What If You Stop Eating Sugar For 30 Days?

Hello Health Champions. What would  happen if you stopped eating sugar  

for 30 days? And when I say sugar I'm talking  about anything that has calories and tastes sweet  

that means sugar honey agave high fructose corn  syrup rice syrup they're all disaccharides meaning  

there's two molecules linked together they're  small molecules they get processed very quickly  

and other than the fact that they have different  ratios of glucose and fructose that's the two  

molecules linked together they're pretty much  the same, all right. They still affect your  

body very much the same. Glucose raises blood  sugar and spikes insulin and causes insulin  

resistance over time and fructose clogs up the  liver and causes insulin resistance that way  

so sugar is the most important thing to avoid the  classic idea of sugar something that tastes sweet  

but we also want to be aware of the other type of  sugar which is polysaccharide also known as starch  

and this is what we find in bread and potatoes and  corn and so forth. They don't have the fructose  

but they have hundreds or thousands of these  glucose molecules linked together and it's  

only a matter of minutes before this starch turns  into glucose and starts spiking your blood sugar.  

That's why the glucose the blood sugar impact  between sugar and bread is pretty much the same.  

So I want to talk about some of the short term  things you would notice some of the mid-term but  

also some of the long-term benefits with special  emphasis on what happens to the brain. Probably  

the very first thing that would happen is that  you get some cravings and like a lot of things  

it might get a little worse before it gets  better because what happens here is if your  

body is used to sugar and carbohydrate if that's  the typical fuel that you have been provided and  

now you stop it your body is not going to know  where to get the fuel where to get the energy.  

So when you eat carbs on a regular basis you spike  blood sugar the insulin suppresses the blood sugar  

and you get a blood sugar roller coaster. You get  unstable blood sugar and normally whenever your  

blood sugar was low you would just eat some sugar  or some carbs and you would bring it back up but  

now your body doesn't know where to get that fix  so it has to first repair its metabolic machinery  

a little bit. And it doesn't take very long it's  only going to take a few days something like two,  

three, four days for your body to start adapting  and learning how to get energy somewhere else  

and in a few days time you will reduce your  insulin levels and when insulin goes down your  

body will upregulate some of the fat burning  enzymes and you'll learn how to make energy  

that way but in the meantime you're going to have  a few days that you'll probably have some cravings  

so just stick with it because the first few days  is probably the only big hurdle. Besides cravings  

you're also probably going to get some withdrawal  symptoms because sugar and carbs is an addiction  

and just like cocaine and heroin they feed into  a reward pathway in the brain that has to do with  

dopamine. And when we trigger dopamine  we get an initial sense of pleasure  

and that's why we seek out these things that's  why we get tremendous pleasure from them, but in  

the long run when we get habituated now that turns  into dependence and now it's more like a baseline  

that if we don't get it now we feel horrible  and that's what the withdrawal is all about.  

And like Wayne Dyer used to say an addiction is  when you can't get enough of what you don't want  

and i think if you think about sugar and comfort  foods that description fits pretty well that you  

really don't want it but you still can't get  enough of it. Dopamine is a natural substance so  

it's absolutely necessary for us it's what gives  us drive and desire and goals it helps us fulfill  

goals because it helps us focus on potential  rewards and when we get it in nature it is very  

finely balanced and tuned so we get just the  right amount. But when we get it via sugar  

stimulating the pathway and with cocaine and  heroin that can fit directly in the pathway  

they're isolated forms They're purified. They're  refined they are many many times stronger than  

anything we would ever find in nature so sugar  is natural in berries and plants and vegetables  

but it has maybe one or two percent in a  vegetable the sugar is pure and the cocaine  

and the heroin are very strongly concentrated  so now with these isolated forms the effect is  

many many times stronger so now we bypass  this fine-tuned regulation that the body  

normally does and over time we get desensitized.  The tissues don't respond as much anymore to that  

strong dose and we need more and more and more.  Many of you will probably remember an ad campaign  

that ran years ago where they said bet you can't  eat just one and it was a potato chip company who  

shall remain unnamed but what it means is that  they are very well aware that they're selling  

an addiction and not only are they aware of it  they know all this stuff but apparently they're  

proud of it too. Now you may be asking why is  it then if these substances are so addictive why  

is it that some people can drink alcohol without  becoming alcoholics and some people can eat sugar  

without becoming sugar addicts and it's because  we're wired differently but also addiction varies  

because of how our brain is configured. Where  are our strong and weak areas because they  

talk to each other. So we have some lower centers  that's the midbrain over here we in marked in red  

and that's associated with more primitive  functions like pleasure and survival whereas the  

higher centers have to do with executive  function with thinking motivation and control.  

The lower centers respond and produce pleasure  they feed into this reward pleasure pathway  

so sugar, heroin, cell phones anything that  creates a reward a pleasurable feeling is going  

to feed into this pathway. And anything that is  done repeatedly and has the potential to create  

an addiction is also going to alter the neurons  and when these neurons get altered we get stuck  

in a different communication pattern and that  creates dependence on this substance or this thing  

that creates the pleasure. And the only thing  that keeps us a little bit in control are these  

higher centers so the better the higher centers,  especially the frontal lobe is working, the better  

it can control and and turn down the volume on the  demands of the other areas. The good news is that  

there's something called neuroplasticity that the  brain can change itself and the strongest driver  

of that change is movement exercise and this is  why I talk so much about exercise all the time  

because it affects almost everything we also want  to understand something called BDNF, brain derived  

neurotrophic factor and don't worry about the name  all you have to know is that it's miracle grow for  

the brain it makes things happen it makes things  change and repair and connect better and this BDNF  

it protects against shrinkage in the brain  so when we have these substances alter the  

neurons they can actually degenerate and shrink as  a result of that constant stimulation that barrage  

they down regulate essentially but BDNF will  protect against that process so in other words  

exercise will reduce the likelihood of getting  addicted to these substances. On the other hand  

sugar will do the opposite. Sugar will reduce the  production and the effect of this BDNF so it will  

shut down this miracle grow and the two really  powerful things that will help produce BDNF is  

exercise and fasting. So in other words cutting  the sugar increasing the exercise will make  

more BDNF and it will make you more resistant to  this addiction tendency and the effects of these  

substances and I think it's sad that any time we  hear about exercise it's either about looking a  

certain way or about burning calories. If you eat  a cookie you have to burn so many calories well  

if you see how wide the influence of exercise  is i think you can see that it goes a little  

bit further than just calories. So it's important  to understand those things to see why it can be  

difficult to break out of a habit an addiction.  But if you make it through the first few days  

it gets a whole lot better now you're going to  notice less cravings only a few days into this  

you will start to stabilize your blood sugar  and your body will start becoming fat adapted so  

that results in less cravings. Also after just  a few days you will notice less hunger this is  

partially because of the more stable blood sugar  you don't have those constant swings but also now  

after a few days your insulin is starting to come  down your insulin levels and insulin is a storage  

hormone it locks away the fat so with less insulin  now you can start accessing that fat. It allows  

fat burning and it allows access to that body fat  and of course a huge benefit which is maybe the  

biggest reason people try this is that now you get  some weight loss. And when we look at the brain  

we also see some big improvements most people are  going to notice an improvement in mood. Their mood  

lifts they have less of a tendency for depression  and anxiety. They notice improved mental clarity  

and improved focus. They get more done and the  reason these things happen are several again  

stable blood sugar. Why? Because the brain  is the primary reason blood sugar is so  

tightly controlled we love to have it around  a hundred we can get a coma from either very  

high blood sugar or very low blood sugar so the  brain really really likes it at a tight controlled  

level. And mostly the brain depends on glucose  for fuel but if you become insulin resistant then  

the brain may not be getting all the energy it  needs from the glucose and that's when people find  

you become fat adapted and you quit the sugar  and the starch now you go really really low  

on carbohydrates. You're going to find you make  some ketones and ketones are an alternative fuel  

for the brain. So if your brain can't get it  from the glucose now it has an additional fuel  

source. And not just the brain has more energy  but your whole body has more energy you'll notice  

with the stable blood sugar and being fat adapted  your body has now started repairing that metabolic  

machinery insulin is dropping fat burning  enzymes are increasing so you don't have to  

top off your blood sugar with carbs your body  makes energy in a very stable manner. Another  

very interesting thing is that your taste buds  are going to change or more specifically the  

receptors from your taste buds. So you're going to  rewire your brain to perceive food differently and  

this can be a huge experience for people because  you get a whole new appreciation for real food.  

You're going to probably notice that it tastes  amazing you'll find flavors that you never noticed  

before because they were all dulled by fast food  and sugar. And I hear all the time that people are  

off of sugar off of sweets for a few weeks or  a couple of months and then there's a birthday  

and now they go have some cake and what do they  think? They think it's too sweet they don't  

even like it anymore some of the things that  they said oh I waited months for this and then  

they go back and have it and now they don't even  like it anymore or even worse they eat that cake  

and now they feel nauseous because their bodies  know better. And if you get through the first few  

days and you make it to day 30 don't stop now you  have a good lifestyle but if you decide to do some  

blood work now is where you can get some objective  proof of how much healthier you have become.  

You'll probably find that your blood glucose has  dropped that your A1c which is your three month  

average glucose has dropped significantly that  your triglycerides are lower and that's the fat  

in your blood so even though you might be eating  a whole lot more fat your triglycerides will drop  

because they come from sugar. You'll  find that your cholesterol has improved  

not necessarily that the total is lower but you'll  find that the HDL is probably higher and the ratio  

between your total cholesterol and your HDL will  probably have dropped and that's one of the most  

important indicators for heart disease risk  even more important is probably the number of  

small LDL particles if you run a more specialized  cholesterol profile that number will probably drop  

and even if LDL stays the same  total you'll find that the ratio  

of the small oxidized damaged LDL to the total  LDL will be much much less and what all of these  

indicate together is if they're going in the right  direction that indicates a lower inflammation.  

And if you measure it you'll probably also  notice that your blood pressure has come down  

but most importantly is the profound impact that  you can have on your future health. In just 30  

days of cutting out sugar you can completely  transform your future health picture of course  

you have to keep it up you can't do it for 30 days  and then go back on junk food but you will start  

burning through some of that liver fat when you  stop feeding your liver fructose now it can start  

burning up some of that fat and you reduce your  fatty liver. You will reduce your type 2 diabetes  

you can reverse type 2 diabetes rather quickly  by cutting out sugar you can reduce your risk of  

kidney failure of blood pressure elevated blood  pressure. You reduce your risk of heart disease  

stroke and dementia. You will also reduce your  risk of cancer and you will improve your immune  

function and I hope this next piece is going to  get your attention because we're all very familiar  

with something called covid19 which is a pesky  little virus but what most people don't realize  

is that this virus tends to kill some people  and spare others. And what's the difference?  

The biggest difference is everything that we have  talked about these all these factors are due to  

insulin resistance metabolic syndrome and a low  grade of inflammation and what they found early on  

in the epidemic is that the people with metabolic  syndrome and a number of these risk factors  

they had about a 15 percent mortality  whereas people without this had a 0.1  

percent or less so you could improve your  statistics your odds 100 to 150 times  

by stop eating sugar. So let's go through and  see how these factors the sugar and the brain  

start affecting our covid19 situation. So we have  the epidemic and they tell us to stay at home  

and then when we stay at home we don't have our  normal social interactions. We don't go to work we  

don't get that stimulation so we worry about our  jobs. We worry about Covid and we don't get our  

normal stimulation and joy in our life so with  worry we also get more anxiety and we get more  

depression. And before the covet epidemic we  had about 17 percent of the U.S. population  

had some degree of anxiety or depression that  was sort of significant enough to be called a  

problem now mid-epidemic or late epidemic we are  at 40 percent. So almost half the population have  

anxiety or depression as a result. And as we  talked about when we're feeling bad we want to  

feel better so we look for rewards and the easiest  drug to get a hold of is called sugar. So when  

we're worried or anxious or depressed we tend to  eat comfort foods and most of those have sugar  

or starches. And then when we're told to stay  home and we can't even walk on the beaches or  

in public parks, now we stop moving and because  we're also depressed we don't have the motivation  

we don't feel like going for a walk or doing  anything. And when we stop moving now we weaken  

the brain the brain doesn't get that stimulation  to make new synapses and make brain-derived  

neurotrophic factor. And when the brain weakens  now of course we don't have that inhibition  

so we get more depressed and when we're more  depressed we move even less we get a weaker brain  

and so on and then because we're more depressed we  eat more sugar and this sugar further blocks the  

BDNF and makes the brain even weaker now the weak  brain can't inhibit stress anymore so we have more  

stress than ever but the brain is weaker so the  stress rises to the surface and goes uncontrolled.  

And then of course with more stress we weaken the  immunity and then we eat more sugar that further  

weakens the immunity and all along this is the  immunity that we needed to fight off the virus.  

So I don't mean to paint a bleak or depressing  picture for you what we have to understand is that  

we can do something about it but first we have to  understand how these things work so that we can  

get a goal so we can get some motivation and stop  eating sugar and start moving and start reversing  

the situation. I really hope you're ready to  cut out the sugar for the next 30 days but if  

you need one more reason let's talk about money  that tends to get people's attention. And where do  

a lot of people put a lot of their money  is into something called health insurance.  

Now there's two types of health insurance there's  either health insurance with an I that's what most  

people have health insurance and then you spend  a whole lot of money every month so that when  

you get sick then they can treat your symptom and  you don't really get any better. The other type of  

Health Ensurance is spelled with an E and that is  the action that you take to Ensure that you stay  

healthy or that you even reverse the disease that  you have so if you spend a little extra money on  

real food that will give you much better health  Ensurance with an E and I'm still in clinical  

practice but in my office we do not accept any  health insurance with an I because they don't pay  

for any health Ensurance with an E. If you enjoyed  this video you're going to love that one, and if  

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