Sugar: Fructose Part 1/5

As a forewarning, this is going to be a very long multi-part series of posts. Sugar is very problematic and can not be explained in just one entry. In short, here are some of the issues I will be discussing about sugar:

-Sugar promotes fatty liver disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

-Sugar directly causes elevated triglycerides, which are a major contributor to heart disease.

-Sugar causes high levels of oxidation/glycation.

-Sugar has a unique ability to promote cancer cell growth.
-Sugar in fruits and why fruits are not as healthy as you think.

-Sugar causes elevated uric acid levels which lead to gout.

-Sugar alternatives

Over the course of the following posts I will discuss each of these issues individually.

Let's start with explaining what sugar is and why it is different than other carbohydrates. Although technically all simple carbohydrates are sugars, when I talk about sugar, I'm referring to the monosaccharride Fructose and molecules that contain it, such as sucrose which is a disaccharide made up of glucose and fructose. Sucrose is the common white sugar that everybody knows and loves.

Unlike other carbohydrates, fructose follows a different metabolic pathway in the body. Fructose is metabolized by the liver only. When you eat fructose, the liver stops everything and just works on processing this fructose. Over time, too much of this causes cirrhosis and fatty liver disease that looks remarkably similar to the effects of alcoholism.

In your liver, fructose is initially converted into glycogen, which is your bodies preferred way of storing carbohydrates. But, the liver can only hold a certain amount, usually around 100 grams or so. Once the liver is full it has to start making fructose into triglycerides and palmitic acid, which is a fat that will eventually be stored in the body. Some of these lipids (palmitic acid and triglycerides) are stored in the liver which is what makes it fat; hence, fatty liver disease. This condition, causes the liver to become insulin resistant because it can't hold anymore glucose. In fact, it starts leaking out glucose into your blood. Once this happens, your pancreas has to produce more insulin to prevent your blood sugar from getting too high and now you have chronically elevated insulin and you're on the road to type 2 diabetes. Vegetable oils also play a major role in this process, and there's some evidence that healthy saturated fat can help prevent this. Which I will talk about in a later post.

The long term effects of too much sugar

All of this, is your plane ticket to metabolic syndrome; a collection of related health problems that includes diabetes, obesity and ultimately heart disease. I want you to really look at the Standard American Diet. (S.A.D.) <----The acronym says it all. Sugar is in everything. Soda, the normal latte coffee every morning, cake, ice cream, TV dinners and pre-made foods, breakfast cereals, fast food, pastries, candy bars, those small packages of nerds, gummie bears and skittles people pop in their mouth like nothing, and even the supposed healthy foods, like fruit smoothies and yogurt. A large Jamba juice can have over 100 grams of sugar. How much did I say the liver can hold again? 100? Talk about a massive overload of sugar. The juice alone is enough as it is, and that's just one smoothie. I highly doubt that would be the only sugar you ate that day. And by the way, if you think the antioxidants in fruits are going to help you, think again. More about this in a later entry.

Try going without sugar for a week, and you'll start to realize how hard it is to avoid. And actually read the ingredients on everything, don't just assume it doesn't have sugar; the food industry loves to hide sugar in everything to make it taste better. It's insane how much sugar you can eat in a day without even realizing it.

I'm sick of hearing “Low carb is bad” ...Are you kidding me? You have no idea how important a low carb diet is for real health, not just weight loss. That's just what happens when you stop sabotaging your body and give it a chance to repair itself for once. An improvement in body composition is an indirect effect of your body finally working as intended. Low carb diets are not a gimmick or a crash diet. It's the way we were meant to eat to be healthy, and the way we did eat for hundreds of thousands of years.    

The Do's and Don'ts for Wheat-free Gluten-free Alternatives

It might seem like eliminating wheat means giving up everything you love. That may be true, depending on how addicted you are to french bread :) But for many things, there are alternatives that will satisfy those cravings. You shouldn't rely on these foods to be your main meal; they're healthier than wheat, but they're still not ideal. But It might help you stick to a gluten free diet, however, if you know that there's alternatives out there for special occasions.

White rice noodles are traditional for some Asian foods, but they also make great macaroni and cheese, casseroles, fettuccine Alfredo, and virtually anything you could make with pasta. Shirataki noodles is also a great alternative. They go by other names such as "Konnyaku" or "Yam" noodles.  They are like 97% water and the rest is fiber. They are low carb, have barely any calories and are great for stir fries and soups.  Please make sure the ones you buy do not have tofu in them; a lot of them do. 

As far as flour goes, rice flour mixed with other starches (potato starch, tapioca starch, corn starch) can replace wheat flour in most foods but not everything. There's no way to make french bread without gluten, but you can still make great pancakes, cookies, waffles, cakes, muffins and rice flour tortillas. Coconut flour is also an option. You can't substitute it directly for wheat flour, because it behaves much differently, but it is possible to use coconut flour to make cakes and other baked goods.

 Many natural food stores carry a selection of pre-made gluten free products. Although I do not recommend making these foods a big part of your diet, they can be a nice treat every now and then for those of you who are not diabetic. Unfortunately for those who are already diabetic, it is best to avoid such things completely until your metabolism repairs itself.

As you can see, I didn't mention many alternatives. Rice flour and white rice noodles, shirataki noodles, coconut flour, and various other vegetable starches pretty much cover the grounds. Although there are more alternatives, such as flours made from beans, soybeans and other non-gluten grains, ie. millet and sorghum, I would not recommend eating them. 

Reasons to Avoid these Alternatives

Beans: I feel like such a traitor for saying this, considering I was raised off beans my whole life. Deep down I want to believe beans aren't bad, or that there's something redeeming about them; some reason to justify eating them at all, but there's none. The truth is, beans are horrible. The so called high fiber, and complex carbohydrates that people are always raving about, is just a reflection of the fact that you can barely digest beans at all. Everyone knows beans have a reputation for giving you gas, but why is that? It's because they're practically indigestible. They're getting fermented (eaten by bacteria) in your lower intestine. That means they're not being broken down by your digestion at all. And these so called vitamins and minerals are not likely to be absorbed very well, due to all the lectins and phytic acid (anti-nutrients) sucking them up, making them completely unusable by your body.

And then there's the protein. The protein is not only incomplete, it's very low in bio-availability. That means, how usable that protein is by your body. Your body probably absorbs less than 50% of it. Big surprise people! Protein from animal products is exactly what your body wants, because after all, we are animals. Are you a bean? Or are you an animal? I owe a lot to beans through my life, but the truth is, that they are a 3^rd world country food, with no redeeming quality other than being very cheap and storing well in your pantry. Watch out for garbanzo, fava and soybean flours in gluten free products. And more so soybean flours. On top of the problems that all beans share, soybeans have unique goitrogenic properties. The phytoestrogens in soybeans can suppress thyroid function and cause other problems as well. Please, stay clear of these flours and beans. They do more harm then good.

Millet: Millet is one of the most eaten foods in the whole world. It's a staple food in much of Africa and parts of Asia, and is used in a variety of gluten free products. Other than the lectins (antri-nutrients) in them, millet is very goitrogenic. It blocks up iodine to your thyroid and causes goiter. Countries such as Japan, have high thyroid problems, due to all the soy products. These foods must be avoided in order to be healthy. You do not want this. 

Brown Rice: It's kind of funny how brown rice is advertised as a healthy food alternative. People say the bran of the rice is where all the good stuff is; well it's also where all the bad stuff is. This also includes lectins and phytic acid, which is the reason you aren't getting the benefit of the vitamins. When choosing gluten free alternatives, please stay away from brown rice flour and noodles. They will only leach the minerals from your body. Stick to white rice; white rice is neutral. Not bad , but not extremely beneficial either.

Reminder: ALWAYS CHECK THE INGREDIENTS! Some gluten free products sneak vegetable oils in them, so BE CAREFUL! :)  

Good Fats/ Bad Fats

Before I do this section, I want to talk briefly about Omega-6 and Omega-3 fats. As we both know, Omega-6 and Omega-3's are essential fatty acids, that we need in order to survive. They are important precursors that affect a ton of things in our body, and it's important to have a balance of them, in order to maintain healthy function and flow in our bodies. In the typical American diet, there is wayyy too much Omega-6 and very little Omega 3. An imbalance of too much Omega-6 can contribute to inflammation, lipid peroxidation and heart disease, due to Omega-6's ability to promote blood clotting.

So it's important to choose fats that A: have a balance ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 and B: To have a low percentage of polyunsaturated fat percentage in general. For reasons that are too complicated to explain right here, it's better to balance them at a low level than to balance them at a high level. You're better off having less of both. To know more, visit http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search?q=eicosanoid    He goes into great detail and has a great series. Scroll down to Eicosanoids and Ischemic Heart Disease. Infact, read all his blogs. He explains things really well. 

The Best Fats to Eat! Saturated fat!

#1 Butter/Cream: Butter has an almost perfect balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio and also is a good source of vitamins including some that are rare, such as vitamin K-2. Butter is also a good source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is believed to have anti-cancer properties and other benefits. Please note that, butter from cows that are allowed to graze on fresh grass has more of everything I've mentioned. So it's best to get that if you can. Always aim for grass fed dairy products.

#2 Ruminant Fat: That includes, Beef, Lamb, Bison and probably any other 4 legged animal that eats grass. These in particular have a good balance of omega-6 to omega-3, as well as a very low total amount of polyunsaturated fat. They also contain CLA, and possibly other biologically valuable compounds. Similarly to dairy, animal fat contains more nutrients when it comes from grass fed animals. So again, aim for free ranged, grass fed animals as much as possible.

#3 Egg Yolk: The fats in egg yolks are amazing. Provided that the eggs come from chickens that get to run around outdoors in the grass to eat whatever they can find. Chickens are not vegetarians, and they shouldn't be fed like one. Also, don't be fooled by labels that say free ranged, cage free or organic. These are mostly marketing gimmicks. None of these things mean that the eggs are healthier. Look into the farm the eggs are coming from to really find out. If you can't afford real pastured chicken eggs, at least get the kind that are fortified with omega-3. These eggs have a good balance of essential fats, and a ton of important fat soluble nutrients.

#4 Coconut: In general you will want to avoid any plant fats, because they are typically inferior. However, coconut oil has a number of advantages. It is highly saturated and very low in polyunsaturated fats; it contains lauric acid, which is a fatty acid also found in breast milk which is believed to strengthen the immune system; it contains medium-chain triglycerides that pretty much turn into energy right away and don't get stored as fat; there are so many good things about coconut oil that several authors have written entire books about it. Coconut oil is a great alternative.

#5 Lard/Duck Fat: Lard coming from Pigs and ducks do not have the greatest ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 as compared to larger ruminants such as cows, but it's still vastly better than most fats out there. They have a pretty good saturated/monounsaturated fat ratio. Their fatty acid composition is very similar to olive oil. I wouldn't make it my main fat everyday, but you shouldn't stress about it either. If lard is the worst fat in your diet, then you're doing great. I would also like to mention chicken fat in this section. I do not recommend eating much chicken fat at all. Chicken has a lot of omega-6, so I'd try to avoid it as much as possible. Unless it's from chickens that really spend their time in grassy pastures, but that's going to be really expensive. I'd avoid it, except on a special occasion.  

#6 Palm kernel oil: Palm kernel oil is similar to coconut oil. It has great saturated fat content, low polyunsaturates and a lot of benefits. Do keep in mind, Palm oil is different then Palm kernel oil. Palm oil, the red one in particular is a good source of vitamin E, and is mostly saturated fat, but not as good as Palm kernel oil. I would not make this my primary fat, but it is still a good alternative.

Bad fats to avoid completely. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Soybean oil

Corn oil

Cottonseed oil

Sunflower oil

safflower oil

rapeseed/Canola oil

peanut oil
Trans Fat/Partially Hydrogenated Oils

These oils are the ones you will see in 99% of food items. They are not food, do not eat them under any circumstances if you want to be healthy. If you buy any prepared foods, be sure to read the labels and don't ever just assume it's okay to eat.  It would be wise to get into the habit of checking the ingredients in foods before you buy them.  Your health is important, don't be fooled by things that say “All Natural” or even things that are “100% Organic”. There's even such a thing as organic soybean oil, and that's still bad. DO NOT buy into the marketing to make yourself feel better. Take a second to read the actual ingredients, your health depends on it.  

One last thing I would like to mention about these 2 oils specifically.

Olive oil- It's highly over-rated. Saturated fat is always going to be better. But if you love the taste of olive oil, I would recommend to only use it for flavor. Olive oil is mostly monounsaturated fat, so frying with it is not a good idea. It also has more omega-6, so unless you're using it for flavor, I wouldn't bother with it. 

Canola oil – Canola oil is often recommended by nutritionists because it is high in monounsaturated fat, like olive oil, and also contains a good ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fat, at first glance. However, in reality, canola oil is so processed and refined that virtually all of its high polyunsaturated fat content will be oxidized or transformed into evil trans-fat before it even gets to the store! The seemingly good amount of Omega-3 is misleading because you'll never get the benefit of any of it. All you will get is a bunch of nasty, unstable oxidized lipids. Stay away from canola oil and eat real food, instead.


Extra Extra!!

Me and my husband were walking through PCC Market, and we stumbled across their news letter. On the front page, it read "The truth about fats."  I can honestly say, I didn't pay much attention to it; I just kept on walking. At this point, I'm sick of reading false information the media tells everyone.  But my husband grabbed it, skimmed through it, smiled at me and said "They actually got it right this time"  So I grabbed the paper, read it and was so excited to finally read something backing up what I've been saying for so long.  And the fact that it was by an actual nutritionist made me even more excited; most nutritionists you see say the same thing, "Saturated fat is bad." I've lost all hope in them until I read this article. I'm pleased to say I found it online for you all to read.  It was written by Cherie Calbom, who has a masters in nutritional science.  &lt;3!!! http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/1010/sc1010-fats.html