Jul
15
2017

Getting Rid Of Sugar

By | alcohol, Anxiety, coffee, diet, sugar, Weight loss

Scientific papers describe how unhealthy added sugar is, so getting rid of sugar in your diet is the answer.

An article was published in CNN that describes a one-month sugar detox program.

Brooke Alpert, the co-author of the book “The Sugar Detox: Lose the Sugar, Lose the Weight — Look and Feel Great” describes the details of a sugar detox program.

 The first three days of sugar detox

You need to go cold turkey for three days to eliminate any sugar to break the addiction cycle. During this time you may experience anxiety, sugar craving and moodiness.

You must not consume any added sugars during the first 3 days, but also keep away from fruit. Avoid starchy vegetables. This includes corn, sweet potatoes, peas and butternut squash. You also need to avoid dairy, because of the milk sugar in it. In addition avoid grains and alcohol. “You’re basically eating protein, vegetables and healthy fats”, says Alpert. You would enjoy a breakfast with 3 eggs any style. Lunch contains 6 oz. of poultry, tofu or fish. Add a green salad. For dinner your helpings are bigger, but it would be similar to lunch, perhaps with added vegetables. Snacks can be 1 oz. of nuts or a few slices of bell peppers with hummus. Your beverages: unsweetened tea, black coffee or water.

People should avoid sweeteners according to Alpert. Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of Pediatrics and member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco agrees. He said that artificial sweeteners cause you to store more fat. Dr. Lustig added: “You also end up overeating later on to compensate for the increased energy storage”.

Day four of sugar detox

On day 4 the patient can reintroduce an apple. It will now taste a lot sweeter, because in the past sugar suppressed the natural fruit sugar taste. Full fat, unsweetened cheese and yogurt are also part of the diet. Alpert added: “Fat, fiber and protein slow the absorption of sugar, so taking out fat from dairy will make you absorb sugar faster.” Higher sugar content vegetables like carrots, snow peas and high-fiber crackers can be part of the diet in the second half of the first week.  Those who like it can also add three glasses of red wine.

Second week of sugar detox 

Add a serving of berries that are full of antioxidants. Also add an extra serving of dairy. You can also eat more starchy vegetables like winter squash and yams.

Third week of sugar detox

Barley, quinoa and oatmeal can now be added back. Grapes and clementines are now also allowable. Those who like wine can now add another glass of red wine. One ounce of dark chocolate per day can also be added. “Week three should be quite livable,” Alpert said.

Week four of sugar detox

You now can have two starches per day, like bread and rice. In addition you can enjoy high-fiber crackers. You can have 5 glasses of red wine per week. You may want to eat a sandwich. Once you have completed 31 days no fruit is off-limits. You can allow yourself the occasional indulgences like an ice cream or a piece of cake at a birthday party. “Because the addictive behavior is gone, having ice cream once or twice will not send you back to square one. The whole purpose is to give people control and ownership and a place for these foods in our life,” Alpert said.

Weight loss with sugar detox

There can be a lot of weight loss with a sugar detox; depending on how much sugar the person was consuming before the detox started. Alpert recalled that of 80 subjects who tested the sugar detox people lost between 5 and 20 pounds within 31 days. Many people reported that their belly fat was going and they had to readjust their belts. There were other things participants noted: brighter eyes, fewer dark circles around the eyes, clearer skin, more energy and not as many mood swings.

Many people are not properly educated; they reduce fat intake, but add sugar and start gaining weight. By cutting out sugar and adding healthy fats in their diet, they now feel satisfied. The sugar craving has disappeared.

Side effects of sugar detox

You may feel grumpy and weak. This likely is due to low blood sugar and a piece of fruit will help you overcome this. In other cases it could be due to too little fluid intake and when you drink some water, this feeling will pass. Make sure you have supportive family and friends through the first three-day of sugar detox. “You need people around you to help you be successful,” Dr. Lustig said. “The whole family has to do it together.” Some irritability is expected due to sugar and caffeine withdrawal. This will pass and get better with every day. There are persons who should not go on this program: diabetics, people who take medicine to control blood sugar and extreme athletes. Pregnant women should also not follow a sugar detox program.

Why it is important to limit sugar intake

The American Heart Association (AHA) clearly spelled out what the limits are for added sugars:

For men: a daily dose of 9 teaspoons of sugar from all foods,

For women: a daily dose of 6 teaspoons of sugar from all foods.

When you start reading labels, which I started to do since 2001, you realize that it is very easy to exceed these daily limits. What does this do? It makes your pancreas produce more insulin than is good for you. You start switching your metabolism into the metabolic syndrome, you gain weight, and you get inflammation. This is what the AHA is concerned about. You start developing high blood pressure; get high LDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, and atheromatous plaques in your coronary and brain arteries. Eventually you come down with a heart attack or a stroke.

In the last 100 years sugar consumption per person has skyrocketed.

This has led to a disbalance of our diet and it is because of this that we are facing the obesity wave now. All I am saying is replace sugar with stevia extract, which to my knowledge does not have the undesirable side effects that other sweeteners do and eat a Mediterranean type diet, which we know is balanced.

Watch the maximum recommended sugar intake per day set by the American Heart Association and balance your meals, and you will do a lot better than on the Standard American diet. The Mediterranean diet is anti-inflammatory.

Getting Rid Of Sugar

Getting Rid Of Sugar

Conclusion

We learnt about how a sugar detox can get you off sugar addiction. I also summarized why it is important to keep sugar consumption within limits set by the American Heart Association. Too much sugar can derange our metabolism, which is called metabolic syndrome. This can lead to diabetes. Eating a Mediterranean diet and keeping sugar intake low is the pathway to good health. It also keeps inflammation at bay.

Nov
25
2014

Gluten Intolerance Or Food Sensitivities?

By | heart attack, Nutrition, Prevention, Skin Disorders, Stroke

A report about gluten free food is circulating in the media based on this publication. It points out that gluten-free food is not as healthy as the companies want you to believe it to be.

Wheat is the source of gluten, so rice, potato, corn and sugar are used to replace wheat. Corn is deficient in niacin leading to B3 deficiency; and the amino acids lysine and tryptophan (missing in corn) are needed for production of serotonin in the brain, which prevents you from getting depressed.

The reference cited above points out that rice can be contaminated with arsenic, which is a toxin.

Gluten-free food is a special form of processed food. Any processed food is not as good as natural food that you buy from the periphery of the grocery store.

So, what do we know about gluten sensitivity?

Causes of increased diagnosis of gluten sensitivity

Only 1% of people are gluten sensitive at this point. Just 30 years ago this number was 0.025%. 10 years ago 0.04% of people were thought to have gluten sensitivity. The difference may be due to improved sensitivity of the testing methods. But another factor is the new wheat, called Clearfield wheat, which was obtained through chemically forced hybridization of wheat resulting in significant genetic modifications from the original wheat. This type of wheat is now grown all over the world. As I explain in this blog Clearfield wheat has a significantly higher percentage of gluten, which likely contributes to the increased gluten sensitivity in the population at large and particularly among patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Irritable bowel syndrome and other food sensitivities

According to Ref. 1 among patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) 4 to 5% have true gluten intolerance (celiac disease). In the general population (without IBS) the gluten sensitivity percentage is less than ¼ of that. On the other hand lactose intolerance in the US is found in 25% of all adults and in 35% to 45% of IBS patients. Another common food sensitivity is fructose and sorbitol intolerance, which occurs in about 40% of patients with IBS and about the same percentage in non-IBS controls. This means that if you leave out sorbitol and fructose, about 40% of people will find relief from abdominal cramps or bloating. A common item that people chew on, according to Ref.1 is sorbitol-containing chewing gum. If this type of chewing gum is eliminated, 40% of people will feel better in their gut. So, keep in mind that the majority of people with food sensitivities do not have gluten sensitivity, but lactose intolerance and allergies to fructose and sorbitol.

Other manifestations of celiac disease

Celiac disease is not only a disease that manifests itself in a skin rash (as originally described in celiac patients). It is responsible for a significant amount of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome) or ADD (attention deficit syndrome) and can even cause Parkinson’s disease. It stands to reason that these conditions can be improved with an appropriate diet.

 

Gluten Intolerance Or Food Sensitivities?

Gluten Intolerance Or Food Sensitivities?

Gluten-free foods often contain problematic replacements

When you go to a grocery store or health food store and look at their gluten free shelves, they offer you an array of products like gluten-free bread and bakery items, cereals, cookies, pastas and many other processed foods. As explained above wheat is the main source of gluten and when you replace it, the substitutes are rice, tapioca starch, quinoa, potato, corn and sugar. We already pointed out some deficiencies of corn. There are also concerns of toxicities as in rice, particularly if it comes from imported material (arsenic). As the majority of people with food sensitivities are allergic to milk sugar (lactose), fructose and sorbitol, these items have to be screened carefully by reading all of the details on the food labels of the products. If you suspect other food allergies, see your primary care physician doctor for testing to these allergens and also have several of the gluten sensitivity tests done. If the gluten sensitivity tests are all negative, you only need to pay attention to milk sugar, fructose and sorbitol, particularly, if you have been diagnosed with IBS.

Hidden sugar and starch content of gluten-free food

What has not been mentioned so far is the sugar and starch content, which eventually leads to higher calories. Sugar is easy to spot on the food label as this is usually listed clearly. I stopped buying dark chocolate, even the 85% variety as they are selling me 10 grams of sugar in a 40 gram helping (25% of sugar). All the health benefits are no longer applicable when you consume that much sugar with a supposedly healthy food item. So add up the sugar you are getting and add up the calories you are seeing listed. Usually, if the sugar content is high, the calories are high.

As an example, when you research on Google regarding gluten-free corn chips, the food content of a typical product is listed as follows: 12 chips (28 g) contain 0 g glucose, 7 g fat, 14 g carbohydrate, 4 g protein, 100 mg sodium and 250 mg of potassium. It also lists that the total calories are 140, of which fat contributed to it 60 calories. 78% of the 80 calories left (namely 62.4 calories) came from the carbohydrate (starch in corn) and 22% of the remaining calories were protein derived (this I had to calculate). As the stomach digests the corn chips within half an hour into sugar, you really have eaten 62.4 calories from sugar. The Internet tells you that 2.3 g of sugar from a sugar cube are the equivalent of 9 calories. Our “sugar math” can be completed by doing this: 62.4 / 9 x 2.3 g = 15.94 or 16 grams of sugar. So, the food industry actually lied to you by saying that there was 0 g sugar in the 12 corn chips. What happened is that your body digested the 14 grams of carbohydrates and converted it into sugar, which was absorbed into your blood stream. Your pancreas could tell you a story, because it had to produce insulin to keep your blood sugar level in balance!

You may wonder how I solved the dark chocolate problem, which by the way would double as a gluten-free food: You buy 100 % unsweetened Baker’s chocolate (0 g sugar on the label) and liquefy it in a little bowl in a pot with hot water. Add a tiny bit of stevia sweetener and add a tiny bit of vanilla extract into the well-stirred chocolate liquid. Prepare a form out of aluminum foil with a rim. Pour the content carefully into this (watch it, hot!) and let it sit to cool down. When it is at room temperature, cut into smaller pieces, which you keep in a glass jar. This is 100% gluten-free chocolate, 100% chocolate and 100% healthy.

Conclusion

Not all is well in the gluten grocery row of your friendly super market. There are problems in that 20 to 25% of people believe they may have gluten sensitivity when in reality only 1% have it. But the majority of people have not done a gluten-screening test, which would confirm that they have indeed celiac disease. As pointed out above, it is much more likely that a food sensitivity may be caused by another offending agent rather than gluten (milk sugar, fructose and sorbitol). Avoiding the offending food components is the treatment protocol.

Those who take in gluten-free food will expose themselves to unnecessary toxins, to extra sugar leading to obesity and metabolic syndrome that leads to premature heart attacks and strokes. For those who do need to be on a strict gluten-free diet, they can safely do so by following a strict gluten free diet at home (preparing your own meals from healthy ingredients), preferably with organic foods. There are many websites that you can find online that have meal suggestions.

More information about celiac disease.

References:

1. Rakel: Integrative Medicine, 3rd ed. Patrick J. Hanaway, MD: “Chapter40: Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Integrative Therapy”. Copyright 2012 Saunders, An Imprint of Elsevier

Last edited Nov. 25, 2014

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