I’m still here! :)
I gave up my fear of sugar back when I first read Eat4Heat… if I get cold, I have a pot of cocoa-honey-coconut oil that I can take a spoonful of. Works like a charm. :) …now, I’m also following Haylie Pomroy’s FMD plan… loosely….
On Haylie’s “confuse to lose” plan, Monday and Tuesday are (by my interpretation) all-you-can-eat fruit days. That doesn’t turn into a lot for me… but it does include a few dates and lots of berries or an apple in my oatmeal, and other fruits to snack on during the day (her favorite fruit snack recommendation is fresh/frozen mango. I love mango). Since eating by the FMD plan, I have ZERO cravings for processed sugar, and really look forward to my fruity oatmeal (which I only eat on Mon & Tue). Fruits (and natural sugars) have all sorts of awesome micronutrients…. very good stuff! Even better when you can eat them in season, or fresh off the farm or out of the garden.
I would guess the headaches you’re getting from the cane sugar are due to insulin spikes causing changes in brain chemistry. “Real / Natural” sugar (i.e. unprocessed, still in fruit or, in the case of molasses, sap form) has other ‘stuff’ in it which helps alter how the system processes the hydrocarbons, and thus buffers the brain chemistry issues.
Check out podcast #88 on headaches, here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/kick-it-naturally/id784834163
TC Hale has some additional interesting stuff… including the science side of things (which I love).
Another take on sugar… Evolution, Baby! If it wasn’t somehow, someway good for us, it wouldn’t taste so good! (but – IMO – you can only apply the evolution argument to whole/natural food groups… processed food items are of the brainwashing variety). :)