Sugar Will Eat Your Soul
Many people are aware of, or at least have heard of glucose, but not many are familiar with its counterparts- fructose and sucrose.
This little devil is used in many mass-produced, industrialized foods for the benefit of our taste buds.
It just goes to show, anything with a food label, should be avoided entirely.
I digress. Let’s have a little more information between the different types of sugars that are hidden in plain sight in the food that we consume on a very regular basis.
The sucrose, the glucose, and the holy fructose
Sucrose is a combination of glucose and fructose which makes our household sugar we use. Sucrose is a disaccharide, which means it’s half and half glucose and fructose. For those of you with stomach issues and are following a LOW FOD diet, this is particularly important.
As far as taste goes, it is less sweet than fructose, but a bit sweeter than glucose.
Neurochemically speaking, these three holy ghosts to the food industry cause a chain reaction that involves an astronomical dopamine spike and crash. This results in our brain tricking our body that we want and NEED more to maintain a “happy feeling.”
It is quite similar to a morphine spike in the bloodstream and morphine is a controlled substance in the United States. However, sugar is thrown into everything, not well regulated, and has been proven to lead to several health oppositions.
Have you ever looked at the back of a nutritional label and seen high fructose corn syrup listed? Did you then think, I have heard that it’s bad, but I am not exactly sure why since it tastes so good?
Well, chemically speaking, high fructose corn syrup is fructose and glucose put together. These are two highly sweetened substances that make our palate scream for more!
Fructose is a monosaccharide and has the sweetest taste out of the trio. It surprisingly has a minimal effect on blood sugars, but a DETRIMENTAL effect on tumor cell growth.
More on that later.
Lastly, glucose is another monosaccharide and it’s the body’s preferred carb-based energy source. This means it is made up of a single sugar and can no longer be broken down into a simpler form. This fella is the least sweet-tasting out of the bunch.
The obesity link
There are many, many studies that have shown a significant correlation to processed sugars, like the ones mentioned above. They emphasize a strong link between obesity, heart disease, kidney failure, cancer, and other metabolic conditions like diabetes.
I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a delightful experience for me.
The three sugars listed also get digested quite differently in our digestive tract. For example, fructose is usually paired with sucrose (like in soda or other sugary beverages) and that pairing allows sucrose to make it into the small and large intestines.
This is important because the body doesn’t know how to break down this substance in this part of the digestive tract and as a result, our body tried to fight this substance as an invader. By doing so, an inflammatory cascade begins and causes a proliferation of cells throughout the intestinal wall. Polyps begin to form due to the inflammation and they grow from sugar literally feeding the cells.
This is how neoplastic (cancer) cells develop and form in the intestine and have a strong incidence of colorectal cancers.
100% of which could be avoided with proper screening, diet, and avoiding sugary beverages.
In fact, there are roughly 12 different cancers that THRIVE off of sugar.
Think about that.
Sugars are the devil and Big Food puts it in literally everything. Remember, they are not in it for your health or long-term complications. They are in it for the here and now and the big paycheck that comes with it.
Diabetes and Insulin
Because fructose is converted to glucose in the liver for energy, excess amounts can place a burden on your liver and lead to other significant metabolic concerns.
Your body doesn’t know what to do with those pretty little molecules, so they get stored for later in adipose tissue for energy storage on a rainy day.
You may think that’s a good thing, but have you seen the average American? They are obese, sedimentary, and stressed out. We don’t work out to burn off that excess energy and the cycle continues because our brain is telling our body that we NEED sugar. We drink a soda, or 5, then that gets converted in the liver, and the excess gets stored in fat.
This is the vicious cycle of obesity, my friends.
Insulin is a very powerful hormone that keeps our body ticking like clockwork. However, it is one that we often abuse and take for granted.
Insulin is a hormone released in response to food that we digest. It helps convert and break down the necessary sugars from the gut to our blood and all body tissues to use as an energy source.
Typically, it spikes within 1–3 hours after ingestion of food and subsides back to a basal rate (normal rate).
If we have a diet that is high in processed sugars, when will our body ever go back to its baseline and stop producing so much insulin as a result to try and mobilize the stored energy in our bodies?
Did I just make you scratch your head and go, “huh?”
Well, your body doesn’t know either. That’s why your body, more specifically your beta cells in your pancreas, become resistant to insulin secretion and production.
That means you get the joy of having to inject insulin into your adipose driven belly at least 4 times daily because of your dietary choices and refusal to improve your health.
Granted, there is something called type I diabetes mellitus that requires insulin, but those individuals are BORN with a malfunctioning genome.
Type II diabetes is caused by food. The food we eat on a daily basis. An issue that wasn’t prevalent 50–60 years ago. This was because sugar was a commodity back then and was very expensive to manufacture and produce.
Now, Big Food has industrialized and chemically created components of sugar that cost pennies on the dollar and puts that CHEMICAL into every processed food.
From ketchup to meat products. There is sugar added.
I say this, to not only scare you but to give you education on the food that you are placing in your body and your family’s body.
Education is key to combat our health epidemic that is 100% caused by Big Food companies.
Insert Ketogenesis
The keto diet has been getting a lot of attention lately due to the “miraculous” weight loss and significant metabolic improvements it provides.
I sound like a broken record, but please consult with a healthcare provider that is EDUCATED on the keto diet and your metabolic conditions.
Remember, not all providers are created equal. Just like not all mechanics are created equal. You wouldn’t take your Volvo to a Ford dealership to get worked on, right? The same goes for providers.
Now keto can be an excellent dietary alternative for many people. It has proven effective in treating epileptic seizures to diabetes mellitus type II.
This is because keto focuses on eating moderate to high amounts of protein and fat while minimizing carbs (better known as sugars).
It allows you to train your body to use glycolysis in the form of fatty acids instead of glucose from carbs.
This provides a more efficient, cleaner-burning fuel that allows your metabolism to get a jump start!
Being glycogen depleted in our body's tissues is excellent and why ketogenic diets work.
In many individuals, again not all cases, ketogenesis is HIGHLY effective for eliminating cancer growth. Remember, this is due to the fact that cancer cells and the inflammatory process thrive off of sugar! Much like the instance with colon cancer.
A wise man once told me, skeletal muscle is quite simply metabolic currency. This means the more muscle mass you have, the more effective your body is at utilizing energy and burning fat.
So when you see an obese person, you can easily understand that they are metabolically malnourished and are waging a war on their insides.
A fit, active individual uses their metabolism to their advantage and is in a highly efficient and effective state to maintain their metabolic currency.
Your body is a well-oiled machine when we give it the right tools to succeed and work properly. Unfortunately, we like to sabotage the poor thing with sugary beverages, treats, gluten, soy, and all the crap we find utterly tasty!
But at what cost?
Discipline is an art that is lost in today’s society and something we need to work together to bring back for our future generations. We simply cannot maintain a “must have it now” mindset.
Breaking the sugar cycle can be difficult, however, if you use discipline it can help navigate you through tough times.
Keep in mind, limiting your sugar intake to about 30 grams a day, you will go through detoxification. Similar to when a person quits using cocaine or another opioid. This process can take 3–5 days and you can expect to experience nervousness, tremors, irritability, fever, nausea, excessive sweating, and diarrhea.
That doesn’t sound good right? Think about what it has been doing to your insides for all these years.
Focus on the future and put in the work. Discipline isn’t easy, but your body will thank you hand over fist.
Dwelling on the past and you live in a depressive state. Worrying about the future and you are increasing your anxiety. Live in the now and focus on being a better you.
Be strong. Be brave.
