Fat or Sugar?

Column #6

Sugar, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” America’s love affair with sugar is unprecedented. In 1822 per capita consumption of sugars was five pounds per year. Today it’s 150 pounds because of the ubiquitousness of sugar, corn syrup, other syrups, and honey. This is deplorable yet some researchers claim sugar has benefits!

Some recent studies say sugar consumption does not cause hyperactivity or other behavior problems in children or adults. Instead, shortly after sugar is consumed, it improves athletic, cognitive, and academic performance and may increase self-control and reduce aggressive behavior.

Anecdotal evidence is always on shaky ground. But I have observed lethargic children return from cookie/cola breaks and immediately be more active, verbal, and uncontrollable. If sugar ramps up mental and physical “performance,” it certainly must be impacting self-control and aggression.

The behavior studies and my anecdotal experience are exceedingly short-term observations. They are meaningless compared to the long-term consequences of sugar consumption. Over time, unless sugar is burned off rapidly through mental and/or physical effort, it causes obesity because insulin spikes switch the body from burning stored fat to storing the excess energy. Sugar supplies calories without fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients and causes cavities.

For millions of years, man had a very low glycemic diet. Glycemic is a number associated with a particular food’s effect on a person’s blood glucose (blood sugar) level. Sugar is very high glycemic because it causes big spikes in blood sugar levels.

Man started consuming more carbohydrates when he invented grain farming. The better he farmed, the more grain he ate. Grain, a “sweet feed,” is high glycemic, like sugar. With today’s affordable grain-based foods coupled with excessive sugar consumption, people are shocking their systems with excessive empty calories unlike anything ever before.

High glycemic foods feed fungi inside the body. Fungi produce mycotoxins. Alcohol is a mycotoxin. Like alcohol, over time mycotoxin spikes damage the brain, heart, skin, intestines, nervous system, and liver while impacting emotions. More inflammation tasks the immune system and hastens the aging process. Like alcohol, sugar is extremely addictive.

Natural sweeteners such as honey, agave, cane sugar, dried fruit, dates, and such are not “better for you” than sugar. Even stevia may be disruptive for some people by causing the mind to prepare for an insulin spike.

So the question is, what’s the body’s best fuel? Is it high-glycemic foods with huge energy bursts and long-term damaging consequences or should it be fat? For millions of years before the agricultural revolution fat was man’s fuel of choice. A ketogenic diet consisting of high-fat, high-protein, low-carbohydrate foods causes the body to burn fats rather than energy bursts from sugar and carbohydrates. This diet requires plenty of protein and fat from grass-fed red meat, omega-3 chicken, omega-3 pork, and wild-caught seafood as well as selected green leafy vegetables.

How do we get there? We must kick the addiction by shifting our cravings to healthy fats rather than sweets.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

Mycotoxins

Sugar and Fat Bingeing Have Notable Differences in Addictive-like Behavior

Effect of Sugar on Behavior and Mental Performance

Effects of Stevia, Aspartame, and Sucrose on Food Intake, Satiety, And Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Levels

Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double-Edged Sword

Profiling Food in America - Chapter 2

15 Amazing Things That Happen When You Quit Sugar