Author Topic: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful  (Read 25210 times)

mouseissue

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Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« on: June 29, 2014, 02:00:12 PM »
HI, Gang!

Came across this article that discusses another reason to avoid carbs (sugar).
This certainly would help explain the rampant mindlessness I see in America today! ;)

Tony


Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
Lorie Johnson

CBN News Medical Reporter 

By now you already know that too much sugar harms your body. It makes you fat, leads to diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and the list goes on and on. If you have a health problem, chances are it's caused by, or made worse by, to too much sugar in your diet. An easy test is to stop eating sugar, including carbohydrates like white bread, pasta and rice (which affect your body the same way as sugar) for a couple of months and see how you feel. Chances are, you'll feel better. Remember, sugar comes in many forms. The most popular is high fructose corn syrup, but there are many other forms, including other types ending in -ose, and starches, honey, of course cane sugar, syrups and honey.

If you don't think you can bear to go without the sugar and refined carbohydrates outlined above, you are most likely a sugar/carb addict. That is a subject for another blog, but in short, science has determined that in some people, sugar and carbs cause the release of dopamine in the brain, which is connected with pleasure and reward, so you never get enough...in fact, always want more. This is a big problem for your health, but perhaps more importantly because no person should be in bondage to any substance, whether sugar, carbs, alcohol, pain killers, cocaine, and so on. If you find yourself thinking, "I can't go without...." and you complete the sentence with a substance, you are an addict, and you need help. Humans are not made to be slaves to substances. We should be in control of them, not the other way around.

But take heart: if you are under the control of a substance, you can change! In the case of sugar and carbs, you probably only need to go cold turkey, exercise extreme self-control for a time, and your cravings will go away in a few days to a few weeks. I am speaking from experience. However, if you're addicted to any of the other substances listed above, please get help from one many treatment centers and organizations available.

So while we've established that sugar is terrible for your body, did you also know it wrecks your brain? It does!

Researchers at UCLA fed three groups of rats the same food: "rat chow," or regular rat food. During this time, the researchers trained all three groups of rats to navigate a maze. The maze had lots of walls, visual markings, so the rats could learn their way, and one exit. All three groups of rats learned the maze the same.

Then the researchers substituted one rat group's water with water spiked with fructose. Sound familiar? That's what soda is. So that group of rats ingested lots of sugar over a period of six weeks. At the end of the six weeks the rats who'd been fed fructose were slower and had greater difficulty remembering how to get through the maze than the rats who hadn't been fed the sugar.

According to one of the researchers, "Their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity. Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting their ability to think clearly and recall the route they'd learned six weeks earlier."

 

The rats that were fed fructose also developed insulin resistance. Researchers suggest this disrupts learning and causes memory loss and corrupts the brain's ability to process thoughts and emotions. According to one scientist with the study, "Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," he said. "Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."

But wait, there's more: a fascinating twist. Remember there were three rat groups? One stuck with the original diet, the other was fed a bunch of sugar, and the third was given a bunch of sugar AND...Omega-3 fats, like the kind found salmon, walnuts and flax. The group of rats that was fed sugar and Omega-3 fats navigated the maze much better than the group of rats that had just sugar. The conclusion is obvious. Omega-3 fats lessen the destructive impact of sugar on the brain.

We can learn a lot from this study. The first thing is to avoid fructose like the plague. Regardless of what we do during the day, we must perform at our best intellectual ability, and fructose simply handicaps our thinking process.

We must look at the list of ingredients in all the things we purchase, because fructose is added to an estimated 80-percent of the items at the typical grocery store. If you see fructose in the list of ingredients, or one of its sugary cousins, such as ingredients ending in -ose, or "starch" or "syrup" don't purchase it.

Of course fructose and related sugary ingredients are added to sweets like cookies and candy. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. They're in foods that many people do not consider sweet, but they really are, such as bread, crackers, pasta sauce, granola bars, cereal, yogurt, jelly, and on and on and on. So read the list of ingredients! Remember the list begins with the ingredients the food contains the most of, and goes from there. So if sugar is the first ingredients, run for the hills! That means it contains more sugar than anything else! This applies to many foods. Don't believe me? Check out the ingredients of soda or kiddie cereal.

If you are less than perfect, and choose to eat something sugary, this study teaches us that we can mitigate the damage from that sugar by consuming Omega-3 fats. Although these healthy fats are found in foods like salmon, walnuts and flax, it's actually difficult to get enough Omega-3s from our diet. So it's best to take a fish oil supplement. Make sure you look at the label of the supplement and get the one that tells you how many milligrams of DHA are in each capsule. Take enough capsules each day to equal about one gram of DHA per day.

By the way, you should know that the consumption of too many Omega-6 fats blocks your body's ability to process Omega-3 fats. So it's best to cut way, way back on Omega-6 fats. These are vegetable oils, corn, soybean, canola, etc. These are the oils in the clear, plastic bottles that line the grocery store shelves. Also check the list of ingredients on processed foods for these unhealthy oils. A good diet consists of consuming EQUAL amounts of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats. However, the average American consumes twenty times more Omega-6 fats than Omega-3s, and this imbalance leads to massive inflammation, a known killer. And since the two types of fats compete against each other, eating too many Omega-6 fats blocks your body's ability to process the healthy Omega-3s.

So to summarize, for healthy brain function, including memory and thinking, stay away from sugar and take one gram of DHA in a supplement form each day. Finally, drastically reduce your consumption of Omega-6 oil
« Last Edit: June 30, 2014, 09:18:21 AM by Doug Varrieur »
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Doug Varrieur

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2014, 09:23:32 AM »
Excellent article Tony, of course we've known this for years :)
Keep The Faith, Stay The Course, Spread The Word on Facebook and Twitter  8)

umpa

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2014, 09:27:53 AM »
GREAT ARTICLE! ;D

mouseissue

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2014, 01:44:16 PM »
I've noticed my "senior moments" are not as frequent as they were shortly before I started FTS. :)
But I still get, them... I guess there no escaping the ravages of time.

Tony
What you do today is what matters!




umpa

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2014, 09:30:06 AM »
No,but ginkgo is a great herb for memory Tony ;)

mouseissue

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2014, 11:13:57 AM »
No,but ginkgo is a great herb for memory Tony ;)

Thanks for the tip! :) :) :)

I'll give it a try, Umpa... I put it on my shopping list.
How does a person usually take? And how long does it usually take to kick-in?

Thanks, again! ;D
Tony
What you do today is what matters!




umpa

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2014, 09:33:35 AM »
It kicks in rather quickly.It is used for Alzheimer patients.Also a favorite with college students ;) Pills are fine.By a small amount at the drugstore before you buy the big bottle from costco.Some people have tummy problems like heartburn with it ;)

mouseissue

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2014, 10:09:16 AM »
Thanks, Umpa! ;D ;D ;D

I'll give it a try soon.

Tony
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shawn116

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2014, 07:31:36 PM »
Excellent articular Tony!!  All I know is sugar is the devil in disguise.  It is surely the cause of most if not all of my health problems and the reason many of my family members have lost their life way too soon   :'(


Just stopping in to say hello to my FTS family.  Ya'll know I can't forget you   ;D ;D 

I hope everyone has been doing great and enjoyed the 4th! 
It's been busy busy here for me but I'm maintaining and my A1C just stays the course now going on 3 years!!!!   Thanks to Fat to Skinny and of course to both of you Umpa and Doug and the rest of the family I have the key to staying healthy!!    I so miss talking with all of you.  I promise to try and check in more.   :-* :-* :-*

mouseissue

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2014, 10:47:50 AM »
Well Hello, Shawn! :) :) :)

You've been missed around here!... I've often wondered how you were.

I'm happy to hear that FTS is doing for you what it's been doing for me for the past years.
Because of it, I'm looking forward to a long and healthy life!!! ;D ;D ;D

Please check in more often.
I do so enjoy hearing from you! :) :) :)

Tony
What you do today is what matters!




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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2014, 02:36:33 AM »
I didn't know that sugar can be bad in our brain too. Thanks!

Doug Varrieur

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2014, 08:53:42 AM »
So, here's what I think.....hum, why am I here? Oh yes I remember now :)
Keep The Faith, Stay The Course, Spread The Word on Facebook and Twitter  8)

umpa

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2014, 09:13:38 AM »
TooSweet we have missed you! Lotsa love to you and the grandbabies! ;D

mouseissue

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2014, 01:20:26 PM »
So, here's what I think.....hum, why am I here? Oh yes I remember now :)

 :D :D :D :D

Tony
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shawn116

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Re: Sugar Makes You Dumb and Forgetful
« Reply #14 on: July 14, 2014, 07:46:35 AM »
Thanks my friends   ;D ;D  Love to all of you as well!!   :-* :-* 

Doug you are so funny  Haha   :D