Only Glucose

I've been all geared up to let you know about some exciting progress with my glucose baking, when I have come across some rather difficult information about eating both glucose and sugar. A very kind friend recently gave me a copy of the follow up to David Gillespie's "Sweet Poison," called "The Sweet Poison Quit Plan. How to kick the sugar habit and lose weight."

Gillespie is 100% positive about glucose as a sugar substitute, and says this, "We are perfectly adapted to control how much glucose we eat and our appetite control system will accurately monitor every calorie of glucose we ingest. Glucose is the perfect substitute for the recovering sugarholic." (Pg 64)

But he does give a warning:

"Do not eat foods sweetened with glucose until you have completed withdrawal from sugar."

And goes on to explain:

"While you are still eating sugar, your appetite control system is still broken. If significant quantities of fructose are still in your diet, then eating glucose-sweetened foods will make the problem worse, not better. Glucose is metabolised fast and makes its way quickly into the bloodstream. If your appetite control system is broken, any food will cause you to overproduce insulin in a desperate attempt to clear the accumulation of blood sugar. Eating glucose in this state will simply add (extraordinarily efficiently) to the blood sugar load and encourage even more overproduction of insulin. For this reason, you must not substitute glucose until you are certain your appetite control system is operating normally." (Pg 64)

This is pretty important stuff. Pretty hard to get your head around, but important. I'm swinging from "oh no, I've been doing at all wrong" to "it's ok I don't eat much sugar" to " I need to eat less sugar"!

My biggest question is - how much fructose is a problem? We know that some is ok. In the second sentence above, Gillespie says "If significant quantities are still in your diet..." But how much is significant?

I've been feeling quite good about the drastic reduction of sugar in my diet. I have found the switch to glucose easy, and I do feel as though my appetite control system is working better; I am eating less and feeling full quicker.

But I do eat sugar. People offer it to me, in my home and their home, and it is very hard to refuse. It feels rude in other people's homes. I also like to try things in cafes, and while I eat a lot less sweet cafe food than I used to, I do still have some. What all this adds up to, I don't know.

What do you think, glucose consumers? How does this make you feel? How is the glucose working for you, and how much sugar do you think you are eating? Do you have a particular sugar downfall or two? What kind of balance of glucose and sugar do you have?

It's hard, when you know all that we do. We can't ignore the facts about sugar, and now we can't ignore this. I'm feeling a little defeated by it all just now, but it seems to me the only answer is to really look after ourselves and continue making sure we eat less and less sugar. Will you do this with me? Perhaps I need to open a cafe one day with some glucose baking, so we can all enjoy it while we're out too?