Sweet Jesus: It's like we can't eat anything!

SWEET JESUS

Peace everyone,

At this point it feels like everything will kill you.

Don’t eat carbs.
Don’t eat sugar.
Don’t eat bread.
Don’t eat dairy.

Next thing you know somebody’s telling you the only safe meal left is ice water and air.

So most people try to “eat healthy” for about three days… then give up and grab whatever is convenient.

But here’s the thing: the idea isn’t wrong. The strategy usually is.

You don’t need to starve yourself or give up everything you enjoy. What you do need is to understand where sugar is hiding and how much of it you’re actually eating.

Because sugar isn’t just in candy and cake.
It’s in sauces, breads, drinks, snacks, and foods people swear are “healthy.”

And when the body is constantly dealing with sugar spikes, you’ll often see things like:

• more inflammation
• pain/ body aches
• hormone and cortisol spikes
• fatigue and cravings
• blood sugar swings

Over time, those things add up. And it looks like bloating and body aches.

The 4 Sugars You’ll See Most Often

When you flip a label over, these are the usual suspects:

• Cane Sugar
• High Fructose Corn Syrup (garbage)
• Dextrose
• Fruit Juice from concentrate (trash)

 These show up in everything from spaghetti sauce to salad dressing, which is how people end up consuming way more sugar than they realize.

If you like reading the science, both American Heart Association and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have good research on how added sugar affects metabolism.

A Simple Rule That Actually Works

If you’re trying to lose weight or manage inflammation/pain, keep it simple when reading labels:

Weight management:
Try to stay under 5g of sugar per serving.

Blood sugar regulation & inflammation support:
Aim for 4g or less per serving.

No complicated diet. Just pay attention to the numbers.

Foods That Spike Blood Sugar Quickly

Tasting sweet is not a requirement for foods being high in sugar! Read that again. A perfect example of this is salad dressing. Yup! Check out the nutrition facts next time you decide to add them to your diet.

The foods HIGHEST in sugar are carbohydrates:

• wheat bread, white bread
• dairy products
• highly processed snacks (chips, cookies, bagels)

Frequent blood sugar spikes are connected to body aches and inflammation, which research published in JAMA has linked to many chronic health conditions.

And inflammation is something many of us in our community deal with through things like:

• arthritis
• lupus
• plantar fasciitis
• chronic back pain

Reducing added sugars won’t solve everything overnight — but it definitely helps calm the fire in the body.

A Quick Label Trick

Next time you pick up something like spaghetti sauce, yogurt, or granola, look at the back where it says:

Total Sugars

If that number is above 4–5 grams, it may not be doing your body any favors.

Small choices like that, repeated consistently, can change a lot over time.

Let’s Talk About It

If you’ve ever looked at a label and thought,
“What in the world am I actually supposed to eat?”

You’re not alone.

Send me your questions, thoughts, or experiences and I’ll address them in future newsletters.

📩 Email:
[email protected]

Your question might be the one a lot of other people needed answered too.