25 ways to leave your sugar addiction — Hamilton author, Julie Daniluk tells you how

Julie Daniluk, Hamilton nutritionist and author guarantees that breaking up with refined sugar can help people avoid Alzheimer's, fight arthritis, get rid of brain fog, improve sleep and digestion.

Daniluk said her husband, Allan Smith became aware of the issues with high refined sugar consumption after a recent exam showed he carries Alzheimer's disease genes.

That made him realize that you can't have high blood sugar or you're more predisposed to actually having dementia when you get older. I think that's what really helped him commit," said Daniluk. Now he is a huge advocate to the point where like this last weekend he was making our family sugar free cookies and walking around going, Taste it ... you won't tell the difference.'"

Nominated for best Health and Special Diet Cookbooks by Taste Canada Awards, a not-for-profit organization that annually recognizes Canada's best cookbooks in both English and French - Becoming Sugar-Free: How to Break Up with Inflammatory Sugars and Embrace a Naturally Sweet Life" by Julie Daniluk is a guide for those looking for healthier eating habits.

It feels like a career highlight and such an honour. Thousands of books are written in Canada each year, so to make it to the top three in my category is just amazing," said Daniluk. I think so many of us struggle with an absolute passion for sugary foods, so a lot of people, when they read the book they're like, Oh, I don't know if I can break up with sugar"

When writing the book, 52-year-old Daniluk received some help from her husband, who is the book's photographer, as well as from friends and relatives. The contributions led the rest of her family to become interested in a sugar-free lifestyle. There are a lot of recipes that are family favourites that we have adapted and it was so fun to make it as a family project."

Daniluk said this is her fourth book tackling sugar addiction, but this one offers a deeper dive into the topic. It brings a great amount of scientific references and support which allows it to be educational and entertaining."

But what is the first step to breaking up sugar?

The first step is to find direct substitutes that taste great, so that you never have to go off cold turkey. You should always have a direct, sweet substitution so that you are in love with it and that's why in the book I give 25 alternatives to sugar. In the book we dive into science and show the pros and cons of every cool alternative sweetener from monk fruit, stevia to lacuma."

For Daniluk, writing the book came from her own eating habits at a young age when her parents noticed a change in Daniluk's behaviour and a decline in her academic performance.

When I was a little girl my mom and dad realized I couldn't really process table sugar without becoming hyperactive. I couldn't pay attention in school and I couldn't sleep at night," said Daniluk. That's when my journey began to try to break up with sugar. I was able to sleep through the night for the first time. My grades soared and I was able to truly thrive and stop being so crazy with my moods"

Growing up in Lynden, the author dealt with a love-hate relationship with sugar along with a disregard for her parents' recommendations to avoid it. I remember working in the tuck shop in junior high. I would eat brownies and chocolate milk. I would feel really lousy, but I couldn't stop doing it."

When the author was diagnosed with arthritis, bursitis and colitis, she decided it was time for a change. That was when I ended up committing and doubling down on my decision to get rid of sugar. I have not intentionally had refined sugar for more than 14 years now."

According to Daniluk. there's more than one way to have delicious foods while replacing white sugar with other sweet alternatives, like coconut sugar.

I give people two paths. There is a really slow one where you just pick healthier sugars," said Daniluk. I have lots of great recipes in there for people who are on a slow breakup plan. And then I have the fast break ups for people who really need to break up with sugar for health reasons."

Let's face it, COVID did a job on all of us, remember when we were all baking bread?" said Daniluk.

A 2021 research study from the Agrifoods Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University found 42.3 per cent of Canadians unintentionally gained weight during the pandemic.

Flour quickly becomes sugar when you digest it, you chew the flour and your actual digestive enzymes will make sugar," said Daniluk. That's why I have bread recipes that don't have any flour in them. Instead of saying. I'm going to change all my habits radically,' which is unsustainable, I rather call it live-it than a die-it"

Daniluk believes the biggest outcome of writing the book is providing a healthy blueprint that people can trust.

We have taken hundreds and hundreds of people through the process. We have an incredible online support group that has 180 members and everyone there supports each other. And that's so important when a lot of people feel alone in their transformation and health journey," said Daniluk.

The winners for Taste Canada 2022 will be announced on Nov. 7.

Beatriz Baleeiro is a reporter at The Spectator.bbaleeiro@torstar.ca