Not all sugar is the same
There are two main forms of sugar, and they are NOT the same.
One form of sugar is called glucose. Glucose, according to Dr. Lustig, is the "energy of life"; every cell burns glucose for energy. In fact, it is so essential that we can consume absolutely no glucose and yet have measurable blood levels, because our body manufactures glucose from both protein and fat.
Fructose, the storage form of energy in plants, on the other hand, is not essential. Fructose, when eaten in processed food (where there are no antioxidants or fiber), can cause inflammation, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and many other problems related to the inflammatory response.
What is fructose doing to us?
We Eat Without Feeling Full: When glucose is eaten, the hunger hormone called ghrelin goes down, while with fructose it doesn’t change. Meaning, when we consume a lot of fructose our brain doesn’t know we’ve eaten and so we end up consuming more and more.
Our Blood Pressure Increases: Uric acid is increased by fructose, which in turn causes our systolic blood pressure to go up.
Our Bodies Are More Inflamed: Fructose increases inflammation and that increases visceral fat (dangerous fat around the midsection) and homocysteine levels.
Our Cardiovascular System Suffers: Fructose creates a "browning reaction" (think bananas), that causes aging in humans to occur at a rate seven times faster than glucose! This same process causes atherosclerosis. Also, inflammation and high homocysteine levels caused by fructose increase cardiovascular disease.
We Become Addicted: Fructose lights up the reward center in the brain just like cocaine, heroin, nicotine, and alcohol. When dopamine receptors go down in response to constant bombardment by dopamine, we need a bigger hit each time to get the same results.
Our Taste Buds Are Desensitized: We keep wanting more and more sweets when we eat fructose, because the taste buds get down regulated.
important truth!
1st birthday and wanting more fire engine cake!
How many times do you have to introduce a savory food vs a sugary food to an infant before they will accept it? Studies show that it takes a median of 13 times for savory food and only 1 time for sweet foods. That explains a lot!!
sugar is hiding!
What does the Atkins diet and the Japanese diet have in common? They both eliminate fructose. There are many diets that work (Japanese, Atkins, ketogenic, Paleo, Mediterranean etc.), and they all have something in common...they eliminate processed food, and processed food is high sugar and low fiber. We want real food!! Think about it this way..."if there's a label on the food, that's a warning label, because it means it's been processed: real food doesn't need a label." Fructose is hiding in much of the processed food!
Dr Lustig stresses, the food industry would have us "believe a calorie is a calorie, a sugar is a sugar… and that is absolute garbage: they are quite different, and it does matter."
“‘It’s not the added sugar you know, it’s the added sugar you don’t know.” ”
simple steps for reducing fructose:
1. Eliminate sugary drinks
2. Eat carbohydrates with fiber
3. Wait 20 minutes before taking seconds
4. Buy screen time minute-by-minute with exercise
5. Eat unprocessed foods (Remember: ingredient label = warning label)
What are your tricks for dealing with sugary temptations?
Updated blog from Sept 15, 2018.
Wendy Dellis is a certified wellness coach. She joins years of training and work in the area of behavior change, experience as a fitness instructor and run club coordinator with a passion for adventure and people. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, Jay, and two sons.
The information contained on this page is for general information purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical or healthcare advice, but only topics for discussion. No physician-patient relationship exists; please consult your physician before making changes in diet or lifestyle.
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