'Sugar fat' disappears

Baker Jayne Jones' treats can help lower blood sugar and shrink belly fat 650% faster

- ALLISON NEMETZ & ADRIENNE FARR

On her birthday four years ago, Jayne Jones thought she had a stomach bug. “It got so bad, my husband took me to the ER,” shares the Florida mom. Tests revealed advanced type 2 diabetes, her blood sugar seven times higher than normal. It was causing massive inflammation in Jayne’s organs, soaring blood pressure and dangerous deposits in her blood vessels. “They said I’d come within minutes of a stroke, even though I’d never been warned about my blood sugar before.” Once emergency meds kicked in, a doctor stopped by Jayne’s bedside. “Follow up with your primary care physician and eat lean meat and salad for the rest of your life,” she advised, signing Jayne’s discharge forms. Jayne felt a tingle of fear. She had almost died and now she’d just…go home? “A nurse squeezed my toe and said, ‘It’ll be okay, kid.’”

Jayne was soon in her own bed and on the internet. What she learned: Overeating sugar and processed food not only drove her hunger and weight gain, it had been gradually causing damage that made it hard for her body to keep blood sugar at a safe level. She felt foolish for dismissing symptoms (like fatigue, GI trouble and stubborn belly fat) as signs of aging. “It also felt like I was to blame for never getting my eating under control,” says Jayne, a lifelong yo-yo dieter. Then there were the treatments she read about. “I knew I didn’t want to inject insulin,” she says. “Which meant I had to cut out sugar and processed foods or I could die.”

Jayne remembers pulling out notes the ER doc had given her on how to eat. She’d written that half of every plate should be veggies with a drizzle of olive oil or dressing; a quarter should be lean protein; and a quarter could be a tiny potato or piece of fruit. “I’m a lawyer, but baking is my passion. It hit me: I’m never going to bake again,” she says. “Suddenly, I was mad at the world.” With tears in her eyes, “I started throwing everything away.” Flour, sugar, sprinkles—gone.