The Adkin's Diet eliminates carbohydrates and increases fat consumption, and it works.  The Japanese Diet eliminates fats and is very high in starchy carbohydrates, and it also works.  How can that be?  Even taking into account different metabolic types of people - those who do better on fats versus those who do better on carbohydrates - these two diets still work.  Again, how can that be?  Is there something they have in common... something that might explain why they both work?

Fructose... both diets eliminate fructose almost completely from the diet.

Fructose is a metabolic poison that we love.  It is what makes sugar sweet.  Table sugar is half fructose and half glucose.  The fructose is twice as sweet as the glucose. 

Glucose in moderation is a good guy for most people.  It is the preferred energy source for all the cells in our body.  It is not necessary, as all the cells can burn fats for energy instead (except for blood cells).  But the body prefers to burn any sugar floating around first because sugar is highly reactive (sticky) and will attach to the body's molecules and tissues and damage them (glycation).  So the body wants to use it up for fuel as fast as possible so none is laying around waiting to damage healthy tissue.

Fructose on the other hand is a devil.  It attacks the liver and hijacks its functions in the exact same way alcohol does.  In studies being done at UC Davis right now they find that within 2 weeks of eating sugar on a daily basis the levels of the small dense sticky type of cholesterol that causes heart disease jumps up dramatically.

So why do we like it so much.  Well here we probably have to blame our genes.  Throughout most of human history, sweet equaled safe.  Any food that was sweet was safe to eat.  Anything else was questionable.  So our brains are hardwired to love sweet.  In fact within 10 minutes of eating something sweet the same pleasure feeling part of our brain that reacts to cocaine also reacts to sweet.  Sugar is addictive... and poisonous. 

"But sugar is natural" I hear you say.  In nature the strongest source of fructose is in fruits and vegetables.  For hundreds of thousands of years the average human consumption of fructose from fruits and vegetables per day was right around 15 grams per day (3 teaspoons).  Interestingly enough when the liver is tested its upper tolerance for fructose without ill effect is right around 15 grams per day.

This level is how much Americans ate prior to WW2.  After WW2 our levels of sugar consumption began to rise slowly.  When high fructose corn syrup was invented and began being used in America in 1975 our fructose consumption skyrocketed.  Why - because corn syrup is cheap.  It is half the price of sugar.  Plus at that same time we decided that fats were evil and caused heart disease.  The push to reduce fat consumption as a national priority meant that to keep food from tasting like cardboard food manufacturers replaced the fat with the new and cheap food - corn syrup.  Since that time our fat consumption has decreased from 40% to 30% of our daily calories.  Heart disease has increased at exactly the same rate.  As fat has gone down and sugar up, heart disease has gone up.

How much has our fructose consumption gone up over the last 37 years?  In 1955 our average consumption was 16 grams.  By 1975 that number went up to 24 grams.  By 2008 that had climbed to 75 grams and the most recent data says we are up to almost 90 grams of fructose per day.  That is a 600% increase.  Do you suppose a 600% increase in the consumption of a toxic metabolic poison might have an effect on our health?

So what does fructose do to us?  Fructose is directly responsible for metabolic syndrome - the combination of obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid disorders, and cardiovascular disease.  Nice combination.  Anybody you know suffering from any of these?  The later effects of these diseases then sets us up for dementia, Alzheimer's, organ failure, and early aging.  Put simply, fructose makes you fat, sick, and old.

Interestingly a study done on prisoners back in the fifties showed these same results, but no one paid attention to it.  A prison population was split in half and watched to see what diseases developed.  (They could get away with those kinds of studies back then.)  Both halves ate exactly the same food and obviously had the same lifestyle except for one change.  One half had their food made with regular sugar while the other half had it made with brewer's sugar.  Brewer's sugar is all glucose, while regular sugar is half fructose.  After several years they compared the health of the two groups.  As expected the regular group had the usual problems with heart disease and diabetes, while the brewer's sugar group had almost none.  The only difference between the two groups was the absence of fructose for the healthier half of the prisoners.

Are we getting the picture - more than 3 teaspoons of fructose per day equals bad poison...and we are getting an average of 18 teaspoons per day!

So what can we do?  The obvious answer would be to return to the diet of our great grandparents - meat, potatoes, and greens.  But even a diet of pasta or rice will have no fructose.  The killer is the sweet taste we have all become addicted to.  Should we forsake sugar and all switch to artificial sweeteners?  Forsaking sugar is a no-brainer, but the artificial sweeteners are just as bad as fructose.

I am just as addicted to sweet as the next person.  I have learned to use a couple natural sweeteners that actually support the body.  Stevia and erythritol work well together to make a very good substitute for sugar that also has the added advantage of having no carbohydrates - important for my metabolism to keep my weight down.  But it is expensive and avoiding carbohydrates is not necessary for many people.  For those folks there is another answer.  Remember those prisoners - they did fine using brewer's sugar.  It is usually only 70% as sweet as regular sugar, so you tend to use more to get the same sweetness - which means more empty calories we don't need.

Brewer's sugar is available from brewery stores - usually in 50-pound bags - for those folks that like to make their homebrew.  It is much cheaper than the erythritol I make my Dr. Dave Double Sugar out of.  So I thought why not mix just enough stevia extract into the Brewer's sugar to make it the same sweetness as regular sugar for folks to use as a direct sugar replacement - no unnecessary calories and no toxic fructose poisoning!

Be careful, this still has the same calories and carbs as regular sugar.  Only the Dr. Dave sugar has zero calories and no carbs.  But it has zero fructose.  If weight is not your problem and insulin swings due to pre or regular diabetes is not your problem then you might consider my latest concept creation to support my patients health... Dr. Dave's Fructose-Free Sugar.  I should have some in the office Monday.

Take care,

David 

PS: I highly recommend viewing the lecture by Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology on youtube titled "The Bitter Truth About Sugar".  Go to it here. 

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Lignans Reduce Hot Flashes

Lignans are plant phytoestrogens that act like a weaker form of estrogen in the body.  These weaker phytoestrogens bind to the estrogen receptors in the body keeping the normal estrogen from binding.  This is helpful when your estrogen levels are fluctuating which causes hot flashes.  This also helps prevent estrogen sensitive breast cancers from being triggered.  Lignans also act as antioxidants. Normally we try to get lignans from flax seed, sesame, broccoli, and other foods.   A new stronger source has been found in the Norway Spruce tree.  The least expensive form I have found is on Swanson vitamins.     

"There are two levers for moving men: interest and fear."

~ Napoleon Bonaparte

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Australians implant 'world first' bionic eye

About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
Spiritual Life Coach

 

 

Catherine Cummings

 

 

Jin Shin Jitsu

 

 

Lorena Morales

 

 

Massage Practitioner

 

 

 

 

 Is there a sweet that is not poisonous?  Yes!


 Dr Dave Supersweet Drops and 2X Sugar Substitute