PLEASE… STEP AWAY FROM THE SUGAR!

Most people are surprised to learn of the effects of many different foods on their bodies while on the Genesis weight loss program. After all, we have readily accepted decades of marketing and disinformation with regards to thousands of products on our grocery store shelves. We believe what’s on the front of the package must be true or they couldn’t advertise it.

Simply labeling a product as “wholesome” or “heart healthy” creates overnight blockbuster in sales, as people look to purchase items that make for quick meals that taste good.

And there is often a nugget of truth to the marketing of a product, yet it doesn’t give you the whole story. Perhaps that advertising focuses on one ingredient within the product, but ignores the other 10 ingredients. And, oftentimes, the one good ingredient is very far down on the list of things contained in that product, as there is only a minimal amount present.

Or, maybe the label screams “a great source of protein,” but the protein source is a cheap genetically-modified soy protein, while containing artificial sweeteners or sugars and a host of other artificial ingredients to help the taste along.

Either way, there is no way around it – marketing is designed to get you to purchase a product. You just have to take charge of your own health by educating yourself and refusing to take the easy way out when it comes to your food choices – because, sooner or later, there is some type of consequence on the horizon.

You don’t notice the fallout immediately most of the time. Rather, it just builds up over the months and years until you are chemically addicted to a food substance, or you find yourself battling metabolic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, etc.

There really is no such thing as a neutral food. Everything you eat is either inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. It’s either leading you towards health or away from it. The disease process has to start somewhere, and weight gain is a great indicator that the food we are eating is playing a big role in damaging our health.

One big source of that damage on America’s palate is sugar. It comes in so many forms and is called by so many different names, that it’s quite confusing to the majority of us. Half the time we don’t even know we are eating it – even if we read the list of ingredients.

One of the reasons to focus on sugar is not only because of the addictive hold it has on so many of our clients, but also because we all need to understand how it is affecting our families. It starts somewhere, and we definitely develop our tastes and habits at an early age.

Sugar is a very destructive ingredient in our food sources that accelerates aging and promotes degenerative diseases, so we need to pay close attention to its dangers. Sugar’s chemical makeup varies based on the number of carbohydrates it contains. You may be familiar with the terms: glucose, dextrose or fructose.

These forms vary mostly based on how they are digested and metabolized. Glucose and dextrose are basically the same form of sugar. Many sugar units combined together form more complex sugars like sucrose - which is your typical table sugar. It is made up of half glucose and half fructose. Many of you are familiar with the term “high-fructose corn syrup,” – which is appropriately named, as it contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

This is important to understand, because of how these sugars react in the body. Next week we will continue to look at sugar and how it affects us.