Photo: Science Daily
We’ve become a nation of addicts. There are the less harmful compulsions, like that morning cup of Joe you just can’t live without, and more insidious ones like our heads down checking of texts, emails and social posts every 1.1386 seconds or so. We also need to hold up our hands and admit that collectively we have a prescription painkiller problem. But it’s arguable that the most pervasive addiction is to a seemingly innocuous substance found at every grocery store, in every refrigerator and pantry and at most restaurants: sugar. While the immediate effects aren’t always obvious, sugar, “causes pleasure with a price to pay that…is paid in full only years or decades later,” according to Gary Taubes in The Case Against Sugar. In other words, we’re mortgaging our long term health for short term sugar highs.
In recent weeks, Starbucks has come under fire for offering a new, brightly colored drink that contains 76 grams of sugar – almost 1.5 times as much as FDA guidelines say an adult should consume in a day and a heck of a lot more than experts on metabolic diseases recommend (closer to 15 or 20 grams a day). Every gas station and fast food joint out there offers similar, or even worse options, in cups that seem like they weren’t made for mortal mitts and would only fit in the hands of The Mountain from Game of Thrones. And it’s not just drinkable sugar that’s an issue, of course, but also all the high- sugar foods we stock up for parties, family gatherings or even, to combine sloth with sugar, watching hours of sports on TV.
Sadly, our kids are getting started on sugar at a very young age, with schools, churches and all too many parents creating food-related reward systems and handing out sugary treats like, well, candy. We now know that the white stuff is not the right stuff, and that it increases the incidence of cancer, heart disease and many other conditions. Plus, research suggests that sugar is as addictive as cocaine.
Cutting out all sugar is clearly unrealistic for most people. But even tapering your intake, say by 10 percent a week until you’re at 50 percent or less of your original consumption level after five weeks and then replacing these calories with good fats (coconut, avocado, etc.) and protein, can yield major benefits, including:
Your Mood Stabalizes
Ever get hangry? You know, that hunger-related, ticked-off feeling when it seems like you’re going to lose your mind if you don’t eat again immediately. That’s largely because your body has gotten used to constantly topping off your fuel tank with sugar. And getting hangry isn’t the only emotional consequence of a sugar-filled diet. As our nerves are excited by glucose, they fire faster, meaning that you’re more reactive to what’s happening around you. In contrast, when you add more ketones into the energy mix, your brain chemicals chill out a bit. Remember that the ketogenic diet was originally developed to treat seizures, which are rooted in over-activity in multiple areas of the brain. So if you want to stabilize your mood, try reducing your sugar intake and upping your consumption of protein and good fats, which your liver will turn into ketones.
Sugar Crashes Will End
When you’re primarily fueling from sugar and your liver is making glucose, it’s only supplying your body’s cells with short-lived energy. This is rapidly produced and accessed, but it’s also quickly used up. This is why you end up in a vicious cycle of putting in sugar, your body processing it and using it up leaving you needing more. The result is a peak-and-trough graph of energy highs and lows. If you reduce your sugar intake and add more fat and protein, your liver starts to fuel you more through ketogenesis, which delivers slow-burning ketones that provide more consistent energy for longer.
Photo: Youtube
Your Performance Will Improve
Ever wonder why endurance athletes stop at fueling stations every couple of miles to chug a sports drink or throw down a sugary gel? Sure, they’re burning a lot of energy, but it’s mostly because they’ve conditioned their body to take in sugar and their liver to use it to produce fast-acting glucose. At the same time, the liver’s ability to create glucose from complex carbs and ketones from fat and protein is diminishing. If an athlete can’t get the quick sugar top up, they “bonk” because they’ve exhausted their glucose supply faster than they can replenish it. In contrast, athletes who are able to fuel efficiently from either glucose or ketones can go a lot longer with less frequent top ups. This doesn’t just apply to sport, but is also true of work, studying or any other kind of cognitive performance or learning.
