Sugar – The Original Crack

Sugar – The Original Crack

When I was in my 20’s, and I heard my sister-in-law mention that she was going off sugar, and it was the hardest thing she had ever done. She talked about the withdrawal, and physical symptoms like it was a drug withdrawal. I thought this was a little dramatic because in my 20’s I knew everything. Now I’m 50, and I realize how right she was and how dumb I am, to be honest. However, being a dumbass makes me more willing to understand what I don’t know.

Sugar and its effects

There are many papers on the role of sugar and its effects on the brain. One of the best articles I found shows that sugar triggers dopamine production in the same area of the brain as drugs do in rats.  Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that is best thought of as “the reward chemical.” Gambling=dopamine.  Sex=dopamine.  Drugs and alcohol=dopamine. Video games=dopamine.

This paper shows that it is common to have a cross addiction to alcohol and amphetamines with sugar sensitization. So, sugar is a drug.

Another question you might have is, “Why are we made this way?” With all the sugar surrounding us, it doesn’t seem fair. Before toaster pastries and wine came along, as early humans, we had to forage and hunt for meals, and when winter was coming, we took calories where we could get them.  If we came across sugar, whether in honey or fruit, we got the signal to eat and eat a lot through the reward of a dopamine hit. The necessary thing for the forager was that sugar also packed on fat to help get through the long hard winter. The signal to eat, and eat a lot, gave us an evolutionary advantage.  

Now, the average American eats 100-150 lbs of sugar a year because it overflows into every part of their diet. We have entered the land of chronic diseases of overconsumption like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Men should eat about 25 lbs of sugar per year based on weight, and women about 16 lbs per year. That means about 35 grams a day for men and 20-25 grams for women. Men, drink one 12oz. soda (38g), and you are done. Women, have one brand name yogurt (26g), and you are done…. and unsatisfied. Our processed foods are sabotaging us, so be very aware of hidden sources driving our addictions.

Now that we can quit thinking of sugar cravings as a moral weakness, we can apply some interventions that give our willpower a much-needed helping hand. It is crucial, especially following the holidays when the sugar gremlin is turned loose to eat all the sugar-laden foods.

Here are two things to focus on:

Improve Dopamine levels

  1. Exercise is not sexy, but 10-15 mins of moderate to intense exercise stoke the dopamine fire.
  2. Sleep– also not sexy. When we don’t get enough sleep, our dopamine requirement goes up because our number of dopamine receptors goes down. Think about the last time you didn’t get enough sleep? You probably couldn’t get enough ice cream. Don’t underestimate the importance of enough sleep in fighting your cravings.
  3. Supplement support– a little sexier. Increasing dopamine is easy with supplements. You can help dopamine stay around longer with things like Rhodiola Rosea (1 twice a day).  You can also increase dopamine production with DopaPlus (1 twice a day between meals). These supplements work and will help you avoid sugar cravings along with the next intervention.

Kill the yeast!

Yeast or Candida Albicans (and others) live in our digestive tract, and a certain amount of them are good, when they overgrow, they become detrimental to our health and lead to fatigue, brain fog, and, most of all, sugar cravings.

  1. Starve them– Start cutting back on sugar as this is yeast’s favorite fuel source, and less yeast equals fewer cravings. There is no research saying, “you have yeast, then you have sugar cravings,” but from what I see in my office, this is 100% true. The only problem is that it is hard to cut back on sugar when you have yeast, so enter something to help.
  2. Candida Balance– This is a supplement that does a phenomenal job of leveling the yeast playing field. This is my go-to when I have been in the cookie cupboard and can’t stop.  1-2 capsules twice a day does an herbal number on the yeast and their protective biofilms. I can feel the cravings dissipate within 24 hours. You need to take at least one bottle if you have been struggling with sugar for some time and keep some handy when you fall off the wagon during holidays or special occasions.

Whitney Houston said, “Crack is whack.” What she should’ve said is, “Sugar is a booger.”

Addiction to sugar and its associated diseases, heart disease, cancer and diabetes, have killed many more people (1.35 million) per year than crack (70K).

My Five Favorite Medical Myths

My Five Favorite Medical Myths

When you leave med school and residency, you are pretty sure you’re all that and a bag of tater chips. I did. Then, practicing medicine became a long and humbling journey. I’ve learned a lot, and I thought I’d share some falsehoods from my training, just in case these rumors are still circulating.

1. The body does things randomly. 

This is a common misconception in medicine. The doctor will say, “Oh, you have high blood pressure, well this pill will help lower it.” It may be true the pill will help, but high blood pressure is a reaction to a problem. It doesn’t just pop up.  You do not have a “pill” deficiency.  The question should be, “What is the body trying to tell us?” If we take the high blood pressure example, it may point to issues like nutrient deficiency like magnesium, or sleep apnea, or generalized inflammation, which leads to more diagnoses than just hypertension. The body is always talking to us. Functional Medicine helps us interpret what it’s saying.  

 

2. Nuts cause diverticulitis. 

This was passed down with relative authority in my training and was accepted as the truth by the medical community. We told patients to avoid nuts, popcorn, and fruit with small seeds. Diverticula are small pockets that form in the colon walls due to tissue weakness caused by increased pressure due to a lack of fiber. The assumption of nuts and seeds causing diverticulitis seems reasonable at first because small things fit in small pockets. The truth is, taking away the above foods takes away a great source of fiber for our good bacteria, which are essential for low pressure in the colon, and may increase your risk for diverticulitis. The research supports that these foods don’t cause diverticulitis.  

 

3. A calorie is a calorie.  

If I could get this belief to die, I would be a happy provider. “If you want to lose weight, eat less the 1400 calories a day” was the mantra they taught me. It didn’t matter where those calories came from. No one seemed to understand different foods cause totally different hormonal responses. For example, 100 calories from vegetables/ protein cause leptin release, curbing hunger and decreasing fat deposition. Sugar does just the opposite. You release ghrelin, which increases appetite, and fat deposition because of the insulin spike. Also, your genetics are a factor in determining which calories are best for you. For some people, monounsaturated fats like avocado cause weight loss, whereas saturated fat like coconut oil causes weight gain. You need to understand your genetics if you are going to understand why a calorie is just not a calorie. Even without your genetics, you can make your calories go a lot further by choosing to eat whole foods.

 

4. What you eat is irrelevant to your health. 

When I left med school, the knowledge about the GI tract’s role in our immunity was in its infancy. That it is associated with diseases like arthritis, depression, anxiety, asthma, allergies, and so on was not being taught. Our diet has everything to do with our body’s “random” actions. If you have a medical issue, the diet is the first thing to change.  Over 90% of our immune system activation occurs in the small intestine, and an overactive immune system drives all the diseases listed above and many more. It makes sense to start here. You’ll usually see amazing results if you remove the most inflammatory foods like sugar, gluten, and dairy.

 

 5. Vitamins make expensive urine. 

This is a saying in medicine that is as old as the hills. I still hear it often, and the literature doesn’t support it. Here is an example of why this is not true-90% of us are deficient in choline and need supplementation. 

Here is a list of things choline does for us: 

  • Unborn children have improved stress resiliency and improved cognition 
  • It prevents fatty liver disease
  • improves mentation and helps fight memory loss. 

Surprise! It’s not expensive at all and definitely does not go into your urine. There are countless minerals like magnesium, vitamins like zinc and vitamin D3, and supplements like curcumin, resveratrol, and omega 3’s, to name a few where research shows supplementation makes a huge difference. Now absorption matters here, and the quality of the supplements determines bioavailability, but this is complete crap that “vitamins make expensive urine.” 

I’m glad for all these myths now. Having believed them and then finding out they weren’t true, I assume nothing and research everything now. 

Five Ways to Take Control of High Blood Sugar

Five Ways to Take Control of High Blood Sugar

Did you know diabetes and cancer are diseases of ‘too much energy’? Yes, we need to make energy to live. But when that energy production yields excess waste products and we cannot remove them, it causes trouble. Every engine, (in this case, cell mitochondria) produces waste. But, if we are eating lots of antioxidants, like berries, fish, and vegetables, exercising, and getting enough sleep then this should not be an issue. When waste products accumulate, they cause inflammation, and the body reacts by leaving the blood sugar high. So, elevated blood sugar is a sign the body is not running efficiently.

Elevated blood sugar is a symptom, and not a cause of disease. Research does not support the notion these diseases are inherent, so when you make good lifestyle choices, you take control of your health destiny.

Here are five basic things you can do to cool down the inflammation and improve your cellular health:

  1. Avoid simple sugars. Men should eat only 35 grams a day and women only 25 grams. The average American consumes 3-5 times this amount.
  2. Exercise- even 15 mins a day of walking helps improve antioxidant status and lowers blood sugars. A little goes a long way.
  3. Eat high antioxidant foods- “A higher intake of fruit, especially berries, and green leafy vegetables, yellow vegetables, cruciferous vegetables or their fiber is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.”
  4. Lower your blood sugar with supplements like magnesium and berberine. There is a new Berberine with In-Sea2 that slows the absorption of sugars, lowers blood sugar, and helps with weight loss.
  5. Support your mitochondria. Taking antioxidants like resveratrol, Co-Q 10, and Liposomal Glutathione, are helpful. Add a good multi like PureGenomics Multivitamin to be sure you have enough Bs on board.

Follow these tips to jack up your antioxidant status, lower your inflammatory responses, and get great sleep to keep the garbage going out to the curb. Your mitochondria will thank you!