Sugar Documentary

Lyme/MSIDS patients learn quickly that diet is key to healing.  For a great documentary by Newton that explains the devastating effects of sugar and artificial sweeteners on the human body, please watch:

A great example of the effects of sugar on the human body is cited by Dr. Mercola as well as other great information:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/06/03/eating-too-much-sugar.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20170603Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM147092&et_rid=2030975579

In an effort to study the health effects of a high sugar diet, documentary filmmaker Damon Gameau, from “That Sugar Film,” conducted an experiment during which he consumed the average amount of sugar eaten daily by Australians, which amounts to 160 grams or about 40 teaspoons.

It’s important to note that before the experiment Gameau ate very little sugar. Surprisingly enough, Gameau didn’t feast on junk food all day to reach his goal. Instead, he ate commonly sold processed foods, many of which are marketed as healthy, such as fruit juice, yogurt and energy drinks.

Initially, Gameau thought it would be difficult to reach his daily goal of 40 teaspoons but to his surprise found it disturbingly easy. The film shows Gameau nearly reaching his daily sugar goal in just one meal with a small bowl of cereal, yogurt and fruit juice. It wasn’t long before Gameau began feeling both the physical and psychological effects of eating a high sugar diet. One of the first symptoms he noticed was wild mood swings.

After eating a sugary food, Gameau experienced what’s known as the typical “sugar high,” accompanied by short-lived feelings of alertness and even euphoria. His wife reported spontaneous and even manic-like bursts of laughter. But less than an hour later he would crash, noting severe feelings of lethargy. Gameau also reported feeling aloof, distracted and unable to concentrate at home — a trait his wife described as extremely uncharacteristic.

Prior to the experiment, Gameau was in good health. A medical exam determined he was slightly healthier than the average western male in his age range. His diet consisted of about 2,300 calories per day, 50 percent of which was made up of healthy fats found in foods like nuts and avocado; 26 percent was derived from protein-based foods such as meat, eggs and fish, and the remaining 24 percent consisted of carbohydrates found in fresh vegetables.

Gameau weighed about 167 pounds and had a waist circumference of 33 inches (84 centimeters). Blood tests showed his liver was healthy and that he had low triglyceride levels (fat in the bloodstream) and no signs of insulin resistance or diabetes. Gameau also kept up his exercise routine, which consisted of running three laps around his garden twice a week followed by a 10-minute workout in his home gym. But despite maintaining weekly exercise, Gameau’s health quickly deteriorated.

After 12 days of ramping up his sugar intake, Gameau had gained almost seven pounds, the majority of which went straight to his abdomen. In a month of eating 40 teaspoons of sugar per day, he added 2.75 inches (7 centimeters) to his waistline. But the health effects were more serious than just weight gain.

Within three short weeks, doctors were shocked to find that Gameau was already displaying signs of fatty liver disease. “By the end, I’d developed pre-type 2 diabetes, I had heart disease, I had 11 centimeters of visceral fat. But the big one was, the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was almost in a full-blown state,” said Gameau in a news article highlighting his film.

***The take home:  if you want something sugary, partake in limited amounts and savor it and don’t fool yourself by thinking artificial sweeteners will help you lose weight.  Also, eating sugar only feeds the bacteria you are trying to rid your body of as well as sets your body up for Candida, a systemic yeast infection common with antibiotic users.