-- Simple Smart Nutrition

Warm Lentil, Kale & Bacon Salad

Lately I have been really liking lentils. Lentils are a power food–loaded with protein, fiber, B vitamins and iron; and the stellar health benefits of kale. And there’s bacon…

Lately I have been really enjoying lentils. Now for the die-hard Paleo/Primal folks, lentils are not on the ‘list’, but as an athlete who needs to get plenty of non-grain high quality carbs, lentils are a perfect addition. Lentils are a power food–they are loaded with protein, fiber, B vitamins and iron.

Lentils contain more folate than most any other plant food. Besides protecting your body against heart disease and inflammation by lowering dangerous homocysteine, folate is ideal for women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, as it helps prevent birth defects. And did you know that folate, combined with vitamin B6 (also in lentils) helps reduce the risk of breast cancer and other cancers.

Lentils’ high fiber makes them filling and satisfying, while keeping blood sugar low. This low calorie legume is a great dietary addition if you are trying to lose weight as well. The lentil is an easy to digest food that is helpful to those who have digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrom and diverticulosis.

Lentils contain the third highest level of protein of all legumes and nuts, so not only are they a great slow burning carbohydrate source, but they are also an excellent source of protein.

And one of the main reasons I love lentils is their steady, slow-burning energy they provide for athletes, along with the iron which helps to transport oxygen in the body. Oh, and did I mention they taste delicious?

And of course, there is the kale, which we all know is a known ‘Superfood’. A member of the cruciferous family, it has anti-cancer, fat burning properties, along with its powerful anti-oxidants, calcium and vitamin K, among other more numerous health benefits.

There’s also turmeric in this recipe too. If you don’t know about turmeric, read more here. It’s one of the most powerful, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging spices you can use.

I used black lentils in this recipe. They are a slightly smaller, firmer lentil than the more common brown lentil you see at the grocery store, although you can use either type. Brown lentils cook relatively quickly, so don’t overcook or they will become mushy.

This recipe, that I made up on the fly, turned out surprisingly good. I may have to make it again tonight!

Warm Lentil, Kale and Bacon Salad

2 slices of thick sliced, natural (nitrite/nitrate free) bacon

4-6 good sized garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup (or so) cooked black or brown lentils

1/2 bunch of kale, chopped in small pieces

sea salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

juice of 1 fresh lemon wedge, to taste

hot pepper flakes, to taste

toasted sesame seeds, optional

In a frying pan, fry bacon until medium crisp. Remove from pan and chop or break in small pieces. Set aside. Leave about 1-2 Tbsp of the bacon grease in pan, and stir and cook garlic for a few minutes, until soft. Add chopped kale, salt, drained lentils, red pepper flakes, and turmeric. Cover with lid and cook over medium to medium-low heat for a few minutes until kale is tender. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over kale, stir and serve. Enjoy! Serves 2-4.

This can be served as a side dish or as a complete meal.

Aging Better with Vitamin D

Vitamin D is very important to optimal health, and can affect everything from your immune system (one of the biggest reasons people tend to get sick in the winter) to how well you age…

Vitamin D is of primary importance to optimal health, and can affect everything from your immune system (one of the biggest reasons people tend to get sick in the winter), to hormone balance, weight gain or loss, muscle strength, bone density, cancer risk, and mental health. Other studies show that vitamin D helps with rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, cancer prevention, blood pressure, and heart disease.

And most importantly, vitamin D has been scientifically proven to stop or slow the aging process!

And while some of us may be younger and some of us are older, the one fact you cannot argue with is that we are all growing older—whether its fast or slow–so anything that helps us age better is something we can all use.

In a recent British study of over 2100 female twins, scientist looked at telomeres, which are the part of DNA that shortens with aging. (Twins have very similar DNA, so differences were easily noted within the experiment.) One group of the twins was taking vitamin and mineral supplements and the other was not. At the end of the test period, the telomeres of each group were measured.

Telomeres are the lengths of genetic material that cap the free ends of DNA in a cell, and are one of the most reliable measures of aging. As a person ages, the telomeres shorten and the DNA becomes more unstable until eventually the cell dies. While telomeres are all the same length at birth, lifestyle factors such as diet, nutrition, exercise, and other environmental factors will speed up or slow down the length of time it takes for these to deteriorate.

The study found that those with the highest vitamin D levels had significantly longer telomeres, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, meaning that those with higher levels of vitamin D aged more slowly. And the best part–

Researchers found that those in the study with the highest vitamin D levels had DNA that was the equivalent of five years’ younger!

This is one of the reasons that vitamin D has such a strong protective effect on many age-related diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Vitamin D is primarily made in the skin after exposure to sunlight. It actually takes the UVB rays to convert the sunlight on your skin to vitamin D. Getting sunshine on your skin for at least 20-40 minutes in the middle of the day, when UVB rays are present, is the best way to get natural vitamin D, based on your skin pigmentation (darker-skinned people need more, and lighter-skinned people need less).

However, from around October to March, if you happen to live in the northern hemisphere, north of 30-35 degrees latitude (roughly north of a line from Los Angeles, California, over to Atlanta, Georgia), the UVB rays are too weak to stimulate vitamin D production.

And if you live even further north, like in Canada or northern Europe, you will need to supplement your vitamin D close to nine months or more out of the year. This means you will have to supplement with vitamin D in the winter AND in the summer, especially if you work or stay inside during the day.

The problem is that many of us have become so sun-phobic and afraid of skin cancer that we are now seriously lacking in this essential pro-hormone.

But—increasing Vitamin D levels from regular small doses of sunshine can actually decrease one’s cancer risk!

According to Dr. William Grant, a noted vitamin D researcher, cancer rates in people living at higher latitudes, such as Iceland, are approximately 4 times higher than the cancer rates of those living at lower latitudes in the tropics.

Our human ancestors functioned well with continual exposure to sunlight, which was estimated at levels of 15,000 to 20,000 IU of vitamin D a day!

Humans were never really designed to get vitamin D solely from food—we were made to get it from being outside in the sunshine. While many of the foods we buy may say, “vitamin D fortified”, in truth, very few foods such as fatty fish (cod liver oil), eggs, and organic liver, naturally contain vitamin D. In fact, the paltry amounts of vitamin D in most vitamin D fortified foods means most people would need to eat 8-10 servings just to meet the current RDA (Recommended Daily Amount), and as we know, the RDA is the bare minimum, not the optimal amount.

The best form of vitamin D is from sun exposure. You cannot overdose on this kind of natural vitamin D; the body converts only what it needs for optimal health. However in winter months when the sun is not strong enough to create vitamin D, or if you are indoors during the day or live in a northern climate, you will need a supplement. That means here in the Midwest too, until sometime in March.

When choosing a vitamin D supplement, it is important to take the natural form of vitamin D, which is vitamin D3, not D2 which is artificially derived.

The optimal healthy range of vitamin D in the blood is around 50-70ng/mg, which can be achieved by taking a supplement of at least 1000IU to 5000IU, according to Dr. Heaney at the Creighton University Medical Center.

According to Dr. Joseph Mercola’s recommendation, however, adults need about 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D3 per day to reach the optimal levels of 40-50 ng/ml, which should be modified for the seasons if you are in the sun more during the spring and summer.

Too much supplemental vitamin D can lead to toxicity, so it’s a good idea to consult with your physician to get vitamin D levels measured to get a more accurate idea of how to much to take.

Always take vitamin D with meals. When vitamin D is taken with the largest meal of the day, studies show the highest increase in blood levels of vitamin D. Since vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, taking it with a meal that contains some healthy fats help it absorb in the body better.

I highly recommend an OIL-BASED vitamin D3 supplement as it’s better absorbed by your body. Unfortunately, many D3 supplements use refined soybean oil as their oil of choice, so read labels, since soybean oil is not the optimal type of oil.

Till Next Time,

Stay Healthy, Lean and Young!

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. Get the latest Gluten Free, Superfoods Recipe book HERE–The Fat Burning Kitchen Superfoods Recipes. Cat also has a book titled “The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation” that has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.

Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.

Diet and Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

How to Survive Cancer

Getting a diagnosis of cancer can certainly cause one to totally re-evaluate lifestyle choices and diet.

While diet and lifestyle have a direct effect on whether someone will eventually get cancer, what about diet and lifestyle changes after a cancer diagnosis?

Is it too late? No, according to the research.

Studying survival both before and after a cancer diagnosis can tell a lot.

Does a person’s diet after a diagnosis of cancer affect survival?

Absolutely.

Oddly enough, there have not been that many studies that show how diet affects cancer survival, after diagnosis, even though this is one of the lifestyle changes that can have the most dramatic effect on whether one lives or dies.

One extensive study examined diet after a breast cancer diagnosis and survival of women enrolled in the Nurses Health Study. In this study, almost 2,000 women who had developed breast cancer were followed for an average of 13 years.

A little more than half (1,200) of these women had breast cancer that had not metastasized (spread to other organs or the lymph nodes). Women in this group who ate the largest amounts of poultry, total protein, and omega-3 fatty acids (from oils found in grass fed meats and fish) had a significantly lower risk of death than women who ate the least amounts of these foods and nutrients. Women who ate more fiber, fish, and vegetables also had a lower risk of death than women who ate less of these food and nutrients.

And another important finding: the type of fats these women ate made a big difference. Those who ate hydrogenated oils had a higher rate of death.

For the 745 women whose cancer had metastasized, those who ate more protein and calcium had a lower rate of death.

Most importantly, in a study of 3,500 patients with breast cancer or ovarian cancer, the results show that a diet high in sugars and carbohydrates contributed to tumor growth and matastases, while a diet of healthy protein, animal products, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and fiber had lower rates of cancer.

One’s diet after a cancer diagnosis is an area that is begging for more research.

Unfortunately, this is an area that major cancer drug companies are not interested in pursuing, so the money for this type of research is just not there.

Some foods and nutrients have been tied to as much as a 50% decrease in the risk of death from cancer.

Why then, would you ignore something that can have such an incredibly important effect on your health?

While cancer rates climb, traditional medical science looks at more expensive, high tech treatments such as gene therapy, and more advanced cancer-killing drugs. But there is no magic cure.

Although it is far easier to prevent cancer than get rid of it, it can be reversed with diet, nutrition and lifestyle changes.

Think about this: Conventional cancer treatments kill cells, damage the immune system, and don’t go after the underlying cause.

On the other hand, diet and lifestyle changes work on strengthening the body and immune system, and promote healing; while addressing underlying causes and nutritional deficiencies.

Diet alone can make or break cancer treatment and is the most important of all therapies.

Look at it this way–what you put in your body will either help it and strengthen it, or make things worse.

Having a knowledge of which foods feed cancer cells and which foods kill or starve cancer cells is absolutely vital to the healing process.

First and most importantly, any form of sugar, or food that raises the blood level of glucose, will feed cancer cells and should be the very first dietary change you make.

This includes any high glycemic foods that contain sucrose (regular cane or beet sugar), fructose (high fructose corn syrup, agave, honey, and naturally occurring sugars in fruits and fruit juice), or glucose (starchy foods such as potatoes, grain products like bread, crackers, pasta, cookies, granola bars, etc., and corn, popcorn).

Cancer cells feed on glucose in the body, and a low-glycemic diet will virtually starve out cancer cells. This is vital!

Sugar substitutes such as Splenda, Nutrasweet and Equal, refined flours, and trans fatty acids also wreak havoc on the body, and numerous studies have linked them to cancers. Even natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup (also sugars) should also be restricted while cancer remains active.

However, the herb stevia is a safe and natural sweetener, and it does not raise blood glucose levels or stimulate an insulin response. Stevia can usually be found in the supplement aisle of health food stores.

Avoid all processed foods and packaged foods—even if it came from the natural foods aisle. These foods contain artificial ingredients, preservatives, and other substances that strengthen cancer cells and interfere with the healing process.

Pasteurized dairy products should also be avoided, as they can contribute to allergies and asthma, and actually decrease immune function in the process. Many of these also contain sugar or high fructose corn syrup, and even if they don't, dairy products contain lactose, a type of sugar in milk. And unless they are 100% grass fed or organic, there are often hormones and additives in the milk or dairy products that speed up tumor growth.

The body’s ability to fight cancer is a function of the immune system, so anything that strengthens the immune system helps it kill cancer cells.

Some cancer-preventative diets recommend avoiding meat (mostly due to the hormones, toxins and antibiotics in conventional meat), but in most cases, the best choice is to eat good quality organic and grass fed meats, organic free range chicken, and wild-caught fish.

These meats are not only high in essential body-building proteins, B vitamins, iron, and zinc, but they also contain larger amounts of healing, cancer-fighting omega 3 fats , as well as Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), a powerful cancer-fighting, immune-strengthening fatty acid.

One of the big concerns with a cancer diagnosis is metastasis when cancer cells spread to other parts of the body or lymph system. Metastasis is increased by a diet high in omega-6 fatty acids (canola oil, corn, soybean, sunflower, safflower or other vegetable oils).

However, omega 3 fatty acids, like those found in grass fed meats, wild caught fatty fish, flax seeds and walnuts actually slow down and inhibit cancer growth.

Omega 3 fatty acids also increase the body’s positive response to chemotherapy and help protect against chemotherapy’s toxic effects.

Healthy fats are essential.

CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) is such a potent cancer-fighting fat that studies even small amounts of CLA in the diet can reduce tumors by over 50 percent.

Studies show that even small amounts of CLA can block all three stages of cancer: 1) initiation, 2) growth, and 3) metastasis.

Where do you get CLA? The best source of natural CLA is from meat and dairy products of grass fed animals. Meat or milk from grass fed cattle contains 5 times more CLA than animals raised on grain in a feedlot. Simply switching from grain fed to grass fed products will increase your intake of vital CLA significantly, and eliminate the toxins and additives from conventionally raised meats as well.

Virtually all plant foods contain powerful nutrients and antioxidants that fight cancer, aid in the healing process, and help eliminate toxins from the body.

However, it is important to eat organic fresh fruits and vegetables if at all possible. Pesticides and toxins in commercially grown vegetables are not only toxic to the body, but can encourage the growth of cancer cells.

Certain vegetables have very potent anti-cancer properties including dark green lettuces like arugula, organic spinach, mache, and romaine lettuce, as well as parsley and watercress.

Cruciferous vegetables, a famiy of vegetables that includes broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, bok choy, kale, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts, horseradish, mustard, capers, cress, rutabaga, arugula, and turnips, are extremely high in proven cancer-fighting phytochemicals.

Other healing and cancer-fighting plant foods include: edible seaweeds, berries, including: acai, goji berries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, and red or purple grapes, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and green tea, among many others.

A New York based physician, Dr. Gonzalez, who has had incredible results treating so-called “untreatable cancers” with an alternative approach, and a specialized dietary regimen, recommends pancreatic enzymes in cancer treatment.

In a nutshell, his theory is that pancreatic enzymes are the body's main defense against cancer and are extremely useful as a cancer treatment.

Pancreatic enzymes have some amazing tumor-dissolving abilities.

Dr. Gonzalez, who is trained in immunology, uses special diets, aggressive supplementation with nutrients and enzymes, and detoxification methods to successfully fight cancer.

Effective healing not only requires a healthy, clean diet but also getting rid of accumulated toxins and metabolic wastes.

It's also beneficial to begin any healing regimen with a cleanse of the kidneys, liver and colon to remove stored toxins. There are many effective cleansing formulas and procedures that can be found at health food stores, the internet, or through a holistic healer.

Other lifestyle factors that have a significant impact on successfully preventing and battling cancer include:

Get out in the sun. Vitamin D from sunlight strengthens the immune system and is a powerful weapon in the cancer battle. Adequate exposure during the midday hours is the best way to obtain the restorative benefits of sunlight.

Get some exercise. Regular exercise speeds up the elimination of toxins and is necessary to circulate oxygen in the body and to improve lymph function and drainage, while building immunity. You can achieve these therapeutic benefits with moderate exercise at 3-4 times a week.

Keep a positive attitude! It reduces psychological stress and profoundly aids the healing process. Studies in cell biology show that a positive attitude actually affects cell function! Spend time with friends and loved ones and enjoy life as much as you can. We all have the power to control our own thoughts and attitudes and create our own reality. A positive outlook can interpret a cancer diagnosis as a life-changing event with an opportunity to transform one's life for the better. Laugh, live, enjoy.

Don’t neglect your spiritual side. It doesn’t mean you have to become suddenly religious, but to make peace with yourself, your life and your loved ones. Consider resolving unresolved conflicts, forgiving and asking forgiveness, and letting go of toxic emotions such as anger, bitterness, hatred, resentment, regret, and fear, while embracing your capacity for love, compassion and joy. You can do all of this through meditation, affirmations, visualization and/or prayer.

Preventing or healing from cancer may involve a total lifestyle turnaround.

While this can seem to be a daunting task, you may not only save your life, but make a complete change for the better in many ways. You can defeat cancer.

You are worth it, just ask the ones who love you.

Till next time, stay healthy and lean!

Heal your body with superfoods in the Fat Burning Kitchen Superfood Recipe Book. Coming soon!

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled "The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation" that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.

Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.

Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

References:
1. http://www.grasslandbeef.com

2.. Plant, Ph.D., J.: The No-Dairy Breast Cancer Prevention Program. NY, NY: St. Martin's Press, 84-113, 2000

3. Liu, M.D., McManus, M.S., R.D., and Carlino, J.: Healing Gourmet, Eat to Fight Cancer. New York, NY, McGraw-Hill, 53-147, 2006

4. McCabe, Ed: Flood Your Body With Oxygen: Therapy For Our Polluted World. 6th Edition. Energy Publications, 68-9, 2003

5. Gerson, C. and Walker, M.: The Gerson Therapy. NY, NY: Kensington Publishing Corp., 154-77; 190-2, 2001

6. Brooks, Linda: Rebounding and Your Immune System. Urbana, OH: Vitally Yours Press, 13-46, 2003

7. Yance, Donald: Herbal Medicine, Healing and Cancer. NY, NY: McGraw-Hill, 268-70; 242-4, 1999

8. Laredo, Mary: marylaredoblogspot.com, 2007

9. http://www.eatwild.com/cla.html

Diet is the Most Powerful Tool Against Cancer

The word "Cancer" is one of the scariest words in our language, and while it may seem like that word often carries a death sentence with it, many people have overcome some of the deadliest cancers by making drastic diet and lifestyle changes.

How you live and what you choose to put in your body has a direct effect on whether you get cancer and whether you can survive cancer.

Cancer will affect, on average, one out of three us in our lifetime. Keeping this information in mind can be a powerful tool to manage one of the world's deadliest diseases.

There are many factors that figure into the causes of different types of cancer, and there are many unknowns as well.

But we do know one thing: what a person eats, or doesn't eat, can dramatically change the outcome and course of this grim disease.

Kate Flaherty is our guest blogger today who has written an article on the power of diet and cancer.

We may not always hear about them, but there are countless stories of end-stage cancer survivors who recovered from cancer by changing their diet. In fact a book called "The Cure is in the Kitchen" details the day-to-day diet and recovery of cancer patients.

Cancer studies show that most cancers are related to dietary deficiencies, so it is safe to assume that a positive change in a cancer patient's diet can help dramatically in the recovery process. In fact, many patients claim that changing their nutritional habits have played an enormous role in their recovery.

Dr Dean Ornish is just one of the doctors that has studied the cancer and diet relationship. He looked in particular, at the macrobiotic diet theory and published his reports in the British medical journal "Lancet" in 1990. His research showed that dietary changes had a very positive effect on the cancer patient's PET scans when high-tech surgery and drugs could not.

Many of the chemicals in commercially grown foods can be tied directly to many different cancers.

Chemicals in the food supply can not only block nutrients in the body, but actually contain substances that can disrupt hormones in the body, as well as contribute to the growth of tumors.

Pesticides and preservatives not only block nutrients essential for maintaining a strong immune system, but processed food contain far less of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals.

While a diet higher in fruits and vegetables is a great start to helping fight and heal from cancer, it is extremely important to avoid the deadly chemicals in conventionally grown foods.

Fruits such as grapes, peaches, strawberries, apples, and cherries typically have the highest amount of pesticides found on them when they are not organically grown. Vegetables including spinach, bell peppers, and potatoes generally have high pesticide residue as well.

Though more expensive, it is important to know that all organically grown fruits and vegetables are safer, especially for cancer patients.

Avoiding processed foods is especially important. Not only are processed foods missing necessary vitamins and minerals, they also have added preservatives, sugars, and chemicals. One of the worst of these is processed meats and lunchmeat. Nitrates and nitrites added to meats are known carcinogens and should be avoided at all costs.

In addition, conventionally raised meat not only is raised on a diet of pesticide-laden grain, but these animals are given antibiotics and growth hormones as well. Growth hormones have been shown to directly affect the growth of certain cancerous tumors, so avoiding conventionally raised meat is very important.

Eating naturally raised organic and grass fed meats whenever possible is obviously the safest and healthiest choice.

Cancer patients are often missing a variety of vitamins and minerals and this alone could be a key factor in recovery. Adding plenty of organic fruits, vegetables and naturally raised meat in one's diet will go a long way towards replacing those missing nutrients.

Avoid processed foods. And avoid sugar at all costs–high blood glucose feeds many types of cancers.

Multiple studies have proven that cancer does not have to be a death sentence and making necessary in diet and lifestyle can have a huge impact on whether a cancer patient survives or not.

Making these important lifestyle changes will determine whether you get cancer and survive or succumb to it:

– avoid smoking and second hand smoke

– drink alcohol in moderation; 1-2 drinks per day or less

– eat large amounts of organic vegetables and fruit

– avoid all processed, fried, junk, or refined carbohydrate/grain foods

– absolutely avoid all sodas and sweetened drinks, and avoid fruit juice as well

– avoid processed meats

– avoid trans fats, corn oil, soy oil, or canola oil

– eat only organic, grass-fed, free-range meat, fish and eggs

– eat “smart” fats (wild fatty fish, fish oil pills, avocados, nuts, olive oil, butter

– exercise

– get daily sunlight exposure

– get plenty of antioxidants from your diet and supplements

– manage stress to regulate hormones appropriately

For more information on diet and cancer see my article "Sugar Kills".

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN,is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled “The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation” that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.

Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.

Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

Sugar Kills

Evidence is piling up against sugar and its role in the skyrocketing rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

But somehow we still get the message that sugar is okay, if we eat it in moderation.

How much is too much? What’s the harm in sugar?

Gary Taubes, author of “Why We Get Fat,” recently wrote an eye-opening article on sugar in the NY times. In it, he discusses the subject of sugar and its role in disease. If you would like to read the full article, click here.

A few brave medical professionals and research scientists have actually had the courage to speak out on the damage sugar can cause. Sugar, it seems, is actually a much bigger factor than cholesterol and saturated fat in heart disease.

Although sugar is considered an unhealthy indulgence, the medical and scientific community are beginning to find that sugar has a very real and definite role in heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Could it be that sugar is THAT bad?

In my own 25 years of research on diet, nutrition, and disease, I have to say that I too, have come to that same conclusion.

During my recent studies in disease physiology at a major medical institution, for my BSN, it was presented in class that sugar and glucose (as it becomes in our bodies) is highly damaging to the heart, blood vessels and the circulatory system. This is why diabetics experience a higher rate of heart disease, glaucoma, and blood vessel damage.

Blood sugar spikes also stimulate insulin, which causes the body to turn glucose into fat which is then stored in our livers, circulating in our blood or our fat cells. Ok. I got it.

What seemed strange to me is why something as fundamental as that never really made it to mainstream media. If high blood sugar is so damaging to diabetics, then why was there never a connection made to blood sugar and heart disease in the general public?

There seems to be a huge disconnect here. I just don’t get it.

It is startlingly clear to me that sugar is damaging to individuals other than diabetics.

Can sugar actually be deadly?

Let’s define what we are talking about when we say ‘sugar’. We usually think of sugar as the white stuff that sits in the cute little bowls on our tables, or in those little packets at restaurants. Table sugar usually comes from sugar cane or sometimes, beet sugar.

Sugar is also the ‘high fructose corn syrup’ you see on virtually every label of processed or packaged foods, or in most soft drinks. There are many other forms of sugar but for now, let’s concentrate on the two most often consumed sugars, sucrose and fructose.

Regular white table sugar (or brown sugar for that matter) is called 'sucrose'. Sucrose is composed of one molecule of glucose bonded to a molecule of fructose. So, sucrose is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. Fructose is 2x sweeter than glucose. Since table sugar is half fructose, it is lots sweeter than starchy carbs like potatoes or bread that also turn into glucose in the body.

So the more fructose in a sugar, the sweeter it is. High fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose and 45% glucose. That makes it even sweeter than table sugar.

So white sugar and high fructose corn syrup are both a combination of glucose and fructose in our guts and our bodies react pretty much the same way to both.

So really, the question is not whether high fructose corn syrup is worse for our bodies than sugar, it’s how our bodies react to either type of sugar.

The harmful effects of sugar have more to do with the way your body metabolizes the fructose portion of the sugar. While many dietitians and physicians say, “calories are calories”, it’s how your body reacts to calories that really matters.

For instance, if we eat 100 calories of glucose (from a starchy food like pasta or potatoes) or 100 calories of sugar (remember basically 50/50% of glucose and fructose), they are metabolized differently and have a different effect on the body.

This is key: fructose is metabolized by our livers. The glucose from sugar and starches is metabolized by our cells.

Consuming cane sugar or HFCS causes your liver to work harder than if you just ate a starchy food. And, if the sugar comes in a liquid form like soda or fruit juice, the fructose gets in the body very fast and causes the liver to go into overdrive in an attempt to process it. Even worse, since the fructose portion of HFCS is not bound to the glucose it hits your liver even faster than regular cane sugar.

Lab studies show when fructose is ingested quickly in larger quantities, it goes straight to the liver where it is immediately converted to fat.

So you see why soda and fruit juice are so fattening?

Soda, fruit juice and other drinks are quickly ingested. When those liquids hit the stomach, fructose portion of it must be processed by the liver. The liver converts it to fat, which then becomes triglycerides. Triglycerides are the excess fats floating around in your blood and are a major contributing factor to heart disease. Any excess fat is stored in the liver.

What does this have to do with diabetes and obesity?

In 1980, only about 1 in 7 Americans were obese, and about 6 million people had diabetes—it was not a common disease. By the early 2000’s, 1 in 3 Americans were obese, and 14 million had diabetes. More than double the rate in about 20 years.

Interestingly enough, sugar consumption was 75-80 pounds per person per year (according to the USDA) in the 80’s and increased to well over 100 pounds per person per year in the 2003. Direct correlation.

In 2009, at least half the population consumed a whopping 180 pounds of sugar per year!

19% of the U.S. population now has diabetes, another 7 million are undiagnosed and 79 million have pre-diabetes accoding to 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet. And 81 million have some form of cardiovascular disease!

Back in the 1970’s, a nutrition expert and scientist in the U.K named John Yudkin, published a report on sugar’s harm called, “Sweet and Dangerous”.

In the 60’s, Yudkin conducted research experiments on rodents, chickens, rabbits, pigs and college students using cane sugar vs. starchy foods. The cane sugar quickly caused elevated levels of triglycerides in the test subjects. Elevated triglycerides are a primary risk factor for heart disease. The sugar also caused insulin resistance, which directly links it to type 2 diabetes.

Unfortunately, though, the mainstream medical community did not take his studies seriously. Most of the medical community was following the saturated fat and cholesterol theory of heart disease, led by scientist, Ancel Keys.

The two theories butted heads here: saturated fats raised cholesterol and led to heart disease vs. sugar caused triglycerides to go up and caused heart disease.

One must be right and the other wrong–or so it was thought.

Keys published the results of a study in nutrition in the 1970’s called the Seven Countries Study. And the mainstream medical community picked up on the saturated fat and heart disease theory.

But guess what? There actually was a higher correlation between sugar consumption and heart disease in the seven countries studied, but this was never highlighted in the study findings. And, many societies that ate high amounts of saturated fats but little sugar showed low rates of heart disease and other diseases.

So which is it–sugar or saturated fat?

We now know that one of the most accurate predictors of heart disease and diabetes, is a condition called ‘metabolic syndrome’. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) at least 75 million Americans have metabolic syndrome, and probably many more have it but have not yet been diagnosed.

What is metabolic syndrome? It means your body has become resistant to insulin. Normally when you eat carbs or sugar, blood sugar goes up, insulin is released, and blood sugar goes back to a normal level.

If your diet is high in sugars and starchy foods, your body is continually pumping out insulin. Eventually your cells stop responding to the insulin, and your pancreas (which is where insulin comes from) becomes exhausted and cannot create enough insulin in response to the demand.

Blood sugar levels then begin to rise out of control, until you end up with type 2 diabetes.

Elevated blood sugar and insulin levels also result in high triglycerides, high LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff) and low levels of HDL (the good cholesterol). So clearly, excess sugar creates a poor lipid profile.

What then, medical scientists wonder, triggers insulin resistance?

Fatty liver syndrome.

According to Varman Samuel from Yale University, there is a strong correlation in fatty livers and insulin resistance.

What would cause the liver to build up fat? It was once thought that just getting fatter lead to a fatty liver, but many lean people also the same problem.

This all points directly at fructose.

Animals or people fed large amounts of pure fructose or sugar convert the fructose into fat immediately. That fat circulates in the blood as triglycerides. Excess fat also gets stored in the liver. When the liver starts storing excess amounts of fat, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome follow, and not far behind then, is type 2 diabetes.

Stop the sugar, and fatty liver goes away, and along with it, insulin resistance.

It’s that simple.

So, the answer to the question of whether sugar is toxic is ‘YES’. How toxic, how quickly? We don’t know that answer for certain.

There is one more deadly disease that can be tied directly to sugar—Cancer.

Cancer is also tied to obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome as well.

A connection between obesity, diabetes and cancer was first studied in 2004 in large population studies by researchers from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.

This is what they found:

Your chances of getting cancer are much higher if you are obese, diabetic or insulin resistant. What’s the connection? Sugar.

And your chances of dying from a form of malignant cnacer are way higher if you eat sugar. Malignant cancer is a very rare occurrence in populations that do not eat a typical Western diet.

Cancer researchers now know that the problem with insulin resistance and cancer is that as we secrete more insulin, we also secrete a related hormone known as ‘insulin-like growth factor, and the insulin encourages tumor growth.

Craig Thompson, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, has done a big part of this research on cancer and insulin, now says the cells of many human cancers depend on insulin to provide fuel to grow and multiply.

Some cancers actually develop mutations to affect the influence of insulin; other cancers just take advantage of the elevated blood sugar and insulin levels from metabolic syndrome, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

In fact, many pre-cancerous cells would never acquire the mutations that transform them into malignant tumors if they weren’t being driven by insulin to take up more and more blood sugar and metabolize it.

Elevated insulin (or insulin-like growth factor) signaling appears to be a necessary step in many human cancers, particularly cancers like breast and colon cancer.

If it’s sugar that causes insulin resistance, then its an easy conclusion that sugar is tied to cancer—at least some cancers. Yes, this may sound radical and this suggestion is rarely if ever been voiced publicly, but the scientific and biological evidence is there.

I know I am convinced of how harmful sugar is to my health and I avoid it as much as possible.

I really wish my teenagers would avoid it as much as possible, and I try to tell my friends and loved ones to avoid sugar too. Especially if they happen to have one of the above health conditions.

It’s a tough call to tell someone with cancer, heart disease or metabolic syndrome that it may be caused by too much sugar, even knowing what I know. Our perception of good foods vs. bad foods is deeply ingrained in our psyches, and our society, and it’s going against the tide to condemn something that most of the medical community accepts, but I know as a health advocate, that will I continue to try.

I wish you all the best of health.

For more great info on sugar, healthy sugar substitutes, and a healthy diet without cravings, read the Fat Burning Kitchen. (note: this link opens to another sales page on my co-author's site).

Look for the Fat Burning Superfood Recipe Book coming next month!! Tons of great, healthy, fat burning, Paleo style recipes everyone will love!

Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.

Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

Sources:
D Kromhout, A Keys, C Aravanis, R Buzina, F Fidanza, S Giampaoli, A Jansen, A Menotti, S Nedeljkovic and M Pekkarinen, Food consumption patterns in the 1960s in seven countries, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol 49, 889-894, Copyright © 1989 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Gary Taubes, Is Sugar Toxic?, New York Times, April 13, 2011.

US News and World Report, One Sweet Nation, March 20, 2005.

Dr. Mercola, This Addictive Commonly Used Food Feeds Cancer Cells, Triggers Weight Gain, and Promotes Premature Aging, April 20 2010.