Life After Sugar

Cassandra grew up on a classic American diet, sugar included. It wasn't until her 20s that she started noticing the connection between what she was eating and how she was feeling. As someone with ADHD, the moment she cut out sugar and experienced real mental clarity for the first time, there was no going back. In this episode, Cassandra explains what mindful eating is: It means bringing awareness to what you eat, how you eat it, and how it makes you feel. We talk about why North American food...

Angela grew up with a lot of stress and tension around food at home. In her 20s, she struggled with severe sugar addiction alongside anxiety and depression, using sugar as a primary coping mechanism. In this conversation, Angela shares how that breaking point led her to eat more mindfully, and how learning to be present in everyday moments slowly changed her relationship with food, cravings, and emotions. Today, Angela is a functional and integrative health practitioner. Her work blends...

If you’ve ever thought about cutting sugar, flour, and processed foods, it's better to be prepared for what you might experience. In this episode, I talk about the symptoms people often call “detox” and what’s actually happening in the body during that transition. We look at why you might be peeing more, why headaches are so common, what metabolic flexibility means, cravings, and why the brain and body can feel temporarily worse before they start to feel better. I also talk about what h...

You can do everything “right” and still not feel like you're "good enough". In this episode, I talk with Courtney, a health coach and former dancer, about growing up in diet culture, and how looking healthy on the outside doesn't always reflect how we feel on the inside. We talk about why weight loss so often backfires (hint: it's not your fault!). And we also talk about how perfectionism undermines consistency. Courtney shares how becoming a mother made her realize that there's a gap b...

You probably don’t need more health information. Chances are, you’re already overwhelmed by it. In this episode, I talk with Jenn Trepeck, health coach and author of Uncomplicating Wellness, about why eating well and taking care of yourself has become so confusing, and why it doesn’t have to be. We talk about how to make sense of all the conflicting nutrition headlines, why chasing the “right” plan often backfires, and how you can learn to listen to your own body. Jenn and I also talk a...

What is emotional eating? For a long time, I didn’t think emotional eating had anything to do with me. I thought I just liked sugar. I thought I needed more discipline. I thought I should “do better.” You may relate. In this episode, I share my own experience with comfort foods and the role sugar played in helping me cope and unwind at the end of a long day. I talk about why comfort foods feel so comforting, how emotional eating is different from trauma responses. If you’ve ...

What actually counts as a whole food — and why does that matter when it comes to sugar? In this episode, I unpack the difference between foods with added sugars and whole foods that naturally contain sugar, like fruit and dairy. I talk about what “minimally processed” really means, why "food products" that contain forms of added sugars have quietly become part of everyday eating... and how all of this affects cravings, blood sugar, and our general health. I also give my own opinion on t...

In this episode, I’m joined by Aaron, a family physician who explains why most doctors get surprisingly little training in nutrition — and how that gap shaped the way medicine treats chronic disease. Aaron shares how his upbringing influenced his relationship with sugar, why Type 2 diabetes in kids has risen so dramatically. Aaron also talks about the personal turning point that changed his approach to health: adopting his daughter and fighting to support her with real food instead of d...