[podcast]http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/wp-content/uploads/LLVLCep6.mp3[/podcast]
Hey there everybody and welcome back for another great episode of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore!” We’re so glad you could join us this week as we dive into another crucial topic of discussion within the context of low-carb living: SUGAR!
This week Jimmy takes a hard look at the sugar industry’s absurd claim that their product plays absolutely NO role in the obesity epidemic. These outrageous allegations are directly contrasted with a list provided by Dr. Nancy Appleton that outlines the 146 reasons she has found to explain why sugar is bad for your health.
Finally, Jimmy discusses a study that very well may be a way for you to overcome your addiction to sugar like Jimmy did which helped him lose nearly 200 pounds. You DEFINITELY won’t want to miss that!
LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 6:
– ChocoPerfection Almond Bark recipe
– Jimmy Moore’s “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” book
– Dr. Nancy Appleton’s 146 Reasons Sugar Is Bad For Your Health
– “False memories” study by Elizabeth Loftus
Did you miss something Jimmy said in Episode 6? Read the full transcript of this episode by clicking on the link below:
Transcript:
Episode 6 is here everybody and I’m so glad you decided to join me once again for another exciting episode of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.” The subject I want to discuss with you goes hand-in-hand with Episode 5 from last week when I discussed saying “no” to those foods you really shouldn’t have while on a low-carb plan. Despite what you hear from the spin doctors representing the sugar industry, this substance is very unhealthy for you and I’ll provide some examples of this during today’s show. You also might be wondering how you can resist the temptation and cravings for high-carb foods like sugar. Don’t worry, because I’ll tell you my own little personal secret for shunning sugar that really works. More of that in a moment.
First let me recognize ChocoPerfection bars and thank them again for sponsoring this episode of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.” Just one bite of these sugar-free/low-carb European chocolate bars and you’ll never eat another sugary chocolate bar ever again! These delicious chocolates are perfect right out of the package or used in your favorite chocolate recipes. I’ll include a link to a special almond bark recipe made with ChocoPerfection bars in the show notes section at TheLivinLowCarbShow.com so you can see just how versatile these chocolates are in the kitchen. We are only a few more weeks away from Christmas, so stock up now on ChocoPerfection bars for your holiday baking and gift-giving needs. Go to ChocoPerfection.com today and place your order.
Okay, so let’s talk about that dreaded product known as sugar. We all know it is a primary nemesis to the low-carb lifestyle because of what it does to our weight and health. But can you believe the president and CEO of the Sugar Association Andrew Briscoe claims there is no link between sugar and obesity? Instead, Briscoe says an overconsumption of calories and a lack of exercise are to blame. Here’s a direct quote of what he said regarding sugar’s role in America’s growing weight and disease problem: “Every major, comprehensive review of the total body of scientific literature continues to exonerate sugar intake as the causative factor in any lifestyle disease, including obesity,” Briscoe said on behalf of the Sugar Association. “We believe in calories in and calories out. Sugar is not a part of obesity.”
Is he serious in his belief that sugar is not a “causative factor in any lifestyle disease?” Have you ever heard of diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and even cancer, Mr. Briscoe? All of these have been directly attributed to eating too much sugar and excessive refined carbohydrates. Blood sugar spikes are caused by these foods that are nothing more than garbage for your body. Pretending that this problem does not exist and that sugar does not play a factor in it is just plain ludicrous if you ask me. Not that I really expected to hear anything different from the head honcho behind the marketing of sugar in America, but Briscoe’s feigned ignorance about the very clear role that sugar has played in the obesity epidemic is either deceptive at best or intentionally misleading at the very worst. He also contends that it does not matter how much sugar you consume, it will not harm your body in any way. Basically his defense goes something like this: How can something so all-American like sugar cause any harm to anyone? It’s just sugar! The recent aggressive marketing campaign for sugar has attempted to create this false image in people’s minds that sugar can and even should be consumed as part of a healthy lifestyle. Do you know what this sounds like to me, though? Here’s a man and an industry that is desperate to resurrect themselves from the significant downward spiral that has happened over the past three decades. The greater the focus people place on the role sugar has played in their own health and obesity problems has been credited with this decline.
You can probably even give some of the credit to Dr. Atkins and other low-carb lifestyle advocates for educating consumers about how harmful sugar consumption and sugar addiction is to their bodies. I even devoted an entire chapter on the subject of sugar in my autobiographical book about my weight loss experience called “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb.” But none of this sits very well with the sugar lobby and they will not go down without a fight either. Ever since I first started writing at LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com about how sugar is what has led to the obesity problem in the United States, I have received numerous hate mail messages from people in the sugar industry telling me how wrong I am about their product because they say it is “all-natural” and completely safe for anyone to consume regularly. That has been the primary argument sugar proponents have attempted to put forth in their vehement opposition to the warnings people like me have been making. For the life of me, though, I can’t get past this claim by Briscoe and the sugar lobby that their product does not contribute at all to obesity. If you walk up to the average man on the street and ask him if eating a lot of sugar is either good or bad for you, I am confident that nine out of every ten people would say it is bad for you. This universally-accepted idea must be rooted in something that is substantially true or else people would not feel so strongly about it. Could it be that all those years of low-fat indoctrination by our government, media and so-called health experts has actually led us to become more and more obese because we neglected to see sugar’s role in this problem before? Another point to ponder is the fact that eating a low-fat diet generally means you will consume a lot higher amounts of sugar than you would on a low-carb plan. The reason for this is the fact that so many low-fat foods contain added sugars and salt to mask the disgusting taste once you remove the fat from the original product. This trade-off is marketed as “healthier,” but all of that extra sugar is not good for you either. This is an ever-present, never publicized continuation of the low-fat lie that rears its ugly head once again. The inseparable connection between low-fat diets and sugar needs to be illuminated for all the world to see.
So, the root question we need to ask ourselves is, “Can sugar be part of a healthy lifestyle?” Anti-sugar author and spokeswoman Dr. Nancy Appleton has compiled a huge list of 146 reasons why sugar is ruining your health which I will post a link to in the show notes section at TheLivinLowCarbShow.com. For now, I will tell you ten of them just to give you an idea of how bad sugar is for you: Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides, can weaken your eyesight, can produce an acidic digestive tract, can cause premature aging, contributes to obesity, can cause heart disease, is enemy #1 of the bowel movement, can lead to depression, directly feeds cancer cells, and is as addictive a substance as crack cocaine. You’ll want to check out the rest of Dr. Appleton’s list of reasons for avoiding sugar and learn the truth about what sugar really does to your body.
Alright, so now you’re convinced sugar is definitely not for you and you have a deep desire to kick your sugar habit for good. Excellent! You might be wondering to yourself, How do I do it? I think I’ve got the answer to that question so listen carefully. One of the things I did when I first started livin’ la vida low-carb was thoroughly convince myself that eating sugar was tantamount to eating rat poison. That’s right! While that may be a stretch of the imagination, just the thought that sugary snacks that I believed I couldn’t live without being associated with rat poison has kept me safely away from putting ANYTHING with sugar up to my lips. In fact, I was in the same room as a large buffet of various sugary desserts recently and I picked up a big piece of the best-looking chocolate cake you’ve ever seen in your life. In fact, someone who had seen me lose weight and keep it off for the past couple of years looked at me with wide-eyed amazement when I got the cake and said, “You’re not going to eat that, are you?” I responded, “Of course not. It’s for my wife.” I have that reputation for being able to refuse something that looks so delectable to eat now. And it seems I’ve been able to find the secret to overcoming temptation that has actually been confirmed by science.
University of California Irvine psychologist Elizabeth Loftus conducted a study that found creating false memories in your mind regarding certain foods can actually cause your desire for those foods to wane. When I convinced myself that eating anything with sugar in it was like eating rat poison, it seems something happened in my brain to convince me to stay away from sugar. I’m no psychologist, but it makes sense to me that you can believe something so strongly that you actually believe it is true. The example used by Loftus and her research team was children who were convinced and believed they got sick from strawberry ice cream as a child growing up eating less of it as adults because of the bad memories they had associated with it. I will post a link to this amazing study in the show notes section at TheLivinLowCarbShow.com. Loftus said in a statement about her study: “We believe this new finding may have significant implications for dieting. While we know food preferences developed in childhood continue into adulthood, this work suggests that the mere belief one had a negative experience could be sufficient to influence food choices as an adult.”
Maybe this explains why I still hate brussel sprouts and collard greens to this day! Yucky poo! Bad memories, bad memories! Stating that more research needs to be conducted on this phenomenon, Loftus wants to know just how long-term these bad memories really are and whether the same avoidance behavior exists when the actual food item is placed in front of them. Going back to that chocolate cake from the dessert buffet, I lifted that slice right in front of my nose just to see how tempted I would be to eat it. While it will certainly looked and smelled good, I had absolutely NO desire to eat it at all. Rat poison! I don’t know why or how this has happened, I just know it is not a point of weakness for me any longer. I thank God that He has taken away my desire for sugar and I sincerely pray that others will be able to have this happen for them, too. I still love my sweets, mind you, but now I get it from desserts with sugar alternatives in them, like ChocoPerfection bars. If we are ever going to get a grip on sugar addiction and the role it plays in the obesity epidemic, then we need to look at every available option to help us deal with it directly. That’s it for Episode 6 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore” and until next time, keep on livin’ la vida low-carb!