How I Lost My Sweet Tooth

I can hardly believe it. I’ve had no refined sugar in 5 days and I haven’t even missed it!  And yes, I’m *still* pregnant. So what gives?

Last Friday, I flew to Dallas to attend the 12th annual Wise Traditions Conference, put on by the Weston A. Price foundation.  This organization is a non-profit that disseminates the research of dentist and nutrition pioneer Weston A. Price, who studied the health and habits of isolated nonindustrialized Peoples around the world. Price found that the people who consumed nutrient-dense whole foods and plenty of saturated fats (e.g. animal fats, coconut oil, butter) had the best physical form and health.  Degenerative diseases, like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis as well as dental problems like cavities and crooked, crowded teeth,  were rare to non-existent in these populations, but all started to appear beginning with the first generation that became exposed to modern foods – especially sugar and flour.

Thankfully, I arrived at the conference center just in time for lunch. I helped myself to a big bowl of texas-style beef chili. I also had a soft taco made with 100% coconut wraps and filled with shredded chicken, cheese, avocado and full fat sour cream. All of the animal and dairy products served at the conference came from animals raised on pasture, which had access to plenty of grass and sunshine. This is nothing like so-called “free range” products you buy at Whole Foods, which are not free range at all. On the contrary. These foods are produced by farmers who have nothing to hide and welcome you to visit their farms anytime.

I still wanted something sweet after lunch, so I went to the sweetest thing I could find: oven-roasted apples topped with pecans and raisins, drizzled with maple syrup and orange juice. I know, that’s still sugar, but it’s not refined. It hit the spot! I washed all of this down with some Soothin’ Infusion Herbal Iced Tea.

In between sessions, I strolled past the exhibitors and occasionally sampled their products: fish eggs, liverwurst, ghee, wild Alaskan salmon, lacto-fermented vegetables, Kombucha, fermented cod liver oil and drinkable fruit yogurts.

I don’t know when the change happened, but once Sunday came along and I finished my brunch meal of egg casserole, cheeses, pork sausage, ham fried in lard and Kombucha, I was totally satisfied and didn’t even go back to see what sweet options were offered. I just grabbed a bag of raw almonds to take with me on the plane and headed to the airport.

Once I got on the plane, I started to read my book (which I plan to review in an upcoming post – it’s from Joel Salatin and it’s called Folks, This Ain’t Normal). I brought a bag of raspberry leaf tea with me and asked the flight attendant for two cups of hot water. About an hour into the flight, I ate a few almonds, then continued reading. Just a short while after, and to my surprise, we were suddenly landing in Washington. Where did the time go!?!? And how did I possibly read my book for 3 hours straight?? (Some of you may find this no big deal, but I rarely ever read for more than 30 minutes at a time). The most shocking thing of all was that when I got home at 9pm eastern, more than 7 hours after my last meal, I wasn’t really hungry. Sure, I could eat my dinner, but I wasn’t starving like I thought I would be.

Now that 3 days have gone by since my return, I’m trying to figure out why my sweet tooth has disappeared. There’s a Lake Champlain Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bar sitting in the pantry staring at me, yet I’m not interested!  I even went to Arrowine yesterday and passed on the Jeni’s Chocolate Ice Cream. (Yes, I know $12/pint sounds ridiculous, but you’d understand if you ever tasted it!). Is it because this high fat diet was so satisfying? I mean, I eat plenty of fat at home, but maybe not as much as at the conference. Maybe it was all of the organ meats I ate, which I confess I don’t eat enough of at home. Or was it because food was always available, so I never let myself get hungry? I don’t think it was the cheese because I usually eat plenty and actually they served far less dairy than at last year’s conference, since Texas’ raw dairy laws are more stringent than Pennsylvania’s (that’s where last year’s conference was held). Maybe it was the probiotics in the fermented foods and kombucha, which crowded out the sugar-loving microflora that was in my gut when I arrived and replaced it with healthier microflora. It might have also been partly psychological. As expected, I heard many lectures on the dangers of refined sugars and starches. I also met a ton of healthy, happy, naturally beautiful people at the conference who follow Weston A. Price diet principles more closely than I. The women in particular shared story after story of their trouble-free pregnancies, lack of fertility problems, easy (natural) births and plentiful breast-milk production – something I’m worrying a lot about given how many of my friends have struggled with this.

I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep this up. Especially since Thanksgiving is next week and I specifically requested pumpkin pie for dessert, so it would be impolite to not eat it. Will one slice set me back? If so, can I “reboot” my system on my own with a day or two of eating like I did at the conference?  Or will my upcoming business trips make this impossible?  I don’t know, but I still think it was pretty awesome to witness this rapid transformation of my own body.

I’m curious if others have had similar experiences losing their sugar cravings.