Blog 18
By Jesi Mandagaran
In honor of our Sugar Me Not Nutrition Challenge, I thought Sugar deserved the limelight for this week’s Blog. I share this belief with many other health and fitness experts, that Sugar is the most over abused legal drug in our nation. We can’t let the naughty carbs take ALL the blame for our nation’s most horrifying problem with 70% deaths rooting form chronic diseases. Nah. Sugar you may be sweet but you’s still a poison.
Like all great villains, Sugar has a specialty, a triple treat with its sneaky 60 some different names making it easy to hide in all ranges of foods, capable of enslaving any one person who consumes it regularly, and is SUPER harmful to the liver. The Liver, you know that organ that’s kind of essential to our existence? Most people are addicted, and the symptoms can be subtle to obvious, and since Sugar is part of the norm in society, it can be difficult for one to diagnose themselves with being a sugar addict. Here, we will go over signs and symptoms, and I’ll add some tips in beating this not-so-sweet sugar addiction problem. #TKO
SIGNS + SYMPTOMS of Sugar Addiction:
- Craving Comfort Foods at Dinner
- Bored snacking on sweets
- Soda Cravings + other sweet drinks
- Hiding your food and/or wrappers
- Lying or making excuses about your Sugar habit
- Stealing or sneaking sugar snacks
- Rewarding with sugar foods consistently
- Eat or Binge sugar when alone
- Excess belly fat
The negative effects of sugar habits on the body is outrageous and because of it’s unique influence on the brain chemistry, similar to illicit drugs, (example: cocaine) it’s no wonder why so many people fall under its addictive spell. Eating sugar is a temporary high, triggering the “FEEL GOOD” guys we know as dopamine, a brain chemical. Like all temporary highs, the after math known as the ‘crash’, is a cruel side effect to deal with, especially if you have a desk job that requires focus. #SugarComa #NapTime.
And as if that wasn’t enough to deal with, the dependence on Sugar increases requiring you to consume more and more turning your body into a Super Storage AKA Obesity City baby. On deck, following excessive weight gain, is Type II Diabetes, heart diseases and other chronic diseases. #DominoEffect
NAFLD (non-alcoholic-fatty-liver-disease) is also worth shining a light on. While we all know that drinking alcohol excessively is bad news for your liver… so is excessive sugar consumption. Your liver is pretty much a big deal being its responsible for detoxing your body from all the harmful toxins, healing/repairing arteries, digestion of fats. If that’s not enough sweetener for you then maybe knowing that Sugar addiction can cause a ruckus in your hormones, making you depressed, chronically fatigued, bringing skin problems, severe menstrual cramps and other spicy effects. Oh, and let’s not forget that sugar can be a source of food for some cancers to thrive off of!!!
So, how to beat it you ask? It may not be easy, and the attempt to do this may take many attempts but it’s worth it. Unless you’re into that whole heart disease at age 50 kind of thing.
TIPS TO BEAT SUGAR ADDICTION:
- #1 Mission Balance them hormones (ghrelin, insulin, leptin specifically!)
- Eat clean organic protein
- Bone broth
- Indulge in Healthy Fats (Avocados, Raw Nuts)
- Up Fiber intake (Berries, Leafy greens + supplements)
- Bitter sour foods (Limes, apple cider vinegar)
- Stevia as substitute (MODERATELY and for emergency via harsh withdrawals)
- Manuka Organic Honey (MODERATELY and for emergency via harsh withdrawals)
- Stay away from Fruit juices and other beverages/foods with ADDED SUGARS. Especially the “-ose” groups: lactose, glactose, sucrose high corn syrup fructose, nectar
And all the parents out there, just when you thought giving your kids fruit and sport drinks was the healthy thing to do… (buzzer sound insert here) Nope. The sneakiest of all, kids’ drinks have sneaky added sugars that not only screw with their hormones but now they unknowingly get addicted to sugar in which, is later assumed for nasty behavior at home or in school and/or another misdiagnosis. TIME-OUT: I am NOT saying all kids have misdiagnosis, but sugar intake is worth looking into, since in today’s western diet, there’s way more sugar in our foods than we realize and our kids are at great risk. Kids already have their natural buzzing high energy hormones running about, excessive sugar only leads them down dangerous roads and rough behavioral patches for everyone.
Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at Univ. of California says, “You wouldn’t think twice about NOT giving your kid a Budweiser, but you don’t think twice about giving your kid a coke… It’s the same thing.” (Now, let’s not get too literal, but it kinda is (shrug), speaking upon the dangerous effects on the liver and brain chemistry.
All in all, sugar is definitely something we aren’t supposed to be taking in regularly, if not at all, well for sure, the added sugars. It’s our suggestion, to detox off sugars 2-4 times a year to give your star baller the Liver a nice vacation. Let it have some time to repair and heal. The more we take care of our organs, the more our organs will take care of us. #longevity #SugarMeNot
And well, what do ya know? Right on time for a Sugar SHUT DOWN with our current Nutrition Challenge starting this weekend. Its a 4 week Sugar detox. Whether you’re into this Challenge or not, its still a great idea to talk to any of us about any concerns upon this issue or any health issues.
Sign Up for NUTRITION CHALLENGE: HERE
BOOK A NO SWEAT Intro: Here
[ REFERENCES ]
YouTube (14min): Why Sugar is as Bad as Alcohol
YouTube (18min): How Sugar Destroys Your Body & Kicking It Dr. Josh Axe
SUGAR ADDICTION-SYMPTOMS, CAUSES AND HOW TO BREAK FREE by Sweet Defeat Staff
YouTube (1 hour, 30min): Sugar: The Bitter Truth
