Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis is speaking about her former addiction to sugar and how it inspired her new book.
The 50-year-old binged on sugar for years before changing her ways, as she details in her new release, Eat Better, Feel Better: My Recipes for Wellness and Healing, Inside and Out.
De Laurentiis told CNN, “Sugar was a crutch to get my energy up. Sometimes it would be as basic as taking a sugar cube, dipping it in espresso, and eating that directly. I ate jam directly from a container… Over time all of that and those cravings, once you’re introduced to sugar it’s very difficult to break. It’s like a drug.”
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De Laurentiis said her symptoms began 10 years ago when she was super busy and noticed something wasn’t right.
“I started feeling tired, really tired, really foggy. Interrupted sleep, where I couldn’t sleep for hours in a row, lots of bloating and sinus infections,” she explained.
After two years of taking antibiotics for reoccurring sinusitis, she said she began having digestive issues.
She then slowly eliminated sugar, dairy, gluten, and refined sugars from her diet.
“I told myself, ‘I’m going to start for three days, then slowly re-introduce it.’ Almost immediately I realized what inflames my body and that sugar and dairy really inflame my body.”
De Laurentiis recommends the three-day plan in her new book.
“Most integrated doctors will tell you it takes at least a week, but I found three days is a really great way to feel relief,” she said. “In the three days, it is food. I’m not saying to go on a cleanse and have liquids all day. It’s just so your body has a minute to breathe.”
De Laurentiis’s “Giada Entertains” airs on Food Network Canada.
