Because of my addiction to sugar I have had first-hand experience of how eating refined sugar impacts us both physically and mentally – reinforced very recently through my daughter’s experience with refined sugars. I have also done some research on the subject.
What I have learned is mind-blowing and makes me wonder how this substance can be sold so widely to the masses!
My daughter is 6 years old and the last time we gave her sugar was when she was about 12-14 months old. However, she recently found a friend at school who was bringing lollies to the school so she decided to have some.
The first day she came home we noticed there was something different about her and her behaviour. She was more jumpy, faster in her actions, loud, hyper, over-sensitive, aggressive when things did not go her way, unreasonable, physically invincible (apparently!?), restless and unable to sit still (at all!).
While some of these behaviours could be classed as ‘normal’ for a 6 year old, they were not normal for my daughter. Don’t get me wrong, she is no saint. She has her tantrums and dummy spits like all other children, but what was different this day was the intensity with which these behaviours were coming out and her inability to listen or be reasoned with.
It was only a few days before she spilled the beans and shared what she was doing at school. This was great as it confirmed the suspicions I was having about the cause of her behavioural changes.
We worked with the school to stop the sugar supply, and in the beginning when the supply was no longer accessible we had a very outraged child (addiction behaviour? Ahh yes!) Once she stopped eating the sugar, she was herself again. She settled completely and we have since talked to her about how she feels different when eating sugar, as opposed to when she doesn’t eat sugar. Now that this has been brought to her attention, and we have spoken to her about it so openly, she has been able to feel this difference in her body and her manner.
How can a behaviour-altering substance such as sugar be sold to the masses like it is nothing special??
And sugar is everywhere; sugar is in almost everything we eat. It is in our breakfast cereal, our snacks, our drinks (even flavoured water!), tomato sauce, tinned tomatoes, a jar of olives, even sundried tomatoes! Have you read the ingredients on the canned vegetables in the supermarket? Sugar is added to creamed corn and kidney beans, for heaven’s sake!
There are not a whole lot of snack options in the supermarket for people who have chosen to cut refined sugars out of their diets, especially sweet snacks. It is almost impossible to find a refined sugar-free sweet that is also gluten and dairy-free in a supermarket, and very rare to find one in a café (here in Australia).
So in order to support myself and my family to be refined sugar-free, I got busy in the kitchen, baking.
It turns out I have a natural ability to make yummy tasting sweets that are refined sugar free, as well as gluten and dairy-free!
These yummy delights really supported me in my commitment to not eat refined sugar ever again. They provided me with an option to be much kinder to myself and to my body as I healed the destructive energy that was allowing me to keep myself dosed-up to the eyeballs with refined sugar and disconnected from myself (and my body).
However, I have since felt that even these can have an effect on my body so I rarely have them anymore… but there is still a place for them in my home.
These yummy delights are very supportive for my daughter as she finds her way in a world filled with foods that contain refined sugars. She wants to ‘fit in’ at school and have sweet food like her friends, so these are a great option for her as they are much gentler and kinder to her little sensitive body.
I have also taken these yummy delights out to local cafes as I felt there was a place for them in the wider community. There are many people struggling with sugar addiction and also many more choosing to make more healthy lifestyle choices for themselves, especially those dealing with illnesses. So they are a brilliant option – plus they taste amazing, even better than the sweets fully loaded with sugar!!
The feedback I have been receiving from clients and the café owners has been very encouraging. People are really enjoying the lightness and flavoursome delights being offered.
It is beautiful to be able to offer the wealth of experience that I have in this area so it can potentially benefit others too. I feel it is an incredible healing for me to be able to give people an option that allows them to take better care of themselves (as I have learned to do for myself over the years). And even if they aren’t consciously choosing this and just eat the yummy delights anyway, they will be blessed by all the love I have made them with… and that is pretty cool I think!
With deep thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for showing me that there is another way to live… One that includes great care and love for myself and my body – for what I feed it determines the quality I live my life in every moment of every day.
By Robyn Jones, 38, B.Sc. (Psych), Counsellor, Mother & Baker Extraordinaire, Goonellabah, Australia
Read Part One: Addicted to Sugar… My Drug Addiction
Read Part Two: Exhaustion and the Effects of Sugar Addiction
Further Reading:
Serge Benhayon on Food and Diet
Choices: Weight Loss, Diet, Food & Health
577 Comments
From some time to now I’m becoming more aware about the effects that sugar has on my body. Yesterday I felt quite reactive in the afternoon, hard and not in my delicacy at all. Today I woke up feeling dense, like clearing of a substance that my body doesn’t really need anymore. I appreciate these signals that invite me to make some adjustments in my diet. I’m not planning what to eat or not to eat today but listen more closely to my body and honour it…just this feels yummier than any treat.
Could it be our garden of Eden the way sugar tempts us from being in full connection to our essences / Soul, because as you have shared Robin sugar and sweeteners sacrifice our ability to be fully connected.
I remember when I was a child not wanting to eat sugar, but sometimes in a birthday party I did, eating the cake and afterwards, feeling literally awful in my body. Now I appreciate how in those years I already chose not to eat those sugar refined cakes anymore. I felt then the surprise and even the rejection of some adults, but that choice made total sense for me and I preferred those reactions around me than feeling again that awkwardness inside me.
I recall how after children’s parties my son (when a kid) would return home hyper. We laugh abut it now, but it was all those E numbers back in the day, as well as the excess sugar, which he wasn’t used to at home.
A sweet tooth is our spirit loading us up with an addictive substance that shows up as unnatural behaviours and this becomes especially obvious when we have eliminated sugar and over the top sweeteners from our diet. Also this is especially so in those who have never had sugar as you have shared Robyn as the disorientating disturbances brought on by us eating sugar become glaringly obvious.
When we have a craving for something it is time to look at what it is we don’t want to feel.
So true. Looking behind the reason why we have a craving, be it for sweet, salt, – or any sort of ;comfort food, that can vary. Its not always the food per se. Discipline in going without doesn’t work. Find the root cause – always the go-to.
I have found one of the best ways to deal with addiction is to not have the addictive substance in my home, if its there in the cupboard I will go for it when the tension arises. If its not there I have no option but to look at why I am craving it.
Sugar contributes to mental health problems full stop.
I have been addicted to sugar growing up and know how it plays havoc on your body. I have suffered from hypoglycaemia for many years believing it was normal. In order to treat it I would go for refined sugar.
It was only until I met Serge Benhayon at a talk and recognised that the addiction was from not loving and caring for myself more deeply and holding back my natural sweetness, that the craving started to go away.
It is interesting that many would never go anywhere near heroin knowing of the potential addiction but freely admit to an addiction to refined sugar.
This Christmas the shops are choc (pun intended) full of sweets biscuits and all things sweet. Come January 1st the media will be all about dieting and removing the excess pounds. What if we lived in such a way that we needed neither, as we feel our own natural sweetness?
When my son was young, thirty years ago now, his behaviour would be off the wall after drinking orange squash or Coca Cola. We laugh about it now. Fortunately my grandchildren aren’t exposed to sugar like that…..
We are not so much addicted to sugar as we are addicted to the high we get living in such a reactive state that prevents us from being aware of what is really going on around us and within us. With awareness levels at an all-time high, we are reaching for sugar and its substitutes like never before. It is not so much an issue with sugar (although I do agree that it is harmful on all levels and is best avoided if possible) as it is an issue with our ever-increasing awareness as a human race.
Yes, wanting to dull ourselves so we don’t feel. There is sugar everywhere we look, even in such things as low fat yoghurts, ostensibly made for those on a diet…..crackers!
You describe how it takes a few days for the sugar to ‘let go’… once its in the system it calls for more and that can be a mini battle to just let that go. That is a classic show and tell for an addictive substance and yet its so normal, so everywhere, with a multi-billion £ industry supporting it all the way into our kitchens.
‘How can a behaviour-altering substance such as sugar be sold to the masses like it is nothing special??’ This really does need to be looked at doesn’t it! We are all aware of how alcohol changes the state of our body and the behaviour change that comes with that, but with sugar it’s not even on our radar. Kids and sweets are synonymous with each other, but we as adults haven’t wanted to see the ramifications excusing the results as being normal.
Of course the best antidote to craving sugar is to living life in full and not holding back. Who needs sugar when we are already living everything.
I have found certain foods really help with sugar addiction, garlic, limes and lemons and lamb – cooking a loving meal really helps with those cravings.
It is important for us to consider if we can replace some of the things we eat with healthier alternatives, although this always needs to be observed. I have found I can eat anything in an unloving way if I am not being aware of my body. It certainly has supported our family to have unrefined sugar alternatives in the house if people feel like that is what they want to eat.
Sugar it seems is in everything along with wheat and dairy, and then even the most well-intended mum and dad would find it difficult to navigate the packaging in the stores. Having studied nutrition and the many ways in which the manufactures try to fool the general public with their labelling is so corrupt that they have to have a governing body to keep them in line.
Yes, sugar is in many packaged or tinned foods that are savoury, it is very bizarre, you really have to read the labels to know exactly what is in.
Sometimes I work in schools and I see first hand the devastating impact that sugar and caffeine can have on children, its a crazy emotional up and down environment that is definitely not condusive to learning.
I know even when I have too much fruit sugar my movements are different, I am more emotional and less likely to concentrate, the key for me is looking at why I might be craving sugar – am I tired or am I trying to check out from the intensity of life – being super honest is the way we get over any addiction.
It’s wonderful how, as sweetened things drop away from our diet we can taste so much more the sweetness inherent in so many other foods and drinks This sense gets stronger giving us an ever increasing awareness of the taste and also the beauty and quality therein and how it resonates with us – with our bodies.
Recently there was the bringing of the awareness from someone who eats sugar that it was impossible to do one thing at a time just focusing on that one thing. He shared that it felt normal to him when he was doing one thing to have 3 or 4 other things simultaneously happening in his head to consider. It feels like this would be very exhausting.
This bridging support to slowly not needing to consume sugar is huge, something I would like to explore for my family. Teenagers and adults may not exhibit tantrums as readily as children when sugar is eaten, but the effects are no different.
The effects of sugar on our body are massive and the constant intake masks this and behaviours become accepted. Seeing the effect on your child is a clear marker of the effects and a support for mothers and manufactures to change what is offered and a new perspective is needed and the responsibility for our health and for future generations very important
It is so great Robyn how you are educating your daughter to understand, by feeling in her body for herself the effects of eating sugar, and your sensitivity to her relationship with other children at school by providing her with healthy choices. I was quite rigid with my children, sugar was not allowed in the house, I learnt sometime later that they were buying lollies from the shop up the road.
Once you stop having sugar regularly then something sweet can actually almost feel like a punch to the body as the sugar effect can be that strong in my experience.
Absolutely as how can we initiate change if there are no alternatives on offer to support people who want to explore a different way?
It is truly shocking the impact of having sugar on your daughter after so long without any and clearly illustrates the toxic way it impacts everyone it is just that most are more desensitised and the link is not so clear. This needs to be explored more widely as with ever increasing behaviour issues in schools and in our wider society we desperately need to start finding answers that can enable us to live more harmoniously with each other.
‘How can a behaviour-altering substance like sugar be sold to the masses like it’s nothing special?’ – and how/why do we just accept that such a behaviour-altering substance is in the majority of our food? We are prepared to turn a blind eye while huge industries feed us what they want – and all because we demand it. Things won’t change unless and until we want to look at why we feel we need sugar, and what we’re using it for – what are we not prepared to see, feel or handle, and why do we need something to pick us up (that later drops us)?
After reading this article one can clearly state that if you want to have a loving relationship with yourself, and that includes your body, sugar cannot be part of a diet. If you honestly observe what the effects are of sugar.
While we seek to dull our awareness and ourselves, no matter how much research goes into this area, it will not change while the demand is still so strong for this. It requires an inward movement to create an outer movement.
Yes, we need to deal with our need for sugar and that will remove the demand.
What a great example of being the change you would like to see in the world, Robyn. I love how you did not just help your own family with getting off of refined sugar, but took your supportive treats out into the community to share them. This is living in true brotherhood.
Sugar is a legalized drug that keeps us contracted and addicted, once we develop a sugar addiction (which is not hard) we are more likely to grow up with a propensity for addiction and this then as we know can continue in many forms.
Having eliminated processed sugar some (35) thirty-five years ago I now find any thing, which is sweet sends me racy and I end up loosing my connection to my divine essence.
Robyn this is a beautiful example of true parenting, in how you have supported your daughter to feel and understand for herself her relationship with her body, and how it reflects the effects of sugar and food in general. Very empowering, and fostering this relationship that is innate in us all is precisely the education that all children deserve to receive in order to support them to live with greater connection, health and well-being.
The amount of sugar in our everyday food is astounding and the effects go unnoticed in reality and accepted as normal when in fact they are causing us to not live and be ourselves with chronic illness and disease let alone unreasonable behaviour. A great sharing for us all to note and see there is another way to eat and live .
“How can a behaviour-altering substance such as sugar be sold to the masses like it is nothing special??” Excellent question Robyn and one that can be asked of too of caffeine and alcohol.
I am reminded of the time I went cold turkey for 3 months having absolutely no sugar and nothing sweet. I then was given this big chocolate cake with a thick layer of fondant that I could not resist (one has to be polite when given a gift!) and of course I had a big piece of it, never even considering this might have an affect. Not long after I felt as if I had taken drugs, my mind was very unclear, my heart was racing, I was erratic and I felt sick to my stomach. I was shocked as I had not expected this but at the same time the harming affect of sugar has been from then on for ever without questioning.
There is plenty of experiential and scientific evidence about what sugar does to us so the fact that is still so widely available can only be because we want those effects, we are asking for it by what we buy and consume.
Super blog, Robyn. It wasn’t until I came across Universal Medicine that I began to understand the effects that sugar can have on my body. Serge Benhayon’s clear and simple presentations on bringing the focus to truly feeling what is going on in the body when sugar is consumed allowed me to feel for myself the effect consuming sugar was having, and the very addictive nature of this substance – to the point where I would cut sugar out for long periods of time and so feel the joy in my body for going sugar-less only to cave in to the craving when going through a difficult and challenging patch.Despite this joy-full feeling in my body calling me back, there were (and sometimes still are!) times when the level of love in my body would drop and I would attempt to fill that drop in the sweetness of love with sugar. It doesn’t work, it never will and so I lovingly bring myself back to the basics of self care and self love and the balance rights itself once again.
Thank you Robyn, should be front page news. You only talk about refined sugar too. What about the fructose sugar in fruits? That needs to be widely understood too.
We are not listening to our bodies where all of this is known. It was not until I had a marker in my body (thanks to Universal Medicine) what it was to actually feel great in my body that I was easily able to say no to sugar forever.
It is fascinating how such a common commodity like refined sugar is accessible to anyone at any time of the day yet it has been compared to as if you are on crack. Either way what is clearly expressed in this blog is that it totally alters our body and our state of being. I know when I have been on sugar then stopped it the impact that it has had on my body and mood is painful. Today I wouldn’t even consider having such a drug.
I find it interesting, the effect that sugar has on children, and yet it is so common place in their diet. But the effects are clear and plain to see. So as a parent, letting go of sugar must also be a process of developing a willingness with oneself to see what is actually and truly going on.
A great place to start freeing ourselves from the sugar addiction, is with our children. When we stop eating sugary foods the difference is huge in us all, as well as the ability to detect too much in almost all foods as you mention. Thank you Robyn.
Considering the impact of sugar on our bodies and the fact that children consume such high qualities of it, could this be a large contributing factor to many children struggling to focus and maintain harmonious relationships at school? Simply observing my classes after a shared birthday cake the behaviour of the children heighten, they become louder, more excited, more hyperactive and less able to remain calm and less able to listen with a steadiness.
Yes I remember that way back in the early eighties I heard of a prison in Lisbon, Portugal, that conducted experiments on sugar consumption and behaviour change. They found that the prisoners became much more aggressive when they had sugary drinks.
It sounds crazy when we liken sugar to illicit drugs, but the effects are not so different – in that it alters our natural state and of course, effects everyone differently…so different bodies react differently in the same way people respond differently to certain drugs. But either way, it has a noticeable impact on the body, and it’s easier to observe in a child who has yet to master the art of control, but take the sugar away from an adult…and look out. No different to quitting smoking or drinking. It’s so interesting.
Having sugar-free foods/desserts is a great way to support people to free themselves from a sugar addiction and for children to fit in with their peers is without a doubt a huge support – certainly helped me and know many others for whom this has also been true.
Robyn, reading this article about the effects of sugar makes me wonder if a lot of behaviour issues that we see with children could be down to sugar and that often we don’t necessarily make this link like you have.
The corrupted way that sugar is being sneaked into the diets of our everyday lives when exposed can feel deeply overwhelming. And the only true way is to start living what we know is true in our bodies, step by step.
With our rates of obesity as high as it is (and seemingly escalating every year) it surely must have a lot to do with the fact that so much of our pre-prepared manufactured food that is eaten in copious amounts at our dinner tables today has such a high sugar content.
Why is it possible to have products that are laced with sugar made for children. There is not a parent in the world that does not see the change sugar brings over a child. I often hear parents say that their child cannot have sugary drinks because they go hyper or they can have the sugary product in the morning , but not later as they will not sleep at night.
But its just not sugar products, we have a name for it “junk food” we make junk food and we feed it to ourselves and our children. Its wonderful Robyn that you are bringing non-junk food to the people and your child.
I agree, these other options offer us not only a different choice, they get us to consider what we usually eat and if there is another way of eating to support us.
It is interesting that it is acceptable to give children, or ourselves, a reward or treat that is laced with refined sugar when this substance is so addictive and harmful to health.
Sugar is literally everywhere and it is great to read this example of your daughter as my daughter has been eating more sugar recently and it is definitely affecting her behaviour, I have suggested a sugar free stint as an experiment but in truth I wasn’t ready for that myself so it is something we are refining and being real and honest about why this avoidance of stillness is such a stubborn issue for us as a family.
It is interesting to read this blog and realise that although I was never a ‘sweet tooth’ the behaviours that are shared are no different if we choose ‘savoury’.
Recently I was at a wedding and there was a beautiful and delicious gluten, dairy and refined sugar free wedding cake. And a lot of the guests were surprised that not only it looked amazing but also the taste was amazing. It tasted pure and natural sweet and it was absolutely made with love.
“How can a behaviour-altering substance such as sugar be sold to the masses like it is nothing special” The million dollar question that society does its best to ignore.
There are a lot of people who are invested in it… too many to count, whether that be the financial investment, or their crutch in life. When we collectively don’t want to let it go as a population we are going to ignore its ill effects, and fight any legislation that might restrict our access to it.
Robyn, thank you for this article. I notice at my local school how sugar directly affects the children, they get racy and hyperactive, my son had refined sugar once and this sent him crazy, he was bouncing off the walls, so he has not had it since, he even gets racy and not himself if he has too much fruit or dried fruit, children are so sensitive and sugar certainly does not support them in anyway; how sugar affects children is a really important discussion to have.
Sugar, amongst many other drugs are readily and legally available in society, for us to medicate ourselves with. The fact is, we are calling for this to be available and as a result the supply continues to flourish and invent new ways to deliver what is being called for. What you have brilliantly presented here Robyn, is that the responsibility, and as such the power, is in our hands, to bring awareness to how our bodies are feeling when we consume such substances, and if we feel unwell or not ourselves, question why we are needing to consume them in the first place. Teaching and encouraging this awareness in our children is then what truly empowers them to learn to make choices for themselves, guided by the intelligence of their own bodies.
I have read all your sugar articles Robyn, and what a way out of the sugar addiction you have made. You are indeed a shiny example for people that eat refined sugar and think there is no way out. Your step by step approach, from awareness on what refined sugar really does, to the practical steps. Congratulations!
Even when we quit sugar for good I find my sprit can still be very clever with using different foods to mask an underlying tiredness or an emotion I do not want to feel.
Mask the feelings of fragility and sensitivity that we can feel in the world yet override with the myriad of dulling foods that we so proudly call “treat foods”.