sugar, refined foods, and bad oils.

Why you should stay away from them.

SUGAR, USE CAUTION
What could be sweeter than cocaine? That’s a question you may have never asked yourself.

A study in 2008 gave rats the option of highly sweetened water or a cocaine-laced beverage. The rats overwhelmingly chose the highly sweetened water. Prolonged studies in this area also showed increased weight gain in the rats alongside their new addiction to sugar.

Rat physiology is very similar to humans in that we react the same way to things as they do. This showed the young scientists just how dangerously addictive sugar can be to the human body. It overstimulates the sweet receptors in our brains. Just like any other addiction, the craving becomes nigh impossible to control thus causing addiction.

The food options given to us these days in every variety seem to be jam-packed with added sugars. This starts a bad trend that begins in your upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract. If you didn’t know, you’ve been a pet owner all your life. You’ve owned quite a few actually. 100 trillion. These ‘pets’ we’re being so playful about are known as your gut bacteria. These are living organisms in your gut. They either play nice or play foul. Over-excessive sugar consumption promotes the organisms that like to play foul.

The genesis of life-threatening illnesses begins here. These organisms playing foul promote weight gain, cancer growth, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes.

Sugar is not an essential food. Your body produces glucose on its own when sugar is needed. The best practice is to limit your sugar intake to 24-36 grams of sugar per day. Preferably from natural sources like whole fruit, organic maple syrup, or local organic honey. However, there are some alternatives out there that are promising.

RECOMMENDED SWEETENERS
Honey and maple syrup are great natural sweeteners if you are insulin-sensitive.

(Insulin sensitivity just means you require less of the insulin hormone to lower your blood sugar levels. In other words, you’re not diabetic or pre-diabetic.)

However, if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, you should avoid these until you are considered insulin-sensitive by a doctor.

That being said, there are sweeteners out there that can be used under these circumstances that will not spike your blood sugar and can even have some benefits.

• Stevia (100 times sweeter than sugar)
• Monk Fruit (can reduce inflammation)
• Erythritol (similar to sugar in taste)
• Xylitol (can reduce the risk of cavities)
• Allulose (70% as sweet as sugar)

Erythritol and Xylitol are sugar alcohols that don’t spike blood sugar but should be consumed in moderation. Stevia extract and Monk fruit extract can be enjoyed much more liberally. Allulose isn’t harmful but it can’t be digested by the body. We’re still learning about allulose so follow the science as we will. As of now, we recommend this sweetener as an alternative to sugar.

REFINED FOODS
Refined foods come in a wide variety but the most common property of all refined foods is the high levels of carbohydrates inside. Outside of meat and poultry, most foods have carbs. Fruits and vegetables have what’s called complex carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates are called simplex carbs.

Simple carbs have been stripped of nutrients and digest very quickly inside your body. Too quickly to be frank. Before you know it, you are eating again and repeating a process of overstimulating the hormones leptin and ghrelin. Leptin suppresses or limits food intake and ghrelin initiates (hunger) food intake.

Have you ever eaten a bowl of cereal and immediately upon finishing you are back in the kitchen pouring another bowl? This has been all of us at one point. Before you know it you are 3 bowls in before your ghrelin hormone is satisfied and tells you you aren’t hungry anymore.

Your leptin hormone should have told you it was enough after the first bowl but the blissful taste and lack of fullness kept you eating more. This is the scenario the act of overconsuming refined foods puts us through. Over time our bodies can’t keep up. Our gut bacteria deteriorate. Our metabolic rate declines. Our bodies simply begin to break down until we decide to make a change.

HEALTHY OPTIONS
Are there healthy options within the aisles that harbor all those refined foods? Of course, there are. The best way to locate these items is to use a loose label rule. If it has 1 ingredient, eat it. If it has 5 or fewer ingredients, you can probably eat it but question it. If it has 5 or more, reserve it for special occasions only. Stay away from added sugars and at the very least understand what every ingredient is capable of good or bad.

Examples of healthy options inside the aisles:

• Shredded Wheat Cereal (High fiber; lowers bad cholesterol)
• Sour Dough Bread (Fermented and great for your gut)
• Steel Cut Oatmeal (Digests at a natural rate, great fiber)
• Canned Beans (High in fiber)
• Canned Wild Fish (Great source of vitamin D)

Remember when you add things to these foods, (i.e. processed meats, mayonnaise, milk, sweeteners, etc.) You can potentially degrade their health benefits. Be creative by using nut butter, real whole fruit, and condiments with natural ingredients.

SEED OILS
We as humans have been cooking with fat (oils) for thousands of years. Tallow from beef, lard from pork, and churned butter. Vegetable oil or…seed oil is only a recent invention.

Take and pluck the cotton from a cotton stem. You’ll notice a waste product, cotton seeds. Agrarian businessmen of the 19th century noticed that when pressed, these seeds produced an oily substance. This oil was used for lanterns and machine greasers. As technology and business progressed the oil extraction was made easier and more streamlined. Naturally, the question arose, “Could this be consumed by humans?”. The prospect of wealth urged a resounding yes to that question.

Crisco was invented. It looked like lard and it tasted just as good. Most importantly, it was much cheaper to produce. A process made to crystallize the cotton seed oil gave it a look that the people of the time were used to. White, creamy, and delicious. It became a sensation almost instantly.

A year after Crisco was invented, one of the first studies that concentrated on coronary heart disease was published. Heart disease wasn’t an epidemic in the decades, even centuries prior. Correlation? We can’t make a claim like that but you are able to come to your own conclusions.

Recent studies, however, have shown links between vegetable seed oils and heart disease, inflammation, and rapid oxidation of the blood vessels. Below is a comprehensive list of seed oils to beware of purchasing.

• Canola Oil
• Corn Oil
• Cottonseed Oil
• Soy Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Safflower Oil
• Grapeseed Oil
• Rice bran Oil

UNTRUSTWORTHY LABELING
Seed oils are the cheapest oils marketed to consumers. Their labels promote a healthy heart and healthy cholesterol. This is false. They are allowed certain liberties by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to have keywords on their labels. Seed oils have omega-6 fatty acids which is an essential fatty acid. Meaning your body does need it to be heart-healthy. However, it needs to be in a 1:1 ratio with omega-3 fatty acids. Too much omega-6 promotes inflammation in the body and overtakes omega-3 fatty when out of balance. This is just one example.

Trans fats have been banned in all foods by the FDA. This is the most unhealthy fat you could possibly consume. There is a number that is allowed though and it is not 0. It is 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Food companies are allowed to say 0 trans fat so long as it is 0.5 grams per serving. So what happens when you go over that serving amount (which we all are guilty of)? You’ve guessed correctly. You consume unhealthy amounts of trans fat without any warning.

You can see the problem with these practices. These oils are rancid, cause inflammation, and contain trace amounts of trans fat that add up if you don’t stick to their recommended serving size. Look for better oil alternatives. We have some suggestions.

HEALTHY COOKING OILS

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Avocado Oil
• Coconut Oil (virgin)
• Clarified Butter (Ghee-Grass-fed)
• Butter (Grass-fed)
• Tallow
• Lard
• MCT Oil (Medium-Chain Triglyceride Oil)

Go after the best version of these oils when possible. Extra Virgin Olive Oil should be from a reliable farm, organic, and pressed once. Butter and tallow should be grass-fed. More and more stores are carrying these types of oils. Although expensive, a doctor’s bill pales in comparison to the costs of these healthy oils.