Sugar Addiction and Fasting

EDIT: Please read my Nearly 3 Years Later: 3 Broken Bones & 200+ Pounds - The Long-Term Effects of Juice Fasting update before considering juice fasting.  I hope that my experience will provide you with real-world information about long-term juicing.



It's a love/hate relationships for me and the "I am addicted to food" rational.  Sometimes I feel that this mentality is nothing more than an excuse to consume and not take responsibility.  Believe me when I say that I have used this many times, but I know deep down inside it's a behavior issue.  However, when it comes to sugar, I am a firm believer that sugar can be addictive.

I base my beliefs on both scientific research as well as my own personal experience - though the science field doesn't agree 100 percent, which is great!  (That's the researcher in me.  Challenge everything to ensure that every possible angle has been validated.)

My personal experience comes from my first juice fast.  Severe detoxes were pretty normal throughout the 40 days, but around day 36 or so, something strange happened: I experienced intense withdrawal symptoms.

I was irritable; couldn't concentrate; couldn't sit still; my heart was racing; my thoughts were racing;  I was anxious; I ended up pacing up and down the hallway at work over and over again.  The intense, overwhelming feeling wouldn't stop!  And yet, for some reason, I knew somewhere deep down inside of me that if I just had one morsel of sugar it would all stop.  But I refrained.

The very next day, my body expelled loads of dead candida - something that depends on and thrives on sugar!  I can honestly say that from that moment on, I have not been a slave to sugar.  It doesn't "please" me the way it used to.  It doesn't satisfy me.  It doesn't comfort me.  I am free!  I honestly don't think I would have broken the addiction if it weren't for juice fasting.

I will also add that since then, sweet foods that used to be so delicious to me are too sweet for me now.  It almost causes me to wince the way sour foods do for most people.  If I need something sweet, I tend to use raw honey.  In fact, Really Raw^® Honey seems to provide such nourishment and joy to me.

Please, don't just take my word for it.  Research for yourself. 

Articles on sugar research:

Sugar Addiction In Your Body, Not Just Your Mind

Sugar as addictive as cocaine, heroin, studies suggest

Sugar is an Addictive Drug? Eh...Sort Of

Book:

Sugar Blues

Fasting and Hair Loss

EDIT: Please read my Nearly 3 Years Later: 3 Broken Bones & 200+ Pounds - The Long-Term Effects of Juice Fasting update before considering juice fasting.  I hope that my experience will provide you with real-world information about long-term juicing.



I am sharing this story, because no one ever warned me about this.  

After my first fast, I lost a lot of hair.  We're talking plugs of hair.  It didn't start until about four to six weeks after my very first juice fast ended, and I was horrified.  I would wake up and there would be a thin layer of my hair all over my pillow.  When I would shower, I would pull small chunks out all at once. I actually ran my fingers through my hair while sitting in a coworker's office one day, and I pulled out a large chunk.  I simply broke down and cried in his office.

My hair was never *great* beforehand; it was a bit dull, flat and rather oily.  The whole hair-loss process lasted about one month and my hair was pretty thin by the end of it all...

...and then it grew back.  Not just "back".  It grew back thicker, shinier, fuller, even a lighter color.  After about a year from when my hair started growing back, my hair was thicker than it was before the first fast. 

When my hair first started growing back and the new hairs were about 1" long, I had a mini-mohawk down the part of my hair.  Once the new little hairs were about 2" long, it looked like I was constantly suffering from static electricity as they stood on end all around my head.

To this day, my hair is still extremely soft, full, wavy and has a lot of body.

I warned my friend who attempted a 40-day juice fast, and her hair did the same thing.  Her hair also regrew beautifully!

I was talking to a hair dresser about my first juice fast, and he immediately asked if my hair started to fall out.  Surprised, I asked him how he knew.  He said that this is pretty typical for anyone who "shocks their system with a significant diet change."   I would love to understand the physiology of it, and I welcome any information. 

I do not fully understand why this happened.  I don't know if it is normal. Please talk to a physician if you have any concerns.  I do take this seriously.  But I also wanted to give other future fasters a heads up so you do not panic the way I did.  Also, this only happened after my first fast and never happened again.

EDIT (10 September 2012): About 5 months after I ended the 2012 fast, my hair started to fall out again, but it was not as drastic as this first experience.  I also talk about this in my 6-month post-fast update. It has since stopped.  I will let you all know if anything else happens if and when it does.


EDIT (26 October 2012): I have received a lot of feedback on this post from readers who are sharing their experiences regarding fasting and hair loss.  Please take the time to read others' experience in the comments section below.  After all, my experience is not the end-all, be-all of fasting.

Also, my hair continues to do well.  It has not fallen out for a while, though I have not seen a "halo" of new growth yet.