Why Sugar?

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Since the start of the year I’ve been refusing food with refined sugar in it (well mostly). I want to rid it from my diet, to see if feel better for it. But why do it?

It’s a haunch, I guess ever since I read that (refined) sugar has no nutritional value, I had my doubts about it. Also, it was banned in my house when I was about 10, though I need to find out from my dad why. But despite this background, sugar has crept more and more into my diet.

Most obviously, I like soft drinks, especially fizzy ones but I dramatically cut down last November after a trip to the dentist. Over the past couple of years, I have also got back into ice creams, especially as they are free with many meals in Taiwan. Also my girlfriend loves cooking and over the last half year has been making lots of cookies and some cakes.

Here are top reasons for me but there are sites that list over a 100 reasons to give up sugar.

• It’s terrible for your teeth

• It lowers your immune system’s ability to fight disease.

• It releases its energy incredibly fast. This leads to unstable blood sugar levels resulting in mood swings, headaches and fatigue. The more sugar consumed, the more unstable blood sugar levels are. When blood sugars are extremely unbalanced diseases such as diabetes can occur. Also unstable bloods sugar levels can also be a contributing factor to depression.

• Because sugar releases it energy quickly, unless the body has an immediate use for it, the sugar gets converted into fats. This is done to help regulate the blood sugar level. I don’t have scientific events to back this up but I believe that sugar contributes much more to weight gain then ‘fat’. I mainly believe this because ‘sugary foods’ don’t fill you up or provide your body with the nutrients it needs, and fairly soon afterwards you want to eat more but a cooked meal with meat and some fat tends to fill you up.

• Sugar becomes sticky in the blood system and contributes to a process called ‘glycation’. Sugar sticks to proteins, which in turns reduces the elasticity of the body’s organ. Commonly known as aging.

How’s the war on sugar going?

It’s going pretty well. I’ve been offered things with sugar in them numerous times and I’ve refused them all when before, I’d probably accepted. Well, nearly, my girlfriend made some bread with white sugar in it. Why it needs sugar I don’t know, but after initially refusing, I gave into her protests.

I think the amount of refined sugar in my diet must have been dramatically reduced since the start of the year. I’ve been reducing the amount of sugar in my diet since having two new fillings last November. Then I stopped drinking soft drinks.

How do I feel?

Well, so far I don’t feel any better. Yesterday, afternoon I felt very tired but that mainly from being a bit drunk the night before. Before yesterday, I think my energy levels maybe a bit more constant though. Nothing dramatic.

Personal Introduction

I’ve been denying it for a long time but next year I’ll definitely be middle aged. Next year I’ll be 40 and it’ll mark a watershed for me, as I don’t think I can deny my age any longer. I look younger than my age but I’m definitely feeling the changes. I feel tired sometimes for unexplained reasons, the hangovers are harder and I’m getting unexplained aches much more often than I used to.

My health history (some at least)

I had a hearing problem when I was young, with an abscess in one of my ears. It was pretty bad as I had to wear a hearing aid. I think my hearing is ok now but nothing spectacular.

Generally, I’ve been about the right weight or a little underweight for my height. Currently I’m 173cms and 68Kgs. My weight has been in a range of about 62Kg to 73Kg for the past 10 years.

Physically I’m ok. My big toes hurts sometimes (on and off for about 10 years) and I get unexplained aches and pains sometimes. Other than that I walk a lot and do either running or swimming once or twice a week. The exercising has been a relatively reason phenomena, maybe the last two years and it’s been on and off.


I had, what many people consider to be, a very healthy diet, consisting of lots of vegetables, moderate amount of meat, fish and seafood. This has changed in the last few years as I now live in Taiwan where eating out is much cheaper than London, where I used to live. My diet now, consists of lots of seafood, meat, still a reasonable amount of vegetables, some fruit and Chinese food (with whatever additives they add to it). Also, my tooth is much sweeter than it used to be.


I consider myself to be a heavy drinker, though I drink a lot less than I used to. When I was young, I drunk very often and most of the time I got drunk. It wasn’t very healthy and the frequency of my drinking has declined as well as the amount. I now drink about two times a week, getting drunk about once a week. Earlier this year I didn’t drink for a month and I felt much better after that – more lively and alert.

Also, I drink a lot of soft drinks periodically. I’ve cut down a lot recently on this and I want to keep it this way. Also drink a lot of coffee and tea, probably too much.


I generally consider myself to be positive but when reading my diary, I can see that I can be very negative towards myself often.

I’m currently in a three and half year relationship with Stephanie.

In the next post, I’ll outline my main goals with health. Feel free to introduce yourselves, especially if you are on a similar quest has me.