Sugar and Your Health
As listeners to the REJUVENAGING® with Dr. Ron Kaiser podcast know, some recent episodes have been sponsored by NutriSense, a company that promotes healthy living though their glucose monitoring program that includes wearing a monitor for a specified period of time and getting regular feedback about your blood sugar levels along with individualized nutritional support. It is designed for people who are interested in preventive health, as opposed to those who have diabetes or other diagnosed glucose disorders.
As is the case with any product that I endorse, I used it myself and learned how a few tweaks in the way I ate made a measurable leveling out of my blood sugar and a noticeable change in my energy level throughout the day – and I have no medical condition related to blood sugar.
The other thing that the program did for me was to educate me about healthy eating, a topic that I knew quite a bit about – but not as much as I know now. The subject is concerning because, as a species, the amount of sugar that we are consuming is exponentially greater than it was 200 years ago. The list of problems that too much sugar can cause includes weight gain and obesity, tooth decay, Type 2 diabetes, and increased risk for heart disease, arthritis, some forms of cancer, and other inflammatory diseases. In addition, choosing foods that are sugary may cause you to crowd healthier foods out of your diet.
The solution is not complicated. As much as possible, don’t add sugar to your food, read labels, and choose foods and drinks that aren’t highly processed and/or don’t have a lot of added sugar. Be aware of the fact that some foods that sound healthy really aren’t – including some juices and sports drinks.
The more that you choose whole unadulterated foods, the greater the chance that you won’t be consuming too much sugar. There is no added sugar in an egg or a radish or an almond or a banana. While it is true that fruits contain fructose, a form of sugar, the amount is not great enough to cause harm and the amount of sugar is offset by the vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other healthy benefits that fruit provide. Every healthy eating guideline encourages an average of 2-3 helpings of fruit a day.
For those of you who really want to stay ahead of the healthy eating curve, I also encourage to check out the NutriSense website and consider one of the glucose monitoring plans that NutriSense offers. If you use The Mental Health Gym link, you will get a discount on any plan that you choose as well as a month of nutritional support from a registered dietitian.
