Sugar, Not Fat, is the Culprit

[My Bariatric Life 764]

If metabolic syndrome is the cause of your weight gain, a diet that is low to moderate in calories coupled with an exercise plan may not be enough to lose the weight. And if you continue to eat the wrong foods, exercise and diet may not help at all.

In the late 1970s the government mandated we get the fat out of our food. The food industry responded by putting in more sugar. And that, we see by historical data, correlates to the time when America’s obesity epidemic began. Read my article, “Cause and Cure of Obesity in America.”

In the New York Times best seller Fat Chance: Beating the Odds against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease, author Dr. Robert H. Lustig, a renown expert on obesity, points out that “a calorie is not a calorie.”

Not all calories are equal. Whether the calorie comes from fructose, glucose, Protein or fat is important to its metabolic effect and how much fat that calorie accounts for.

Fructose and glucose — just two of the many names that sugar goes by — and even protein are said to be the culprits behind insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are two primary causes of obesity in both adults and children.

If you are struggling with the problem of an overgrown waistline, aka “belly fat,” this may be an indicator of these health conditions. Read my article, “Belly Fat is a Danger for All People.”

If metabolic syndrome is the cause of your weight gain, a diet that is low to moderate in calories coupled with an exercise plan may not be enough to lose the weight. And if you continue to eat the wrong foods, exercise and diet may not help at all.

What are the Wrong Foods?

Sugar goes by a variety of names, about 52 in all, including glucose, maltose, sucrose, and fructose. The result has been an altering of our biochemistry that has driven our eating out of control, according to Dr. Lustig. Dr. Lustig further states that so-called healthy sugars such as agave, coconut and palm sugars are all “crap.” Checkout this HealthCentral sugar infographic named Sugar is to Blame:

http://www.healthcentral.com/obesity/c/380545/179644/sugar-blame-infographic/

Dr. Andrew Weil, a well-known guru for holistic health and integrative medicine, agrees on this point. Dr. Weil warns that sugar is toxic, and coupled with modern industrial food, has disastrous effects on the hormones that control hunger, satiety, and weight.

Both Dr. Lustig and Dr. Ron Rosedale, author of The Rosedale Diet, advise that branch chain amino acids (BCAAs) and protein contribute to insulin resistance and obesity. I’ve been eating a high-protein diet and taking BCAAs because I thought I was doing my body good.

Whey protein, which I and the majority of bariatric patients have been conditioned to consume, is one of the worst foods for releasing insulin in the body according to Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, a Swedish medical doctor and specialist in family medicine.

Dr. Eenfeldt, commonly known on the web as the “Diet Doctor,” interviews Dr. Lustig on the "Causes of Obesity" in the video below (or watch it on

).

The Bottom Line

If you think metabolic syndrome may be the cause of your weight gain, then eating a traditional “healthy diet” combined with exercise may result in failure to lose weight. Talk to your nutritionist.

Further, you may wish to explore three diets for metabolic syndrome from Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Robert H. Lustig, and Dr. Andrew Weil in my article, “Metabolic Syndrome and Weight Loss.”

Living larger than ever,

My Bariatric Life

[Rustycreaks 12]

Lol, anyone that references Baba Ram Dass gets my attention!

Attendant to your discussion, I'd like to suggest people watch the video "King Corn". Netflix used to have it for free download, and now no longer offers it.

Amazon Prime has it for .99 download fee.

Bottom line: Sugar, sugar, sugar everywhere.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

Lol, anyone that references Baba Ram Dass gets my attention!

Attendant to your discussion, I'd like to suggest people watch the video "King Corn". Netflix used to have it for free download, and now no longer offers it.

Amazon Prime has it for .99 download fee.

Bottom line: Sugar, sugar, sugar everywhere.

Great suggestion! High fructose corn Syrup is in more than 90% of foods in the grocery store. We need to eat real food and take control of our health. In one of the videos I watched on Youtube with Dr. Lustig, a woman who worked in marketing for General Mills started crying and said she was in a consumer focus group and a mom said she liked feeding her children fruit Loops for Breakfast because she felt good about giving her children fruit in the morning.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

According to my surgeon the US has an epidemic of scirosis (sp?) of the liver due to high fructose corn Syrup consumption. It is in everything.

[BCs 1000 364]

The doco, That Sugar Film, was a real eye opener for me http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3892434/

[My Bariatric Life 764]

According to my surgeon the US has an epidemic of scirosis (sp?) of the liver due to high fructose corn Syrup consumption. It is in everything.

It is amazing how the taste buds of "society" have become de-conditioned to the taste of sugar because, exactly as you say, it is in everything! Products that come to mind immediately are the REAL taste of Tomato sauce and Peanut Butter that have no sugar added. Why add sugar one might ask? Because it is highly addictive and thus people eat more and the food manufacturers make more money.

Ugh, I even have a challenge finding dried fruit that has no sugar added!

Edited March 4, 2016 by My Bariatric Life

[My Bariatric Life 764]

The doco, That Sugar Film, was a real eye opener for me http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3892434/

Thanks for sharing the link. I have not seen this documentary.

In one of the videos on YouTube of Dr. Lustig, he was talking to food manufacturers. He mentioned that a doctor he knows sat in on meetings at the Big food Corp he worked for wherein they tried to figure out how to hide the sugar on the nutrition label. Lustig said that is the reason why sugar goes by so many different names. So they list, for example, maltose, dextrose, and sucrose on a label and it appears further down in the ingredients list. According to Lustig, if they listed them as "sugar" it might appear as the first ingredient in the list!

[BCs 1000 364]

^^^ The deception is terrifying.

In the doco I listed above, they discuss how kids are so used to EVERYTHING having sugar added to it that when parents try giving them broccoli for example, it tastes extremely bitter to the child as it is such a contrast to what they usually eat. It is therefore much harder to get kids to eat their veggies now compared to when I was a kid in the 70s.

They also showed what an average supermarket would look like if they removed every item that did not have sugar added to it. There was almost nothing left

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@BCs 1000 I am going to have to watch that documentary! Wow do I ever miss my farmer's market in NJ. Out here in Indianapolis it is much harder to access quality food. Geez, you should see the lines at the Mc D's drive-thru!

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

You really have to read the labels of everything. One of my favorite examples is reduced fat Peanut Butter. It is reduced fat because they add corn Syrup.

[2goldengirl 2,076]

I've met Dr. Lustig, and attended a presentation he does for healthcare professionals. He is completely passionate about his point of view, but in the medical/scientific community, it's a challenge to find studies, colleagues, or statements that support that point of view. This gives me pause, because he is part of one of the best-researched, scientifically curious university medical systems in the worls (UCSF).

[vincereautmori 323]

Before surgery I tried a lot of diets and went to numerous clinics and weight loss counselors, one of them was Charlie Remington and he advocated a low glycemic diet. I was very successful with him and lost over 50 lbs. in about 6 months, but I couldn't keep it off. One thing he was pretty adamant about was the corn and corn Syrup in foods, as he said, "why do you think they feed cattle corn to fatten them up?" What always stuck with me was that it should have been an aha moment, I stopped a lot of the sugar and lost the weight and felt better, what makes us go back to it? Just like tobacco, industries rely on our addictions.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@Inner Surfer Girl I recently bought gourmet tuna salad from the grocer. I had to feed it to my dogs. It was inedible owing to the sugar that they added. Who the heck puts sugar in tuna salad for crimes sake?!?!

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@2goldengirl I agree that there aren't many studies. And one of the primary reasons for that is the study results would not support the entities who fund them. However, there are many doctors and healthcare professionals who support this line of thinking. I mention three or four in the article. There is also Dr. Mercola, Dr. Atkins, Dr. Loren Cordain, Dr. Weston Price, to name a few off the top of my head, as well as all the supporters both healthcare professionals and patients who support this way of eating. As well, data have shown that sugar-laden drinks are one of the top causes, if not the top cause, of obesity. You sound as though you are in the field. Have you seen any scientific evidence that would refute what Dr. Lustig is saying? I'd like to hear the counterpoint. Thanks.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@vincereautmori in an article that I wrote several years ago, I had that very same ah ha moment, and specifically made the correlation of fattening cattle on corn and the amount of HFCS in our food. There was another article that I wrote that exposed the engineering of just the right amount of fat and sugar in foods by scientists at food manufacturers to create "addiction." Shame on them.