I always saw myself as the cookie-baking, story-reading type of granny. My mom was that type of granny. My mom also had diabetes toward the end of her life and died of cancer at 76 years of age. I entered adulthood with the typical American diet and usually ended dinner with dessert! In fact, I recall that I kept Pop Tarts (30g sugar) and Tang (29g sugar) in my dorm room in college for the days I didn't want to get up in time for breakfast! Fast forward to just before my 50th rotation around the sun.
It started with a strange looking rash. Was I dying of skin cancer? I made an appointment with a dermatologist, who recognized the condition as Psoriasis. She prescribed some creams and told me it could get worse, and handed me some pamphlets on the condition. The condition did get worse, and I was prescribed a self-injecting biological medicine. I soon discovered that Psoriasis is your T-cells attacking your soft tissue, which becomes inflamed. Great. Most of "me" is soft tissue! Not surprisingly, about 2 years later, my knees started to hurt.
I was between insurance coverage and was not taking the biologic. At first I was fine, until I wasn't. Of course, it manifested itself just as I was ready to embark on a dream vacation on a Disney Cruise. My right knee felt like someone had stuffed mashed potatoes into it. Eventually, I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) had to use a wheelchair, got back on to my biologic drugs, hobbled around with a cane, and spent the next 10 years trying to figure out how to get back to normal. I found the best rheumatologist in Tampa (Dr. John Carter, highly recommend!), got some physical therapy and started researching diet. What I found was quite surprising; sugar is poison.
The surprising part wasn't the actual refined, white sugar in a bag. EVERYBODY knows that's bad for you, but where sugar can be found and the fact that it can cause inflammation. The Cleveland Clinic says it best:
Research shows that refined carbs may cause inflammation in your body. “It’s similar to added sugars because nothing slows their breakdown. They hit your bloodstream quickly and spike your blood sugar. And elevated blood sugar creates an inflammatory response,” says Coates. “Your body is trying to remove the sugar from your blood, so it stimulates that inflammation.”
Cleveland Clinic, Health Essentials (June 15, 2020) https://health.clevelandclinic.org/5-foods-that-can-cause-inflammation/
Just a quick search online can find a Glycemic Index Chart that shows what foods contained those hidden sugars. Why is the index important? According to Dr. Ken Berry, MD, in his book, Lies My Doctor Told Me (Berry, 2019, pp. 80-82) bananas have an index of 47, bread is 70, skim milk is 32. Isn't that a typical "healthy" breakfast? Your body doesn't discriminate between types of sugar. Fructose, dextrose, sucrose or lactose, it all spikes your insulin. Personally, I have found it better to just wean myself off the taste of sweetness and eat low-carb, which is also low glycemic. Amazingly enough, my hunger has decreased, my joints ache less and I am losing weight! Dr. Berry is a treasure trove of information. If you want to know more, scoot over to his YouTube channel and be amazed.
All of this has been a process for me. For instance, I just spent a few days with some of those sweet grandkids of mine. We ate donuts. We ate french fries. My joints ache again. I think instead of being the sugar normalizing granny, like my mom and her mom before her, I need to forge a new path. Instead of cookie baking, we can go swimming and out to a farm to pick berries. I really don't want the next generation to end up like the past, with diabetes, dementia and cancer just because they couldn't stay off the sugar!
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