This is the third in a series requested by clients who wanted help with food addictions and out of control eating.  Be patient, I will get to what a healthy diet looks like.

When I watched the documentary Food For Change (2012) made by doctors, scientists, and health experts they stated that the average person consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day!  That is 150 pounds of sugar a year.  They also stated it is more highly addictive than heroin, and I believe it when I have clients tell me about their headaches and shakes the first four to five days they detox from sugar.

Sugar alters our biochemical pathways in our brain and tampers with our dopamine receptors.  Translated that means it sets off cravings for more and more sugar.  That is why nearly 90% of processed foods are laced with some form of sugar to keep us hooked!

Fructose, especially high fructose corn syrup, is pure poison.  We’re talking about the manufactured fructose.  It goes straight to our livers and starts to do great damage. It creates fat.  It is a chronic liver toxin that slows metabolism, raises cholesterol, and causes heart disease, fatty liver disease, hypertension, obesity, an overproduction of uric acid in the body (gout), type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and cancer. Our livers have a very limited capacity to metabolize fructose.

In addition, sugar kills your teeth.  It increases the bacteria in your mouth which erodes your enamel. Sugar also causes facial wrinkles by damaging collagen. Sugar Makes You Nervous – There is a clear link between excess sugar and disorders like anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia, because of extreme levels of insulin and adrenalin.  Read Sugar Blues, and Suicide By Sugar.

Not only is sugar highly addictive setting off more and more sugar cravings – it causes premature death and spikes our glycemic levels, producing more insulin (fat producing hormone).

In addition to sugar, corn syrup, agave nectar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, refined carbohydrates (such as the fluffy breads), and carbs are immediately converted into sugar.  Some of these are:  white rice, white potatoes, corn, flour products, breads, cereals, pasta, and all flour snacks.

If you are serious about keeping your eating under control and really want to stop the cravings, eliminate sugar, especially any form of fructose.  Here are some healthy tips:

 

• Read labels. Sugar needs to be 5^th or 6^th in the line of ingredients.
• Never add sugar to your foods.
• Use Stevia, which is a plant, or Luo Han. Both do not produce sugar spikes.
• Always use fresh fruit instead of canned fruit.
• Think twice about ordering dessert.
• Avoid aspartame at all costs. It causes rapid weight gain.
• Stop drinking all soda pop or sweetened drinks. (One of my clients lost 30 pounds just from taking that one step.)
• Avoid packaged foods. If you must eat them read labels first.
• Beware of “fat free” as most of those products are loaded with sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

 

This is your body.  You are the CEO of it until you are flat on your back in a hospital. Then the medical teams take over.   Don’t become a statistic.  Don’t pass this addictive legacy on to your children.  Make healthy changes for yourself, your loved ones and your future.

God Bless,
Doc