A sugar free diet has been credited with everything from extreme weight loss to healing acne – and even giving some a renewed sense of energy.
Now cystic fibrosis sufferer, Jessica Bean, 28, from Queensland claims cutting out sugar saved her life.
Though Ms Bean has had the debilitating lung condition since birth, when her condition took a turn for the worse aged 21 and she was left hospitalised and fighting for her life, she decided to ditch sugar and has just celebrated a year since she was last admitted to hospital.
Sugar swap: Ms Jessica Bean, 28, from Queensland (pictured), credits giving up sugar with saving her life
Bad times: Though Ms Bean has had the debilitating lung condition since birth, when her condition took a turn for the worse aged 21, she decided to ditch sugar and has just celebrated a year since she was last in hospital
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‘I’ve always had to have a high calorie diet because of my condition as I burned more calories fighting to breathe every day,’ she says.
‘Generally I ate around 4,000 calories a day, twice the amount a normal woman would eat, and relied on sugary chocolate bars and lollies to give me an easy calorie boost.’
But as well as her potent sugary diet, Ms Bean survived on a medley of 40 pills, which she took every day to make her condition manageable:
‘I’d never known life without cystic fibrosis, so…I’d take my medication and then I’d go about my day as normal. It was just a part of my life.’
Daily diet: As well as a day filled with chocolate and lollies, Ms Bean managed her condition originally with 40 pills and 4,000 calories every single day
Life as she knows it: She says that she was used to it, and so just went about her life as normal
Sense of adventure: Ms Bean had always been active and loved adventure and travel, despite her condition
Things got drastically worse, however, when at 21, Ms Bean was admitted to hospital and told she needed to have a lung transplant in order to save her life:
‘I’d always been really active and loved to travel. I’d been overseas to help charities fundraise and had dreams of saving the world,’ she says.
‘But suddenly my lungs couldn’t keep up with me anymore. I couldn’t even go for a coffee with friends, as I just didn’t have the energy. Everything I did left me gasping for breath and Cameron [her boyfriend] had to do everything for me.’
At her worst, Ms Bean had a 30 per cent lung capacity, at which point she agreed to go on the hospital’s transplant list:
‘We moved to Queensland from my hometown in Tasmania to be closer to the hospitals and spent hours each day in physio, praying my lungs would improve,’ she says.
But as things went from bad to worse, Ms Bean says that she started to think about the fact that she might die, at which point she and her high school sweetheart, Cameron, 29, agreed to get married.
‘I’d sit in my hospital bed, hooked up to various machines, trying to figure out our seating arrangements and making decorations,’ she recalls.
‘I was a total “bridezilla” because I wanted everything to be perfect. These would be some of Cameron’s final memories of me.’
Horrible situation: However, things got drastically worse, however, when at 21, Ms Bean was admitted to hospital and told she needed to have a lung transplant in order to save her life
Bad times: She says that suddenly her lungs couldn’t keep up with her, and that Cameron her boyfriend (pictured) had to do everything for her
Just married: Ms Bean says that, as her time in the hospital continued, she started to think about the fact that she might die, at which point she decided to marry her high school sweetheart, Cameron, 29
When she met her wedding photographer, who was the wife of a sugar-free advocate, Gary Fettke, Ms Bean heard by chance about a sugar-free life first hand.
She then decided to try it for herself, and explains that she was amazed to see the effects immediately:
‘As soon as I started eating my calories in a healthier way, I noticed a difference.
‘Instead of having convenience food and snacks, Cameron started bringing me smoothies into the hospital that were full of healthy fats like peanut and avocado.’
New decision: When Ms Bean met her wedding photographer, who was the wife of a sugar-free advocate, Gary Fettke, Ms Bean heard about a sugar-free life first hand
Healthy eater: She says: ‘As soon as I started eating my calories in a healthier way, I noticed a difference’
Huge help: Cameron would bring her smoothies with peanuts and avocado to the hospital
Ms Bean’s lung capacity improved so much in a short amount of time that doctors put her forward for an Orkambi drug trial in Australia which costed $300,000, and it turned out that she was one of very few to be accepted.
‘Within days of taking the medication that targets the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis, I could feel the benefits. I wasn’t waking up vomiting anymore and I could breathe.
‘After a few weeks, I was on my feet again. It was almost unbelievable.’
Rare occurence: And when Ms Bean’s lung capacity improved so much in a short amount of time doctors put her forward for an Orkambi drug trial in Australia she was one of few to be accepted
Good snacks: While Ms Bean says that before lollies and chocolate bars were her go to, she says that now she mainly eats natural foods and only has chocolate as a rare treat
Happy again: She says that she has also been able to live a normal life once more
While Ms Bean says that before lollies and chocolate bars were her go to, she says that now she mainly eats natural foods and only has chocolate as a rare treat:
‘Eating healthily has been so instrumental to my survival, I’m now a health and wellness coach,’ she says.
‘The change in my lifestyle has been incredible. I’ve gone from thinking my husband will marry and bury me in a matter of months, to enjoying my life and planning my future.’
And it’s not just Ms Bean’s life that has changed since quitting sugar and being released from hospital; it’s her entire outlook on life as well:
‘I honestly thought I was going to die, so to not only be here, but to be doing things I never imagined possible is unreal.
‘A few years ago, I was preparing to die, now I’ve got a career and am able to enjoy holidays and trips to the movies. I’m so lucky to be alive and it’s all thanks to ditching sugar.’