10 Tips to Improve Your Metabolism and Take Control of Your Health

10 Tips to Improve Your Metabolism and Take Control of Your Health It is your Chronic Diseases that are caused or made worse by insulin resistance (too much sugar): DIET, not your gout fatty liver cholesterol DNA that determines heart disease SUGAR diabetes your DESTINY obesity cancer 1.. • EAT WHOLE FOODS Stick to meats, seafood, poultry, eggs, nuts, vegetables, and fruits. Eat protein and fat with every meal to feel fuller longer and reduce the need for snacking. 2: DON'T DRINK SUGAR Fruit juice, sports drinks, sweetened energy drinks, and sweet sodas are essentially liquid sugar. Drink water, seltzer, or unsweetened iced tea/coffee. Fructose (g) Glucose (g) Grape Juice 53.9g 52% 48% Mountain Dew 42.9g 60% 40% 38.9g 38.6g 37.6g Pepsi 60% 40% Apple Juice 67% 33% Red Bull 42% 58% 37.0g 35.3g 35.3g 35.1g Coca Cola 60% 40% Tropicana OJ 52% 48% Cranberry Juice 58% 42% 7-Up 46% 54% Arizona Iced Tea 35.1g 60% 40% 20.0g 19.6g 19.5g 20% 19.4g Gatorade 49% 51% Total Sunny D 60% 40% Sugar (per 12oz) Carrot Juice 46% 54% Vitamin Water 80% 3.1 STEP AWAY FROM • THE SMOOTHIES Smoothies are an easy way to consume a large amount of fruit, juice, and, often, dairy in a short amount of time. A small sugar ニ (16 oz) Jamba Juice® Clas- sic Smoothie contains 50-70 grams of sugar! 4.0 DON'T ADD SUGAR Avoid sweeteners of all kinds. Don't let Mother Nature fool you-honey and maple syrup raise insulin levels just as much as table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup do. Fructose (g) Glucose (g) Honey 50% 50% 5.7g High-Fructose Corn Syrup 4.9g 55% 45% 4.7g Agave Syrup 82% 18% Brown Sugar (packed) 4.5g Total 50% 50% Table Sugar 4.2g 50% 50% 4.0g Sugar Maple Syrup 49% 51% Brown Rice Syrup 3.7g (per teaspoon)² 100% 55 BECOME A SUGAR SLEUTH Learn sugar's many aliases and avoid buying products with added sugars. naple syrup, molasses, fruit corn syrup, honey, agav juice concentrate, cane syrup, rice bran syrup, barley malt, malt syrun treacle, panela, be sugar, saccharose, dextrose, carob syrup SUGARrup, cane juice, brown rice tapioca syrup, maltodextrin, maltose, dextran, sorghum, 6. AVOID DRIED FRUIT The drying process concentrates the sugars, and it's much easier to overeat fruit when it doesn't contain water. Water helps you feel full and satisfied sooner, so you're less likely to overdo it. 1/2 cup of prunes 13 plums 1/2 cup of dried apricots 17 fresh apricots 1/2 cup of raisins ニ 150 grapes 7.h FLOUR = GLUCOSE Baked goods don't have to contain sugar or taste sweet to cause an insulin spike. Even whole-grain flours break down into sugar fast enough to contribute to insulin resistance. 8: LIMIT DAIRY Whey proteins in dairy products and some protein powders raise insulin levels more than Milk products also naturally contain hormones that trigger insulin-like responses in the human body." pure sugar does! BEWARE OF SWEET AND 9. STARCHY VEGETABLES Plants store energy as glucose (sometimes in combination with fructose) in their roots, so root vegetables are really just lumps of sugar wearing vegetable suits. If you have insulin resistance, you may need to limit how many sweet and starchy vegetables you eat. 10: EXERCISE Exercise improves blood sugar and insulin levels because muscles pull glucose out of the blood to use for energy. Strength building/resistance training is even more effective (and less time-consuming) than aerobic exercise when it comes to boosting your metabolism.5 CHALLENGE YOURSELF! You have the power to change the course of reduce inflammation, prevent and reverse serious diseases, and feel great! your health, Keep a food diary for a week to see how much sugar you usually consume, then use these tips to practice reducing your daily sugar intake. A useful free tracking tool is the MyFitnessPal app/site (carbohydrate grams minus fiber grams equals sugar grams). Start by trying to cut your sugar intake by half. If you're insulin sensitive, work towards removing all sources of sugar except for fruits and vegetables. If you have insulin resistance, aim for 20 per meal or less (until cravings improve). Have your blood tested for insulin resistance markers before you start, and 3 to 6 months after reaching your sugar goal to see the results of your efforts. grams of sugar Take control of your health! References Infographic created by Suzi Smith 1 Data sources: USDA Agriculture Research Service National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27. ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods; brown rice syrup from Lundberg nutrition label. Note: In addition to free fructose and glucose, sucrose is represented as equal parts fructose and glucose. Maltose and galactose are represented as glucose, as these quickly turn into glucose upon digestion. 2 Data sources: Unless otherwise noted, data comes from Walker R et al Nutrition 30 (2014). DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2014.04.003; carrot juice: Australia New Zealand Food Standards NUTTAB 2010 Online Search- able Database http://archive.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/nuttab2010/ nuttab2010onlinesearch- abledatabase; Vitamin Water and Red Bull: Ventura E et al Obesity (2010). DOI: 10.1038/oby.2010.255; grape juice: USDA Agriculture Research Service National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27 ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods. Note: In addition to free fructose and glucose, sucrose is represented as equal parts fructose and glucose. 3 http://www.jambajuice.com/menu-and-nutrition/menu/smoothies/classic-smoothies 4 For more information on the effects of dairy products on insulin and insulin-like growth hormones, see http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/food/dairy. 5 Strasser B. and Pester D. BioMed Research International 2013, Article ID 805217. DOI: 10.1155/2013/805217. Illustration Credits: Exercise silhouettes, honey stick, and several food icons designed by freepik.com. lIce cubes designed by freevector.com. Diagnosis: Diet nutrition science meets common sense www.diagnosisdiet.com © 2015 Georgia Ede MD 041 || || ||