2 Hidden Ingredients Making You Fat and Sick at Work
These days new revelations about healthy eating and losing weight are constantly in the media. Our T.V. screens and social media apps are filled with ads for the newest fad diets and conflicting reports about what foods to cut out of our diets. It all seems very complicated but in actual fact it’s very simple. Just kick the pre-packaged foods, keep the natural foods, and cook smart.
Why are we the only species that needs willpower to manage their weight?
This question was brought up by a recent podcast guest, lawyer and health advocate David Gillespie. After trying many diets for short periods and having success until his willpower was lost, David was questioning why humans struggle so much with maintaining healthy diets.
“Every other animal on the planet, except the ones unfortunate enough to be fed by humans, seemed to be able to control their weight on auto-pilot. They seem to be able to control their weight like the way we control our breathing, which is when you need more air, you breathe more and when you need less, you breathe less. That seemed to be the way all animals ran everything with respect to food and I didn’t understand why did humans and animals fed by humans, suddenly need some sort of manual intervention in that process.” –David Gillespie, Hot & Healthy Podcast #70
When researching into this area David found that our natural automatic hormonal control system for appetite and how we store fat has been hijacked by the sugars in our packaged foods. To test this theory, he eliminated sugar from his diet and lost 40 kilos over 18 months – without even feeling like he was dieting.
Sweet, sweet poison
While sugar may taste sweet, the effect that it has on our bodies is anything but.
Sugar is made up of molecules, 50% glucose and 50% fructose. While glucose is incredibly important to human life and the survival of all mammals, fructose is neither essential nor beneficial.
Fructose cannot be metabolised by humans and our cells cannot use it for energy, so it is converted in the liver to fat. This fat is stored in the liver and other parts of the body, which eventually creates a cascade of diseases that include type two diabetes, Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney failure, and more.
In my interview with David he strongly emphasised that this is not to be ignored and that the effects of sugar are taking hold of Australians.
- 1 in 3 of all adult Australians have fatty liver disease and most don’t know it. This was not the case 30 years ago.
- 5 million Australians now have fatty liver disease as opposed to just 5,000 Australians who have alcohol related fatty liver disease.
- 70% of every dollar in Australia spent on health is on diseases related to the cascade of disease caused by the over consumption of fructose in our diets.
For more information on sugar, click here.
The oily truth
Prior to about 1900, the only source of fat in the human diet was animal fat. At the start of the 20th century, chemists began to search for a cheaper fat that would behave almost identically when cooked in food. This started with oil from cotton seeds and eventually gave way to many alternatives for lots of economic reasons. Now we have lots of mad-made seed oils that are extracted from plants: sunflower oil, canola oil, rape seed oil, and rice bran oil.
But while seed oils are cheap and highly profitable, they are also high in Omega 6 fatty acids. This drives inflammation in the body, even damaging our DNA and disabling our anti-cancer defenses.
“That’s easy, I just won’t put sugar in my coffee and I won’t cook with seed oils.”
Not so fast.
Unfortunately eliminating these ingredients from our diet isn’t as simple as this.
“Almost every food on the supermarket shelf, every processed food, now contains significant amounts of sugar — shockingly high amounts of sugar… There is sugar embedded through all our foods. Even if the food itself doesn’t appear to have sugar in it, it doesn’t taste like it has sugar in it, it often has it… If you eat something out of a package in Australia today, you are consuming sugar.” –David Gillespie, Hot & Healthy Podcast #70
Likewise, seed oils are hidden in many of the breads and other pre-made products that we buy from the supermarket.
So with sugar and oils being so prominently used, how can we avoid them?
Here are my 5 steps to eliminating these ingredients from your diet.
- Read food labels – it’s important to know what you’re fuelling your body with.
- Choose higher quality products with no seed oils and little or no added sugars
- When you eat out – know what sugars, additives and oils will likely be used in the preparation of the food and spend your money wisely!
- Buy real food – whole food ingredients that haven’t been processed and learn to make simple meals at home to take to work.
- Fuel your body with foods that it is made to consume – enable it to heal itself and function better for longer, save your health and safeguard your wealth.
There are so many delicious foods to be eaten that don’t contain these nasty ingredients. For some fabulous recipes, free of sugar and seed oil, click here.
If you are ready to take control of your food and health book a complimentary Holistic Coaching call with me today.
Nicole xo
