I was glad to watch this on Dr Oz a few days ago.  I have been trying to consume less sugar and saturated fat.  I think if we focus on basic things like this one at a time, our health will greatly improve.  It's nice to have another source for ideas of how to do this!   I think our country's addiction to sugar is a serious public health issue.

Sugar and saturated fats can sabotage your diet by changing your brain chemistry. Eating too much Sugar and fat blocks the fullness trigger in our brain, so we're still hungry and eat more. Dr. Oz has an easy 3-step plan, and 28-day sugar detox to break your addiction to sugar and fat. Click here to take the 28-day sugar detox.

The Health Risks of Sugar 

1. High Blood Pressure - Normal nitric oxide levels keep blood vessels healthy and open. Too much sugar in your diet decreases nitric oxide levels, causing blood vessels to become narrow, which causes high blood pressure and an increased risk for cardiac disease.

2. High Cholesterol - People who consume too much sugar are more likely to have lower levels of HDL, or good cholesterol, higher levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, and higher levels of triglycerides, or blood fats. This clogs up arteries and blood vessels, leading to heart disease.

3. Liver Disease - A diet high in sugar is believed to exacerbate fatty liver disease. Too much sugar spikes insulin and drives fat into the liver cells, which causes inflammation and scarring, eventually causing the liver to become cirrhotic.

4. Insulin Resistance - When sugar enters the body, insulin opens the door to allow sugar into the cells. However, when there are continuous sugar spikes, insulin becomes less effective. Sugar can’t get into the cells and become “stuck” in the body, producing toxic effects that lead to obesity and the threat of diabetes.

The Benefits of Breaking Your Sugar Addiction (from recovering from sugar addiction on the Dr Oz Show)
Besides the obvious long term benefits of markedly lowering the risk of diabetes, hypertension, stroke and heart attacks -- the major killers of modern life -- cutting sugar intake will help many other conditions. These include:

• Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia
• Anxiety and depression
• Pain of many kinds
• Decreased immune function (a 12 ounce can of soda can drop immune function by 30% for three hours!)
• Chronic sinusitis
• Irritable bowel syndrome and spastic colon
• Autoimmune disease
• Cancer
• Metabolic syndrome with high cholesterol and hypertension
• Heart disease
• Hormonal problems
• Schizophrenia
• Candida and yeast infections
• ADHD

It also helps boosts metabolism so that people can finally lose weight as well! The real culprit is according to Doctor Lustig, the fructose in the sugar.  After watching this lecture "Sugar The Bitter Truth" by doctor Lustig UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology below you will want to detox from sugar.  I highly recommend watching this lecture.  It is very informative and not at all boring.  You will need motivation to take on this detox and if this lecture doesn't motivate you I don't know what will.  Over one and a half million people have viewed this lecture because it is that good. It is an hour and half so you'll want to set aside some time to watch it.  He explains why we are so fat in America.  It's more than just will power or genetics, it's our culture and environment.  It's more than calories in and calories out or diet and exercise.  He believes it is instead due to our lack of our body telling us we are full.  What caused this?  He argues an increase in carbohydrates (sugar).   




Click on the Link below to watch a video of part 1 to the Dr Oz Sugar Detox series:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/sugar-fat-break-addiction-pt-1

What Am I Doing to Reduce My Sugar Intake? 

I have been looking at labels in a new way and I propose you do the same.  I look at labels and count sugar as fat (since sugar turns to fat).  For example if a can of pop has 32 grams of sugar, would you still drink it if it was 32 grams of fat?  Would you still buy it?  This has helped me and I hope it helps you too.  

I also have been using stevia as a substitute for sugar in my coffee.  Stevia comes from a plant, it is a 100% natural.  I am even growing a stevia plant myself and yes the leaves do taste sweet.  DO NOT SUBSITUTE SUGAR WITH UNNATURAL SWEETNERS.  they are sooooo........ dangerous.  They are all chemicals that were discovered while reseraching pesticides,  mmmm...yum.  I strongly believe you should not ever mistake chemicals for food.  You should only eat real food.  So if you can't grow it, don't eat it.  It's that simple.  

I have found that highly sweet foods are actually gross to me now after having significantly reducing my sugar intake for almost a year.  I can't even drink a full can of pop, halfway through it quickly goes from good to bad.  So it actually is not hard to maintain once your taste buds adjust.  After a while you won't miss it you won't even be able to have to much of it.  Good luck with all your detoxes.  I'd love to hear what your thoughts or experiences have been.

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