By Dr. Marc Bubbs ND, CSCS
This article really peaked my interest this morning. It’s about a man named Jason Holborn who realized – after reading an insightful article by Gary Taubes – that he had an addiction to sugar and no matter what he tried to do he just couldn’t give it up. So, as a last ditch effort he decided to post the number of days he was off sugar in BIG LETTERS outside his house. Impressively… he made it up to 574!
This made me start to think, how long have I gone without any sugar? As an athlete, sugar finds it’s way into your diet from supplementation during exercise and recovery shakes afterwards. I would have to guess that the longest I’ve gone without sugar is probably only a month!
The latest statistics on sugar put the current consumption at 160 pounds per person, per year. That is an incredible number. It’s no wonder ¾ of the population in North America are either overweight or obese. We’ve seriously altered the food system and it seems we are left with convenience foods that are HIGH in sugar and LOW in nutrients. Not a great recipe for health, performance, and ideal body weight.
For Jason, he is allowed to eat fruit… natural sugars. He states in the article that since giving up candies, pies, and sweets he really appreciates just how naturally sweet fruit truly is. He said before kicking his sugar habit, he thought bananas were tasteless and watermelon bland. Now his palate explodes with flavour when he eats these foods.
The tenets of Traditional Chinese Medicine state humans were intended to consume foods with lots of different tastes; sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty. This allows for a natural balance to occur in the body and for all systems to run effectively.
Today, everything is just a varying degree of SWEET, SWEET, and MORE SWEET! So, my challenge to you is to see how long you can go without sugar? Do you think you could last a week? Two weeks? A whole month? If you are looking to improve your health, lose weight, or improve your performance/recovery than this challenge is for you!
Dr. Marc Bubbs N.D. has been working with athletes and active people for almost a decade. As a Naturopathic Doctor and Strength and Conditioning Coach, Marc focuses on the integration of health and exercise, believing that movement is the best medicine. He focuses on a holistic approach, using a combination of traditional Eastern and cutting-edge Western medicine to meet his client’s health and performance goals. Marc spent several years working in London, England as a personal trainer and strength coach for business executives and competitive athletes. He currently works as a sports medical consultant at Laylor Performance Systems and Canada Basketball. Dr. Bubbs practices at the Integrative Health Institute in Downtown Toronto.
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