SUGAR CONSUMPTION

cancer-loves-sugar   This is a You Tube video about Dr. Lustig and his findings about sugar and several studies on the impacts of sugar.

Video from Dr. Frank Lipman's website- about the addictive properties of sugar and how cancer loves sugar:

Dr. Lustig is a great advocate for healthier eating and consuming less sugar.  Why?  Sugar is often hidden in foods and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is just as bad as sugar.  Since the 70's sugar consumption has gone down but HFCS consumption has increased.  

We are hard wired to want fructose because cave men used to get fructose from small amounts of fruit, which contain fiber and slows metabolization of the fructose.

These sweetners are in everything!  HFCS has been shown to prove that sugar is linked to heart disease and stroke.  University of California Davis researchers have done nutrition studies on the impact of HFCS on blood.  Participants who ate HFCS (25% of their Calories) showed an increase in LDL cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.  The liver gets overloaded with fructose and converts the sugar to LDL cholesterol.  

Drinking sweetened drinks could be just as bad for the heart as is a fatty meal.  American diets reduced fats but metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer, heart disease have sky rocketed.  When fat is removed from food, it is replaced with sugar.

Other researchers at Harvard have proven that sugar is a catalyst for the growth of one third of common cancers.  Tumors have insulin receptors on them, which trigger the consumption of glucose and then glucose helps the tumor grow.  Scientists are working on creating medicines that block these receptors on tumors.

For now, the best thing to do is to reduce sugar.  Easy, right?  Hold on.....maybe not.  Sugar triggers dopamine in the brain and MRI's show areas in the brain have inceased blood supply and the reward or pleasure center in the brain is triggered in the same way that is when alcohol and drugs are consumed.  By scanning hundreds of volunteers, it has shown that the more sugar is eaten, the more it takes to trigger these reward centers.  More and more is consumed in order to get the same reward in the same way that people who are addicted to drugs need more and more to get the same impact.

The sugar industry says that eliminating sugar is not the solution.  They say eliminating Calories from other foods is the answer.  Dr. Lustig says that no more than 100 Calories of sugar a day is too much.  This is a public health crisis and sugar belongs in the same category as tobacco.  People need to limit their intake.

Foods You Should Never Eat

1- Aspartame

This artificial sweetner is thought by scientists to alter brain function.  

2- Food Dyes

Red 40, Yellow 6 and others (found in Sour Patch Kids for instance) have industrial chemicals in them and are known to cause cancer (development of tumors).

3- Nitrates

Synthetic nitrates (not those found naturally in foods) are used to prolong the life of food and is found in deli meats.  Nitrates can cause cancer and cause headaches and allergic reactions.  

4- Partially Hydrogenated Oil

This is a trans fat, which is an "ugly" fat.  It is in many processed foods to help prolong shelf life.  Buyer beware that if the label reads "0 trans fats," that does not mean that the food is trans fat free.  Legally speaking, food companies are permitted to list 0 grams as long as the food contains less than 0.5 grams.  Trans fats raises bad cholesterol or low-density lipo-proteins (LDL) and lowers the good cholesterol or high-density lipo-proteins (HDL) and it clogs arteries.

5- Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)

BHA and BHT are used to preserve fats in foods and are synthetic antioxidants.  These chemicals are soluble in things such as methanol and ethanol.  They are also used to protect the fats found in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.  BHA is also found in petroleum products.  The chemical properties of BHA and BHT cause cancer.

6- Parabens

Parabens are found in baked goods, cosmetics, some processed meats, and cereals.  These are added to foods to prevent mold growth and are related to hormonal problems including breast cancers, and reduced testosterone levels in men.

Read your labels! 

Always feel hungry?

Do you crave carbs or sweets?

Do you feel tired, nauseous or short-tempered when you do not eat every few hours?

Do you take one bite of a carb and need more and more?

When digesting carbohydrates, your body does not really know the difference between metabolizing a piece of bread versus a candy bar because they both convert to glucose (sugar).

When you eat something that is a simple sugar (lolliopop) or needs to be broken down more (cupcake), the pancrease releases insulin, which is a hormone that is needed in order to metabolize sugar in the blood stream. Insulin is needed to convert these foods to glucose and carry it to body cells (muscles) where is can be used.

Trying to keep insulin levels stable and close to normal ranges can be a challenge in the world of fast food, frozen food, processed food, etc.  I understand because I was diagnosed with having reactive hypoglycemia in 1986.  

Our foods have tons of hidden salt, sugar and fat in them which are known to be addictive components.  Did you know that studies show that the brain reacts to these foods in the same way that it reacts to drugs? No wonder it is addictive!

Our food is made to be fast, convenient, and TASTY!  Salt is addictive.  Sugar is addictive.  Fat is addicative.  This book, Salt, Sugar, Fat is about the histoy of farming practices, food production, laws in the US and the ethical and moral implications of this.  

Read this book by New York Times reporter, Michael Moss- he won a Pulitzer Prize.  Learn more about from where your food comes and its impacts on the body.  It is a fabulous book!

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