peroxide occurs naturally in breastmilk. No wonder breastfed babies have excellent immunity.
When I received my parcel of hydrogen peroxide it came with gloves and a face mask. I would have to say that my first reaction was fear. But then I thought what do I have to lose? Hydrogen peroxide is just water with extra oxygen. I also didn’t fancy going on antifungal tablets which can be so taxing on your liver.
Do I still love chocolate? Yes, I do. But now I can satiate myself with just far smaller quantities. And who can quibble with that?
And with my renewed energy I am making some scrumptious IQS sugar free treats. Life is indeed sweet.