The Top 10 Ways to Reduce Sugar Consumption plus The Real Day 5 Review

We have long known that diets high in simple and refined sugars lead to an increased risk for heart problems, but what we haven't known is why. Well, now we know.

A study recently published in the Journal of The American College of Cardiology conducted by Dr. Michael Shechter of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine and Sheba Medical Center's heart institute (in cooperation with its endocrinology institute), has demonstrated the exact mechanism for how the damage is caused.

Now bear with me, this gets just a teeny bit mumbo-jumbo-y.

The scientists used what's called brachial reactive testing, which, similar to taking blood pressure, uses a cuff around the upper arm, but instead of just getting a static pressure measurement, they get a real-time measurement that they use to measure the reaction of the arteries over time to different meals.

Elasticity of the arteries is extremely important in helping to maintain optimal blood pressure, and reduced flexibility is known to be a factor in heart disease. This study showed a sudden and temporary dysfunction of the endothelial lining in the arteries in response to the high glycemic foods.

Apparently, while an important function of the arteries is their ability to stretch when needed, the enormous peaks and suddenness of the stretching over time causes damage to the endothelial lining, and the body responds to such damage with a repair job by a substance called c-reactive protein(CRP). CRP once laid down in the arteries creates a sticky place for cholesterol to adhere to. Thus starting the process of Atherosclerosis.

Clearly, we should all be looking for ways to reduce our consumption of simple and refined sugars.

Top 10 Ways to Reduce Simple and Refined Sugar Consumption

1. Don't add it to foods. This may sound simple enough, but people do it all the time. Sugar is added to coffee and tea all the time. Many people who consume upwards of 10 cups of coffee a day put as much as a tablespoon of sugar in each coffee. Adding sugar to cereals or to fruit salads is another mistake.

2. Cane sugar, Honey, Molasses, Turbinado sugar, Brown Sugar, Raw Sugar. Don't be fooled by these nicer sounding names for sugar. Once you eat it, they all cause the same damage.

3. Artificial sweeteners. These guys don't have a glycemic index, but because of their sweetness they may cause you to crave sweets at other times.

4. Reduce or elminate processed and refined sugars. Breads, pastries, candies, bagels, pasta, cereals, and virtually all snackfood are just loaded with refined sugars. They may come under different names such as Confectioners sugar, flour, cornstarch, high-fructose corn syrup to name just a few, but don't be fooled. Once in your stomach, they all turn to glucose and drive your blood sugar up rapidly.

5. Fat-Free foods. As soon as "Fats" were deemed bad, manufacturers stripped large quantities of fat from everything they could get their hands on, and dumped massive quantities of processed and refined sugars in their place to keep you coming back for more.

6. Eliminate Juices. I don't care whether they're natural and unsweetened or not, just get rid of them. If you want the goodness from natural unsweetened juice, eat the fruit. You'll get everything in the juice, plus a ton of fibre and you'll consume far fewer calories in the long run. The fibre in the fruit helps to slow digestion, keeping you full longer.

7. Keep Fruit Consumption Moderate. I know I said eat fruit instead of drinking juice, but if you were drinking ten glasses of juice a day, you can't eat ten pieces of fruit each day and expect to lose body fat. For those who have reducing body fat as an objective, keep fruit consumption to just a few pieces a day at most. Fruit, while containing lots of fibre, vitamins, and minerals, also contains significantly more sugar than vegetables, which also contain lots of fiber, vitamins and minerals. So if you believe you need to eat more fruit to get enough nutrients, think again. Reach for additional veggies if you think you need more than a few pieces of fruit each day.

8. Beware of Hidden Sugars. If you pick up a food and the label says there's 30g of total carbohydrates, and you notice beside the word "sugars" it only says 3 or 4 grams, what do you think is making up the difference? It's sugars of some sort. So take the total grams as what you're eating. Divide the total number by 4 and that will tell you how many teaspoons of sugar you're eating.

9. Increase Your Nutritional Awareness. I rarely read nutritional labels because most of the foods I eat don't come with nutritional labels. Apples, oats, broccoli, etc... these things don't need labels because they're in their natural form. Its only when man has messed with the ingredients (usually screwing it up in the process) that things needed to be labeled. Conversely, obsessing about nutritional content of foods is a surefire way to end up with all sorts of health problems. However, if you do pick up a food that has a label, give it a quick read, and make yourself aware of what you're putting in your body. The old saying "Ignorance is Bliss", is only true until you start suffering, and then Ignorance is your regret.

10. Use the 5 Ingredient rule. Try not to buy foods that have more than 5 ingredients listed on the label. If you limit it to five, chances are there won't be any refined sugars.



Day 5 Review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp by guest blogger Katy Sinha

Good morning !

Glad to get back to my car after boot camp this morning. We had a touch of rain and the BUGS were crazy outside! THERE! I said it. I was sneaking my blog entries in without mention of the bugs, but finally, I broke down and had to write about it. As they say, if it doesn't kill me it'll make me stronger! I think we're talking mental toughness again.

As for the drills today, push ups came into the lineup. I started with my sissy push ups from the knees in the first round. I promptly moved to push ups from my feet as I noticed that everyone else was challenging themselves with the real thing. Yes I do have a competitive streak in me and I figure that doing only 6 push ups in 20 seconds is better than 12 from my knees.

Sneaky Shane has now organized the drill order so that in a series of 4 stations, the end of the first station and the start of the second station are at opposite corners of the camp. Our precious rest period between stations is getting taken up by having to hoof it to the next drill. Boot camp, like in the military, is starting to have its effect. I've noticed that we're now in the habit of starting the next drill when we hear the 'beeeep' and not waiting for Shane to give us the verbal cue to start. Our collective attitude of "I won't do it if I don't have to do it" is now shifting to "well, I'm here so I might as well get stronger".

Looking forward to day 6 tricks.

Katy


That wraps it up for today! Come back tomorrow for Day 6 Review, and more goodies to keep you strong, healthy, and happy!


Until next time,

Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com