The Sweet Things I’m Learning to Let Go Of

For years, my nervous system lived in a fairly dominant sympathetic state. Not because I didn’t care about my health. But because several underlying conditions were quietly shaping my physiology.

Untreated celiac disease was creating chronic inflammation before I fully understood what was happening.Years of poor sleep, before my maxillary expansion improved my airway and breathing, kept my body in low grade survival mode and limited my ability to get deep sleep and REM sleep, imparitive for healing and the ability to funtion well. Expanding my palate a few years ago was more than structural. It was reclaiming breath, oxygenation, and parasympathetic tone. And when I was younger, I was simply less aware of environmental toxins and what I was putting into my body (as were most of us in the 80's!).

It wasn’t one dramatic event. It was accumulation.

When inflammation, poor sleep, chronic stress, and blood sugar instability coexist, the nervous system adapts by staying alert. Cortisol remains elevated. Insulin sensitivity can shift. Immune signaling can become less precise.

When chronic stress and refined sugar coexist, they amplify one another.

Stress raises blood glucose. Refined sugar spikes it further. Insulin increases. Inflammatory pathways stay activated.

I cannot say stress caused my breast cancer. That would oversimplify something complex and multifactorial. But I can acknowledge that my internal environment was under sustained load.

Today, I choose differently.

The Cancer Conversation

I want to speak about this carefully.

Sugar does not “cause” cancer in a simplistic way. Our bodies convert many carbohydrates into glucose. Even if I eliminated sugar entirely, my body would still regulate blood sugar because that’s basic physiology.

But cancer cells are metabolically different. They rely heavily on glucose for growth. Research exploring cancer through a metabolic lens examines how altered glucose metabolism and growth signaling pathways influence cellular environments.

That doesn’t mean sugar equals cancer.

It means metabolic context matters.

When blood sugar is constantly spiking, inflammation lingers, I’m not sleeping well, and my body feels stuck in fight-or-flight, it affects how my cells function and recover. I can’t eliminate every risk factor. But I can lower the stress I’m putting on my system.

Unrefined Sweetness

I still enjoy sweetness.

But I choose it differently now.

Raw honey. Maple syrup. Dates blended into energy bites. Coconut sugar or nectar, Dark chocolate that actually tastes like cacao .

Unrefined sugars still influence blood glucose. I don’t pretend otherwise. But when paired with fiber, fat, and whole foods, they feel steadier in my body. Less chaotic.

And something beautiful happened when I reduced refined sugar.

Strawberries tasted sweeter. Roasted sweet potatoes felt indulgent. Plain yogurt with cinnamon became satisfying.

Sweetness recalibrated.

A Functional Systems Perspective

My training through the Functional Nutrition Alliance and Andrea Nakayama’s Full Body Systems approach (https://functionalnutritionalliance.com) changed how I think about this. Instead of asking whether sugar is good or bad, I ask what patterns are shaping my terrain.

Refined sugar is not a moral issue. But when it stacks on top of unstable blood sugar, chronic stress, gut inflammation, and years of sympathetic overdrive, it becomes part of a larger metabolic story.

Research exploring cancer through a metabolic lens, including Thomas Seyfried’s work , examines how glucose metabolism and growth signaling pathways influence the cellular environment. Systems-based models like those taught through the Institute for Functional Medicine emphasize stabilizing blood sugar, restoring gut integrity, supporting detoxification pathways, and regulating the nervous system as foundational work.

That is the frame I’m using.

Not fear. Not extremes. Just asking what kind of internal environment I want to cultivate.

This Is Not About Perfection

I still celebrate. I still bake . I still choose joy.

But I pause now. I ask how I want to feel tomorrow. I choose quality over quantity.

Less refined sugar. More nervous system regulation. More sleep. More restoration.

After celiac disease. After breast cancer. After years of living in a body that was compensating more than I realized, I now see nourishment differently.

My resolution isn’t restriction.

It’s stewardship of the terrain.

And sometimes that begins with something as small, and as powerful, as choosing a different kind of sweet.