Sugar Sugar

I sing that song every single time I walk by a Hostess display. It’s true! My affection for the Hostess Twinkie sometimes frightens me. I don’t want to scare anyone, but I get jealous when other people even look at the Hostess display.

November 16th, 2012 was probably the lowest point in my life. That was the day Hostess asked a Federal Bankruptcy Court for permission to close its operations. Have you ever heard the song “American Pie” by Don McLean? The song was apocalyptic. It was a gloomy picture of the future that I thought would never happen, but I knew I was out of luck…..the day the music died.

Thank God for Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management who bought up Twinkies and the other wonderful Hostess snacks for $410 million dollars. What a bargain! If I would have known the right to manufacture the greatest foods of all time would have sold for pennies I would have mortgaged the house.

To be completely honest with you it’s not just Hostess! I LOVE SUGAR. Love it! Honestly, I like any food that is bad for you. You might easily become addicted to asparagus spears. I easily become addicted to candy cigarettes.

According to eatthis.com Oreo cookies are the 3rd-most-addicting food. The least-addicting food, ironically, was cucumbers. I was kind of shocked when I uncovered that fact as I have a hard time putting down the cucumber. [i] [ii]

And sugar is 8 times more addicting than cocaine and heroin! 94% of lab rats allowed to choose between sugar water and cocaine CHOSE SUGAR! I never have liked Chucky Cheese. He is the fattest, most disease-ridden rat in the history of the world and 3 years ago after attending a birthday party I came down with Bubonic plague.

You know what the most addicting food is? Pizza! Coincidentally, a half-cup of Prego red sauce has the same amount of sugar as 2 Oreo cookies. [iii]

Sugar and other food additives hijack our brain causing it to release large amounts of dopamine. When you eat sugar your brain’s neurons release a large amount of dopamine in your brain’s pleasure center. Think of it like this…you eat sugar, it’s like having James Brown dance and sing “I feel good” inside your brain. Conversely, when you eat cucumbers it’s like watching Al Gore kiss Tipper Gore again (that visual just made me never to want to eat another cucumber).

The problem with James Brown dancing in your brain is, in order to get the same feeling, he has to keep dancing. What used to be a small 30-second dance has transformed into a 30-minute dance off with Emmanuel Lewis. Addictive drugs cause the same release of dopamine and that’s the main reason why they are addicting.

#1 REASON SUGAR IS BAD; IT’S ADDICTIVE!
The year was 1980. Tom Selleck’s mustache took center stage as Magnum P.I. debuted on CBS. Ironically, at the same time, Olivia Newton John’s song “Magic” spent 4 weeks at the number-one position on Billboard’s Hot 100. I don’t think I need to make the connection. I think everyone knows Selleck’s mustache is magic.

But in other news, in the 1970s, the U.S. instituted a tariff on imported sugarcane causing the prices to increase. A few years later (due to the corn subsidy) corn prices plummeted making corn much cheaper than sugarcane.

So, back to 1980. While broom manufacturers were busy trying to find a way to harvest Tom Selleck’s mustache, Coca-Cola started using high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar (it started as a blend 50% sugar and 50% high-fructose corn syrup). [iv][v]

So what is the problem with high-fructose corn syrup? Let’s just talk about corn for a minute. It’s used to fatten pigs and cattle for slaughter! In the 1960’s cattle were skinny and the cattle ranchers realized if they fed the cattle more corn and injected massive amounts of antibiotics, the cows gained weight. Then, in 1975, cattle ranchers started cross-breeding our American calves with European breeds. This substantially increased the calf weaning weight. That’s right! The FAT EUROPEAN COWS were crossbred with our lean, muscular cows. The people of Europe (mainly the French, but let’s face it, they’re irrelevant) have stereotyped us and said we are a country full of fat people. Well you’re a continent full of fat cows (literally).

Since 1960, the dressed weight of a calf has gone from 656 pounds to 900. That’s a 244-pound difference. On a side note, when I put on a leather coat I consider it “getting dressed”. When we take the leather coat off of a cow, we call it dressing the calf. That’s cruel irony. [vi][vii] [viii]

Point one: If corn is the staple of your diet, and you frequently enjoy rounds of prescribed antibiotics, and you continue down that path you will probably gain a large amount of fat.

The only way to lose fat is to eat less calories than you burn. The ONLY WAY FOR you to maintain your current weight or lose weight in the long term is to NOT BE HUNGRY. If you’re a client of mine you have probably heard me say this more than once. “I can resist anything except temptation! If I don’t stay full and eat every 3 hours I am eventually going to Burger King.”

I believe most people are just like me, and statistics say that I am right because 2 out of 3 adults are considered overweight or obese.[ix] Why? Because we are NEVER FULL, but guess what? It’s not all our fault!

There are two hormones our brain uses to control appetite: Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone. It signals your brain to say “feed me” (easy way to remember this is when you’re hungry your stomach starts GROWLING). Leptin is the “satiety hormone”. When it’s released it says, “Please don’t feed me! I am stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey!”

The problem with high-fructose corn syrup is, it causes metabolic syndrome – a condition that creates insulin and Leptin resistance. When you are leptin-resistant, your brain never gets the message that you are full, and you keep eating! Sugar in general, and high-fructose corn syrup in particular, flip a switch that causes you to be an efficient fat-gaining machine. It’s a switch that should only take place when you are starving; but, in the case of high-fructose corn syrup, it happens every time you eat a product containing it.
This is a dream for a food manufacturer! Not only does it have the same addicting qualities of sugar (8 times more addicting than cocaine), but it also causes you to overeat because it takes away the stop switch (Leptin). The food industry doesn’t care if you are fat and full of disease – they want your money! And if it tastes good AND it’s addicting AND it doesn’t make you full, they know you will keep eating!

#2 REASON SUGAR (HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP IN THIS CASE) IS BAD FOR YOU; IT NEVER MAKES YOU FULL!
Here is my wish list: I want a 10,000-square-foot mansion in the middle of 4,000 acres, a fully-stocked, 100-acre lake, a barn full of Arabian horses and a garage full of exotic sports cars. I want motion-activated lighting on the outside of every door of my house (and not the automatic kind). I want someone stationed at the light switch at all times. If something walks by, they turn on the light, When they are out of sight, they turn the light back off. I want to buy all this and have 18 full-time employees (manning all the doors) for a one-time fee of $17.

Trying to get in shape and eating what we call “normal food” is about as likely as me getting everything on my wish list for $17 dollars. You know this, but I will explain why.

I have been a trainer for 98 years and I can tell you this…the biggest obstacle for me to overcome with my clients is FOOD! I hear this all the time – “I just don’t want to deprive myself. You got to have balance. Can’t I just have one Oreo cookie?” You show me someone who likes Oreo cookies and can just eat one and I will show you the unicorn I have been hiding in my basement.

So we have already established the fact that sugar and Oreos are addicting, but I said something about $17 earlier and now I am going to clear that up. Calories are your bank. The fat on your stomach (actually, all fat storage on your body) that overlaps your Beechnut belt buckle is your body’s equivalent to The Federal Reserve (a large place to store money). And something called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is your body’s currency for energy. It’s the equivalent of the 24 dollar bills you have in your wallet….by the way, why do you have so many one-dollar bills? [x] Anyway, you’re 84 years old…I am not going to judge your side job.

Your body is a machine made up of tiny cells and ATP (your body’s energy currency) is its most widely distributed high-energy compound. It’s used to build complex molecules, contract muscles and generate electricity in nerves. Without it you don’t move!

Unfortunately, for most people in the United States, a major heist has taken place and someone (or something) has stolen all your wealth. This could go one of two different ways. I will stick with nutrition. ATP (C10H16N5O13P3 ) contains 3 phosphorus molecules. And high-fructose corn syrup soaks up two of those molecules when it is being digested and is effectively stealing your body’s currency for energy.
Some people think that obese people are lazy. This is not the case! When they say they have no energy, they are not lying! It has literally been stolen from them.

NUMBER #3 REASON SUGAR (HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP) IS BAD FOR YOU: IT STEALS YOUR ENERGY!
Your body is comprised of 6 basic things: muscle, FAT, water, bone, organ tissue, and urine/vinegar combo (I won’t say the cuss word). We have been told over and over and over again if we burn the calories we bring in we will lose weight. Calories in vs. calories out – it’s the law of thermodynamics! If you burn more calories than you bring in, you will lose weight! It’s how the Fitbit works and everyone knows that if you own a Fitbit you need nothing else. I think the Fitbit will not only completely eradicate the obesity epidemic but it will also stop international terrorism, end world poverty and provide fresh water to everyone on the planet.

If you consume 2,000 calories and you burn 2,000 calories you will not gain weight. Most people can agree with this. However your body’s most effective tool to burn body fat is muscle. Unfortunately, when you go on a normal diet, you can expect 30% of the weight you lose to be muscle. If a 160-pound woman with 31% body fat were to go on a normal diet and lose 25 pounds, 7.5 pounds of it would be muscle mass. In doing so she would burn 75-135 calories less per day than she would have if she would have maintained her muscle mass. That may not sound like a lot, but over the course of 365 days, it’s the equivalent of 7.82- 13.29% of energy you no longer burn, which will then be deposited onto your body as fat!

That’s just the first part of this awful scenario! According to the USDA, carbohydrates shouldn’t be something we should limit. They recommend 45-65% of our diet should be comprised of them. If you decide to follow these guidelines as a lifestyle you will eventually make a good Santa Claus.

We discussed that all body weight is not the same. If you go on a “diet” (I prefer a dietary lifestyle change), you want to maintain all body weight other that fat. So…what regulates fat accumulation?
Answer: INSULIN.

If insulin levels are high, we accumulate fat in our “problem areas”. When insulin levels normalize, we provide freedom for the fat that was taken hostage and we burn it as fuel. This is not a controversial opinion, it is a FACT.

Insulin levels are determined by one thing. The carbohydrates we eat. As a general rule the sweeter the carb the easier it is for us to digest it (but all carbs make insulin rise), and the more insulin our pancreas will secrete to then deal with the sugar. When insulin levels are high, the food you eat is stored as fat. Once again, this is a FACT.

If I burn more calories than I consume, I will lose weight, right? Yes, but when you eat fat and protein, your body digests them slowly. This allows you to use the calories you eat as fuel before they are stored as fat (if you don’t overeat). When you eat carbs, this is not the case (again the sweeter the carb. the faster the digestion). They are so quickly digested that your body almost instantly goes into fat storage mode.

Once carbs are stored as fat on your person, your body doesn’t want to get rid of it and it fights you tooth and nail. Think about your body this way. We are going to pretend for a moment that your two main sources of transportation are an Arabian Stallion and a Shetland Pony. You’re in a financial pinch and there isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. You have $2 a day to spend on horse feed. The Arabian costs $17 a day to feed versus the Shetland at $2. So which one do you sell? The Arabian! Your body does the same thing with it’s energy currency. Muscle is expensive and burns 6-10 resting calories per day, per pound (some studies say as high as 17), while fat burns 1-4…and it’s always at rest.

When carbs are stored as fat and you are on a calorie-restricted diet, you will lose weight, but it won’t be the weight you want. And if you follow the USDA recommendation that 65% of your calories come from carbs, your weight will gradually creep back up to what it was before you went on the diet.

#4 REASON SUGAR IS BAD FOR YOU: IT SPIKES INSULIN LEVELS MAKING YOU A FAT STORING MACHINE.

LET’S RECAP…SUGAR MAKES YOU FAT!

Fat makes you full, Carbs make you crave and Protein makes you perfect.

Thanks for reading,

Don

P.S. While writing this blog I ate every snack cake featured in the video. On the final day of writing, I had 3 Cherry Cokes and a whole box of Fruity Pebbles. BECAUSE SUGAR IS ADDICTING!!!!!!!! It’s not what you do every now and then that makes a difference, it’s what you do all the time. If I continued down that path I would gain back all the weight I lost, plus more!

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[i][i] http://www.eatthis.com/the-worlds-8-most-addictive-foods
[ii] https://authoritynutrition.com/18-most-addictive-foods/
[iii] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/16/junk-food_n_4043980.html
[iv] http://cosmos.ucdavis.edu/archives/2012/cluster7/Morse_Ali.pdf
[v]http://earthsky.org/human-world/a-brief-history-of-high-fructose-corn-syrup
[vi] https://www.quora.com/Farming-Why-are-most-cows-fed-corn-instead-of-grass
[vii] http://www.agwatchnetwork.com/cattle-weights-continue-to-increase-at-impressive-rates/
[viii] http://beefmagazine.com/genetics/0201-increased-beef-cows
[ix] http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/Pages/overweight-obesity-statistics.aspx
[x] http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/articles/36/36_1/atp.html