This may come as a SHOCK to some people, but you are not getting fat because of the calories you eat. You are getting fat because of where those calories come from. 100 calories from spinach are not the same as 100 calories from added sugars. In fact, we shouldn’t necessarily even be focusing on counting calories; we should be focusing on the ingredients in our food.
While sugar may be advertised as “fat free” it becomes stored as fat within the system, especially if you are ingesting more than your liver can process at a time (which is very little). According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation it’s recommended no more than 10% of the calories we consume to come from added sugars, which is about 12 grams; to put this into perspective, one can of soda is about 85% of that.
Let’s clear something out: Added sugar is bad for you! You don’t need it. You never did! Only 10 days without sugar gives INCREDIBLE benefits. In a new study that was targeted towards children, researchers were able to see dramatic improvements in just 10 days. (source)
Dr. Robert Lustig and his team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, were able to:
- Decrease triglyceride levels by 33 points on average;
- The LDL (bad) cholesterol dropped 5 points;
- As well as the diastolic blood pressure;
In only 10 days, all of the children who participated in the study drastically reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes. How? Simply by being sugar free for no more than 10 days. This proves how bad added sugar really is for our bodies.
That’s not all! A new study has found that consuming high levels of fructose (from added sugars) harms a whopping 940 brain genes. (source)
The researchers found that 734 hypothalamic genes were altered as well as 206 hippocampal genes. These genes govern separate but extremely important areas of the brain: cell metabolism, cell communication, inflammation, and overall brain function. In other words, these are not genes that you want to be altered in any way.
According to The Health and Sciences Academy, “…certain alterations can lead to leptin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and brain diseases such as Parkinson’s, depression, and bipolar disorder.”
The same study discovered something positive too. Omega-3 oil DHA “has the potential to normalize the genomic impact of fructose.” This means that including enough DHA in your diet can help to offset the gene alterations caused by the added sugars.
DHA can be found in fish, fish oil supplements, and some egg and dairy products like ghee. Don’t worry about eating fruit because the sugar inside fruits is naturally accompanied by fibre, which helps slow the body’s absorption of sugar. That’s why they are an IDEAL substitute for a sweet snack.
Sugar, most of the time, flies below “the radar” when products are placed on the market. However, these are some of the names through which you can recognize added sugar on products:
- Glucose/Fructose;
- High fructose corn syrup;
- Corn syrup;
- Sucrose;
- Maltose;
- Dextrose;
- Beet sugar;
- Glucose solids;
- Cane sugar;
- Dehydrated cane juice;
- Dextrin;
- Maltodextrin;
Some scientists say that sugar is as addictive as most of the illegal drugs. Some even think that sugar is, actually a drug! It triggers the same centres of your brain as drugs like cocaine or heroin do. It sort of takes over your brain. Just look at people who consume too much sugar, they cannot function without it. They are like junkies. (source)
Whether you are addicted or not, you could do A LOT BETTER with less sugar in your diet. You’ll be healthier and fitter, and you can achieve results even in just 10 days. If nothing else, this is certainly something worth to try!
Sources:
– Collective Evolution Part 1;
– Collective Evolution Part 2;
– http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ikIQLcMWJtE&b=4016859&ct=14183373;
– http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.21371/abstract;
– http://www.ebiomedicine.com/article/S2352-3964%2816%2930143-8/abstract;
– https://thehealthsciencesacademy.org/science-catch-up/science-catch-up-17/;
– http://commonhealth.legacy.wbur.org/2013/09/sugar-most-dangerous-drug;
