Do You Need Sugar To Live - Quit Sugar

it's true you actually do not need sugar to live  how can that be i thought sugar was a carbohydrate   and we need carbohydrates to live let's discuss  there are three macronutrients we have fat we   have protein and we have carbohydrates carbs are  made of carbon hydrogen and oxygen most people eat   mostly carbs then fat then protein we live  in a world with all sorts of conflicting   nutrition advice and carbohydrates are at  the front and center of that controversy   so we need to start with what is indisputable  the facts the actual science and for most people   on the planet who are not experts in understanding  the scientific studies and statistics and so forth   it's easy for people to be led astray and they can  believe in things that are just simply not true   you can't handle the truth so let's break down  the complexities of the science and serve that   on a nice platter nice and easy for you to digest  not all carbohydrates or all carbohydrate-rich   foods are equal they're not equal in terms of  how the body uses them so some are good some are   bad and then somewhere in between there's  different types of carbohydrates that do   different things there's differences in how  they're digested and absorbed and how they're   used by the body now this is a molecule called  glucose it's a carbohydrate meaning it's a string   of carbon that is hydrated with hydrogen and  oxygen and when it forms a ring-like structure   it's classified as a monosaccharide meaning  one sugar other monosaccharides are fructose   and galactose when you put two monosaccharides  together you get a disaccharide for example when   you bite into an apple this is the main  sugar that you're eating you're eating   that disaccharide called sucrose which is made  of glucose and fructose sucrose is a type of   simple carbohydrate called sugar specifically  sucrose is a disaccharide meaning it's made of   two monosaccharides so in the case of sucrose it's  made of monosaccharide glucose and monosaccharide   fructose other disaccharides include maltose  which is two glucose molecules fused together and   another example would be lactose which is glucose  and galactose fused together individual sugar   units can combine into much more complex often  branched structures called polysaccharides which   typically consist of hundreds or even thousands  of glucose molecules fused together these   carbohydrates are found in grains and vegetables  and can be broadly categorized into digestible   and indigestible types digestible polysaccharides  those include starch and glycogen now starch is   the storage form of glucose found in plant tissues  and glycogen is the storage form of glucose in the   muscle and liver in both humans and animals but  a fun fact about glycogen when you eat meat you   don't actually consume that glycogen because it's  already been broken down when the animal died now   indigestible polysaccharides mostly consist of  fiber which only comes from plants cellulose   is an example of a fiber that is composed entirely  of glucose molecules but unlike the glucose that's   found in starch or glycogen the glucose molecules  that are in cellulose those are fused together in   a special way that makes it impossible for our  gut enzymes to break them down so certain foods   contain two types of fiber there's insoluble fiber  which is a type of polysaccharide that cannot be   broken down by our body and it can't be absorbed  into your bloodstream so it provides zero calories   to you and this actually passes unchanged through  our digestive tracts and i'll explain that later   why this is so important now the other fiber is  soluble fiber this fiber actually dissolves during   digestion and it turns into a gel like substance  it's not digestible just like insoluble fiber is   not digestible but some components of it can be  broken down by our gut bacteria that's in the   colon and what those bacteria do with it becomes  very important for example soluble fiber is   metabolized by the gut bacteria into short chain  fatty acids one of those being butyrate which gets   absorbed into the bloodstream and that's great  because butyrate has anti-inflammatory properties   but let's for a second say you eat a carrot which  is yeah it contains fiber but also contains starch   you're crunching on that carrot and the saliva  in your mouth it starts to break down that   starch molecule or all those starch molecules  into smaller and smaller starch molecules and   that's because of an enzyme in your mouth or  in the saliva called salivary imylase this is   why if you eat a cracker and you chew on it long  enough before swallowing it tastes sweet on your   tongue because that starch is getting broken down  into the very small disaccharide maltose now once   that chewed up carrot reaches your stomach it  comes into contact with the stomach acid which   deactivates the salivary amylase enzyme that is  mixed in with those little carrot chunks then   it makes its way to the first section of your  small intestine called the duodenum most of   the starch is broken down into the disaccharides  maltose there why because the pancreas secretes   an enzyme called pancreatic amylase now you also  have other enzymes located in the small intestine   that break down those disaccharides into sugar's  most simplest form monosaccharides mainly glucose   and fructose and if you consume lactose and milk  that's going to be broken down into galactose and   glucose so the monosaccharides get absorbed from  the intestine into the blood which immediately   goes to your liver by way of your portal vein  the liver will convert fructose in galactose   into glucose in fact the body doesn't actually  need fructose to live so when fructose is dumped   into your liver from that food you just ate it  says well i have to do something about it so i'll   turn that into glucose and when there's too much  of that that's when it ends up being stored as   fat glycogen as well i'll get to that a little bit  and unfortunately at least from this perspective   the human body is very efficient when it comes to  absorbing sugars the body uses glucose to provide   energy for all sorts of functions and that's why  the body carefully monitors blood glucose levels   it's called a glucose homeostasis and it's  controlled by the pancreas and the liver now   when it comes to controlling blood glucose levels  the pancreas secretes two very important hormones   insulin and glucagon when blood glucose levels  increase such as after eating carbohydrates   the insulin is released from the pancreas now  insulin lowers that blood glucose by stimulating   the uptake of glucose by tissues including the  process of converting extra glucose into glycogen   in the liver and in your muscles what about when  blood glucose levels are low well what happens the   pancreas starts to secrete glucagon which has the  complete opposite effects of insulin it's going to   raise blood glucose levels this includes breaking  up that glycogen in order to free up more glucose   remember you don't actually need sugar to live  carbohydrates other than sugar yes but not sugar   so what happens when you do eat it not only  does it get converted to glycogen it also gets   converted to fat another form of energy storage  the carbohydrates that exist in your body at the   cellular level the biochemical level they have  other functions besides serving as fuel for your   body like they also form structural components  of dna in rna they can also be converted into   materials for other structures too like when the  fragments are used as building blocks of amino   acids remember proteins are composed of amino  acids when sugar attaches to the protein molecule   it actually alters the properties of those  proteins changing the way that that glycoprotein   functions for example let's say you have a cold or  bronchitis or pneumonia or the flu and you start   coughing up all this nasty crap and it's this  thick slimy slippery grime that's the work of   glycoproteins but by far the biggest role for  carbohydrates is fuel for your body in order to   turn that carbohydrate into fuel and to use that  fuel as energy you have to inhale oxygen in order   to burn that fuel and then you exhale carbon  dioxide which is like the exhaust fumes coming   from the body so you burn these carbohydrates  right and at the biochemical level their bonds   are exploding and they release energy and  that energy is used to make the molecule   atp now atp is the energy molecule of your body  that's the molecule that allows your heart to pump   your muscles to move and for your brain to work  all that good stuff carbohydrates are found in   all sorts of food it can come in both good and bad  forms it comes in the form of whole intact grains   fruits vegetables legumes in the dairy things  like milk yogurt and cheese it can also come   in the form of added sugar and refined grains when  you look at the nutrition facts label you'll see a   list of ingredients there including carbohydrates  and under carbohydrates you'll see fiber and   added sugar you can have all sorts of ingredients  that are sugars that come in different forms for   example high fructose corn syrup molasses honey  dextrose and many more all in all there are 262   names for different sugars now ingredients they're  supposed to be listed in order of their weight   starting with the heaviest and then down to  the smallest for many foods you'll often see   that sugar ends up being the dominant ingredient  even though it's not the first ingredient listed   why because the food labels intentionally  break it up into many different forms of sugar   so that it seems like sugar is not the main  ingredient but when you add them all together   oftentimes sugar ends up being the main ingredient  for many food products so for example let's take a   look at honey nut cheerios supposed to be healthy  for you right not so fast because added sugar is   far from healthy per serving there are total of  30 grams of carbohydrates and 12 of those grams   are added sugar notice that the first ingredient  listed is whole grain oats and then oat bran good   but then keep going down the list and you see  honey and brown sugar syrup which are the added   sugars of course if you're dealing with fruits  or vegetables you don't have an ingredient label   because those are not packaged processed food  they're mainly carbs either in the form of sucrose   glucose and starch in addition to the fiber that  they have so the healthiest carbohydrates to eat   are the unprocessed or minimally processed things  like whole intact grains steel cut oats quinoa   fruits vegetables legumes aka pulses technically  quinoa is a seed but let's roll with it generally   speaking the recommended amount of carbohydrates  people should eat in a day for optimal health is   anywhere from 25 to 60 percent of calories but  it does depend on different factors especially   the type of carbohydrates that you're eating but  specifically added sugar how much added sugar   should be in someone's diet now in the us the  average person consumes about 100 grams of added   sugar per day way more than what we should be  consuming ideally it would be as close to zero as   possible but most adults would be fine if they eat  less than 30 grams per day and for children less   than 10 grams per day most people truly don't  realize how much added sugar they're actually   consuming because it's hidden in the ingredients  it could be in barbecue sauce ketchup all these   sorts of things even salad dressing now what about  the keto diet a lot of people want to know about   that especially because it can be helpful for  those with seizures and for improving or even   reversing type 2 diabetes and of course for weight  loss the keto diet entails eating less than 20 of   the calories from carbohydrates or about 20 to  50 grams of carbohydrates per day there's a lot   of things that you should be aware of with the  keto diet for one you don't want your blood ph   to be too acidic meaning too low for too long of  a time it's actually hard to sustain that for more   than two months also for ideal health you want to  consume mostly unprocessed or minimally processed   foods so this means no bacon or sausage or hot  dogs if you're doing keto and you need to find   a way to eat real foods that have both soluble and  insoluble fiber things like avocado seeds and nuts   people who stay on a keto diet for too long they  tend to be low in selenium magnesium phosphorus   and vitamin b and vitamin c unless they eat foods  that have leafy greens things like spinach kale   but getting back to sugar ideally if you're going  to eat sugar it's best to eat it in the form of   whole fruit and not from anything that contains  added sugar remember you don't actually need   sugar to live and too much causes all sorts  of health issues and it also ages you faster

Channel: Doctor Mike Hansen

Views: 97,730

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Id: 3oBvqQsRfq0

Length: 11min 53sec (713 seconds)

Published: Thu May 19 2022