Thursday, April 16, 2009

Why Do We Love Sugar?

Alaskan salmon that’s been slow-cooked with butter, cream, fish stock, dill, shallots and sea salt with quinoa that has been soaked overnight then slow-cooked with coconut milk, beef stock and sea salt. And collard greens sauteed with butter, garlic and sea salt and my daily salad; 2-3 types of lettuce, avocado, tomatoes tossed with wheat-free soy sauce, beet kvass, raw vinegar and olive oil. That was dinner.

The Brazilian cheese bread was OK yesterday but not so good re-heated today. I think I need to mix it, bake enough for that day and freeze the rest.

I went to the doctor today. She OKed my raw milk diet! She said she is not too excited about it but she’s not against it. We will monitor my liver and kidneys. She’s a pretty good doctor though. She actually listened to me and didn’t say I was crazy.

My blood work was better too. I take small doses of Armour (30mg day) and my TSH (Thyoid Stimulating Hormone) went from 41 on Feb. 13 (down from 147 on Jan 5 and that was before I took the armour) to 7 on April 2nd. My antibodies improved greatly as well. I’m still not within normal range on these things but everything is moving in the right direction. This is where I make a plug for the way I eat. The doctor was amazed at how quickly my levels are adjusting on such a small amount of thyroid hormone. I’m convinced that it is because of how I eat and my regular practice of yoga. Now, if I can discontinue this gluten-free thing that would be great (as I bite into my day-old, dry Brazilian cheese bread). I can’t help it, I love my freshly baked whole wheat rolls! I still have to cook them for my family and my mouth drools watching them.

Now my thought of the day. What stops people from eating well? I know this is a huge question. But I want to ponder it. I’ll start with sugar. Addiction to sugar is rampant in our world today. The average sugar consumption for Americans is huge! Anywhere from 64 to 150 pounds a year, depending on who is talking. Now it’s pretty common knowledge that humans have been gifted with an innate sweet tooth, to facilitate breast-feeding (breast-milk is sweet!). But back when we were running around catching animals and picking berries we didn’t have too many chances to munch on a snickers, so there weren’t very many sugar addicts. Now that sugar is readily available, like on every street corner and checkout aisle, it is pretty hard for us to resist. And what we often forget is that every time we eat a french fry or a piece of white bread there occurs a peak in blood sugar levels. Those empty carbs are converted into sugar right away. So don’t think you deserve desert after you’ve had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread (even the peanut butter may have sugar in it). But you will most likely crave something sweet.

One of the major problems here is that most of what we eat is not satisfying. Why is it not satisfying? Because it is nutritionally empty. Let’s look at a typical meal for me one year ago.

Breakfast: boxed cereal (organic honey Os perhaps) with low-fat milk, then an all-natural turkey sausage and organic egg on an english muffin

boxed cereal: highly processed under high heat and pressure (shown to be extremely difficult to digest and to cause peaks in blood sugar production, perhaps even more than sugar). Any nutritional content is pretty much useless because my body was unable to absorb it.

organic low-fat milk: A highly processed, dead liquid devoid of valuable enzymes and containing only small amounts of nutrients. Being low-fat it had some of the natural fat replaced with a powdered form of milk that was commercially dehydrated causing oxidation of the cholesterol in it. And it is highly likely that the original product was extracted from sickly, undernourished, over-pumped cows fed an unnatural diet of soy and corn (yes, even organic milk can be bad)
turkey sausage: A highly processed product with a high-sodium content, but at least there must have been some nutrients in the meat.

organic egg: this was probably the most nutritious thing I ate all day

english muffin: it was white! oh boy, blood sugar peaks, empty calories, no nutrients

So what was my breakfast? Pretty crappy! The egg was really the only saving grace and that wasn’t from a pasture-raised chicken so it was of less value.

So after I consume this breakfast that actually did more damage than good, what did I feel like eating? Some sugar anyone? My body was crying out for more, more, more! I had given it some energy but not much else.....where was the calcium, magnesium, Vit A, Vit D, Vit C? So the bodies natural reaction is to ask for more! This is one reason why people can’t control themselves, their bodies are calling out for more.

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