Food for thought: IS SUGAR WORSE FOR YOU THAN ALCOHOL?

Today's society is immensely stressed, sleep deprived and lacks sunlight exposure, this is a huge dillemma as our brains are the most important survival organ and demand constant energy, so what do we do in order to get back to a sustainable level of energy, we often dig for the quick fix to get the task done which is sugar/insulin.

Sugar is present in many of our foods, and we usually dig for the sugary option at breakfast time causing a massive spike of insulin to set the day off causing a vicious cycle of cravings. This cycle can easily become the norm when we are not eating enough quality protein and fats in our diet.

Protein and fats (yes fats) provide the building blocks for efficient brain chemistry and help slow digestion to drip feed sugar from carbohydrates into the blood stream, this helps relieve the highs and lows that set off sugar cravings!

Both stress and high sugar foods create create blood sugar spikes that provoke insulin production. This hormone delivers sugar into the cells for energy but also signals fat storage in preference to burning fat as fuel in our bodies. Eating protein and good quality fats creates the opposite effect on body composition by stimulating thermogenisis or heat creation and makes our bodies less likely to crave quick fix sugars.

SUGAR WORSE FOR YOU THAN ALCOHOL! 

In 1980 doctors from the Mayo clinic in the U.S. reported that liver biopsies on 20 patients had revealed regions of dead cells, signs of inflammation, "striking fatty changes" and Mallory bodies- bright pink staining structures that are a classic sign of liver disease. To any doctor under the microscope they were clear signs of liver damaged by alcohol... The thing is the participants did not drink or if they did minimally. They named this disease non-alcoholic steatohepatits. In 2012 it is the most common liver disease in the U.S. and possibly throughout the developed world!
One of the reasons this disease was unheard of 30 years ago is because of the levels of fructose (sugar found in cheap sweeteners such as High Fructose Corn Syrup and in sweet fruits).

HFCS was added to many processed foods and soft drinks as it was a cheap sweetener and more than likely added to low fat products in which consumers were made to believe eating low fat would help you lose weight.

Fructose in the diet causes raised insulin resistance, fatty liver and other symptoms of metabolic syndrome that has escalated over the past 30 years such as bulging waistline, high blood glucose concentration, high levels of bad fats in the blood, cardiovascular disease and fatty liver. Not to mention increased risks of developing diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

Here's a tip; ditch the packaged cereal (eating the cardboard box is probably healthier) and try implementing fish, eggs or meat ( any high protein food source) for breakfast you'll find yourself looking trimmer and feeling great!

More on this to come!