A Look at Sugar, Childhood Programming, and Empowerment
I’ve been on a mission to support my gut health lately, thanks to some recipes found in the book Super Gut. One of my favorite projects has been experimenting with homemade probiotic yogurt—basically letting beneficial bacteria do their thing and hoping to create something that feels nourishing rather than loaded with sugar. The logical next step was turning that yogurt into a frozen dessert. I pictured it as a tangy, guilt-free treat.
As soon as I tasted the final product, I realized it wasn’t exactly the sweet, creamy ice cream I grew up eating. Instead, I got a pungent, sour flavor with just a whisper of vanilla. It was a wake-up call: I suddenly understood how much sugar is crammed into regular ice cream, especially when it’s cold. It’s easy to forget that cold temperatures mute our taste buds, so if you can still taste a bold sweetness in a frozen treat, chances are there’s a heap of sugar lurking under the surface.
That realization took me back to the days when I’d devour store-bought ice cream by the pint, never stopping to question what made it taste so dreamy. But it also reminded me of a recent moment, watching a friend make flan. He dumped a disgusting amount of sugar into the cream, and I remember thinking, “Is that all going in one dish?” Sure enough, it was. I had one small serving, and not long after, I felt jittery, parched, and just off. My body was basically screaming, “Too much glucose!”
I’ve learned that this sugar rollercoaster can affect our bodies in more ways than just a little buzz. It sends blood sugar soaring, prompts an insulin surge, and then inevitably crashes, leaving you moody, tired, and somehow hungry again. Over time, it can cause everything from inflammation to more serious health problems. When you physically see what goes into these desserts, it’s pretty hard to ignore.
But sugar sneaks into so much more than just dessert. “Healthy” juices are a perfect example: bright labels covered in words like “All Natural!” or “100% Fruit!”—but if you check the nutrition facts, you might see 20, 30, or even 50 grams of sugar in a single bottle. A quarter cup of sugar is about 50 grams, so imagine dumping that into one glass. You wouldn’t do that at home, yet it’s shockingly common in these so called healthy drinks.
Making frozen yogurt, made me realize I was just trying to recreate my old sugary favorites without the sugar, and it wasn’t working. It still triggered that craving for something sweet and icy that I just don’t want to fuel anymore. So I decided my ice cream maker is better off with someone who might actually “need” it. Letting it go feels like another shift towards gifting myself a life of feeling good.
I’m not saying I’ll never enjoy a treat. But my alarm bells have been further tweaked prompting me to think about what I am actually taking in, especially in those cold desserts and “healthy” juices. Once you connect the dots between how you feel and what you eat, it’s hard to go back to mindlessly polishing off pint after pint of ice cream or sipping juice by the gallon. With that awareness comes the option to choose. Freeing myself from the program feels like freedom.
