The How’s When’s Where’s and Why’s Sugar Makes You Fat Part 3

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Hi there and welcome to part three of this three part series of articles.  Let’s just have a quick recap on what we’ve uncovered so far.

In part one; we learned that the hypothalamus is the primary appetite control centre.  It reacts to four major appetite hormones Insulin, Leptin & CCK (when we are full) and ghrelin temporarily inhibits them enabling us to eat when we are hungry.  Proteins, carbohydrates and fats stimulate these hormones when we eat real whole foods.

When we eat fructose in the form of soft drinks, cereals, breads, sauces, biscuits, cakes, chocolates, lollies, fruit juices, sports drinks and all fast food takeaways we are consuming fructose in either sugar form (glucose + fructose) or as in the case of the USA, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Fructose does NOT stimulate these hormones.

It skips the fat creation control mechanism in the liver and directly converts to circulating fatty acids without passing through our major appetite control gateways.  It is also invisible to our built in calorie counter.

We can eat as much fructose as we can stuff in our mouths and never feel full for long and every gram of fructose that you eat is immediately, rapidly, directly and uncontrollably converted into fat and stored!  So that’s how sugar makes us fat.

In part two we uncovered how high levels of circulating fatty acids caused by the over-consumption of fructose leads directly to diseases like osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and some fractures due to the direct increase in body mass.  However, the biggest killers of our time, CVD, type II diabetes and cancer are now also inextricably linked to the same high fatty acid levels or at least our western styled diets.

Our governments have no incentive to tackle the problem head on for it will bring down our capitalistic way of life so they throw billions at dealing with symptoms.  That’s how sugar is making us sick and killing us slowly over time.

Part 3 is the most important of all, it’s going to show you firstly, it’s not your fault, but it’s your responsibility.  Secondly it’s going to show you how you can quickly and easily overcome your addiction to sugar (yes you are addicted) and thirdly we are going to give you some very simple take home strategies to remain off sugar FOR EVER.

Tackling the Addiction

Like alcohol, nicotine and even illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine and cannabis, sugar in all its forms is highly addictive.  If you are addicted to alcohol you are an alcoholic.  If you are addicted to nicotine, you are a smoker, if you are addicted to illegal drugs you are a druggie.  We have labels for all of our addictions.

So, if you are a chocoholic, what does that mean?  You are addicted to chocolate.  Most of us don’t believe we are addicted to sugar until you try and give up.  I used to think it was lack of willpower that stopped people from losing weight.  We now know that will power has nothing to do with it.  All chemical dependencies (like alcohol, drugs and nicotine) create a physiological response to the mind altering substances once inhaled or ingested and hence the addiction.  Y

ou are addicted to sugar when you can’t walk past a sugary treat without having “just one”.  You are addicted to sugar when you have a routine that habitually sees you indulging in sugary snacks (like desert after dinner).  You are addicted to sugar when there are times when you feel you just can’t go without a hit and if you do, say for more than 24 hours, you get headaches and mood swings.

Here’s a profound statement:

“You are Addicted to Sugar and it’s NOT YOUR FAULT!!!”

You see, from the moment you were born, the cards were stacked against you and your addiction to fructose was started.  If you were formula fed, chances are your formula had added sugar.  Even if you were breast fed, I bet your first try at a sippy cup had a small amount of fruit juice in it.

Then at every birthday that you can remember, sugary sweets were offered “because it’s your birthday” and every birthday party you ever attended, had sugar in it.  We all do it.  I am a parent and my youngest has just turned 5.  What do you think was on the menu at her birthday party? Birthday cake, fairy bread, chocolate crackles, chips, fruit juice.  Not a non-sugary snack could be seen.

And your parents aren’t really to blame either because for the past 40 years, they’ve been falsely told to cut out all your fat, cos fat makes you fat, so they bought low fat milk, trimmed the excess fat off your meat portions, and tried to limit your fat intake in general.

And it gets even worse.  When an alcoholic admits their addiction, then it’s a just matter of removing the temptation, so they avoid licensed premises, go to support meetings and get rid of it from their house.  Likewise for smokers and those addicted to illegal drugs.  However for the rest of us addicted to sugar, it’s not as easy.

You see, we all have to eat otherwise we starve to death and unless you live in a commune where all your food is provided off the land, we have to get our food from supermarkets and almost every single food item you buy from a supermarket (with the exception of a few) is heavily laden with sugar additives (don’t get me started on food coloring’s, preservatives and all those other things).

So it’s not your fault, BUT IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to end your addiction to sugar.  There are five simple steps for breaking your addiction and they are:

Change Your Mindset

By far the most powerful organ in the human body is the brain and I’ve written numerous articles and blog posts on mindset.  Feel free to check them out by clicking here.

The reality is you have a choice about the way you think.  For example, in my post “Are You Stressed Or Do You Just Need a Point Of View Shake Up” I talked about the events of one day in my life portrayed from two different points of view.  The events were identical, the only difference was the way in which we perceived those events and how we let them affect us.

As with all addictions, there is a benefit to having a sugar hit over and over again.  It gives you an instant burst of energy and it scratches your sugar itch. However, other than that, there are no other benefits derived from eating or drinking sugar.  It takes you momentarily to a better place because it temporarily makes you feel good (hmm sounds like alcohol, nicotine and drugs to me) but the very act of taking it pushes you to a worse place until you just have to have it again.

We know there are truckloads of downsides to being addicted to sugar.  It makes you fat and it’s slowly killing you but all mainstream diets have you having to deprive yourself of something.  “Go Without” or “Give Up” are often the phrases used.

The only way to break your addiction is to CHANGE YOUR MINDSET or perception and see the act of “being deprived”, “going without” or “giving up” sugar as a “DESIRE NOT TO BE POISONED TO DEATH”.  Any small temptation is an attempt to poison you.

From now on, you are not being deprived of anything.  You are simply stopping yourself from being poisoned by a dangerous and toxic, harmful, substance that makes you fat and sick and slowly kills you.  The reality is both circumstances (being deprived and being poisoned) are completely different perspectives of the exact same act, eating sugar.  Now you know, the power is in your hands, Change Your Mindset.

Change Your Faulty Programs

Holiday Nuts Gift BasketFeeding your addiction is often linked to a habit, or an automatic program running in the back of your sub-conscious mind.  You know the place, its where you stored all of your automatic programs that get you to do things that require no conscious thought.

For example, ever walked into a room and forgotten why you entered it or been driving down the freeway and then suddenly wondered to yourself how on earth you got there?  These automatic programs that we’ve got running in the background (kind of like your antivirus software on your computer) sometimes are faulty.

So first we need to identify these faulty programs (begin by start writing them down in a log of when you eat sugar) and then replace them with brand new programs. An example of this may be that you find yourself eating chocolate on the couch with your partner after dinner.  Firstly identify what you do and then replace it.

A great after dinner snack is a handful of your favorite nuts.  Simply swap the chocolate for nuts.

Work Out What Its in

Unlike alcohol, nicotine and illegal drugs, we know where to get those, so therefore we know how to eliminate them.  Sugar on the other hand, thanks to some very underhanded tactics by our food manufacturers not only hide sugar in our food supply, but they openly and blatantly try to confuse you so that it falls into your too hard basket.  So the answer is to educate yourself as to what it’s in.  Often people say knowledge is power.  IT IS NOT.  Knowledge + Action = POWER!

Food labeling laws require all food manufacturers to place Nutritional Information Panels (NIPS) on our food items and they must display the following: calorie content, protein, carbohydrates, fat, salt and ingredient list.  They also have to display the amount of sugar as a subtotal of carbohydrates and list the trans, poly and monounsaturated fats.  And here’s where they screw with you.  In the ingredient list they’ll list the sugar in a hundred different versions so chances are you won’t know what to look for in the ingredient list.

It’s a deliberate ploy to confuse you so here’s what you do.  Look for the sugar content on the NIP.  It will be recorded as a percentage and or as a quantity in grams.  If it’s higher than 4.9%, put it back on the shelf.  As an example, a 600 ml bottle of coke (which incidentally is 2 serves, but who drinks half and gives the other half away, No-ONE) contains 63.6 grams of sugar or over 61% by volume.  Do you know how many teaspoons of sugar it takes to get 63.6 grams? More than 10!!!

Get the Shakes

When you are addicted to something like alcohol, nicotine or drugs, there is a chemical dependency.  There is no way around this one.  When you withdraw all forms of sugar, you are going to get withdrawal symptoms.  While there’s not much pleasantry during this period IT DOES END and once it does, the feeling of dependency is gone forever (unless you decide to jump back on it).

As you withdraw, that mild euphoric feeling starts to subside causing a mild depression at the same time.  It doesn’t really hurt, but as it builds, its feeling of emptiness or boredom makes you crave the hit that you know will relieve it.  Trying to eat sugar in moderation is just a crock.

You aren’t eating enough to relieve the craving but you eat enough to maintain the craving circuit alive.  Just stop, either cold turkey or by weaning yourself off.  Withdrawals will be different for everybody.  Time-frames are different, as too are the actual physical effects.  Some common feelings include being constantly hungry, mild headaches, mood swings just to name a few.  Like I said, these will pass so long as you maintain focus on what you are doing.

Find yourself your reason, remember you are breaking an addiction to a toxic poisonous substance that makes you fat, sick and kills you slowly over time. If need be put this somewhere prominent like on the fridge so you can constantly see it as a reminder of why!

Restock

This goes part and parcel with rule 3.  Once you know what it’s in, you can restock with everything that it isn’t in.  The trouble is it’s in so much that it can be a difficult exercise.  In essence you are breaking two traditions, not eating sugar and starting to eat fat.  So, here’s a good list of food alternatives to replace in your house

VEGETABLES:  Go for it.  There is nothing in this section of the supermarket that you cannot have, so my advice is fill your trolley up with as much and as many different varieties that you can find.
FRUIT: Again, so long as you eat the real fruit, and not just the juice, then you are fine to eat anything here as well.  While fruit contains fructose, and fructose is the key, when we consume it as a real whole fruit, as opposed to juicing it we get the key products designed to minimize the effects, fiber, water, minerals and antioxidants.

NUTS:  Again, go for it.  Nothing here to worry about, except try and eat the unroasted and unsalted versions.

MEATS: Again, just like the vege section, go for it.  There is nothing here that will be detrimental to your health, although in saying that though I’ve noticed a few products like marinated meats creeping in.  Be careful if buying pre marinated meat stuffs.  Here’s where they will sting you with added sugars.

DAIRY:  Eggs unflavored full cream milk and butter are all you can get here.  All of the yogurts except for the natural unsweetened European brands contain a truckload of sugar.

SEAFOOD:  Top of my list.  No sugar in the seafood, unless its been marinated.  Then check the label to see what its been soaking in.  Chances are its a sugary solution.

POULTRY:  Again, nothing on the poultry list here will feed your sugar addiction, so go for it.

BREADS:  Most brands of bread are low in sugar but some like the fruit loaves are really high.  Avoid those ones.  Multigrain and brown bread have more fiber than white versions so go with those.

DRINKS:  There are really only two that make my list of “YES” its ok to eat list. Unflavored water (and not the stuff out of a tap, check out what I mean here) and unflavored full fat milk.  The rest have sugar added.

BREAKFAST CEREALS:  There are really only two that make my list of “YES” its ok to eat list. Wheet bix and Oats.  All the others have too much added sugar.  Don’t trust the marketing.  Just cos a famous sportsperson says its ok, IT’S NOT.  They are being paid a truck load of money to read from a script.

SNACK BARS:  To be avoided at all costs.  That gooey substance holding them together, that’s sugar!

SPREADS AND SAUCES:  Vegemite tops my list but everything else gets kicked for touch because of the sugar content.  All sauces and condiments are out of bounds as well.

USDA Certified Organic Grass-Fed Ground Beef, 85% LEANWild Caught Fresh Caribbean Red Snapper 6 Lb. AvgMagret Duck Breast, Fresh, Double Lobes, 1.6 Lbs Avg.Double Certified Organic Chicken Breast Boneless/skinless

Rules For Eating Out

The above rules only work for you at home, however, at some stage you are going to eat out.  This is where it gets tricky, but with a bit of guidance, you can navigate these murky waters.

Heading out for breakfast is a popular pastime on the weekend.  Avoid the juices and soft drinks and drink as much water, tea and coffee as you want.  Avoid the spreads, cereals, pastries and pancakes and hook into the big breakfast, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, onions, steak, sausages, toast, butter, mushrooms (mm I’m making myself hungry)

Fast food restaurants McDonald’s, Hungry Jacks, KFC etc) are off limits.  Their food is crap.  It’s highly processed, (preservative laden and fiber-less for shelf life longevity) Your healthier options are Nandos and Subway but avoid their sauces and drink fridges and desserts.

At fancy restaurants, enjoy the ambiance but not the desert.  Opt for a cheese platter and coffee instead of that chocolate mud cake.

Rules For The Kids

1. Ensure the house is sugar free
2. Ensure the lunch box is sugar free
3. Find another way to reward them
4. Prepare them for parties

SUMMARY

So there you have it.  Remember, it’s not your fault you are addicted to sugar.  It’s not even your parents fault.  BUT IT’S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to get yourself off.  Change your mindset, change your faulty programs, work out what it’s in, get the shakes and restock.

Some simple but easy to implement strategies to get you off sugar forever and stay off with little or no effort.  In a few weeks, you’ll notice a huge change in yourself.  You’ll start to lose weight without even noticing.  You’ll have more energy because that real whole food you are now eating, it will reset your hypothalamus and those hunger pains will subside.

Those 4 hormones will start to work and you’ll no longer feel hungry even though you’ve just eaten.

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