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i thought everyone knew that sugar was bad?

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i thought everyone knew that sugar was bad?

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What Sugar Does to Your Brain - OlsonND.com

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What Sugar Does to Your Brain - OlsonND.com

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The Sugar Anti-BDNF Loop

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Sugar Brain

You open a can of soda and pour that sugary drink into your mouth. The sugar travels down your throat and into your stomach and then has a very short trip from your stomach into your blood stream. As that sugar starts to move its way through your body, it eventually makes its way to your brain. You brain is happy with this shot of sugar you just gave it, because, while it only makes up only two percent of the body weight, your brain uses one-half of all the sugar energy in the body.

But, is there such a thing as too much sugar for your brain? And that soda you just drank will cause your blood sugar to skyrocket and eventually drop; what happens to your brain then? And what about other sugar-brain questions: doesn't sugar make you or your kids hyperactive, and doesn't sugar change your mood?

The short answer to these all these questions is: we don't know . Scientific studies on the effects of sugar on the brain are sparse at best and most medical professionals and organizations will say that sugar has nothing to do with mood or hyperactivity. If you are surprised by that stance, you are not alone.

Most parents have witnessed firsthand the effect of sugar on little kid's brains. Most adults will tell you that they have experienced a sort of mental fog from eating too much sugar, not to mention the sugar high and the sugar crash. But none of these experiences mean anything to researchers who report that there are no such thing as a sugar high or that hyperactivity could be caused by too much sugar.

But just because there isn't much research on how sugar and foods that act like sugar and how they affect mental function doesn't mean there isn't any. This article will piece together the bits of information out there on sugar and brain function to get a better understanding of what sugar is doing to our brains. As usual, I will be including not only sugar, but foods that act like sugar in the discussion.

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

Let's start with a brain chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF is the key to understanding what happens when sugar hits our brain.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is responsible for the development of new brain tissue. If you didn't have this chemical in your brain, your brain wouldn't develop properly and you would die very soon after birth. The key to BDNF is to understand what it does: it helps to create new neurons (nerve tissue), and, therefore new memories.

You want as much BDNF around as possible if you want to learn, grow, and have normal brain functioning.

Research has shown that high sugar diets (along with high fat diets and lack of essential fatty acids) decrease a BDNF. In fact, the relationship between BDNF and sugar gets even more interesting: low amounts of BDNF actually leads to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and even diabetes. This means that high sugar in the blood leads to low BDNF, and then low BDNF leads to a worsening of blood sugar control, which leads to high blood sugar, which leads to worse blood sugar control... and the cycle continues.

In an interesting study on rats, it was discovered that the animals that had the best ability to learn spatial and memory tasks also had the highest amount of BDNF. It took only two months on a high sugar and high fat diet to significantly reduce BDNF in the brains of the experimental animals and for the reduction to have an effect on the animal's ability to perform spatial and memory tasks.

Low BDNF is no small thing as it has also been associated with depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Huntington's disease, Rett syndrome, and schizophrenia.

But there is much more to the sugar-brain story than BDNF, let's take a look.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is one of the best places to start when discussing how sugar affects our brains. There are quite a few clinical studies that link the consumption of grains (foods that act like sugar) with schizophrenia. It has long been thought that people who are schizophrenic may have a problem with the protein found in many grains (gluten) and there is a strong association between schizophrenia and Celiac disease.

Interestingly, there is also a close association with poor blood sugar control (metabolic syndrome) and the severity of schizophrenia:

It appears that the same dietary factors which are associated with the metabolic syndrome, including high saturated fat, high glycemic load, and low omega-3 (PUFA), may also be detrimental to the symptoms of schizophrenia.

These researcher show that once again, a diet low in essential fatty acids (omega-3) and high in fat and sugar will decrease BDNF and it makes me wonder if sugar and foods that act like sugar may be the "smoking gun" in schizophrenia.

Depression and Anxiety

As a hint that how we live and what we eat have some effect on our moods, it has long been known that coronary heart disease and diabetes all are common in people with depression. This means that the same dietary conditions that create heart disease and diabetes also can lead to depression. Interesting...

Sugar consumption in population studies have been shown to have a close link with major depression.Researchers suggest that the sugar and brain association may be due to the oxidative stress that sugar can cause or the change in beta-endorphins (brain chemicals that make us feel good) that comes about because of sugar use.

Anxiety, too, has been closely linked with sugar use in a number of studies.

Children

Perhaps the biggest questions arise when discussing children, mood, behavior and sugar. While any parent would tell you that sugar can dramatically change the behavior of a child, the medical community is silent. There have been a few studies that show an association between high blood sugars and problem behaviors, but these studies have mostly been performed in children who already have blood sugar problems (such as diabetes). More studies need to be done and need to be done in children with normal blood sugar.

Autism is an interesting exception to the lack of research. A review by the prestigious Cochrane review admitted that many of the studies linking foods that act like sugar (grains) and gluten to autism have been of poor quality, but they do point to one study that does show a relationship between a gluten-free diet and improvement in the symptoms of autism. While far from conclusive, these studies open the possibility of a solution for the growing epidemic of autism.

Healthy Brain Plan

Okay, let's say you actually want to take care of your brain. What is the best way to go?

Avoid grains and sugars: Read my book Sugarettes or take the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge, and get yourself off sugar and foods that act like sugar.

Exercise: It has been shown that exercise is great for your brain, and it increases BDNF.

Supplement: Your brain thrives on vitamins, especially the B vitamins and make sure you are taking some form of omega 3 oils (fish oils).

We can take care of our brains much better than we do and knowing that the foods that we put into our mouths can dramatically how we think, how we feel and act, and which diseases we get means that your brain and how well it functions is in your hands. You have a choice and what you eat and drink can make dramatic differences in how you think, feel and behave.

Citations:

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You open a can of soda and pour that sugary drink into your mouth. The sugar travels down your throat and into your stomach and then has a very short trip from your stomach into your blood stream. As that sugar starts to move its way through your body, it eventually makes its way to your brain.

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Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on new research showing that beyond weight gain, sugar can take a serious toll on your health, worsening conditions ranging from heart disease to cancer.

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What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain | Psychology Today

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What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain | Psychology Today

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Overeating, poor memory formation, learning disorders, depression -all have been linked in recent research to the over-consumption of sugar. And these linkages point to a problem that is only beginning to be better understood: what our chronic intake of added sugar is doing to our brains.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average American consumes 156 pounds of added sugar per year. That's five grocery store shelves loaded with 30 or so one pound bags of sugar each. If you find that hard to believe, that's probably because sugar is so ubiquitous in our diets that most of us have no idea how much we're consuming. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) puts the amount at 27.5 teaspoons of sugar a day per capita, which translates to 440 calories-nearly one quarter of a typical 2000 calorie a day diet.

The key word in all of the stats is "added." While a healthy diet would contain a significant amount of naturally occurring sugar (in fruits and grains, for example), the problem is that we're chronically consuming much more added sugar in processed foods, generally in the rapidly absorbed form of fructose.

That's an important clarification because our brains need sugar every day to function. Brain cells require two times the energy needed by all the other cells in the body; roughly 10% of our total daily energy requirements. This energy is derived from glucose (blood sugar), the gasoline of our brains. Sugar is not the brain's enemy-added sugar is.

Research indicates that a diet high in added sugar reduces the production of a brain chemical known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Without BDNF, our brains can't form new memories and we can't learn (or remember) much of anything. Levels of BDNF are particularly low in people with an impaired glucose metabolism-diabetics and pre-diabetics-and as the amount of BDNF decreases, sugar metabolism worsens.

In other words, chronically eating added sugar reduces BDNF, and then the lowered levels of the brain chemical begin contributing to insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which eventually leads to a host of other health problems. Once that happens, your brain and body are in a destructive cycle that's difficult if not impossible to reverse.

Research has also linked low BDNF levels to depression and dementia. It's possible that low BDNF may turn out to be the smoking gun in these and other diseases, like Alzheimer's, that tend to appear in clusters in epidemiological studies. More research is being conducted on this subject, but what seems clear in any case is that a reduced level of BDNF is bad news for our brains, and chronic sugar consumption is one of the worst inhibitory culprits.

Other studies have focused on sugar's role in over-eating. We intuitively know that sugar and obesity are linked (since sugar is full of calories), but the exact reason why eating sugar-laden foods seems to make us want to eat more hasn't been well understood until recently.

New research has shown that chronic consumption of added sugar dulls the brain's mechanism for telling you to stop eating. It does so by reducing activity in the brain's anorexigenic oxytocin system, which is responsible for throwing up the red "full" flag that prevents you from gorging. When oxytocin cells in the brain are blunted by over-consumption of sugar, the flag doesn't work correctly and you start asking for seconds and thirds, and seeking out snacks at midnight.

What these and other studies strongly suggest is that most of us are seriously damaging ourselves with processed foods high in added sugar, and the damage begins with our brains. Seen in this light, chronic added-sugar consumption is no less a problem than smoking or alcoholism. And the hard truth is that we may have only begun to see the effects of what the endless sugar avalanche is doing to us.

For more on this topic, click here to watch an excellent piece from 60 Minutes: "Is Sugar Toxic?"
www.whatmakesyourbrainhappy.com

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What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain

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Overeating, poor memory formation, learning disorders, depression-all have been linked in recent research to the over-consumption of sugar. And these linkages point to a problem that is only beginning to be better understood: what our chronic intake of added sugar is doing to our brains.

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The Truth About Sugar Documentary 2015 - YouTube

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The Truth About Sugar Documentary 2015 - YouTube

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Sugar is the big bad wolf of the diet world, but not that many of us know quite how to quit it or, in fact, what the downsides to a sugary diet actually are.

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High Fructose Corn Syrup  HARMS your brain.

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High Fructose Corn Syrup  HARMS your brain.

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The #1 WORST Food that HARMS Your Brain (avoid!)
Some foods you might be eating daily can actually DAMAGE your brain over time. In this article, we'll explore foods that HARM your brain vs foods that PROTECT your brain.

by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist
Co-Author of the best seller:The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging & The Truth About Testosterone

First, the BAD NEWS...
Certain foods you eat can indeed harm your brain, both in impaired learning ability as well as impaired memory. Even worse, the wrong food and drink choices throughout your life can even lead to the terrible and deadly disease of Alzheimers.

A friend of mine just told me that her dad died of Alzheimers recently and it was just a terrible disease where he didn't even know who she was anymore towards the end. It's time our society starts taking degenerative diseases like Alzheimers, cancer, and heart disease more seriously throughout our lives, and not just once it's too late. Even in our 30's, 40's, and 50's, the choices we make with our daily food can PREVENT these terrible diseases.

So let's dig in with the topic today of foods that harm your brain, and what you can do about it...

Food #1 that HARMS your brain: Fructose

In a 2012 UCLA study published in the Journal of Physiology, researchers found that a diet high in fructose over time can damage your memory and learning ability.

Beyond the harm to your brain, it's well known in the research world that a high fructose diet can also cause insulin resistance in your body over time, and possibly lead to type-2 diabetes and extra body fat. If that's not enough, a high fructose diet also detrimentally affects your triglyceride levels in your blood as well as small dense LDL particles that cause plaque in your arteries.

So what we have here is high-fructose intake = impaired memory and learning in your brain, increased risk of diabetes, and increased risk of heart disease. Oh, and we forgot to mention extra belly fat too... Yum - who wants another can of soda pop or a large bowl of corn syrup sweetened ice cream!

The average person eating a modern western diet of processed food consumes a LARGE quantity of fructose without even thinking about it from all of the soft drinks (high fructose corn syrup typically), sweetened juice drinks, orange juice, processed junk foods such as cakes and candies, as well as the HFCS that's added to store-bought salad dressings, breads and cereals, and even condiments like ketchup.

Note that many sports drinks, even though marketed as "healthy", can have large amounts of corn syrup or even crystalline fructose as their main sweetener. These sports drinks can be equally as bad as a soda for your body and your brain. Don't be fooled by the clever marketing showing pictures of pro athletes guzzling this stuff.

Also note that agave syrup (aka, agave nectar) which is marketed as a "healthy" sweetener as well, is one of the most concentrated forms of processed fructose in sweeteners as well. I personally stay away from agave sweeteners as much as possible unless the amounts are very small.

Last thing to note about fructose... Yes, natural whole fruits do contain fructose, but generally contain MUCH smaller quantities of fructose than you would consume in a sweetened juice drink, soft drink or sweetened junk foods.

Also, the phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber that's contained in most whole fruits counteracts any negative effects of fructose.

I personally try to keep fruit intake to no more than 1-2 pieces a day due to the sugar and fructose content of larger amounts of fruit.

Here's a trick: Did you know that limes and lemons contain virtually zero fructose, and only 3-4 grams of total carbs in a whole lemon or lime, whereas a typical orange contains 6 grams of fructose and 25 grams of total sugar per fruit. I squeeze lemons and limes daily into either water or teas for a healthy flavorful drink. Fresh lemon juice has even been shown to control blood sugar response from a meal...another bonus!

The good news is...

There are plenty of superfoods, herbs, and spices that can protect your brain and your other organs too!

In fact, did you know that turmeric is one of the highest antioxidant spices that also exhibits brain-protecting effects? In India, where curry containing turmeric and other spices is eaten daily, rates of Alzheimers disease is among the lowest in the world, proving some of the brain-protecting effects of turmeric.

In addition, the powerful DHA and EPA omega-3 fats in fish oil has been proven in countless studies to protect your brain from damage over the years.

Here's what to do next...
There are a few more very common, yet DANGEROUS foods (including some fruits, veggies, & popular protein sources) that can damage your brain and if you or a loved one are currently experiencing any kind of memory issues, if you feel your memory is fading, or if you've been known to have a "senior moment" every so often lately, it may be directly related to specific foods in your diet, including foods that were NOT on the list above.

Fortunately, my trusted advisor Dr. Mark Ettinger just wrote a free report that shows you exactly which foods these are, as well as a few tips & tricks to boost your brain power, and you'll gain access to this report on thenext page.

Please share this information with any friends or loved ones who may find this information valuable...

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This food HARMS your brain... are you eating it?

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The #1 WORST Food that HARMS Your Brain (avoid!)Some foods you might be eating daily can actually DAMAGE your brain over time. In this article, we'll explore foods that HARM your brain vs foods that PROTECT your brain.

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10 Disturbing Reasons Why Sugar is Bad For You

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10 Disturbing Reasons Why Sugar is Bad For You

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Added sugar is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet.

It can have harmful effects on metabolism and contribute to all sorts of diseases.

Here are 10 disturbing reasons why you should avoid added sugar like the plague.

You've probably heard this a million times before... but it's worth repeating.

Added sugars (like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) contain a whole bunch of calories with NO essential nutrients.

For this reason, they are called "empty" calories.

There are no proteins, essential fats, vitamins or minerals in sugar... just pure energy.

When people eat up to 10-20% of calories as sugar (or more), this can become a major problem and contribute to nutrient deficiencies.

Sugar is also very bad for the teeth, because it provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth ( 1).

Bottom Line: Sugar contains a lot of calories, with no essential nutrients. It also causes tooth decay by feeding the harmful bacteria in the mouth.

In order to understand what is so bad about sugar, then you need to understand what it is made of.

Before sugar enters the bloodstream from the digestive tract, it is broken down into two simple sugars... glucose and fructose.

Glucose is found in every living cell on the planet. If we don't get it from the diet, our bodies produce it.

Fructose is different. Our bodies do not produce it in any significant amount and there is no physiological need for it.

The thing with fructose is that it can only be metabolized by the liver in any significant amounts.

This is not a problem if we eat a little bit (such as from fruit) or we just finished an exercise session. In this case, the fructose will be turned into glycogen and stored in the liver until we need it ( 3).

However, if the liver is full of glycogen (much more common), eating a lot of fructose overloads the liver, forcing it to turn the fructose into fat ( 4).

When repeatedly eating large amounts of sugar, this process can lead to fatty liver and all sorts of serious problems ( 5).

Keep in mind that all of this does NOT apply to fruit. It is almost impossible to overeat fructose by eating fruit.

There is also massive individual variability here. People who are healthy and active can tolerate more sugar than people who are inactive and eat a Western, high-carb, high-calorie diet.

Bottom Line: For people who are inactive and eat a Western diet, large amounts of fructose from added sugars get turned into fat in the liver.

When fructose get turned into fat in the liver, it is shipped out as VLDL cholesterol particles.

However, not all of the fat gets out, some of it can lodge in the liver.

This can lead to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), a growing problem in Western countries that is strongly associated with metabolic diseases ( 6).

Studies show that individuals with fatty liver consume up to 2-3 times as much fructose as the average person ( 7, 8).

Bottom Line: Excess fructose gets turned into fat, which can lodge in the liver and cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Insulin is a very important hormone in the body.

It allows glucose (blood sugar) to enter cells from the bloodstream and tells the cells to start burning glucose instead of fat.

Having too much glucose in the blood is very harmful and one of the reasons for complications of diabetes, like blindness.

One feature of the metabolic dysfunction that is caused by the Western diet, is that insulin stops working as it should. The cells become "resistant" to it.

This is also known as insulin resistance, which is believed to be a leading driver of many diseases... including metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease and especially type II diabetes ( 9).

Many studies show that sugar consumption is associated with insulin resistance, especially when it is consumed in large amounts ( 10, 11).

Bottom Line: When people eat a lot of sugar, it can cause resistance to the hormone insulin, which can contribute to many diseases.

When our cells become resistant to the effects of insulin, the beta cells in our pancreas make more of it.

This is crucial, because chronically elevated blood sugars can cause severe harm.

Eventually, as insulin resistance becomes progressively worse, the pancreas can't keep up with the demand of producing enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels down.

At this point, blood sugar levels skyrocket and a diagnosis of type II diabetes is made.

Given that sugar can cause insulin resistance, it is not surprising to see that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages have up to an 83% higher risk of Type II diabetes ( 12, 13).

Bottom Line: Because of the harmful effects of sugar on the function of insulin, it is a leading driver of type II diabetes.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and is characterized by uncontrolled growth and multiplication of cells.

Insulin is one of the key hormones in regulating this sort of growth.

For this reason, many scientists believe that having constantly elevated insulin levels (a consequence of sugar consumption) can contribute to cancer ( 14).

In addition, the metabolic problems associated with sugar consumption are a known driver of inflammation, another potential cause of cancer ( 15).

Multiple studies show that people who eat a lot of sugar are at a much higher risk of getting cancer ( 16, 17, 18).

Bottom Line: There is considerable evidence that sugar, due to its harmful effects on metabolism, can contribute to cancer.

Not all calories are created equal.

Different foods can have different effects on our brains and the hormones that control food intake ( 19).

Studies show that fructose doesn't have the same kind of effect on satiety as glucose.

In one study, people drank either a fructose-sweetened drink or a glucose-sweetened drink.

Afterwards, the fructose drinkers had much less activity in the satiety centers of the brain and felt hungrier ( 20).

There is also a study where fructose didn't lower the hunger hormone ghrelin nearly as much as glucose did ( 21).

Over time, because the calories from sugar aren't as fulfilling, this can translate into an increased calorie intake.

Bottom Line: Fructose doesn't cause satiety in the brain or lower the hunger hormone ghrelin nearly as much as glucose.

Sugar can be addictive for a lot of people.

Like abusive drugs, sugar causes a release of dopamine in the reward center of the brain ( 22).

The problem with sugar and many junk foods is that they can cause massive dopamine release... much more than we were ever exposed to from foods found in nature ( 23).

For this reason, people who have a susceptibility to addiction can become strongly addicted to sugar and other junk foods ( 24).

The "everything in moderation" message may be a bad idea for people who are addicted to junk food... because the only thing that works for true addiction is abstinence.

Bottom Line: Because sugar causes a large release of dopamine in the brain, it can cause addiction in a lot of people.

The way sugar affects hormones and the brain is a recipe for fat gain disaster.

It leads to decreased satiety... and can get people addicted so that they lose control over their consumption.

Not surprisingly, people who consume the most sugar are by far the most likely to become overweight or obese. This applies to all age groups.

Many studies have examined the link between sugar consumption and obesity and found a strong statistical association ( 25).

The link is especially strong in children, where each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a whopping 60% increased risk of obesity ( 26).

One of the most important things you can do if you need to lose weight is to significantly cut back on sugar consumption.

Bottom Line: Because of the effects of sugar on hormones and the brain, sugar dramatically increases the risk of becoming overweight or obese.

For many decades, people have blamed saturated fat for heart disease... which is the #1 killer in the world.

However... new studies are showing that saturated fat is harmless ( 27, 28).

The evidence is mounting that sugar, NOT fat, may be one of the leading drivers of heart disease via the harmful effects of fructose on metabolism ( 29).

Studies show that large amounts of fructose can raise triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (very, very bad), raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity -- in as little as 10 weeks ( 30).

These are all major risk factors for heart disease.

Not surprisingly, many observational studies find a strong statistical association between sugar consumption and the risk of heart disease ( 31, 32, 33).

For people who can't tolerate it, added sugar is very harmful.

Empty calories are just the tip of the iceberg.

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Added sugar is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet. It can have harmful effects on metabolism and contribute to all sorts of diseases. Here are 10 disturbing reasons why you should avoid added sugar like the plague. You've probably heard this a million times before... but it's worth repeating.

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Is Sugar Toxic - 60 Minutes Investigates - YouTube

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Is Sugar Toxic - 60 Minutes Investigates - YouTube

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Is Sugar Toxic - 60 Minutes Investigates

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Evidence that sugar is indeed toxic continues to grow - sadly, as does the global health crisis, from obesity and diabetes to cancer! It's time to block the harmful effects of too much sugar and increase the level of nutrients now missing from food... www.nuoutlooks.goludaxx.com

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Sugar may be sweet, but excess consumption leaves a bitter aftertaste: millions of people worldwide are affected by type II diabetes or obesity, costing the global healthcare system billions of dollars every year.

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The worst thing you can eat is sugar. - Public Health

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The worst thing you can eat is sugar. - Public Health

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A couple days ago, a group of leading medical and nutrition experts released a call for a 20-30% reduction in sugar added to packaged and processed foods over the next 3-5 years (1). The expert group, 'Action on Sugar', estimates that this change would result in a reduction of roughly 100 calories each person eats per day, and will eventually reverse the obesity epidemic (1). Wow. The media has picked up on this statement in a huge way, with headlines like ' Sugar is the 'new tobacco' (2), and ' Sugar is now enemy number one in the western diet (3). While these headlines sound sensationalist, they are right.

A sickening amount of sugar is added to many processed foods (1). Some culprits are obvious. There are 9 teaspoons of sugar in a can of regular Coke or Pepsi, but others are surprising. Heinz tomato soup has 4 teaspoons of sugar per serving. Add two slices of white bread to that soup at nearly a teaspoon of sugar, another teaspoon or two in your coffee or tea, and that's your entire daily sugar allowance. Sugar should comprise no more than 5% of daily energy intake, which is about 6 teaspoons per day for women and 8 teaspoons per day for men (3).

And what is the big deal about sugar? A calorie is a calorie - right? Well, not so much. The calories provided by sugar are void of nutrition. 'Action on Sugar' (1) states it best:

Added sugar is a very recent phenomenon (c150 years) and only occurred when sugar, obtained from sugar cane, beet and corn became very cheap to produce. No other mammal eats added sugar and there is no requirement for added sugar in the human diet. This sugar is a totally unnecessary source of calories, gives no feeling of fullness and is acknowledged to be a major factor in causing obesity and diabetes both in the UK and worldwide.

Humans have no dietary requirement for added sugar. Dr Aseem Malhotra, the science director of 'Action on Sugar', emphasizes that the body does not require carbohydrates from sugar added to foods (3). Furthermore, high sugar intake may reduce the ability to regulate caloric intake (4), with consumption of sugar leading to eating more sugar, overeating, and ultimately to weight gain (5). Added sugar therefore presents a 'double jeopardy' of empty caloric intake that triggers further unnecessary consumption.

Dr Malhotra states that sugar is in fact 'essential to food industry profits and lining the pockets of its co-opted partners' (3). The sugar/food industry has tremendous power, sponsoring high-profile sporting events, gaining celebrity endorsements, and employing psychological techniques in their ubiquitous advertising. Maliciously, they target children, who are vulnerable to advertising and to giving in to a sweet tooth (6). The politics of the sugar industry have been covered by this blog in another post. Essential to their tactics is heavy resistance against the scientific links between sugar and obesity. The American Sugar Association website states that ' sugar is a healthy part of a diet' (7), and Sugar Nutrition UK states that ' the balance of available evidence does not implicate sugar in any of the 'lifestyle diseases'' (8). On top of that, the food industry sponsors scientific research that is biased towards showing no link between sugar and adverse health problems. Last month, a large evidence review found that research on sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity is more likely to find no association between the two when funded by the food industry (9).

Clearly, we have a long way to go in fighting against the paradigm of today's food environment, which is largely dictated by the industry. 'Action on Sugar' has some important aims to this end: in addition to reducing sugar in processed foods by 20-30%, they aim to reach a consensus with the food industry that sugar is linked obesity and other negative health effects, to improve nutritional labelling of added sugar content using a traffic light system, and to ensure that scientific evidence is translated into government policy to reduce sugar. Their full list of aims can be found here (10). These aims are likely to be successful, as they are modelled off of sodium reduction efforts that have led to an estimated reduction of sodium in packaged foods 'between 20 and 40%, with a minimum reduction of 6,000 strokes and heart attack deaths per year, and a healthcare saving cost of £1.5 billion [approx. $2.5 billion USD]' (1).

So what can we do, as individuals? The first step is educating oneself, so if you've read this far then you're one step ahead. Always read nutritional labelling on packaged foods carefully to determine how much sugar is in what you're eating. Katharine Jenner, nutritionist and campaign director of 'Action on Sugar' states that you can ' wean yourself off the white stuff ' by cutting down on using it at home, but the main source of sugar in our diets remains that added during the processing of manufactured food (1). The best thing is to heavily cut down on packaged, processed foods in favour of whole, unprocessed foods. Do this, if not only for your individual health, but to stop supporting an industry that compromises the well-being of the world's population for financial profit. The worst thing you can do is eat sugar.

References

1. Action on Sugar. Worldwide experts unite to reverse obesity epidemic by forming 'Action on Sugar'. http://www.actiononsalt.org.uk/actiononsugar/Press%20Release%20/118440.html (accessed 12 January 2014).

2. Poulter S. Sugar is the 'new tobacco': health chiefs tell food giants to slash levels by a third. Daily Mail. 09 January 2014. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2536180/Sugar-new-tobacco-Health-chiefs-tell-food-giants-slash-levels-third.html (accessed 12 January 2014).

3. Malhotra A. Sugar is now enemy number one in the western diet. The Guardian. 11 January 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/11/sugar-is-enemy-number-one-now (accessed 12 January 2014).

4. Davidson TL, Swithers SE. A Pavlovian approach to the problem of obesity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004;28(7):933-5.

5. Bray GA, Nielsen SJ, Popkin BM. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;79(4):537-43.

6. Calvert SL. Children as consumers: advertising and marketing. The Future of Children 2008;18(1):205-34.

7. The Sugar Association. Balanced Diet. http://www.sugar.org/sugar-your-diet/balanced-diet/ (accessed 12 January 2014).

8. Sugar Nutrition UK: Researching the Science of Sugar. Sugar & Health. http://www.sugarnutrition.org.uk/Sugar-and-Health.aspx (accessed 12 January 2014).

9. Bes-Rastrollo M, Schulze MB, Ruiz-Canela M, Martinez-Gonzalez. Financial conflicts of interest and reporting bias regarding the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review of systematic reviews. PLOS Med 2013; doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001578

10. Action on Sugar. Aims. http://www.actiononsalt.org.uk/actiononsugar/Aims%20/118439.html (accessed 12 January 2014).

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The worst thing you can eat is sugar. | Public Health

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A couple days ago, a group of leading medical and nutrition experts released a call for a 20-30% reduction in sugar added to packaged and processed foods over the next 3-5 years (1). The expert group, 'Action on Sugar', estimates that this change would result in a reduction of roughly 100 calories each person eats per day, and will eventually reverse the obesity epidemic (1).

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Courtesy of http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3821440.htm In only a few decades there are now more obese people on the planet than there are undernourished. And when it comes to getting fat, we've believed it's as simple as 'calories in' versus 'calories out'. But we now know not all calories are the same.

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Why Fructose Sugar Is So Bad For You- 60 Minutes - YouTube

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Why Fructose Sugar Is So Bad For You- 60 Minutes - YouTube

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Why Fructose Sugar Is So Bad For You- 60 Minutes

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Cancer Loves Sugar CBS 60 Minutes April 2012 - YouTube

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Cancer Loves Sugar CBS 60 Minutes April 2012 - YouTube

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Cancer Loves Sugar CBS 60 Minutes April 2012

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Sobering report. If you have cancer, you should avoid sugar of any kind. If you don't want cancer, I suggest that you limit your sugar intake. Avoid "high fructose corn syrup", and processed sugars. If you want to lose weight, avoid things that quickly become sugar (white breads, potato, rice, alcohol, etc).

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Added Sugar is The Single Worst Ingredient in The Diet. Period.

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Added Sugar is The Single Worst Ingredient in The Diet. Period.

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"Did all of a sudden the entire world just become a bunch of gluttons and sloths? All at the same time? I mean, get real." - Dr. Robert H. Lustig

There are many things wrong with the modern diet... but the massive amounts of added sugar may just be the worst.

Numerous studies show that sugar, more than any other ingredient in the diet, may be driving some of the world's leading killers... including heart disease, diabetes and even cancer ( 1, 2, 3).

The video above (hat tip to Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt) - is from ABC's Catalyst, a popular science program in Australia.

The first dietary guidelines for Americans were published in 1977, giving birth to the low-fat "revolution."

At this time, the main public health message was that people needed to eat less saturated fat and cholesterol... that is, less of traditional foods like meat, butter, full-fat dairy and eggs.

Unfortunately, the food industry complied and brought a plethora of low-fat " health foods" to the market.

But removing the fat from foods makes them taste horrible.

That's why the food industry added a whole bunch of sugar to their foods to compensate for the lack of fat.

Although sugar wasn't actually endorsed by public health guidelines, the primary emphasis was on reducing saturated fat, essentially distracting people from the stuff that actually matters.

Today, people are eating massive amounts of added sugars, usually without even realizing it.

According to Dr. Stephan Guyenet, in the year 1822 we ate the equivalent of a 12 ounce can of soda every 5 days.

Today, we're eating the equivalent of a 12 ounce can of soda every 7 hours.

On average, Americans are eating about 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day, or 355 calories. This amounts to 70 pounds (32 kg) per year ( 4).

Keep in mind that these are averages. Young males are eating about a 100 pounds of sugar per year... and many individuals are eating much, much more.

Bottom Line: When the low-fat guidelines first came out, food manufacturers removed the fat from foods but added a whole bunch of sugar instead.

The thing is... most people don't have a clue about how much sugar they're actually eating.

They're not pouring 22 teaspoons per day in their coffee or on their breakfast cereal, they're getting it from conventional foods.

These days, almost every processed food has sugar in it. Just go to the supermarket and look at the labels, you may be surprised... even many so-called "health foods" are loaded with sugar.

Food manufacturers often use confusing terms (like "evaporated cane juice") for sugar, in order to deceive the consumer and hide the true amount of sugar in their foods.

Even foods that are often considered healthy, like many breakfast cereals and low-fat yogurt, have so much sugar that they're not much different from a candy bar.

The worst part of it is... sometimes the mainstream health organizations actually endorse these seriously unhealthy foods.

For example, the Australian Heart Foundation puts their "Tick" of approval on various high-sugar junk foods like breakfast cereals, low-fat yogurt, breads and others.

How are people supposed to have a chance of eating healthy if the organizations that are in charge of protecting the population's health are literally advising people to eat this crap?

Bottom Line: People are getting a lot of sugar from conventional foods, without even realizing it. Many of these processed, high-sugar foods are endorsed by health organizations like the Australian Heart Foundation.

Added sugar can have severe harmful effects on metabolism ( 5).

The main reason is that it supplies a large amount of fructose, a simple sugar that is metabolized strictly by the liver ( 6).

In the context of a high-calorie, high-carb Western diet, this is a complete disaster.

The sugar get turned into fat in the liver, leading to insulin resistance and a host of metabolic problems ( 7).

It is well known that fructose is uniquely efficient at causing the buildup of visceral fat, that is fat that collects in the liver and around the organs ( 8, 9).

This type of fat is much, much worse than the fat that builds up under the skin. It actively secretes pro-inflammatory hormones into the bloodstream, wreaking havoc on your health ( 10).

The ability of sugar and refined carbohydrate to induce insulin resistance and increase visceral fat accumulation is now believed to be among the leading drivers of many of the world's most serious chronic diseases.

It is also known that liquid sugar (as in sugary soft drinks and fruit juices) has a uniquely fattening effect. Liquid sugar calories aren't "registered" as food by the brain, so we don't compensate by eating less of other foods instead ( 11, 12).

Sugar is terrible... but when consumed in liquid form, it is even worse.

Overall, sugary soft drinks (and fruit juices) are probably the unhealthiest and most fattening aspects of the modern diet, by far.

Keep in mind that this does not apply to whole fruit, which also contain fiber and make people feel full before they can overeat on fructose.

Of course, there are many things wrong with the modern diet. No one is saying that it's only sugar.

Refined carbohydrates, seed oils and processed foods in general are also a huge problem, without regards to whether they contain sugar or not.

But there is now overwhelming evidence that sugar is uniquely harmful, perhaps more than any other aspect of the diet.

If you care about your health and want to live a long and disease-free life, then you should avoid added sugar like the plague.

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Added Sugar Is the Single Worst Ingredient in the Diet. Period.

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"Did all of a sudden the entire world just become a bunch of gluttons and sloths? All at the same time? I mean, get real." - Dr. Robert H. Lustig There are many things wrong with the modern diet... but the massive amounts of added sugar may just be the worst.

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The Science Of Sugar And Its Side-Effects

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The Science Of Sugar And Its Side-Effects

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Join the Ludaxx "I Block Sugar" Movement: http://iblocksugar.com

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How to Sugar Detox: A Simple, FREE 7-Day Blueprint | Yuri Elkaim

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How to Sugar Detox: A Simple, FREE 7-Day Blueprint | Yuri Elkaim

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13 Ways That Sugary Soda is Bad For Your Health

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13 Ways That Sugary Soda is Bad For Your Health

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When consumed in excess, added sugar can have disastrous effects on your health.

However, some sources of sugar are worse than others... and sugary drinks are the worst, by far.

This primarily applies to sugary soda, but also to fruit juices, highly sweetened coffees and other sources of liquid sugar.

Here are 13 reasons to avoid soda (and other sugary drinks) like the plague.

Added sugar is highly fattening... and liquid sugar even more so.

One of the reasons for this, is that sugar supplies large amounts of the simple sugar fructose, which does not lower the hunger hormone ghrelin in the same way as glucose, the main carb found in starchy foods ( 1).

Studies have also shown that fructose does not seem to stimulate the satiety centers in the brain in the same way as glucose ( 2).

The brain is actually supposed to regulate your calorie intake. If you eat more of one food (like potatoes), you should automatically eat less of something else instead.

Liquid sugar doesn't work in this way... when people consume it, they usually add it on top of the total calorie intake ( 3).

In other words, sugary drinks don't make you feel full, so you eat the same amount of food as before, but with a whole lot of extra sugar calories on the side ( 4, 5).

In one study, people who added soda on top of their current diet ended up consuming 17% more calories than before. That is a huge amount, which could easily lead to obesity over a few years ( 6).

Not surprisingly, studies have shown that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages consistently gain more weight than people who don't ( 7, 8, 9).

In one study in children, each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages was linked to a 60% increased risk of obesity ( 10).

The truth is... sugary drinks are THE most fattening aspect of the modern diet. If you want to lose weight, or avoid gaining it over time, then you should seriously consider removing these drinks from your life.

Bottom Line: Liquid sugar does not cause satiety in the same way as solid foods, making people eat more total calories. Sugar-sweetened beverages may be the most fattening aspect of the modern diet.

Sugar is composed of two molecules... glucose and fructose.

Glucose can be metabolized by every cell in the body, whereas fructose can only be metabolized by one organ, the liver ( 11).

Sugary drinks are the easiest (and most common) way to consume excessive amounts of fructose.

When we consume too much, in the context of a high-carb, high-calorie Western diet, the liver becomes overloaded and turns the fructose into fat ( 12).

Some of the fat gets shipped out as blood triglycerides, while part of it remains in the liver. Over time, this can contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ( 13 14).

Bottom Line: Sucrose and high fructose corn syrup are about 50% fructose, which can only be metabolized by the liver. Excessive amounts may contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Sugar consumption makes you prone to storing more body fat.

Fructose in particular appears to dramatically increase the dangerous fat around the belly and organs. This is known as visceral fat, or belly fat ( 15).

In a 10 week study, 32 healthy people consumed beverages sweetened with either fructose or glucose ( 16).

Glucose consumers only had an increase in subcutaneous fat (not linked to metabolic disease), while fructose drinkers had a significant increase in the harmful visceral fat.

Bottom Line: High consumption of fructose causes accumulation of visceral fat, the dangerous fat that leads to metabolic disease.

The main function of the hormone insulin, is to drive glucose from the bloodstream into cells.

But when we drink sugary soda, the cells tend to become resistant to the effects of insulin.

When this happens, the pancreas must make even more insulin to remove the glucose from the bloodstream, so insulin levels in the blood go up.

This condition is known as insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance is arguably the main driver behind metabolic syndrome, a stepping stone towards type 2 diabetes and heart disease ( 17).

Excess sugar is a known cause of insulin resistance and chronically elevated insulin levels in the blood ( 18 19 20).

Bottom Line: Excess sugar can lead to insulin resistance, the main abnormality in metabolic syndrome.

Type 2 diabetes is a very common disease, affecting about 300 million people worldwide.

It is characterized by elevated blood sugars in the context of insulin resistance or a deficiency in insulin.

Given that sugary drinks can lead to insulin resistance, it is not surprising to see that numerous studies link soda consumption with type 2 diabetes.

In fact, as little as one can of soda per day has been consistently linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes ( 21, 22, 23, 24).

In a recent study looking at sugar consumption and diabetes in 175 countries, each 150 calories (about one can of soda) of sugar per day was linked to a 1.1% increase in type 2 diabetes ( 25).

To put that number in perspective, if the entire US population added one can of soda to their daily diet, almost 3.5 million people might become diabetic.

Bottom Line: There is a large body of evidence linking added sugar consumption, particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages, to type 2 diabetes.

Sugary soda is "empty" calories. No doubt about that.

It contain absolutely no essential nutrients... no vitamins, no minerals, no antioxidants and zero fiber.

It literally adds nothing to the diet except excessive amounts of added sugar and unnecessary calories.

Bottom Line: Sugary sodas contain little to no essential nutrients and can therefore be classified as "empty" calories.

Leptin is a hormone that is produced by the body's fat cells ( 26).

Its main role is long-term regulation of energy balance... dictating the number of calories we eat and burn ( 27, 28).

Leptin is supposed to protect us from both starvation and obesity, and is often referred to as the "satiety hormone" or the "starvation hormone."

Being resistant to this hormone's effects (called leptin resistance) is now believed to be among the leading drivers of fat gain in humans ( 29, 30).

Well... several preliminary studies have linked sugar intake, primarily fructose, to leptin resistance in rats.

When these rats were fed large amounts of fructose, they became leptin resistant. When they reverted back to a sugar-free diet, leptin resistance went away ( 31, 32).

However, this is far from definitive and needs to be confirmed in human studies that use physiologically relevant doses of sugar. These rat studies used massive doses, as in up to 60% of calories as fructose.

Bottom Line: Animal studies show that a high fructose diet can drive leptin resistance, but eliminating fructose reverses the problem.

When we eat sugar, dopamine is released in the brain, giving us a feeling of pleasure ( 33).

The human brain is hardwired to seek out activities that release dopamine. Activities that releases huge amounts are especially desirable.

This is actually how addictive drugs like cocaine function, and the reason people can become dependant on them.

Well... numerous studies suggest that sugar, and processed junk foods in general, can have similar effects ( 34).

For certain people with a predisposition to addiction, this causes reward-seeking behavior typical of addiction to abusive drugs. This is also known as food addiction.

Studies in rats demonstrate that sugar can be physically addictive ( 35, 36, 37).

While addiction is harder to prove in humans, many people consume sugary drinks (and other junk foods) in a pattern that is typical for addictive, abusive substances.

Bottom Line: Sugary drinks have powerful effects on the brain's reward system, which can cause downright addiction in susceptible individuals.

Sugar intake was first linked to heart disease risk back in the 60's and 70's ( 38, 39).

Since then, it has been established that sugar-sweetened drinks increase some of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

This includes blood sugar, blood triglycerides, small, dense LDL particles and numerous others ( 16, 40).

More recent studies in humans have found strong links between sugar intake and heart disease risk in men, women and adolescents ( 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46).

One study following 40,000 men for two decades found that those who drank one sugary drink per day had a 20% higher risk of having a heart attack, or dying from a heart attack, compared to men who rarely consumed sugary drinks ( 47).

Bottom Line: The relationship between sugar and heart disease risk was first discovered decades ago. Since then, many studies have found strong links.

The risk of cancer tends to go hand-in-hand with other chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

For this reason, it is not surprising to see that sugary drinks are frequently associated with an increased risk of cancer.

One study of over 60,000 men and women found that those who drank two or more sugary sodas per week were 87% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who did not drink soda ( 48).

Another study on pancreatic cancer found a strong link in women, but not men ( 49).

Postmenopausal women with high intakes of sugary soda also appear to be at greater risk for cancer in the inner lining of the uterus, called endometrial cancer ( 50).

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has also been linked to cancer recurrence and death in patients with colorectal cancer ( 51).

Bottom Line: There is evidence from observational studies that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is linked to an increased risk of cancer.

It is a well known fact that sugary soda is bad for your teeth.

Soda contains acids like phosphoric acid and carbonic acid.

These acids create a highly acidic environment in the mouth, which makes the teeth vulnerable to decay.

While the acids in soda can themselves cause damage, it is the combination with sugar that makes soda particularly harmful ( 52, 53).

Sugar provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth. This, combined with the acids, wreaks havoc on dental health over time ( 54, 55).

Bottom Line: The acids in soda cause an acidic environment in the mouth, while the sugar feeds the harmful bacteria that reside there. This can have severe adverse effects on dental health.

Gout is a medical condition characterized by inflammation and pain in the joints, particularly the large toes.

Gout typically occurs when high levels of uric acid in the blood become crystallized ( 56).

Fructose is the main carbohydrate known to increase uric acid levels ( 57).

Consequently, many large observational studies have found strong links between sugar-sweetened drinks and gout.

Long-term studies have shown that sugary soda is linked to a 75% increased risk of gout in women, and almost a double risk in men ( 58, 59, 60).

Bottom Line: Men and women who frequently drink sugary drinks appear to have an increased risk of developing gout.

Dementia is the collective term used to describe neurodegenerative conditions that can occur as we grow older.

The most common form is Alzheimer's disease.

Research has found that any incremental increase in blood sugar is strongly associated with an increased risk for dementia ( 61, 62).

In other words, the higher your blood sugar, the higher the risk of dementia.

Because sugar-sweetened beverages lead to rapid spikes in blood sugars and can raise blood sugar by causing insulin resistance, it makes sense that they could increase your risk of dementia.

Rodent studies support these findings, showing that large doses of sugary drinks can impair memory and decision-making capabilities ( 63).

So... not only do sugary drinks wreak havoc on metabolic health, they appear to be seriously harmful for your brain as well.

If you want to lose weight, avoid chronic disease and live longer with a sharper brain, then consider avoiding sugary drinks like the plague.

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13 Ways That Sugary Soda is Bad For Your Health

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When consumed in excess, added sugar can have disastrous effects on your health. However, some sources of sugar are worse than others... and sugary drinks are the worst, by far. This primarily applies to sugary soda, but also to fruit juices, highly sweetened coffees and other sources of liquid sugar.

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Highly addictive, horribly debilitating, unfortunately pervasive, and freaking delicious.

If I had to point to ONE culprit to our country's expanding waistlines and rapidly deteriorating health, it would be sugar. The amount of havoc sugar and sugar substitutes have wreaked on our nation is horribly depressing. Fear not, as I've come up with the perfect solution!
Eat less sugar if you want to live longer. The end. Just kidding, there's so much more to this story than that. I'm sure you probably have a lot of questions about sugar:

Is sugar THAT bad for you?

Fruit has sugar! Is fruit bad for you?

Are certain kinds of sugar better or worse for you?

Can you really get addicted to sugar?

What about sugar alternatives that are used in drinks like Diet Coke? What about natural sweeteners?

Let's nerd out about sugar and find out what you can do to kick your sugar habit and get your life back on track.
Fair warning: This post is MASSIVE (over 4,000 words), even for Nerd Fitness standards.
Before we dig in deep, I want to let you know that if you feel addicted to sugar - you are not alone. Millions of rebels find themselves in the exact same spot (we share the reason later in the article).

Nutrition (and cutting back on sugar) is the BIGGEST change that needs to happen if you are trying to lose weight and get healthy. The problem isn't just knowing we need to eat less sugar either - it's that we need to build systems to help retrain ourselves to NOT be hooked on the stuff!

If you're somebody that has tried to quit eating sugar before in the past, welcome to the club - it's a brutally difficult lifestyle change. Too many people go about quitting sugar the wrong way, and end up falling off the wagon HARD.

In addition to reading this article, we also offer personalized 1-on-1 Online Coaching to help people like you give up sugar and fix their nutrition witout hating themselves! This is an area we put most of our focus - because that's where you can start to see the results the fastest!

In addition to reading this comprehensive article, schedule a call with our team to see if we can help you overhaul your diet in a way that helps you lose weight permanent and doesn't make you miserable:

America's love affair with sugar

Before we get into the biological and physiological stuff relating to sugar and how it affects our body, I want to talk about just how big of a factor sugar plays in our lives.

This might be the most telling statistic relating to sugar, especially when that close to 70% of America is overweight with a THIRD of the nation obese:

1822: Americans consume 45 grams of sugar every five days, or the amount of sugar in a can of coke.

2012: Americans consume 756 grams of sugar every five days, or 130 POUNDS of sugar a year.

As we have grown as a country (in more ways than one), sugar has continued to play an increasingly more prominent role in our food. It's not just sugary foods like candy and cookies either, but sugar has made its way into practically EVERYTHING we eat.
Unfortunately, it's not just sugar that's killing us, but scientifically manufactured "sugar" as well.
Now, we all know that correlation does NOT prove causation, so let's dig into the science behind why sugar is ruining our bodies.

What is Sugar?
Sugar is a carbohydrate.
If it ends in a "ose," it's gonna be a sugar. If that's all you'd like to know, feel free to move onto the next section, as I'm about to get all Mr. Wizard up in here.
There are different kinds of sugar, starting with simple sugars (called monosaccarides) like glucose, fructose, and galactose. Then there are also more complex forms (called disaccharides) like sucrose, maltose, and lactose. Here's the cheat sheet to naturally occurring sugars:

Let's start with glucose: It occurs naturally in plants and fruits, and is a byproduct of photosynthesis. In our bodies glucose can be burned as energy or converted into glycogen (essentially: liver and muscle fuel). Our bodies can actually produce glucose when needed.

Next, fructose! This is fruit sugar, occurring naturally in...you guessed it, fruit! It also occurs naturally in cane sugar and honey, and is incredibly sweet.

Onto the more complex sugars, starting with Sucrose. This sugar is found in the stems of sugar cane, the roots of sugar beet, and can be found naturally alongside glucose in certain fruits and other plants.

Last but not least, we have lactose, which is essentially milk sugar! This is something that is created as result of a process happening in our bodies: children possess the enzyme necessary to break down the molecule into lactose to be used by the body, while some adults don't. These are the lactose intolerant folks.

So, we have a few key types of sugar. But where does sugar actually come from? It is USUALLY created as a result of the processing of one of two types of plants: sugar beets or sugar cane. These plants are harvested, processed, and refined to eventually resemble the white sugar you've come to know and love (or loathe). This sugar has absolutely no nutritional value: it's just pure, refined, sugar.
We'll cover other types of laboratory-created-sugar later.
What happens in our body when we eat sugar?
Hopefully you don't need me to tell you that sugar can cause tooth decay and rot your teeth.
Sugar is the lifeblood of the cavity creeps!
Beyond that, your body processes sugar in a very specific way. When you consume sugar, your body has two options on how to deal with it:

Burn it for energy. WEEEEE!

Convert to fat and store it in your fat cells. BOOOOO!

Depending on your genetic predisposition, your body might be better equipped to process sugar as energy, or you might be more likely to store it as fat. Think of this like you think of people with faster metabolisms vs. people with slower metabolisms.
Problem is, there's a LOT more room for fat storage, and a lot less room to burn the sugar as energy.
So, we have this sugar in our body and blood stream. What happens next? When your pancreas detects a rush of sugar, it releases a hormone called insulin to deal with all of that excess sugar.

Insulin helps regulate that level of sugar in our blood; the more sugar in the blood stream, the more insulin is released. Insulin helps store all of this glucose in the liver and muscles as glycogen and in fat cells (aka adipocytes stored as triglycerides).

Now, oftentimes our body struggles to get that balance right (with us putting way too much sugar in our system very quickly). TOO much insulin is released, which ultimately results in our blood sugar dropping below normal levels.

This is called hypoglycemia, essentially a sugar crash: Our bodies respond by telling us: WE WANT SUGAR.

So we cram sugar down our throats and the process starts again.

Unfortunately, the more often this process takes place (the more sugar you consume), the more severe the blood sugar spike is, and the more insulin is required. This means it becomes easier and easier to skip using sugar as energy, and go straight to extra insulin and fat storage.
This is best explained by this three minute video, which is definitely worth watching: Why You Got Fat: Why You Got Fat Video
Along with making you fat, sugar consumption has been implicated in a litany of crimes, including contributing to an increased chance of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, macular degeneration, renal failure, chronic kidney disease, and high blood pressure.

So, I should just eat less sugar?
Now, you might be thinking: I'll just eat less sugar and won't have this issue, right?
Well, that's a good start, but that's only half of the battle. You see, our bodies actually process certain types of carbohydrates in a very similar way to processing pure sugar.
Believe it or not, there is an entire area of scientific research on how our bodies process certain foods. You've probably heard of the Glycemic Index, and its lesser known associate: Glycemic Load.
The Glycemic Index is the calculation of how quickly a particular type of food increases one's blood sugar level, on a scale from 1-100 (100 being pure glucose). Harvard researchers have found that things like white bread, french fries, and other simple carbohydrates have nearly identical effects on our blood sugar as glucose.

Generally, the more refined (processed) the food, the more likely it'll be to get converted quickly to sugar in our body for processing.
What about fruit and fruit sugar? Keep reading! For now, hopefully you're coming to a conclusion with something like this: "Oh, maybe fat isn't making me fat. Maybe it's the sugar and carbohydrates that I'm consuming..."
In fact, it's that very conclusion that leads most of our Rebels to adapt a diet close to our recommended Paleo Diet for overall health, weight loss, and strength gain. There's more to Paleo than just "don't eat sugar" - so we've created a guide (100% free) to break it down for you step-by-step. Enter your email below and we'll send it to you.

What surprising foods containing sugar?
So, we're learning that sugar is bad for us.
That's nothing new, and it's not a shock to companies that manufacture food. For that reason, companies have started to disguise the sugar in their foods, so it's not as apparent how much sugar you are consuming. Here's a quick list of what sugar can be listed as on a label:

Agave nectar

Brown sugar

Cane crystals

Cane sugar

Corn sweetener

Corn syrup

Crystalline fructose

Dextrose

Evaporated cane juice

Organic evaporated cane juice

Fructose

Fruit juice concentrates

Glucose

High-fructose corn syrup

Honey

Invert sugar

Lactose

Maltose

Malt syrup

Molasses

Raw sugar

Sucrose

Sugar

Syrup

Why do they change the name of sugar? Because nutritional labels are required by law to list their most prominent ingredients first. By putting two or three different types of sugar in the food (and calling them each a different name), they can spread out the sugar across three ingredients and have it show up much further down the list! Tricky tricky tricky!
To be sure, READ THE LABELS OF FOODS THAT YOU CONSUME!
If you're curious how much sugar you are consuming, check out SugarStacks.com, which gives you a simple visual aid as to the amount you're pumping into your body through surprising meals.

What about fruit sugar?
Ahhhh, the great "is fruit sugar bad for you" debate...
Honestly, I'm quite torn on fruit and fruit sugar. I'm a big fan of the Paleo Diet, and I know a LOT of fruit can contain a lot of fructose (and thus a lot of sugar).
That being said, I believe the consumption of fruit can be beneficial.
When you consume fruit, you are not only consuming fructose (in its natural state), but also consuming fiber and lots of vitamins and minerals. Yes, fruit can have an effect on your blood sugar, it IS sugar. But generally fruit will cause less of a blood sugar spike compared to nutrient-void table sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
Along with that: Fiber is an important part of a balanced diet (ask your bowels), and fruit can contain a lot of it!
Here's my official stance on fruit: Consume fruit that has a low glycemic index/glycemic load to reduce blood sugar spikes and insulin secretion. Consume organic fruit when possible.
If your main goal is weight loss, and you need to keep your carb intake low, minimize fruit consumption and instead load up on vegetables.
However, if your choice is between processed foods, sugary drinks, candy, or fruit...GO WITH THE FRUIT.

What about fruit juices?
So, we've established that fruit can be healthy if consumed properly.
Unfortunately, fruit juices don't really fit into that bill. Here's why: When you consume fruit juices like orange juice, apple juice, or cranberry juice, the juice is squeezed, giving you all of the juice but very little of the fiber or nutrients that get left behind in the process.
For this reason, many fruit juices should probably be called "sugar water." Here is a typical amount of sugar for four popular beverages (stats from DailyBurn):

Orange juice - 21g of sugar

Apple juice - 28g of sugar

Cranberry juice - 37g of sugar

Grapejuice - 38g of sugar

For reference, a can of teeth-rotting, insulin-spiking, fat-inducing Coca-Cola has 40g of sugar.

Want to know an even worse offender? Naked Juices! The "Green Machine" variety, with "NO SUGAR ADDED" and promised to be "ALL NATURAL" has 28 grams per serving...and there are TWO servings in those little tiny bottles. That means when you consume one small bottle of this "healthy" smoothie, you're getting almost 60 GRAMS of sugar.
Brutal. Shame on you, Naked.
If you're going to eat fruit, get it in FRUIT form, not juice form.
If you're going to drink juice, squeeze it yourself, and even then consume it in small quantities.
What about sugar alternatives?

So, with more research coming out about the dangers of sugar, companies are scrambling to protect their image by promoting "healthy" alternatives so that they can slap on a fancy labels and toot their own horn.
There are a few main sugar alternatives that I want to cover, and allow you to make up your own mind:
Honey - Is Winnie the Pooh onto something here? Is honey a better alternative than regular sugar? The appeal of honey is that it's not just fructose or glucose, but a mixture of all sorts of compounds, minerals, and more. A study comparing honey to various types of compounds resulted in good results for the sticky stuff: " Overall, honey improved blood lipids, lowered inflammatory markers, and had minimal effect on blood glucose levels." Along with that, honey resulted in a lower blood glucose spike in rats compared to other types of sugar.

Agave Nectar: This is the most recent darling of the fake "healthy food industry." Unfortunately, despite the fact that it comes from a cactus (which is natural!), this stuff is so processed and refined, and contains an absurd amount of refined fructose (90% fructose and 10% glucose). Also, the process to create this stuff is similar to the process used to create high fructose corn syrup.

Aspartame: So, many people have switched to diet soda because they heard regular soda can be bad for you. I would guess that 90% of diet sodas out there contains aspartame, a laboratory-created sugar alternative. NutraSweet also contains aspartame and should be avoided. Studies on this stuff have proven inconclusive and wildly different. Although some studies cite an increased link with aspartame and cancer, I believe more research needs to be done. Even still, I have made the decision to avoid aspartame until more conclusive studies surface.

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that is non-caloric as the body struggles to break it down. Sucralose is approximately 600 times as sweet as sucrose (table sugar), and thus can be consumed in smaller quantities to get the same desired "sweet" effect as sugar. Sucralose is available in things like protein powders, Splenda, and other products reliant upon remaining low-sugar or low-carb. Allegedly, sucralose has a negligible effect on blood glucose levels.

Stevia is a naturally occurring sweetener from the Sunflower family. It is approximately 300 times sweeter than table sugar, and allegedly has a lower effect on blood glucose levels. As you can read about here, Stevia has had an interesting history in the United States (for political reasons), but appears to have been used in Japan and South America with minimal adverse effects.

Saccharin is another artificial sweetener, created back in the late 1890s, that is much sweeter than table sugar and thus is consumed at lower quantities. It was linked to increased risk of cancer within laboratory rats and labeled as dangerous by the US, though this label was removed in 2000 due to the fact that the results couldn't be replicated in humans. That being said, more studies need to be conducted.

This nerd's opinion: If you're going to eat sugar, get it from fruit or naturally occurring sweeteners. With that being said, to minimize the effect on your blood sugar, minimize sugar consumption across the board if your primary goal is weight loss.

what about High Fructose Corn Syrup?
I'm writing this section while grinding my teeth because it grinds my gears.
In an effort to keep family farms alive in the Great Depression, the government started paying farmers NOT to grow food, since crop prices were wildly low. Over 80 years later the program has evolved many times, and today we give almost $5 billion a year to growers of commodity crops, creating cheap corn.

Not surprisingly, when given the option to grow a crop with or without a government subsidy, many farmers went the lucrative route.

And thus, we ended up with a crazy amount of excess corn, and nothing to use it for!
(Un)luckily, science stepped in, and found a use for corn beyond just eating it or feeding it to animals.
Scientists discovered by processing and refining the corn, it could be turned into a sugar alternative, called high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Despite the name, high fructose corn syrup is actually composed of equal parts of fructose and equal parts glucose.
This video gives a quick demonstration of how HFCS is produced: As the government continued to subsidize farmers to produce corn, the cheap price of HFCS created a MUCH cheaper alternative for food producers compared to regular sugar.
Now, producers of high fructose corn syrup (and producers of food who use it) argue that it is no different on a molecular level from regular sugar, and is thus a safe alternative to sugar in food and drinks.
Unfortunately, it turns out that HFCS, despite being molecularly similar to regular sugar, does not affect the body the same way as table sugar. A recent study conducted by Princeton University concluded: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. Two groups of rats were fed the exact same number of calories. One group was fed HFCS, while the other was fed regular table sugar. The rats fed HFCS gained significantly more weight.
If this was a movie, you'd see an evil scientist in a laboratory, with lighting flashing in the background as he laughs maniacally while creating his greatest evil creation: HFCS, knowing that it'll soon take over the world.
I highly recommend you watch the documentary "King Corn," available for free on Amazon Prime for an interesting look at just how pervasive corn and high fructose corn syrup has become in our nation. Sugar = bad. High Fructose Corn Syrup = Bowser evil.
Can you get addicted to sugar?
So we've covered natural sugars, sugar alternatives, and the evil HFCS. Is this stuff addictive? Short answer: YES.
Long answer: Sugary foods can be as physiologically addictive as many drugs. You can legitimately become addicted to sugar and sugary foods.

HOLY CRAP!
From another study:
In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction.

In other words: We are not genetically designed to consume the amount of sugar that we are currently eating. For that reason, our brains get that 'happy feeling' from sugar and it can override the "I've had enough" mechanism.

It's why your concentration goes to Hell when you eat a chocolate chip cookie and there is an additional plate of them in front of you. Suddenly it's the only thing you can think about until you've eaten them all! Or you eat a Peanut M&M, and suddenly you've polished off a family-sized bag.
Do this repeatedly, and like Pavlov's dog, your brain will start to anticipate this sugar rush and get prepared for it...even when you're merely thinking about food!
It's why Cinnabon is usually isolated in malls - away from the food court, it has a better chance of getting its smells into your nostrils from far away...which then triggers that mechanism in your brain if you love sugar: "SUGAR! CINNABON! HUNGRY NOW!" Suddenly you can't think of anything else.
It's also why everybody in line for Cinnabon looks so depressed. As Louis CK hilariously points out (NSFW language): it's like they have no control.
I think I'm definitely addicted to sugar.
I've already covered food addiction, but I want to talk specifically about sugar. Like with any other addiction, you have two main options:

Cold turkey (and suffer through the withdrawal).

Slowly ramping down the addiction.

I'm a bigger fan of the second option, as I find that most people end up going overboard when they fail on the "cold turkey" and are worse off than before.

However, I don't know you personally (which is a shame!), so you'll have to decide for yourself which method is best for you.
Like with any habit, it's far easier to build a new habit in place of an old one than just trying to get rid of the old habit, so let's take action:
1) Create your new identity. " I am somebody who is completely in control of the food that I eat." "I only drink soda once a day instead of four times a day." "I don't eat cookies." The more specific and positive and definitive you can make your new identity, the more likely you will be to eventually make that identity your new reality.

2) Be aware of your cravings. When you start to crave sugar, don't just run to get sugar immediately. Take a few minutes and analyze why: is it because you are depressed and unhappy? Bored? Hungry? Sugar creates that happy feeling in your brain, and thus you could be craving sugar for any number of reasons.

3) Once you identify the reason for your sugar craving, decide if there is another activity you can complete to accomplish the intended desire without sugar. Maybe you're bored, so going for a walk or playing a game or talking to a friend could help. If you're unhappy, understand that the quick rush of sugar does not beat out long-term happiness and success. If you're hungry, eat food with lots of fat and protein and fill yourself up.

4) Identify rules for yourself, and stick with them by minimizing willpower required. "Today, I will replace one of my sodas with water." "I drink water with dinner, I don't drink soda." "I don't ________." It's important to use "don't" instead of "can't". Studies have shown that using "don't" results in a much stronger dedication to habit building.
Along with those few steps to get started, here are some other things you can do to help yourself fight the battle and win.
5) Increase the difficulty to continue your bad habit. Don't keep cookies on the counter. Don't keep ice cream stocked in your fridge. If you are trying to eat less sugar, increase the number of steps between you and sugar. If you are on your couch and see a commercial for something sugary, use your own laziness to work for you. Suddenly, getting in the car, driving to the store, and buying something sweet is more effort than its worth.

Get mad. Like, really mad. I hate not feeling in control, and right now, the sugar and food companies have you under their control. If anything, you're going to kick your sugar addiction to make yourself healthier and happier, but also out of spite. Stick it to the man, and let him know you're taking back your brain.

Don't do it alone. Have somebody to talk to through the process. Work with others who have successfully kicked their sugar habits (check the NF boards if you don't have somebody at home).

Need SOMETHING sweet? Try dark chocolate or fruit. If you are craving something sweet, aim for alternatives that aren't as bad for you or don't trigger the same blood glucose spike. Eat dark chocolate with a cocoa content above 70% - you still get to feed your sweet tooth, but the sugar content in minimal compared to milk chocolate.

Slowly scale it down. I don't care if it takes you a year of slowly changing your habits to kick your sugar habit. Every change counts, and every little bit adds up. If you drink a case of diet coke every day, tomorrow only drink 11. In two weeks, cut it back to 10 per day. And then 9. And then eventually maybe it's "only one on Friday."

Keep busy. If you are thinking about sugar, get up and go do something or engage your brain in another way so that you are not stuck with a one-track mind (focusing on the sugar that you're not currently eating).

EXERCISE! Sugar raises serotonin and dopamine levels, which can factor into your cravings. Exercise can do the same thing! Try exercising when you have sugar cravings...get that rush (and build your habits around that). Get addicted to the high from exercise.

If you have children, save them now! Sugar addiction is built up over time, and yours might have started back when you were a child. Instead of creating a reward system with candy and treats, create a reward system that rewards your kids back with a healthier lifestyle (like in Zelda!).

If you have to have sugar, consume it close to a workout. When you consume sugar before or after a workout, you will have a greater chance of burning the sugar/carbs as energy or having it stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver rather than being stored as fat!.

Most importantly, understand that what you really want (a happier, healthier life) can't happen if you keep settling for what you want RIGHT NOW (sugar!). Understand that you can change.
At the end of the day, understand that you are in control. If you are going to eat chocolate or something sweet, it's because you made a conscious decision to do so OCCASIONALLY, not because you had to have it. Understand that it will be challenging. Understand that there will be cravings that get better with time.

We know the list of action items above is easier said than done when you are going at this alone with very little support. Trying to quit a substance that can take over your brain is brutally difficult, especially if you don't have the right support system and strategy in place! This is why we created our uber popular 1-on-1 online coaching program: specific instruction, expert accountability, and somebody that you can be truly honest with about your struggles with food!

If you want somebody to help you make better food choices in a way that doesn't suck, build a FUN workout program for you that fits into your busy schedule, and gets to know you better than you know yourself, we might be a good fit for each other!

You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you. Just click on the image below for more details:

Every time you buy food, you are casting a ballot.
Vote with your wallet
Why not cast your vote for a better life? Today's article is educational: without action it's just a pile of underpants.
Every time you purchase something with high fructose corn syrup in it, you're sending a message that you don't care about your body, that you are satisfied with food that is making you sick, fat, and unhealthy.

I challenge you to decrease your sugar intake.

I challenge you to start eating more real foods and less processed ones.
Are you up to the challenge?
I challenge you to cut back on candy and soda purchases.
Share your story below and help out your fellow rebels! -Steve
I'd love to hear about your personal relationship with sugar. Would you call yourself addicted? Have you kicked an addiction? If so, how did you do it?

PS - Phew, if you made it this far, I want to share two ways you can get more in-depth training, advice, and help making fitness a priority. As we mentioned, our first is our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. No more shame, no more hiding what you eat, no more guesswork - you'll get expert guidance and accountability from a professional on Team Nerd Fitness who gets to know you better than you know yourself!

Sound good? Head over to our Coaching page and schedule a free consultation to see if it's right for you!
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PPS: 40,000+ rebels have joined us in the Nerd Fitness Academy! If you're interested in strength training and want more specific workouts to follow, nutritional advice and meal plans to pick from, a boss battle system, character leveling system, and a supportive community, check it out. We'd love to help you level up with us. See you inside!

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Everything You Need to Know About Sugar. | Nerd Fitness

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Highly addictive, horribly debilitating, unfortunately pervasive, and freaking delicious. If I had to point to ONE culprit to our country's expanding waistlines and rapidly deteriorating health, it would be sugar. The amount of havoc sugar and sugar substitutes have wreaked on our nation is horribly depressing.

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146 Reasons Why Sugar Is Ruining Your Health

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Diet-to-Go takes healthy living a step further. Get everything you need to lose weight: including tips, recipes, ideas, information & much, much more.

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Do you panic if there's nothing sweet in the house? Start with just a bite, then end up polishing off a pint? If your cravings have been controlling your life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it might just be time to declare your independence from sugar!

Sweets raise our blood sugar, which offers a quick energy boost. They also deliver serotonin to the brain, which makes us happy. So it's not surprising that the average American tends to overdo it, consuming over 150 pounds of added sugars each year. But the energy boost and happy feeling from sugar is short-lived, followed by a crash. That's when we need another boost. And so the cycle of dependence begins.

We all know that sugar certainly isn't good for our waistline. But is it just "empty calories?" Let's look at 5 ways the white stuff impacts our overall health:
1. Sugar makes us hungry.
Sugar lurks not just in soda, candy or cakes; it's also in alcoholic beverages, sweetened teas and coffees. Because refined flours quickly convert to sugar, they create a similar reaction. When we eat these things, our blood sugar rises. This signals the pancreas to release insulin, which is needed to deliver glucose from the blood into the cells, and therefore lowers blood sugar levels. When blood sugar levels drop, this signals the body that it is hungry, so we tend to reach for that quick fix again. You can read more about this cycle in " How Carbs Can Trigger Food Cravings" from the New York Times.
2. Sugar makes us moody and sluggish.
When the blood sugar gets low, so does our energy and mood; some people might even get shaky and lightheaded. Naturally, we'll want to reach for something that will boost our energy and make us "happy" and energized again, which puts us on a "sugar roller coaster."
3. Excess sugar is stored as fat.
When insulin is released, it signals the body to store excess calories as fat - so sugar promotes the storage of fat in the body. Eating a lot of sugar and carbs over time makes the body resistant to insulin, so more of it has to be released to get the job done. And when there's more insulin, there will be more signals to store the glucose as fat. Increased fat stores (especially around the midsection) is a major contributing factor to developing heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases.
4. Sugar AGEs us.
Sugar creates something called advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), which damages the collagen and elastin in our skin, thereby sagging it and making it look more wrinkled. Ditch the sweets and the skin can recover some of its youthful glow again.
5. Sugar impacts our immune system.
When we eat something sweet, the pancreas releases insulin to reduce the elevated blood sugar and deliver it to the cells. Insulin inhibits the release of human growth hormone, which depresses the immune system, making us less equipped to fight off infections and viruses. Sugar also raises our risk of many diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

This AHA statement summarizes many studies that have examined sugar's link to various diseases.

Convinced that sugar isn't just empty calories? Are you ready to declare your independence?

5 Tips For Breaking Free From Sugar:

1. Get plenty of healthy fat, protein or fiber each time you eat to help keep blood sugar levels even.

2. Ditch the artificial sweeteners; they stimulate your sweet tooth even more than sugar.

3. Cut back on caffeine. It has a negative effect on serotonin levels, so people will often alternate between caffeine and sugar to keep energy and serotonin high.

4. Get your C's: cinnamon, chromium and vitamin C all are helpful in breaking free from sugar and leveling out blood sugar.

5. Banish it. Get the sweet out of your purse and your house - you'll be less likely to indulge if it means heading out in your PJs to get ice cream.

Realize that you can effectively "reset" your sweet tooth. Skip the sugary snacks for a week, and your taste buds become more sensitive to sweets, meaning those candies will be too sweet, but the apple is just right. Give yourself a vacation from sweets and declare your independence from sugar!

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Do you panic if there's nothing sweet in the house? Start with just a bite, then end up polishing off a pint? If your cravings have been controlling your life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it might just be time to declare your independence from sugar!