Sugar, Well Fructose Specifically, Kills. Here’s How Processed Foods And Carbs Can Harm Your Metabolic Health

Not too long ago, I spoke to authors, academicians, researchers, doctors, coaches, psychologists, nutritionists and other global experts, to understand how one can live life to their full potential, for my podcast The EDGE . We had eye-opening conversations about the impact of exercise, genes, diet, physical performance, recovery, stress, and more, and how they come together to promote longevity. But, because time was limited per episode I feel there were certain things which demand more attention from my not-so-inner science nerd. And I would love to discuss these with you over the next few editions of the newsletter. With this, I aim to simplify complex issues and explain to you how your choices can increase or decrease your lifespan.?

Today, I want to talk to you about metabolic health, something we talked a lot about during my episode with Dr Robert Lustig . Dr Lustig , a physician and author, has fostered a global discussion on metabolic health and nutrition, while exposing some of the leading myths that underlie the current pandemic of diet-related diseases.

To begin with, let’s understand what metabolic health is.?

Being metabolically healthy simply implies that your body responds to food in a beneficial manner, which reduces the risk of conditions such as stroke, kidney diseases, obesity, type-2-diabetes, heart disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases. This means having ideal levels of HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol), blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides, blood pressure, etc, without the use of medications. Poor metabolic health increases the risk for heart disease, diabetes and stroke.

There is so much one can do to get started on our health journey to live longer and stronger. Dietary changes and tiny efforts on the daily can help too, you just need to start. Start small, start today. The best way to do so would be to get in touch with a physician. In the meantime, you can click here to set up a 1-on-1 conversation with me, and I can help you get started on your journey towards longevity.?

How do you know the status of your metabolic health? What are the markers to look out for?

“Insulin is the lynchpin in all chronic disorders.”?

- Dr Lustig

Dr Lustig suggests getting your fasting insulin checked as a metric because it is a true indicator of visceral fat. Visceral fat is hidden and outlines our internal organs. It is important to get it checked because accumulation of visceral fat can be the building block for metabolic disorders. Along with this, HbA1c and Uric acid analysis are the other early indicators of metabolic ill health.?

For a person to be metabolically healthy, both insulin and glucose should be down.?

It's important to feed the gut properly and to protect the liver. Protecting the liver means eliminating carbohydrates and their constituents glucose, fructose and starches. When we consume high amounts of carbohydrates, the liver gets overburdened and converts all the carbohydrates into fats. This fat will either get deposited on the liver itself, causing disorders like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or get exported as triglycerides causing problems of heart and obesity.?

Excess carbohydrates are a big problem. The microbial cells present in our gut outnumber the total number of cells we have by 10:1. These microbes feed on fibre. Processed foods lack fibre (fibre is a superhero in our diets, as we discussed last week ). Therefore, when you don't eat enough fibre, the microbes start eating the mucin layer of intestinal endothelial cells. This causes disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, intestinal inflammation, systemic inflammation and leaky gut syndrome.

Fructose and alcohol are processed in similar ways in the body. In excess, these will cause cell death, unless there is a counter mechanism in place. This mechanism is the “de novo lipogenesis” - a process wherein the extra carbs get converted into fat. Therefore, extra sugar does not remain in the body in the form of sugar. It gets converted to fat.?

Measuring LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides (a type of fat) are important because higher ranges of the two are indicative of cholesterol.?

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of? symptoms that are present across diseases. The underlying diseases are the eight subcellular pathologies:?

1. glycation
2. oxidative stress?
3. mitochondrial dysfunction?
4. insulin resistance
5. membrane instability
6. inflammation
7. methylation?
8. autophagy.?

Dr Lustig calls these the “hateful eight” in his book, Metabolical. Treating these eight conditions with food is the actual solution.

As we’ve been discussing the past couple of weeks there needs to be a change in the way we eat and the food choices that we make. We need to be more insightful and understand what is actually food and what will act as poison in the body.?

It’s important to fuel your body correctly. You can click here to book a session with me , and let me help you figure out the best way forward.??

I will also be sharing a little biohack I’ve come up with, based on each episode. Here’s one for today:?

Manage your dangerous glucose spikes by replacing artificial sweetener with coconut sugar in your cup of tea or coffee today.?

Artificial additives like sorbitol provide a low calorie alternative to sugar but are highly processed. Coconut sugar is a natural alternative that has additional benefits such as having antioxidant activities, high vitamin C, potassium and sodium (minerals). This sugar variant is made from coconut palm sap of the coconut palm tree.

Catch the full episode here , or click here to listen to it on your preferred podcast streaming platform.

This newsletter is a part of our ongoing series The Longevity Hack . Our aim is to help you understand the science, learn to recognise the markers of ageing and to develop biohacks for each of these.?

You can read the previous editions here .?

Curious to know more about longevity, ageing and how you can cultivate a lifestyle that will help you live longer, healthier and happier???

Click here to set up a 1-on-1 conversation.