You Probably Don’t Want to Hear This…

This is probably where you are going to think that we have gone a little crazy. But, let me explain how we came to this. Dwayne is a research hound when he wants to start something new. Like, when he wanted to learn about photography, there was a solid month that I did not see my husband. He was up researching how to properly take photos. When we decided in July to do a life change, he dug in full force, watching documentaries about weight loss, looking up journal articles on how the body processes different foods, and yes, even reading books. We have a plethora of books sitting on my dresser right now on Fat, Sugar Intake, etc. He came across some research being done by Dr. Lustig out of the University of California on how sugar and fructose is digested and stored in the body. Dr. Lustig believes that the reason that, not just the United States, but all of the world is becoming obese, is because of sugar and fructose consumption. We could go on and on about it, but you need to watch this video series that the university put together. It is called “The Skinny on Obesity”. Just click here to watch it: The Skinny on Obesity This concept, along with getting the vitamins our body needs and eating the proper amount of calories per day, has been the key components to us losing weight. If I had to say one of the weight loss concepts was more important than the other, it would be our mindset on what sugar does to the body. We still eat sugar in our fruits everyday, but we try to avoid processed sugars as much as we can on a daily basis. Now, that doesn’t mean that we have given it up altogether. We have drastically dropped our sugar intake daily/weekly. Things that we completely avoid are fruit juices, sodas, sweet tea, and any processed snacks such as Little Debbie cakes, chips, cookies, and most candies. Now, I know that you must be saying, “You don’t drink sodas because you drink diet sodas because they have no sugar.” If you watch some of the videos that Dr. Lustig has done, aspartame and sucralose can have the same effects on your body as sugar. So, the best option for us, and you have to decide if it is best for you, is to avoid these drinks altogether. Since you may not have had time to watch the video yet, let me try to explain why sugar was making us fat. Your body takes the sugar and sends it to your liver. Your liver is supposed to tell your brain when your body has had enough fat and that it can burn your energy properly. The chemical that sends this signal to the brain is called Leptin. If Leptin doesn’t get to your brain, it begins to think you are starving. If your brain thinks that you are starving, it causes your body to slow down so that you will not burn energy and it will store everything that you eat. What we have found is that sugar blocks Leptin from going to your brain. Here is a brief explanation of what Leptin is: According to http://authoritynutrition.com/9-reasons-to-avoid-sugar/ “Leptin is a hormone that is secreted by our fat cells. The more fat we have, the more leptin is secreted. This is supposed to function as a signal to tell the brain that we’re full and need to stop eating. It is also supposed to raise our energy expenditure. Obese individuals actually have high levels of leptin, but the problem is that the leptin isn’t working. This is called leptin resistance and is a major reason why people eat more calories than they burn and become obese. Fructose is a known cause of leptin resistance, both because insulin blocks leptin signalling in the brain and because fructose raises blood triglycerides which also blocks the effects of leptin. This makes our brain think that the fat cells are empty and that it needs to keep eating. Willpower is very weak compared to the leptin-driven starvation signal. This is the reason people can’t just “eat less, move more” and live happily ever after. To reverse leptin resistance and make the brain WANT to eat less, sugar has to go.” So again, we are just passing along information that has helped us. You need to look into this and see if it is something that will work for you. One of the things that you need to remember is that fruit eaten in its raw form has sugar, but the fiber in the fruit counteracts the negative effects of the sugar that is inside of it. So think of it this way, sugar without fiber is bad. Sugar with fiber, as in fruit, is fine. One of the statements that Dr. Lustig makes is that you couldn’t possibly eat enough raw fruit for the sugar to have a negative effect on your weight loss. Also, remember, running fruit through a juicer removes all of the fiber. That is why we use a NutriNinja or a blender to make our smoothies. It maintains all of the raw elements of the fruit. **Keep in mind that this is for those who do not have issues with diabetes. If you are diabetic, it will be different for you. You need to consult your doctor to see what works best for you.** Ok, enough for tonight. Tomorrow is Wednesday which is very crazy for us, so it may be a day or two before our next post. Happy eating!