Earlier today I went to the super market to pick up essentials. One item I wanted to pick up was greek yogurt. As I stood in front of the dairy cooler I started my comparison of ingredients in each of the containers. If you’ve shopped for yogurt recently the problem lies in the number of types of yogurt products available including flavored, unflavored, lite, non-fat and the lists goes on. Trying to follow my mantra of low fat, low sugar and low glycemic I spent almost 30 minutes comparing and trying to find a healthy yogurt for myself. Among all the different ingredients the one major finding was the tremendous amount of sugar in the various products. Sugar content varied from 6 grams to as much as 32 grams per serving which had a standard serving of one cup. If you don’t take a few moments to compare ingredients you are making a big unhealthy mistake.
Recent research from the University of Colorado Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension found that dietary fructose sugar (high fructose corn syrup) HFCS has been added to many foods that the general public doesn’t even know it’s in and therefore obesity rates have risen simultaneously. There is also more proof that excess HFCS and metabolic syndrome which means the development of high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease along with obity are linked together.
You know it’s bad when the research study included this final piece of advice: “FRUCTOSE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AN ENVIRONMENTAL TOXIN!”
There are numerous other studies and published research on negative reactions that excess sugar and “fake” sugar have on the human body. The many neurotoxins and inflammatory reactions that “fake” sugar has is for another blog. To obtain a healthier you, the first step is to remove all sugar and “fake” sugar from your diet for at least 3 weeks. You will be going through a detox period just like a drug addict because you are addicted to these products but you will feel better, think more clearly and also lose weight.
Don’t let sugar be a JOKE ON YOU!
The prevalence of high obesity rates and diabetes has been pretty bad since many food companies decided that fat content in many food products needed to be reduced. They started advertising that their items were reduced fat and thus healthier for you. However, reducing the fat content in these foods also made them much less tasty. So in order to counteract the loss of flavor, they started upping the sugar content in many of these food products. As you mentioned, a regular trip to the grocery store can reveal some surprising things…
Hello Stephen
Please accept my apologies for this late response. Between a heavy clinic schedule along with a extended European tour educating and training health providers on my fibromyalgia protocol I have fallen seriously behind on correspondence.
Yes you are correct in the food industry changing ingredients to allow for flavor. I suggest to all of my patients to read the labels and spend some valuable time comparing sugar, fat, gluten and other ingredients as a proper healthy balance.
Thank you for your comments.