Sugar Is the Devil! 
1.11.2016

I love to get out in the community to give workshops on healthy eating & living.  Kids are particularly fun to talk with.   Although the temptation is great and the addiction we have is even greater, it simply comes down to this.  “High fructose corn syrup is the devil”.  So in honor of this saying, this month is all about SUGAR.

Ya know, the brain needs sugar, it does.  Actually, the body is designed to be fueled, repaired and rebuilt by three fuels: carbohydrates, protein and fat.  A couple millennia ago, 2.5 million years to be exact, man walked earth consuming lean and clean meats, which he had to go thru some pretty grueling exercise to catch; great fats that really filled the hunger pangs, like seeds and nuts; and carbohydrates, primarily in the form of berries and fruits.  Fast forward to about 10,000 years ago, we refined our diets by adding in whole grains, such as bread, and dairy products such as goat or cow’s milk.  There’s definitely a debate going on in the ‘dietary’ world on what the best eating plan.   The Paleo/Primal diets eliminate most grains and dairy.   The Atkins’ world removes most carbohydrates.  The Dean Ornish diet says no meat and no animal fat, but loves high fiber grains, veggies and fruit.   My approach is to pick what I humbly feel is the best of all the eating plans and give you the simplest advice.  We’ve gotten years behind us now with our 8 Weeks to Wellness® eating plan to prove what we recommend is sound advice.

Let’s focus on sugar.  It comes in many forms.  Sugar in fruit is called fructose.  Sugar in vegetables is usually a combination of fructose and sucrose.  Sugar is in baked products.  If it’s home-baked, the sugar is most likely table sugar called sucrose.  If you are eating a baked product that came in some type of decorative packaging, most likely that form of sugar is either the mother of the devils, high fructose corn syrup, or an artificial sugar, these tastes so good but are ‘oh so bad for you’, such as aspartame or sucralose, ie Splenda.™

There are many names of sugar on packaged products.  Below are 50 plus names of sugar that I found on the web, which still doesn’t completely account for all sugars.

Back to sugar is the devil…. Diabesity (combo of obesity and diabetes) will soon take over as the #1 killer of Americans.  By 2050 it will affect one in 3 Americans.  One quite disturbing fact about diabesity is as your belt size increases, your brain size decreases…. interesting side note because of the climbing dementia and Alzheimer’s rates in the US.  I like to say “think about what you are eating today so that you THINK tomorrow.”

So here’s the challenge if you are willing to play along, for the next 7 days, give up sugar, other than fruits and vegetables.  All of it….. Bread, pasta, rice, cakes, cookies, sugary drinks or fruit juice, beer, wine…… all forms.  If you read the package and the food has any added sugar, such as listed below, then do not consume it.  The first few days may be challenging, but just wait to see how good you’ll feel by the end of day 7.  And then based on your results, you be the master of your own fate and eating choices.  Fruits, vegetables and beans should be your primary source of carbohydrates.  Make a healthy and wise choice to see how much sugar you want to add back in.  A few glasses of wine or beer each week; a piece of high fiber bread once or twice per week; perhaps a little brown rice, but ultimately it would be a very wise and prudent decision to give up processed sugar and carbohydrates. 

Are you ready to take the 7 day challenge?