If you have too much adrenal function like too much cortisol it’s called Cushing’s.
If you have a deficiency of cortisol and other adrenal hormones, that is called Addison’s.
The two big symptoms of adrenal fatigue are chronic fatigue and chronic inflammation. Cortisol normally is an anti-inflammatory. But if the adrenals are weak or you run out of cortisol or it does not work anymore because of cortisol resistance then you get inflammation.
There are three major hidden reasons that wheat products, not just gluten (along with sugar in all its forms) is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression and so many other modern ills.
There are three major hidden reasons that wheat products, not just gluten (along with sugar in all its forms) is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression and so many other modern ills.
This is why there are now 30 % more obese than undernourished in the world, and why chronic lifestyle and dietary driven disease kills more than twice as many people as infectious disease globally.
Sadly, this tsunami of chronic illness is increasingly caused by eating our beloved diet staple, bread, the staff of life, and all the wheat products hidden in everything from soups to vodka to lipstick to envelope adhesive.
You may ask, is a Ketogenic diet, which means you are eating more fat, is that dangerous for your heart? The answer is no. It is not the fat that plugs up your arteries it is the sugar. Ketogenic diets are not dangerous if you do them correctly.
Second question, “Well, the more fat that you eat, the more fat you are going to burn.” That’s another myth because you could be burning the dietary fat and not your own fat.
Now, the whole concept of the Ketogenic diet is that you are having very low carbs, moderate protein, and higher fat. What we want zero sugar, unlimited vegetables. In fact, we need more vegetables because if you do this, ketones are acidic, and the ketones can potentially raise your pH, and you can end up with either gout, a type of arthritis, or kidney stones. The way to prevent that is to consume a lot of vegetables, and also lemon. Lemon actually prevents kidney stones.
The other key is to do not consumer sugar with fat. Why? Because it will increase insulin even more. We do not want to add the sugar to this eating plan at all.
The other point is you want to do this gradually. If you are increasing fats too quickly, it is going to overwhelm the gallbladder, and you are going to have right shoulder pain, and bloating, and things like that. That’s why I recommend that if you were going to do this, I’d recommend the gallbladder formula because that gives you the enzymes and the bile to help handle this fat in the transition. (Here is the link to the Gallbladder Formula https://shop.drberg.com/gallbladder-formula)
Adapting. It does take time to adapt to your body to fat burning. All these cells must change their enzyme structure, their machinery to handle this new fuel source because we are limited in the glucose, and we are increasing the fat, and it does take sometimes between 2 to 6 weeks to make this transition. The process, we are going to do this nice and gradually so your body can go right into it, and you will feel really good.
How much fat that you really need? Here is a list of fats that you can potentially consume. We did our calculations from an average of 1800 calories per day – and then 70% of that would be fat, then we measured the gram per meal.
On average, consume 20-40 grams of fat per meal.
FOOD AMT FAT CAL Per Meal
1. Heavy Cream 1 TBS 5g 51 6 TBS
2. Egg 1 egg 5g 74 3-4
3. Beef (80%) 3 oz 16g 213 3-6 oz
4. Coconut Oil 1 TBS 14g 120 2 TBS
5. Brie Cheese 3 oz 28g 300 3 oz
6. Almond Butter 1 TBS 10g 100 3 TBS
7. Olive Oil 1 TBS 14g 119 2 TBS
8. Bacon 1 slice 3g 43 3-6 Slices
9. Pecans 10 nuts 20g 196 15 Nuts
10. Macadamia Nuts 10 nuts 21g 204 15 Nuts
11. Peanut Butter 1 TBS 8g 94 3-4 TBS
12. Almonds 10 nuts 6g 70 3-4 TBS
13. Avocado 1 whole 30g 322 1
14. Ice cream (No Sugar) 1 cup 22g 200 1 cup
Heavy cream, one tablespoon is five grams of fat. An average person needs between 20 and 40 grams of fat per meal on a Ketogenic diet. 40 grams for someone who is really large who has been doing it in a while. 20 grams is someone smaller, and they are just starting out. We are going to calculate this midrange at 30 grams just to give you an average.
Heavy cream. You can make all sorts of things with heavy cream, i.e. whipping cream. Eat five grams, which is six tablespoons per meal right after the meal as your fat. The fats could allow you to go longer so you are not as hungry, and it is not going to increase insulin. It is exactly what we want.
You may only be doing two meals. If you are concerned about calories, do two meals, especially if you are not working out. You will find that once you adapt, you can burn your body fat as a fuel source, and you can go a long period of time without any hunger.
Now, egg is five grams of fat. One egg is five grams. You need three to four eggs per meal. Sometimes, people do two or three. That is fine because you can combine these other foods. If you can, get pasture-raised organic eggs.
Now, let us get to the beef. We got three ounces is 16 grams, about three to six ounces of beef. Try to find beef that is 80 to 85% lean, not 90% lean. I like the 80%, but it is hard to find it. If you can, get buy grass-fed, organic beef.
Then, we get coconut oil. One tablespoon is 14 grams. Double that, and have two tablespoons. Now, you can put that on your vegetables. You can make little treats. There is all sorts of recipes you can make, but that is the amount of fat that you would need per meal.
Brie cheese. Have three ounces, which is 28 grams. Brie cheese is very high in fat. Three ounces for a meal would give enough fat, but this also has the protein, so you could kill two birds with one stone. I do a lot of cheese.
German cheese. Just less than half of this is three ounces. A piece that is a little bit bigger than the palm of your hand, but half should be three ounces.
Almond butter, one tablespoon is ten grams. That would be three tablespoons of almond butter that you would consume. You can do that right after a meal. That would be your fat.
Olive oil. One tablespoon is 14 grams, do two tablespoons of olive oil. That is about 30 grams of fat. Put it on your salad. Some is going to end up in the bottom of your bowl. You may want to add another fat from the list.
Pecans. Ten pecans is 20 grams. If you do 15 pecans at the end of the meal or macadamia nuts, that would give you enough fat.
Ice cream. There are certain ice creams that have no sugar. You can make ice cream or get it from the store. One cup would you give 22 grams of fat.
Dr. Berg is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media. He has taught students nutrition as an adjunct professor at Howard University.
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
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It feels hopeless, you show someone the research and amazing results of keto, and they still do not give it a chance.
Why wont they to give it a try? Well, perhaps in their mind, they are healthy!
Do not upset them by telling them that they have a problem – this just doesn’t work.
You can only help people if they can think they have a problem. Then you can gently guide them in the right direction slowly over time.
Find out if the person has a problem that they want to solve first. Then, you can introduce Keto.
Never explain the diet. Instead, explain why it works. If they are interested, send them Dr. Berg’s videos. Let them discover Healthy Keto at their own pace.
Reasons why people do not try Keto is:
1. They do not have a weight problem. Weight is not the only issue. Health is the primary focus of Keto.
Do you have an excessive waist circumference, high triglycerides, low HDL, fatty plaques in your arteries, hypertension etc.?
Topics Addressed:
Current diet recommendations & unintended consequences
Insulin resistance = carbohydrate intolerance
Over-consumption of carbohydrate as a driver of chronic disease
Nutritional Ketosis as a potent therapy to restore metabolic health
Current diet recommendations & unintended consequences
The 2015 guidelines it demonized saturated fat and still promoting relatively high carbohydrate diets as a result we have an obesity and diabetes epidemic.
The diet heart hypothesis is if you over consume fat in particular saturated fat it raise your cholesterol and raise your heart disease.
The unintended consequences of this obsession with fat in this country and decreasing fat resulted in turn with an over consumption of carbohydrate. It’s this excessive amount of carbohydrate that people are eating that are leading to an alternative problem of metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetes which puts a lot of people on the fast path to developing type 2 diabetes which in turn increases risk for heart disease. The more carbs you eat the more you suppress your own body’s ability to access and utilize fat for fuel.
Following the guidelines has resulted in added sugars and a lot of processed starches and grains and cereals. That consumption is the primary cause of the obesity and diabetes epidemic, most non-commutable chronic disease and probably driving cancer too.
Dr. Volek is most interested in diabetes in part because of the statistics on diabetes and prediabetes published in JAMA in2016. It showed that one half of adults in the U.S. have pre-diabetes.
The general consensus among the healthcare industry and physicians is that diabetes is a chronic progressive disease that it can’t be reversed and that is not the case. It’s caused by over consumption of carbohydrate, it can be reversed by bringing carbohydrate down into an appropriate range, which for many diabetics means a ketogenic diet.
Metabolism: When we eat a typical meal that has carbohydrate in it, that meal may have easily a hundred grams of carbs in it. That is about ten times what we have in our blood. We only have one to two teaspoons of blood sugar and throughout our entire circulatory system. The body has ways to dispose of that glucose and if you’re processing that carb meal in a healthy way the majority of that glucose gets taken up into skeletal muscle through an insulin mediated process and it gets oxidized eventually. It may be temporarily stored as glycogen but we have a finite capacity to store glycogen.
Insulin resistance = carbohydrate intolerance
What happens if your insulin resistance though?The primary characteristic many tests are based on is insulin mediated glucose uptake into cells. If you can’t get the glucose into muscle where does it go? The only other pathway that glucose can be metabolized is into fat. That happens in the liver, so if you are insulin resistant the majority of carbohydrates that you’re consuming actually takes an alternative path where a greater proportion of it gets converted to saturated fat. It gets packaged into a VLDL particle and released into the blood. What you see in type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, you see not just higher triglycerides in the blood but if you look at the composition of those VLDL particles they’re enriched in saturated fatty acids. A lot of that gets de-saturated to a 16:1 or palmitoleic acid. That is highly associated with risk for diabetes and other chronic problems.
Over-consumption of carbohydrate as a driver of chronic disease
Most people are consuming carbohydrates above their tolerance. The result is metabolic syndrome. The signs are: excessive waist circumference, high triglycerides, low HDL, fatty plaques in the arteries, hypertension etc.
Please see the image of the insulin resistance continuum.
The insulin resistance is as a form of carbohydrate intolerance. It’s a continuum where people on the far end of the spectrum, that are carb tolerant, may be able to tolerate very low-fat high-carbohydrate diets and remain insulin sensitive and there’s other people at the other end of the continuum and a whole lot of people in between. It even changes over the lifespan, as we get older and enter into middle-age and beyond tolerate carbs less effectively so we’re more carb intolerant.
If you’re burning fat you don’t rely on insulin. Burning fatty acids and ketones are independent of insulin. It is a healthier fuel to be burning the vast majority of time. The more carbs you eat the more you inhibit fat burning and you become dependent carbs as your primary fuel source.
There is nothing comes close to a ketogenic diet in terms of enhancing the body’s ability to burn fat and ketones.
The body has developed this system to be able to maintain perfect inner organs fuel exchange in the context of low carbohydrate availability. The term I (Volek) like to use is keto-adaptation to describe this process of switching all the cellular machinery over to being able to accommodate fatty acid as the primary fuel and ketones.
There’s a lot of health benefits associated with keto-adaptation. Obesity, chronic diseases, neurological conditions and cancer are much easier to manage with the ketogenic diet. Type-2 diabetes can be reversed with the ketogenic diet.
What is the ketogenic diet?
See the slide of how it differs from other low carb diets.
It is low in carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are probably the primary macronutrient that drives ketosis but protein is also anti Ketogenic. A ketogenic diet is limited in carbs and protein. Fat doesn’t really factor in that much in terms of inducing ketosis so fat can be high it can be low it can be moderate depending on if weight loss or weight maintenances is desired. The Ketogenic diet is very tasty and very satiating.
What does the ketogenic diet look like in terms of macronutrients?
Please see the image of where calories come from.
Carbs are 5% up to 10% of your calories if you trying to loose weight. Make sure you are getting 10-15 grams of non-starchy vegetables, and one or two ounces and nuts will give another 5-10 grams and even some fruits such as berries, avocados or tomatoes. The limit of what induces ketosis is highly variable, diabetics need to be generally closer to 30 or 35 or 40 grams of carbs, whereas some athletes can have more. (One gram of carbs is 4 calories). It is best to measure ketones to know because there’s no magic number here that works for everyone.
Please see the image of Ketone levels.
The real key here is the numbers if you’re eating carbs above 50 grams of carbs for most people you’re likely not more than point to maybe point 1 millimolar in the blood. It might be a bit higher after an overnight fast.
Nutritional ketosis (very low-carb diet) ranges from1 up to 5 millimolar.
Working with your doctor, Type 1 diabetics may reduce the levels of insulin required.
When you’re in ketosis the brain can extract about two-thirds of its energy from ketones and is protected from low blood sugar.
Next week we will continue with point four Nutritional Ketosis as a potent therapy to restore metabolic health
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.
I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.
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You are at risk of a heart disease if you have 3 out of the following 5 indications of metabolic syndrome:
A fasting insulin level above 3
A triglyceride to HDL ratio above 2
Low HDL
A waist circumference indicating overweight or obesity
High blood pressure
Another major risk factor for heart disease that receives virtually no attention is high iron levels. In menstruating women, this is not an issue since they lose blood on a monthly basis. This is actually part of why premenopausal women have a decreased risk of heart disease.
In men, iron levels can rise to dangerously high levels. In my experience, the majority of adult males and postmenopausal women have elevated levels that put their health at risk. Checking your iron levels is easy and can be done with a simple blood test called a serum ferritin test. If your levels are high, all you have to do is donate blood a few times a year.
The Connection Between Saturated Fats and Diabetes
Malhotra cites a 2014 Lancet study looking at the association between dietary saturated fat, plasma saturated fat and type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, while dietary saturated fats found in dairy products were strongly inversely associated with the development of type 2 diabetes (meaning it was protective), endogenously-synthesized plasma-saturated fat was strongly associated with an increased risk.
Endogenously-synthesized plasma-saturated fats are fatty acids produced by your liver in response to net carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol.These findings suggest eating full-fat dairy products may protect you against type 2 diabetes,whereas consuming too many net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) will increase your risk of type 2 diabetes –in part by raising the saturated fat levels in your bloodstream.
Healthy Fat Tips
Here are a few tips to help ensure you’re eating the right fats for your health:
Use organic butter made from raw grass-fed milk instead of margarines and vegetable oil spreads.
Use coconut oil for cooking. It is primarily a saturated fat and more resistant to heat damage than other cooking oils. It will also help improve your ability to burn fat and serve as a great source of energy to help you make the transition to burning fat for fuel.
Sardines and anchovies are an excellent source of beneficial omega-3 fats and are also very low in toxins that are present in most other fish.
To round out your healthy fat intake, be sure to eat raw fats, such as those from avocados, raw dairy products, and olive oil, and also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.
Why Statins Are a Bad Idea for Most People
In addition to the recommendation to follow a low-fat diet, many doctors are still avid prescribers of statins, which help lower your cholesterol.
“This is a drug that was marketed over the last three decades as being a wonder drug. We’re only now realizing that the benefits of statins have been grossly exaggerated and the side effects underplayed. One of the reasons for that is that most if not all of the studies that drove the guidelines were industry-sponsored studies.
One of the things we have neglected in medicine is this issue around absolute risk and relative risk. The reality is if you look at the published data … if you have heart disease and you’ve had a heart attack, then taking a statin every day for five years, there’s a 1 in 83 chance that [statin] will save your life.
That means in 82 of 83 cases, it’s not going to save your life.
People with low risk should know that if they haven’t had a heart attack, according to the published literature, they’re going to live one day longer from taking statins.”
Statins Are Associated With Serious Side Effects
Then there’s the issue of side effects. According to Malhotra, between 1 in 3 and 1 in 5 patients suffer unacceptable side effects (that interfere with or diminish the quality of your life). Muscle pain is the most significant side effect reported followed by fatigue (mostly in women) because statins are essentially a metabolic blocker and mitochondrial poison.
They inhibit an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase. This is how they lower cholesterol. But that same enzyme is also responsible for a number of other things like making coenzyme Q10, which is why muscle pain and fatigue are so common. This is in fact a sign that your CoQ10 is being depleted, and you don’t have enough cellular energy.
Statins also block the formation of ketones, which are an essential part of mitochondrial nutrition and overall health. If you can’t make ketones, you impair the metabolism in your entire body, including your heart, thereby raising your risk for heart problems and a variety of other diseases. It’s also recently been established that within a few years of taking statins, the drug causes type 2 diabetes in one out of 100 patients.
That too can be a significant tradeoff that needs to be taken into account, as diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease and other chronic diseases. Dr. Michel De Lorgeril, a well-respected French cardiologist at Grenoble University recently reopened the debate about statins after publishing a review in which he questions whether statins actually have any benefit at all.
“He pointed out several discrepancies in the original trials … statistical manipulation, conflict of interest … ” Malhotra says. ”He’s actually suggested that maybe nobody benefits from statins; even people on statins for prevention.
He says that unless we get access to the raw data, independent analysis, the actual claims about the benefits of statins are not evidence-based.”
In case you missed it, please read
Saturated Fat Part One: Great Britain’s Most Outspoken Cardiologist Sets the Record Straight
Is saturated fat dangerous to your health?
Hospitals and Medical Personnel Are Far From Paragons of Health
For Past 60 Years, the Wrong Fats Have Been Vilified
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.
I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.
To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.
I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.
If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net using this form.
Saturated fat and cholesterol have little to do with the development of heart disease. Data shows two-thirds of people admitted to hospitals with acute myocardial infarction have completely normal cholesterol levels.
Fats that contribute to heart disease are primarily trans fats and highly refined and/or heated polyunsaturated vegetable oils (PUFAs), which are high in damaged omega-6.
For optimal health, seek to get 75 to 85 percent of your total calories as healthy fat, primarily monosaturated and saturated. Limit PUFAs to 10 percent and omega-6 fats to 5 percent.
Is saturated fat dangerous to your health? Dr. Aseem Malhotra an interventional cardiologist consultant in London, U.K. seriously challenges the conventional view on saturated fats, and reviews how recent studies have failed to find any significant association between saturated fat and cardiovascular risk.
Malhotra reports that two-thirds of people admitted to hospitals with acute myocardial infarction have completely normal cholesterol levels.
“As an interventional cardiologist, we can do life-saving procedures with people who have heart attacks through heart surgery. What we can do in medicine is really quite limited at the treatment end and actually the whole ‘prevention is better than cure’ phrase is very true.”
Hospitals and Medical Personnel Are Far From Paragons of Health
Malhotra’s epiphany that something was wrong with the system came rather early. While working as a resident in cardiology, he performed an emergency stenting procedure on a man in his 50s who’d recently suffered a heart attack.
“Just when I was telling about healthy diet, how important that was, he was actually served burger and fries by the hospital. He said to me, ‘Doctor, how do you expect me to change my lifestyle when you’re serving me the same crap that brought me in here in the first place?’”
Looking around, he realized that a lot of healthcare professionals are overweight or obese, and hospitals serve sick patients junk food.
“The hospital environment should be one that promotes good health, not exacerbates bad health,” he says.
Diet and lifestyle changes are particularly important in light of the fact that medical errors and properly prescribed medications are the third most common cause of death after heart disease and cancer. Overmedication is a particularly serious problem among the elderly, who tend to suffer more side effects.
“Part of that is because there are very powerful vested interests that push drugs,” Malhotra says. “They even coax academic institutions and guideline bodies. People aren’t getting all the information to make decisions, whether or not they should take medications…
For Past 60 Years, the Wrong Fats Have Been Vilified
For the past 60 years, the conventional wisdom has dictated that saturated fat is dangerous and should be avoided. This flawed notion was originally promoted by Dr. Ancel Keys, whose Seven Countries Study laid the groundwork for the myth that saturated fat caused heart disease.
It’s true that heart disease rates began spiking in the beginning of the 20th century, and for the last 50 years, heart disease has been progressively increasing. It really wasn’t an issue prior to the 20th century. Saturated fat wasn’t the problem. It was all the other harmful fats people were eating.
In the 20th century, the average person probably had less than 1 pound a year of refined, processed omega-6 vegetable oils. By the 1950s, probably about 50 pounds a year, and by year 2000, it increased at about 75 pounds a year. It seems “fat” in itself isn’t the issue; it’s the type of fat that’s crucial.
This massive amount of highly refined polyunsaturated fat is far in excess of what we were designed to eat for optimal health.
In the United States, between 1961 and 2011, 90 percent of the calorie intake has been carbohydrates and refined industrial vegetable oils.
The heart disease epidemic peaked between 1960 and 1970. When we look at our data, it’s quite clear that the so-called fats responsible for that are trans fats and very likely polyunsaturated vegetable oils high in omega-6 fatty acids. We know now that they oxidize LDL and are pro-inflammatory.
What Are the Real Risk Factors for Heart Disease?
By failing to differentiate between trans fats and saturated fats, massive confusion has arisen. There’s also confusion about the relationship between saturated fat and cholesterol. Adding to the complexity, there are also different types of saturated fats, which may have different biological effects.
Many saturated fats will raise LDL, the so-called “bad” cholesterol. But LDLs come in various sizes. Large type A particles arelessatherogenic (form fatty plaques in the arteries) and are influenced by saturated fat. Saturated fat also increases HDL, the “good” cholesterol.
“What’s interesting is the saturated fat, even though it may raise LDL, your lipid profile may actually improve [when you eat more saturated fat], especially when you cut the carbs. On top of that, LDL has been grossly exaggerated as a risk factor for heart disease, with the exception of people who have a genetic abnormality (familial hypercholesterolemia),” Malhotra says.
So what is the major issue when you look at heart disease and heart attacks? Insulin resistance. The reason it’s being neglected is partly this flawed science on cholesterol. But, also because there’s never been any effective drugs that target insulin resistance.
Therefore, because [there isn’t a] big market around something to sell, there aren’t many people that know about it. As you and I know, if you target insulin resistance through the right kind of diet and lifestyle changes, stress reduction, right kind of exercise, that’s going to have the biggest impacts on your health.”
Check back next week for –
Saturated Fat Part Two: Gauging Your Heart Disease Risk:
Gauging Your Heart Disease Risk
The Connection Between Saturated Fats and Diabetes
Healthy Fat Tips
Why Statins Are a Bad Idea for Most People
Statins Are Associated With Serious Side Effects
Today’s Post has been condensed from: Great Britain’s Most Outspoken Cardiologist Sets the Record Straight on Saturated Fats
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.
I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.
To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.
I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.
If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net
If you haven’t stopped using artificial sweeteners, please do so immediately!
The side effects simply aren’t worth it. They cause symptoms that range from headaches and migraines to weight gain and even more serious conditions like cardiovascular disease.
Artificial sweeteners retrain the taste buds to need more and more, sweeter and sweeter foods. This leads to even greater incidences of obesity, type 2 diabetes, kidney damage and so much more.
Holly Strawbridge, former editor of Harvard Health, points out that while FDA studies have “ruled out cancer risk” for non-nutritive sweeteners, all of the studies conducted were based on significantly smaller doses than the 24 to 50 ounces a day of diet soda commonly consumed. These portions have not been evaluated for their safety.
In addition, another study on the effects of artificial sweeteners on atherosclerosis found that daily consumption of drinks with artificial sweeteners creates a 35 percent greater risk of metabolic syndrome (conditions that occur together: increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels), and a 67 percent increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Atherosclerosis is when plaque builds up inside the arteries leading to strokes, heart attacks and even death.
There is additional evidence that links artificial sweeteners to the development of glucose intolerance and other metabolic conditions that result in higher than normal blood glucose levels.
A 2018 study published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases also revealed that the artificial sugar, sucralose (otherwise known as Splenda) and maltodextrin, intensifies gut inflammation in mice that carry Crohn’s-like diseases. Specifically, the artificial sweetener increases the number of Proteobacteria – a microbe bacteria associated with E. coli, Salmonella and Legionellales – in the mice who carried a Chrohn’s-like disease.
Additionally, the ingestion of artificial sugar intensified myeloperoxidase (an enzyme in white blood cells) activity in individuals that have a form of inflammatory bowel disease. This study indicates that it may be practical to track Proteobacteria and myeloperoxidase in patients to adjust their diet and monitor the disease and gut health.
Partial List Of Where Dangerous Artificial Sweeteners Hide:
Toothpaste and mouthwash
Children’s chewable vitamins
Cough syrup and liquid medicines
Chewing gum
No-calorie waters and drinks
Alcoholic beverages
Salad dressings
Frozen yogurt and other frozen deserts
Candies
Baked goods
Yogurt
Breakfast cereals
Processed snack foods
“Lite” or diet fruit juices and beverages
Prepared meats
Nicotine gum
Please avoid these artificial sweeteners:
Aspartame – also marketed as NutraSweet, Equal, Sugar Twin and AminoSweet, Calcium cyclamate, Cyclamates, Saccharin, Sodium cyclamate, Sweetening agent.
It is currently used in more than 6,000 consumer food and beverage products, including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, sugar-free gum, candy, condiments and vitamins, and over 500 prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.
According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine aspartame has carcinogenic effects.
A recent study points to alarming news for women who consume artificial sweeteners during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. It appears that aspartame can predispose babies to metabolic syndrome disorders, and obesity, later in life.
Common side effects of aspartame include headaches, migraines, mood disorders, dizziness and episodes of mania. Comprising phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol, these substances can stay in the liver, kidneys and brain for quite some time.
Dozens of studies have linked aspartame to serious health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, stroke and dementia, as well as negative effects such as intestinal dysbiosis, mood disorders, headaches and migraines.
Sucralose (Splenda)
Sucralose, derived from sugar, was originally introduced as a natural sugar substitute. But it’s a chlorinated sucrose derivative. Chlorine is one of the most toxic chemicals.
At 600 times sweeter than sugar, it can contribute to an addiction for overly sweet foods and drinks. A medical study that found it could be linked to leukemia in mice.
A study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health found that cooking with sucralose at high temperatures can generate dangerous chloropropanols – a toxic class of compounds. Human and rodent studies demonstrate that it can be metabolized and have a toxic effect on the body.
Acesulfame K (ACE, ACE K, Sunette, Sweet One, Sweet ‘N Safe)
Composed of a potassium salt that contains methylene chloride, Acesulfame K is routinely found in sugar-free chewing gum, alcoholic beverages, candies and even sweetened yogurts. It’s often used in combination with aspartame and other noncaloric sweeteners. It found in highly processed foods and baked goods.
Long-term exposure to methylene chloride has been shown to cause nausea, mood problems, possibly some types of cancer, impaired liver and kidney function, problems with eyesight, and perhaps even autism.
Saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low)
Many studies link saccharin to serious health conditions. Sadly, it’s the primary sweetener for children’s medications, including chewable aspirin, cough syrup, and other over-the-counter and prescription medications. It’s believed that saccharin contributes to photosensitivity, nausea, digestive upset, tachycardia and some types of cancer.
Xylitol (Erythritol, Maltitol, Mannitol, Sorbitol and other sugar alcohols that end in –itol)
Sugar alcohols aren’t absorbed well by the body and cause an allergic reaction for those who have a sensitivity to it. In addition, it has gastrointestinal side effects that include bloating, gas, cramping and diarrhea. Its laxative effect is so pronounced that it’s actually part of the chemical makeup for many over-the-counter laxatives.
WebMD states: “Not enough is known about the use of xylitol during pregnancy and breast feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.”
Special note to dog owners:
Sugar alcohol-based artificial sweeteners are a life-threatening toxin to dogs. Be mindful of breath mints, candies, sugar-free gum, frozen desserts and other foods when your pets are around.
Healthy Alternatives to Artificial Sweeteners:
Maple syrup, coconut sugar, stevia (safe as a fresh herb), fruit purees and raw honey are great, healthy substitutions. Start working to retrain your palette to enjoy the natural sweetness of foods.
Try adding other flavors like tangy, tart, warm and savory to please your palette. For example, vanilla, cocoa, licorice, nutmeg and cinnamon enhance the flavor of foods, so you need less sweetness.
When you crave a sweet drink, try homemade infused waters. Start sweetening your iced tea with honey, coconut sugar or even maple syrup for a twist.
America’s obesity epidemic continues to grow, and it coincides with an increase in the widespread use of non-nutritive artificial sweeteners including aspartame, sucralose, saccharin and sugar alcohols.
Research shows that artificial sweeteners don’t satiate you the way real foods do. Instead, you end up feeling less satisfied and more prone to eating and drinking more, resulting in weight gain, in addition to potentially suffering dangerous side effects associated with artificial sweeteners.
Everyone should avoid artificial sweeteners, but it’s particularly important for children and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. The risk is simply too great.
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It is Valentine’s Day. What a day for a post on sugar. Let us see what we can learn about sugar.
Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology in the University of California and a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, says that your body can safely metabolize at least six teaspoons (28.6 grams) of added sugar from natural and manufactured sources per day. It seems like a lot, but did you know that a 3” apple has 18.9 grams of sugar.
The average American consumes about 32 teaspoons of sugar per day. Sugar is in most processed foods and drinks. It is in your coffee or tea. It is in pastries, cakes and cookies, sprinkled it over your breakfast cereal or your oatmeal. It’s hidden in sodas, fruit juices, candies, ice cream and in almost all processed foods, including breads, meats, and condiments like Worcestershire sauce and ketchup.
The best way to ensure you’re not consuming excess added sugars is to get in the habit of always scanning the ingredient list. Ingredients are listed by quantity from high to low: the closer to the front of the list a form of sugar is, the more the product contains.
Just because you don’t see “sugar” on the ingredient list when scanning a nutrition label does not guarantee the item is sugar or sweetener-free. Sugar goes by a slew of different names, hiding how much sugar is in the product.
On the Nutrition label the carbohydrate count per serving size is given as total grams, and then broken down into carbs from fiber and sugar. Sugar should be zero as often as possible (1–2g at most).
The Most Common Names for Sugar:
Basic Simple Sugars (monosaccharides and disaccharides):
Here are some of the effects that excessive sugar intake has on your health:
Sugar is a primary dietary factor that drives obesity and chronic disease development.
Sugar causes weight gain, abdominal obesity, decreased HDL and increased LDL cholesterol levels, elevated blood sugar, elevated triglycerides, high blood pressure, Hypertension, Lipid problems, Heart disease, and Polycystic ovarian syndrome.
One of the most severe effects of eating too much sugar is its potential to damage your liver, leading to a condition known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Your liver metabolizes alcohol the same way as sugar – as both serve as substrates for converting dietary carbohydrate into fat. This promotes insulin resistance, fatty liver and dyslipidemia (abnormal fat levels in your blood).
Fructose or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is found in most processed foods and drinks. HFCS is metabolized directly into fat.
Fructose causes superoxide free radicals to form, resulting in inflammation.
Fructose can directly and indirectly stimulate the brain’s “hedonic pathway” – creating habituation and dependence, the same way that alcohol does.
Sugar “feeds” the cancer cells, promoting cell division and speeding their growth, allowing the cancer to spread faster.
The metabolic theory of cancer holds sugar damages mitochondrial function and energy production, triggering cell mutations that are then fed by on going sugar consumption.
How to Manage or Limit Your Sugar Consumption
Your healthiest choice is to avoid or eliminate refined sugar from your diet by eating whole, organic foods, and carefully reading labels of any packaged foods you buy.
Avoid processed foods and beverages like soda. According to SugarScience.org, 74 % of processed foods contain added sugar stealthily hidden under different names. (See the list of names above.)
Severely limit your consumption of refined carbohydrates (waffles, cereals, bagels, bread, etc.) and grains, as they actually break down to sugar in your body, resulting in insulin resistance.
Keep your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day, including that from whole fruit. Fruits are rich in nutrients and antioxidants, but they also naturally contain fructose.
Avoid artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose.
Increase your consumption of healthy fats, such as omega-3, saturated and monounsaturated fats such as organic butter from raw milk, (unheated) virgin olive oil, coconut oil, raw nuts like pecans and macadamia, free-range eggs, avocado and wild Alaskan salmon.
Drink pure, clean water. The best way to gauge your water needs is to observe the color of your urine (it should be light pale yellow) and the frequency of your bathroom visits (ideally, this is around seven to eight times per day).
Add fermented foods to your meals, they provide detoxification support, which helps lessen the fructose burden on your liver. Some of the best choices include kimchi, natto, organic yogurt and kefir made from grass fed milk, and fermented vegetables.
Please see the original for the Footnotes and Citations for the scientific studies.
I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.
I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.
To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.
I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.
If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net using this form.
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
2HealthyHabits 