Sugar:

When my daughter was having random vomiting, we took her to the doctor for a battery of testing. Thankfully everything was negative, but it didn’t solve the problem. This started my journey into researching food and the first thing on the list was sugar. 

In my research I read studies claiming that white sugar is as addictive as cocaine. Where did this start and why have I never heard of this before? In 1973 a nutritionist by the name of Dr. John Yudkin, wrote the book called Pure White and Deadly. He proposed that sugar, not fat alone, was the cause of heart of disease, obesity, and diabetes. Needless to say, this was not well embraced. It wasn’t until the early 2000’s when an Endocrinologist named Dr. Robert Lustig, gave a lecture at UCSF about sugar. In his lecture he claimed that sugar is a toxin that makes us both fat and sick and provides his scientific findings to back his statement.

Unfortunately, the food industry has promoted the use of sugary low fat and fat free foods as healthy options over time. We now know this wasn’t the best option.

My husband would tell me stories about sucking on sugar cane when he would spend summers at the ranch as a kid. How can this be bad or addicting if it’s natural? It all begins with the processing. The process of making the sugar we know now refines the natural sugar cane into white sugar with sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and lime. What’s left behind as sugar has no vitamins, minerals, or nutrients.

Sugar, or Sucrose, is half glucose and half fructose. Fructose is broken down by the liver, similar to how alcohol is processed. Glucose is broken down by insulin. Fructose is sweet and is found in many foods. It is the base for corn syrup and high fructose syrup. Additionally, 30% of fructose becomes fat!

But why is it addictive? Fructose causes a release of Dopamine in the brain. It blocks the brain from Lepin, which is a hormone that tells us we’re full, and it doesn’t stop ghrelin, the hormone that makes us feel hungry. The result is feeling hungry and for something sweet. Research studies have shown that cocaine addicted rats were more attracted to sugar than the cocaine when given the option. This is where the reference to addiction comes from.

Food manufacturers add fructose to foods. Why? It tastes better and you will eat more of it. The result is a high intake of sugar which is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, acne, hypertension, high cholesterol, fatigue syndrome, anxiety, non-alcohol induced fatty liver, and it feeds the bad bacteria in the gut. 

The AHA recommends no more than 6 teaspoons (24 grams) of sugar for women per day and no more than 9 teaspoons (36 grams) for men. The average American currently consumes approximately 63 pounds of sugar per year. Compared to the recommended 18 pounds of sugar  (8395 grams) in a year for women and 28 pounds of sugar (13,140 grams) for men.

Added sugar is hiding in breads, salad dressings, yogurt, cereal, condiments, fruit juice and other sugary drinks. 

How to avoid unnecessary sugar. Avoid sugary drinks and fruit juices. Eat your fruit and don’t juice it! The fibers in the fruit work to slow the absorption of sugar. Read the labels. Find bread without high fructose and corn syrup. Purchase condiments that are natural and with no added sugar or sweeteners. 

Drink water! Drink water before you eat. It helps boost metabolism and keeps your brain from thinking you are hungry when you may just be thirsty or dehydrated.

Do your research. We will talk about sugar substitutes, organic and non-GMO in upcoming posts.

Did I test this information? Yes! My daughter, the one with all the vomiting, loved sugar. We used to call her our little elf because she loved all things sweet. After researching and learning about sugar I decided to put it to the test. I threw away all refined sugar, candy, junk food and bought all natural condiments, no more cereal, no more fruit juice, no sweetened yogurt, no fructose bread. I told her I wanted at least a month of no refined sugar. I’m not going to lie, at first everything tasted terrible. I mean just terrible. By day three she was like dealing with an alcoholic who needed a drink. My daughter was grumpy, and she was frantically looking for something sweet to eat. We held strong. At the end of the month her face started to clear from acne, and she hadn’t thrown up once. Coincidence? Maybe. But it’s been several years, and we never went back to regular ketchup, breads, cereals, or anything else that was artificially sweetened or heavy in refined sugar content. That’s not to say that we never eat dessert. We are human! But in our everyday life, we have stuck to it and now when do eat out it tastes too sweet much of the time. Our bodies have adjusted to cutting the additional sugar out.