DAY 45 – Sugar Makes for a Lousy Gift

I just wanted to dash this off to you cuz I know that we are already deep into the “Holiday Season”.

Don’t think it is lost on me that the word “holiday” comes from “holy”, and that “holy” means “sacred”; but it is more than apparent that in America, holidays are mostly about gifts. You didn’t ask for my advice, but you don’t have to read this either, and I am speaking to the universal “you” anyway; so here goes. Sugar is a lousy gift.

Let me count the ways:

First off, don’t you want to give something unique and possibly personalized? Sugar is not unique; it is ubiquitous! No matter the form or the flavor, it is still just sugar; and folks eat that every single day; hardly special.

Many people admit to being addicted to sugar. Many of those same people say that they really want to stay away from the stuff. Do you give booze to your alcoholic family and friends? Me neither.

Sugar makes people sick; that’s not a hypothesis, it’s a fact. Consider a few of the major diseases that disable and kill Americans and that are known to be fueled by excessive sugar: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, obesity, and dementia. Obviously you aren’t wishing any of those on your loved-ones. But, are you facilitating them?

Obesity and overweight are talked about so much in our culture, that most of us are numb to the real meaning. The real meaning is that 2/3 of American adults (age 20-74) are either overweight or obese and are therefore seriously, or significantly unwell. Sugar plays a powerful role in this dangerous condition of our citizenry and of our Country. Disease and danger are not gifts.

It is both common, and understandable, that many people feel that to give sugar on a “special occasion” is perfectly reasonable. In fact, to question sugar gifts on “special occasions”, while historically would have been considered un-American, in today’s social climate, might now be considered terrorism. But back to the point; given that adults stop for sugared drinks each day on their way to work, and kids start their days with Pop Tarts, there is no way to imagine sugar being consumed just on “special occasions”. We are actually not far from a continuous IV drip (intravenous).

Your one little sugar gift does make a difference. Millions are giving one or more little sugar gifts.

It is not my intent to make your “holidays” more difficult than they may already be. I sincerely hope that the opportunity to consider the clear and present danger of sugar is a gift for you during this beautiful time of year.

PS – My wonderful wife suggests that I include the disclaimer/clarifier that I eat sugar. She’s right!   

Additionally, I am not judging those who give or eat sugar gifts. I am simply trying to address critical issues of our time in the hope of reducing suffering. It’s a tricky, if not scary job for me.

DAY 30 – Tweeting Not for Twits Necessarily

Twitter, as you may know, is a very popular instant-messaging system that lets a person send brief text messages, called Tweets, up to 140 characters in length to a list of followers. My bet is that a huge percentage of Tweets are light on significance. Some folks, like my wife, think of them as worthless.

But, some Tweets, as it turns out, carry powerful messages.

My professional mentor, Jeffrey Bland, PhD, (pictured at left) the founder of the Institute for Functional Medicine, a biochemist by training, and a brilliant philosopher and educator by gift and diligence, tweets. I limit my Twitter following, but he is on my short list.

Today I looked at two of his Tweets. The first was a link to an article by neurologist, David Perlmutter, MD, on the brain’s ability to regenerate. One paragraph reads as follows:
““In 1998, the journal Nature Medicine published a report indicating that neurogenesis, the growth of new brain cells, does indeed occur in humans. As Sharon Begley remarked in her book, "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain," "The discovery overturned generations of conventional wisdom in neuroscience. The human brain is not limited to the neurons it is born with, or even the neurons that fill in after the explosion of brain development in early childhood.””
For the complete article -> Synthesis (@FMUbyJBland) (via @HuffPostHealth) http://huff.to/9AJzJq

The second Tweet, a quote from Dr. Bland, stated: “A hyperinsulin state can overdrive specific kinase-modulated pathways and increase the relative risk of a metastatic disorder.” In lay terminology, this means that elevated levels of insulin in ones blood (often caused by excess dietary intake of sugars and starches) can cause an overproduction of molecules involved in the process of inflammation, which themselves increase the risk of developing cancers that spread from the initial site in the body. In excessively simple terms this means that eating too much sugar and starch is a risk factor for developing aggressive cancers.

The first Tweet dealt with brain health and brain regeneration, the second with a mechanism of the genesis of metastatic cancers. This is not lightweight material. For busy doctors like myself, these data blasts help to keep me on the cutting edge. 

They may be packed into 140 characters or less, but these are not twit Tweets.

DAY 19 – I Can Help Your Kids Lose Weight (part 2)

OK, let’s get back to you and me helping your kids lose fat!

MY SIMPLE TRUTHS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
1)    everybody has food allergies (or sensitivities), even if symptoms are not obvious,
2)    people are attracted to foods that they are allergic too – yes, the stuff your kid loves,
3)    eating food allergens can cause many people to gain fat,
4)    food allergy is often a critical factor blocking fat loss,
5)    dairy products are one of the most common food allergens in the American diet,
6)    wheat and other gluten containing grains can cause fat gain for many people,
7)    sugars and refined starches are a real problem,
8)    it would be helpful if your child can have a body composition analysis – better than weighing,
9)    there is a difference between giving up on your kid’s health, and being discouraged at times,
10)    when we give up on our kids, they often give up on themselves.

A great place to start is to take your child off of ALL (100%) dairy products for one week. Dairy can not only cause fat gain, but often causes tiredness, emotional lability, poor behavior, aggressiveness, stomach aches, constipation, intestinal gas, diarrhea, muscle pain, headache, ear infections, throat infections, colds, etc...

It works best when the ENTIRE family participates in the experiment. In most cases, the entire family feels better while off of dairy . At the end of the week, put your child back on the same amount of dairy that he/she was eating before. Most kids feel, look and behave worse on dairy.

If your child felt or appeared better while off dairy, the experiment needs to be repeated. Some children voluntarily choose to stay off of dairy once they find that they feel so much better. Repetition of the experiment creates clarity for both parent and child.

If dairy is found to be an allergen for a child, removal for even a month will often result in fat loss.

The dairy experiment is just a place to start. Dairy is the best food to use to teach individuals and families about food allergens and their role in fat gain and fat loss. If you find that you need help as you work to improve your child’s body composition, you may want to find a knowledgeable healthcare practitioner (chiropractor, naturopath, medical doctor, doctor of oriental medicine, etc) to guide you. BEWARE; it may be difficult to find such a practitioner.

For more information on the power of removing food allergens from the diet to improve fat loss, read UltraMetabolism by Mark Hyman, four-time New York Times bestselling author, family physician and international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. Find out more at: http://www.drhyman.com/

All children deserve our help.

Dr. Young :)