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Key Takeaways

• Sugar offers an escape similar to drugs–People consume sugar against their best self-interest because it makes them temporarily feel better 
• Negative Effects of High-Sugar Diets:
  • Heart disease–People who consumed 17-21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% greater risk of heart disease 
  • Acne–Teens who consume sugar have a 30% greater risk of developing acne  
• Sugar Advice:
  • Aim to consume less than 70 grams a day
  • Most of it should come from fruits, not soda or fruit juice
  • Being skinny or fit doesn’t give you a pass to consume sugary drinks and foods (pancakes, donuts, cereal), it’s still unhealthy for you

Intro

• Hosts: Sal Di Stefano (IG: @mindpumpsal), Adam Schafer (IG: @mindpumpadam) and Justin Andrews (IG: @mindpumpjustin)

Sugar Is A Drug

• If you go from a high-sugar diet to no-sugar, you will suffer from withdrawal symptoms
  • Sugar offers an escape similar to drugs–People consume sugar against their best self-interest because it makes them temporarily feel better 
    • Consuming sugar lights up the same parts of your brain as if you consumed cocaine
• When coaching clients, the first thing Adam almost always has to deal with is their overconsumption of sugar
•  Obtaining sugar in nature is difficult, but it’s easily accessible with processed foods
  • Apples and bananas have been hand-selected and breed to be sweeter than they originally were
  • If you wanted honey, you had to survive a swarm of bees
  • Getting sugar from a sugar cane takes a massive amount of effort
• Humans crave sugar because it’s now an easy and abundant energy source

Negative Effects of High-Sugar Diets

• May cause weight gain
  • Eating a lot of sugar typically results in eating a lot of calories–The vast majority of high-calorie drinks are filled with sugar
  • Sugary drinks don’t curb appetite
• Several studies show that it can contribute to more visceral body fat, that’s the bad inflammatory type of fat
• Increase risk of heart disease–People who consumed 17-21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% greater risk of heart disease 
• Increases chances of developing acne–Teens who consume sugar have a 30% greater risk of developing acne
• Accelerates tooth decay as sugar feeds bacteria 
• Accelerates skin and cellular aging–Women who consumed more sugar had more wrinkles
• Shortens telomere length and leading to  premature cellular aging
• It increases:
  • many autoimmune symptoms (e.g., fatigue, trouble concentrating) 
  • risk of type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s
  • risk of getting cancer
  • mood swings and depression

Sugar Advice

• Aim to consume <70 grams of sugar a day
  • Most of it should come from fruits, not soda or fruit juice
• Being skinny or fit doesn’t give you a pass to consume sugary drinks and foods (pancakes, donuts, cereal), it’s still unhealthy for you
  • You can get away with eating badly when you’re young but it will eventually catch up with you
• Avoid high-fructose corn syrup, it’s another form of sugar
• If you have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), going on a low-to-zero sugar diet will help you 
• If you crave sugar, eat a FRUIT 
• Treat sugar like beer, have it sparingly but remember it isn’t healthy and you should limit your intake