Disclaimer Note: I am not a doctor nor a medical practitioner, nor a nutritionist so I am not giving any medical advice. Last time I played doctor I misdiagnosed one of my daughters’ broken arm, for a week. The real doctor wasn’t very complimentary to me.

 

RETRAINING OUR TONGUE

 

I’ve spent all of my life, literally, hooked on sugar. I’ve tried to reduce my sugar quantity during the last 40 years with no real success. I’ve gone through short periods of reduction only to have that bag of Oreo cookies call out to me. But fortunately, that all changed beginning in January of 2021.

 

I am now very mindful of any sweets, processed food, desserts, candy, pasta and bread. I wasn’t for most of my life and my blood sugar finally spiked to the Pre-Diabetic stage.

 

When I started my climb up the mountain of ‘no sugar’ longer eat ice cream, candy bars, cookies, cakes, or crackers. I lost 20 pounds in the first  11 months I’d been working on dramatically reducing my sugar and ‘quick release’ carbs like pasta and white rice consumption. Without exercise.

 

So now I’m not giving up all sweets but save them for special occasions. I couldn’t have imagined this in January 0f 2021when I started.

 

Our tongue is the gateway to our digestive system and overall health.  And as it turns out, also to our brain. Our tongue starts the digestion process as soon as food is recognized.  Signals go to the brain to tell it whether it is sweet, sour, bitter, salty or ‘an undefined mixture’ (umami). Once the signal hits our brain, our brain tells us whether we like it or not. And with some foods, such as sugar, liking it to the point of actual addiction.

 

Much of our addiction to sugar is due to added sugars.  Sugar hits the same pleasure centers of our brain that drugs like meth, cocaine and heroin do, and gives a huge dopamine surge. Just like the drugs surge our dopamine level. The tongue illustration above is actually an outdated concept, but often is still used. Current science has shown that the taste buds for the five different tastes actually reside all across the tongue and are not localized in specific areas. So sweet is at the tip of the tongue, and all over the tongue and sends the initial signal to our brain (which literally lives and survives on sugar) that ‘You’ve mined more sugar!!’.

 

And because sugar is the fuel for our brains, it’s rabid desire for gathering sugar is also probably a ‘species self-survival tactic’.  After all, if our brain runs out of fuel, we are dead. Processed food manufacturers know the science behind sugar’s God like power over our wills, which is why 75% of the items in a grocery store have added sugar.

 

Some of us are more sensitive to taste in different areas of our tongue than others.  Like anything, we will generally eat only things that we like the taste of.  Unfortunately, for our entire lives, including as an embryo, our tongue and brain have been trained to love sugar by the food and sugar industry. And by parents like myself. And my parents.

 

I’ve retrained my tongue, and brain, three times in my life.  An example of ‘retraining’ is I hadn’t been able to tolerate anything spicy hot.  I liked chile, but with not too much heat.  About 15 years ago I decided to learn to like it hotter, because of what I had read about the health benefits of hot foods.  Now on a heat scale I can tolerate up to about 8 out of 10.  (And I’m done trying to go any higher.)

 

Prior to that I gave up shaking extra salt onto my food and, also reduced the amount of overall salt used in cooking. It took a while for my brain to accept it, but with enough time I didn’t miss the salt. I still don’t. Although I do put it on my freshly popped popcorn.

 

Generally, it seems healthy will taste less sweet than unhealthy. As a species in gathering food, we relied on using ‘sweet’ as ‘safe’ and ’bitter’ as ‘poison’. But that isn’t necessary anymore. Yet our brains still have some of that wiring from when we were gatherers.

 

The goal in retraining our tongue is to be ok with ‘non-sweet’ and not desire ‘sweet’. Which means we have to stop eating added sugar and artificial sweeteners. There is scientific evidence that artificial sweeteners actually cause us to gain more weight than if we use sugar.

 

Artificial sweeteners associated with weight gain:

https://www.villages-news.com/2021/07/04/artificial-sweeteners-associated-with-weight-gain/

 

For hope of a long-term reduction/elimination of added sugar we have to train our brain to embrace a little (ideally a lot of) sour or bitter. And to help in that area Green Tea, Ginger Juice and Lemons and Clove juice play a key role.

 

The Green Tea and Ginger Juice which you will read about more, are both without sugar and more bitter than sweet.  Especially after you add some lemon juice and/or lime juice. But both are great food tools to begin to retrain our tongue to tolerate less sweetness, more bitter and reduce the need for sugar. Each time we mindfully tell our tongue to tolerate ‘just a little’ bitterness, it will. And our brain will slowly evolve.

 

Unfortunately, like most things that we must learn or change, there will be some discomfort in the short run. It’s not easy.  Afterall we are retraining a lifetime of sweetness which most often is associated with our emotions, good or bad.  Feeling sad? Have a candy bar to get the dopamine fix. Or just got a promotion, celebrate with cake. The science behind our food and sugar consumption is demonstrating today that our emotions are driving much of our eating. As long as we are fixed on sugar, our brain can’t even help us

 

It’s really no different than learning how to play the guitar.  In the beginning there’s a lot of frustration, possibly wanting to smash the guitar like it’s its fault, to eventually enjoying practicing and for those few with perseverance and love for it, to teach it.  It’s all learned and unlearned. And I can’t think of much that is more important that retraining our tongue to enjoy ‘non-sweet’ and not crave and binge on sweet.

 

The vast majority of Americans, and others around the world are struggling with being overweight and possibly have a Metabolic Disease like Type II Diabetes, heart failure, dementia, inflammation among others.

 

As long as we are consuming sugar, the body won’t lose weight.  

 

The payoff for our personal investment is huge.

 

 

 

                            

     

 

 

Willpower – The willpower needed comes at three different stages. The first stage of willpower isn’t about focusing on giving up sugar or the foods you eat. It is simply focused about having the willpower or discipline to drink Green Tea w/Lemon & Clove and Ginger Juice every day and throughout the day, put a slice of lemon in your glass or bottle every time you drink water, and eat a small handful of nuts prior to eating an unhealthy snack. (You can skip the nuts – but…..)

 

Unless of course you are the type of person that can just stop eating all sugar including pasta and potato chips. In that case you are lucky and home free. That certainly is not me!

 

The second stage of willpower is that once your tongue has been retrained, to not buy that donut, or candy bar. And while that may seem like an impossible task right now, once the tongue accepts ‘not sweet’ and the brain starts getting the message, the amount of willpower needed becomes greatly reduced and surprisingly simple.  But of course, just like me, until you get to that point it’s hard to imagine.

 

The third stage – is just to stay the course and continue being mindful of our food.

 

Expectations – If expectations are that within a few days or two weeks you’ll be sugar free or drastically reduced, then this will disappoint. It’s taken a lifetime, which for me is 69 years, for my sugar addiction to be firmly implanted in my tongue and brain.

 

1. If you’ve been on a diet (or many diets) - this is not about going on a diet until we are ‘fixed’ and then having to go on another diet later to get fixed again and again. This is about a lifestyle change that will be something you embrace. When reducing or eliminating sugar it’s about living a healthy metabolic life and preventing the loss of eyesight or an arm or leg amputation. It’s about a lifestyle that will help in preventing various metabolic diseases like Diabetes Type II, Dementia, Alzheimer’s, inflammatory diseases, emotional anxieties, Cancer and more.

2. It’s going to take a while. Afterall it’s taken years and/or decades for our brain and body to become addicted to sugar, so don’t expect a pill or a quick fix. Plan on 8 weeks, minimum, to really start feeling the impact. Twelve weeks is ideal. I found at about 4-6 weeks my cravings started to end, and as my tongue rewired, so did my brain. At about 2-3 months you can walk past the donuts and pass up the candy bar.

3. You don’t need to eliminate anything you are currently eating, or, add exercise or go on any crazy diet. You do need to add some things daily and make a conscious commitment to your inner self to be mindful of what you are eating. As in ‘Know Thy Food Label’. (NOTE: Cronometer is a great app for nutritional contents and labels. Plus, you can enter what your favorite recipes and find what they offer in way of macro and micro-nutrients, vitamins, calories and more.)

4. Every week you’ll need to purchase and consume 4-5 lemons, enough unsalted walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, peanuts, sunflower seeds, or other nuts/seeds you like to augment your snack and/or meals. Unsalted is best.

5. Drink homemade Fermented Ginger Juice (or a simple Ginger juice). The fermented Ginger Juice is my preference as it contains no sugar due to the fermentation process (verified by a food testing laboratory), has carbonation, no alcohol; and takes 30 minutes to make from 64-128 ounces.

6. Green Tea - about 12-16 bags are needed each week. Maybe 20.

 

My Story

 

On January 2, 2021 I seriously started to reduce my sugar intake and now, at 69 I can say it's the first time in my life to be free from the sugar wheel. I’ve lost 20 pounds in the eleven months since then, without increasing my exercise.  I do average around 10,000 steps a day, but that is consistent with my activity level prior to starting my sugar reduction. My weight went from 162 pounds down to 142 pounds and now stay around 143-145 lbs. I had my fasting sugar tested and it came in normal at 84.

(And in July, 2022 I actually dropped two pounds while on a two week vacation.)

 

 

My previous blood sugar levels for the last few year have been prediabetic.  While I’m not totally sugar free now, my consumption of sugar has dropped 80-85%. My last ‘sugar’ binge was late June of 2021 as I pulled out the box of Nabisco Honey Maid graham crackers, deciding I could eat just one. Fortunately, there was only one of the three wax paper packages of ‘sugar grahams’ nestled snuggly in the box. I ate them all. Why was it that plain graham crackers were my ‘last sugar stand’. Why not binge on ice cream, or brownies or German chocolate cake? Why the lowly, plain dry graham cracker?

 

A major part of the answer is the 8 grams of added sugar per serving. Per the American Heart Association men should consume less than 37 grams of added sugar per day, women and children less than 26 grams per day. My one wax paper package of graham crackers contains 8 full crackers which is equivalent to 4 servings with 8 grams of added sugar per serving. I consumed 32 grams of sugar in just a few minutes. And that doesn’t take into account just how quickly the processed flour is turned into sugar.

 

But it took me until November (2021) and listening to many interviews from experts on sugar addiction to figure out the second, and equally important part of the ‘why’.

 

My first two memories are around food and sugar.  When not quite 3 years old (1955) our family moved to a new city and house and when we got there, we were given a small bottle of chocolate milk. Which I cherished as I sat on the new hardwood floor. My second memory is of my mother and me at Mrs. Otter's house so she and my mom could enjoy coffee, exchange cookies, and keep me happy by giving me a selection of 3-5 cookies.

 

And while I have tried to reduce or eliminate eating sugar over the years, I'd still binge by baking chocolate chip cookies at 9:30pm and then eat 6-8 of them. Or mix up a quick batch of chocolate frosting to spread on graham crackers.

 

Growing up my mainstay afterschool treat was graham crackers and chocolate frosting, a treat item that carried forward into my adult years and that I also transferred to my children.  And in kindergarten our snack was a small cardboard container of white milk and…. graham crackers.

 

The graham crackers were separate of the Robinson Hot Fudge sauce, chocolate fudge, dark chocolate cakes smothered in frosting, lemon meringue pies, apple pies, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, caramel popcorn and more.

 

One of my favorites that my mother made about once a month was ‘sugar on steroids’. When it came to ‘drizzling’ frosting my mother didn’t recognize the word.  Her Pineapple Strudel looked and tasted like it swam under the wall of frosting at Krispy Kreme. I think you get the idea. A lot of sugar.

 

I was a momma’s boy and spent a lot of time in the kitchen learning to bake.  My mom loved to bake and naturally, when a kid gets to scoop out the leftover chocolate cake batter with a spatula, I ended up loving it too.

 

Oh, and I don’t want to leave out the bread, sugar and milk ‘breakfast in a bowl’ or the ‘Butter & Sugar Sandwich’ for lunch or a snack. Whenever I needed a Peanut Butter cookie ‘fix’ I’d just make a peanut butter and brown sugar sandwich. It tastes exactly like a cookie.

 

My kids experienced brownies with chocolate chips melted on the top or mixed into the batter (usually both) long before it was available in boxes of pre-mix. And then smother them with a thick layer of butter vanilla icing on the top. Heavenly.

 

 

I owned a cotton candy maker. How many people own their own commercial grade cotton candy machine? My kids could have pink, blue or yellow.  Or for a more colorful sugar fix – all three spun on the same spindle. The only thing cotton candy has in it is an artificial coloring and pure sugar.

 

After re-marrying my diet improved significantly but I still relied often on fast food for lunches and candy bars for snacks. Moving from Michigan to California about nine years ago my diet did shift to include more vegetables, less processed meats and foods and less sugar.  But our, er, my candy drawer could never stay full. My wife has this keen ability to take one bite of a chocolate and be satisfied. Me? Devouring an entire Hershey’s chocolate bar wasn’t hard.  The 12-ounce size.

 

Throughout my life my key blood test results such as Glucose, Cholesterol and Triglycerides have always been in the ‘strongly’ normal range. But a few years ago, my sugar started to rise and eventually hit Pre-Diabetic at 105-110. I contribute that to an accumulated lifetime of high sugar intake. 

 

Unfortunately, even with great lipid panel results throughout my life and having stopped using extra salt 30 years ago, a few years ago I underwent back-to-back heart ablation surgeries. One for heart fibrillation and the other for heart flutter. I’m fortunate to now have a rock steady heartbeat and no medications.

 

While I recognized that my sugar consumption had to be a contributing factor, I just couldn’t stop the binges.

 

Current science demonstrates that the physical brain relies sugar for energy. But there is also usually an emotional attachment to sugar. For me, it’s that emotional attachment that explained the second part of why graham crackers.  Giving up graham crackers also required me to give up certain emotions connected with them. I think the crackers too me subconsciously took me back to my childhood where life was care-free. Remember, I was a momma’s boy. 

 

A coupe years ago my wife sent in a sample to VIOME to get its ‘Gut Intelligence’.  The analysis comes with their recommended eating list.  VIOME gives a list of recommended ‘avoid’, ‘minimize’, ‘enjoy’, and ‘superfood’ foods.  I created a spreadsheet to be able to categorize the foods into the VIOME categories of ‘vegetable’, ‘protein/fat’, ‘fruits/grains’, and ‘herbs/spices’.  There were 27 superfood recommendations with VIOME referencing, in particular, the Flavonoid content in 15 of them. Only two of the Superfoods were animal based.   

 

I’ve been researching Flavonoids for two years and have read over 2,000 research papers and am convinced they play a key role in our metabolic health. I refer to them as the ‘anti-sugar’ molecules. Flavonoids are what makes fruit and vegetables bitter as well as giving them their various colors. They are the molecules that plants call on when under stress or are damaged. Flavonoids rush to the scene and start healing the plant. They are chocked full of antioxidants,

 

Flavonoids are found in abundance in plant-derived foods and beverages.  A Danish study released in 2019, and now quoted globally as a standard reference, found that consuming 500 mg per day of Flavonoids across its spectrum reduced the incidences of heart disease, brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia, Diabetes Type II, among others. Consuming 1,000mg per day helps in Cancer prevention.

 

Danish Cancer Society - Danish Study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542519619302128

 

The FlavForward™ Green Tea and Ginger Juice are chocked full of Flavonoids.

 

The ‘How I Accomplished It’

 

In addition to my 20 pound weight loss, my energy is improved, my appetite is reduced, I can fast intermittently without hunger pains, and no more cravings or binging. I now easily pass up any type of sweet or donut shop. I discovered two tubs of ice cream in the freezer recently and while I recall how ice cream tastes, I have no desire for it. I couldn’t have imagined that just 12 months ago.

 

When I discussed Willpower, I mentioned it’s needed to drink Green Tea and Ginger Juice throughout the day and every day; put lemon in your water, and snack on some nuts   In addition to the good stuff in the Tea and Ginger, the amount of water in the tea and juice is equally important. Our bodies are comprised of about 60% water, so we need to have sufficient hydration to be Metabolically Healthy.

According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery at 31%. We need plenty of water and most likely more than we are used to consuming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The U.S. National Academics of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommend that in addition to the water in our food, women consume about 10 cups (80 oz) of fluids a day and that men consume 14 cups (120 oz).  But it does vary by individual. Also, it’s important that when you increase your level of fluids you need to be sure you are consuming enough electrolytes. They can be found in many healthy foods such as Kale, Avocados, Almonds, Broccoli and others as described in Healthline - ‘25 Foods That Replenish Electrolytes’

 

During my Flavonoid research I’ve found that cold brewed Matcha Green Tea in particular (and the other green teas) help in improving brain function, increases metabolism, reduces the risk of cancer and brain diseases like Dementia and Alzheimer’s, Type II Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and helps in weight loss. It also gives a hit of dopamine. Green tea contains the amino acid L-theanine, which has been shown to increase dopamine levels https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/dopamine-supplements#TOC_TITLE_HDR_7

 

Flavonoids present in tea are four main Catechins, (i.e., (−)-epicatechin (EC), (−)-epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG), (−)-epigallocatechin (EGC) and (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG); Rutin, Quercetin, and Thearaubigins, Kaempferol, and Mycetin. These Flavonoids and other polyphenols present have antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, inhibit cancer cell growth, aid in insulin regulation, and helps in cognitive function and prevention of Neurodegenerative disorders.

 

(Green Tea- Health Benefits and Chemical Composition of Matcha Green Tea: A Review- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7796401/)

 

 

I found it helpful to understand a little about the differences between teas. White tea is tea made from new growth buds and young leaves of the plant and has a higher level of antioxidants than Green Tea. Green Tea is processed by steaming and scalding the tea leaves for several minutes; they are then rolled and dried. Black Teas go through a different process; the tea leaves are not steamed but oxidized or fermented and then dried.

 

White Tea has the least amount of caffeine (15mg), followed by Green Tea (20mg) and Black Tea (45mg). Green Tea steeped in cool water contains a lower level of caffeine than if using boiled water.

 

Per the USDA the standard amount of tea leaves used for 8 ounces (1 cup) of water is 2grams.  A half-gallon contains 64 ounces (8 cups).  Using 6 tea bags (at 1.3 g each) dilutes the tea to about a 1/2 potency, which is important for long term drinking.  By drinking ½ gallon in a day it is equal to almost 3-4 cups of full-strength tea.  This amount supplies about 400 mg of Flavonoids. Some studies recommend drinking 4-5, or more, cups of green tea every day.

 

The way you make your tea also matters. Allowing the tea to steep overnight in cold water is better than using boiling water. Hot water causes the tea to release more tannins and caffeine.

 

 

 

Ginger’s health benefits have also been well documented. Ginger is good for pain reduction, blood sugar regulation, reduces nausea, may lower cholesterol and inhibit bacteria growth. Ginger increases the level of two of our most important neurotransmitters which are serotonin and dopamine. (Depression is strongly linked to low levels of both.)

 

Ginger contains the Flavonoids quercetin, rutin, catechin, epicatechin, kaempferol

 

Identification Some Flavonoid Components in Malaysian Young Ginger:             https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6257699/

Cleveland Clinic: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/ginger-health-benefits/

Ginger Root- continuing education: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565886/

Forkly: https://www.forkly.com/food/12-incredible-health-benefits-of-ginger/

Be Brain fit: https://bebrainfit.com/ginger-health-benefits/

 

The importance of Green Tea and Ginger helping boost levels of Dopamine and Serotonin is that Sugar does the same thing. Sugar is just a lot more powerful and destructive. By drinking the Green Tea and Ginger Juice throughout the day, not only are you getting nutrients to the molecular level with Flavonoids and micronutrients, but you’re constantly getting a little uptick in your brain’s pleasure center with the Dopamine and Serotonin.

 

In looking for a way to adjust your lifestyle and relationship with food and sugar, then I highly recommend reading a few books that reinforce not just the desire, but the necessity of harm reduction and maybe elimination. I found them integral to providing me the science behind the lifestyle.

There are many good reads on the topic, but these really helped me understand the power of sugar, fats, and oils in disrupting our natural processes and the importance of molecular level health.

 

‘The Secret Body – ‘How the Science of the Human Body is Changing the Way We Live’

            Daniel M. Davis, Published 2021

 

‘Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To’

            David Sinclair PhD, Published 2019

 

‘Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine’

            -Dr. Richard Lustig.  Published May, 2021

 

‘HOOKED: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions’ – Michael Moss; Published March, 2021

 

‘The Longevity Diet’; Dr. Valter Longo Published 2016, prolonfast.com

‘The How Not to Diet Cookbook’ – Michael Greger; Published December, 2020

 

‘The Flavor Equation – The Science of Great Cooking Explained in More Than 100 Recipes’ – Nik Sharma; Published October, 2020

 

‘Metabolical’ and ‘HOOKED’ provide the science and history behind our consumption of processed foods that are enhanced with unhealthy and cheap oils, trans-fats and salt and sugar.

 

‘How Not to Diet’ and ‘The Flavor Equation’ provide science-based recipes that are in alignment with a Metabolically Healthy lifestyle. ‘The Flavor Equation’ provides more science background.

 

Quit Sugar Summit, hosted by Mike Collins, is one of the best resources to learn about the cutting edge of using food as medicine. (https://quitsugarsummit.com/)

 

My FITBIT watch:

 

While I’ve always embraced new technologies (I do 3D/Virtual Reality photography) when it came to using a Fitbit type device to monitor some of my behaviors, I’ve basically been dubious of their effectiveness. That is until one of my children gave me a Fitbit watch for Christmas in 2020. As it turns out, I do think it helped play an important role in my ability to kick sugar. Admittedly I don’t use all the various functions and apps I could use with it.  But the three key metrics I’m able to track is my heart rate, number of steps, and weight. Tracking my number of steps each day is a helpful reminder of my level of general activity and the program’s reminder to ‘get moving’ doesn’t hurt.

 

With weight, I think each person has their own reasoning for weighing or not weighing themselves on a regular basis. I weigh myself every morning before I consume anything. First, it’s a consistent comparison between days, and second, it’s the time of day that I way the least! I don’t enter my weight every day into my Fitbit, but at least a couple times a week. Being able to look at my weight history on a graph has been very helpful.

 

Most important though, is that by weighing myself every morning before I start my day, it’s a process that is a daily reminder to be mindful of what I consume.

 

While there is a difference between natural sugar and added sugar, too much sugar of either or both is still too much sugar. Natural sugars of Fructose and Lactose come from fruits, dairy, and veggies like beets and carrots. Natural sugars eaten in their natural state are absorbed more slowly by our bodies and are more than enough sugar to maintain our health and generally considered healthy to consume. However, sugar processed from beets isn’t the same as eating a beet. Once processed it’s concentrated and doesn’t have the fiber and nutrients to slow its absorption and spikes our insulin. When we spike our insulin too much we become insulin resistant which results in Diabetes II or other diseases.

 

‘Added Sugar’ is detrimental and found in most processed foods. Approximately 75% of food items on our grocery store shelves have added sugar. Data on Added Sugar intake in America shows that on average adults consume a third of a cup (77 grams) of added sugar per day.  While eating no added sugars is ideal, it is recommended that women should consume less than 26 grams (6 teaspoons) per day and men less than 37 grams 99 teaspoons). Children average even higher daily intake at 81 grams, and their recommend level is less than 26 grams.

 

Per the CDC, a single can of Cola has 10 teaspoons of added sugar, which is 40 grams.

 

Please read this brief article next on natural vs. added sugars from CHEAR (Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research)

https://chear.ucsd.edu/blog/understanding-natural-versus-added-sugars

 

Why is there added sugar?

Of course, the obvious answer is because it makes almost anything taste better.  It not only tastes great but gives our brain a nice buzz.  Our brains use sugar as its main fuel and can consume over 50% of our daily intake. However, too much sugar has drug-like effects in the reward center of the brain and stops our body from using fat cells for energy. Scientists have proposed that sweet foods—along with salty and fatty foods—can produce addiction-like effects in the human brain, driving the loss of self-control, overeating, and subsequent weight gain.

 

Smoked crack and nicotine reach our brain in about 10 seconds.  Sugar has a direct pathway to our brain, and it takes only ½ second for it to touch our tongue and be registered as an ‘AH-HA’ moment for our brain. Add fat to the sugar and it is an even bigger hit to our brain.  Combine sugar, fat and salt?  A long-term ticking disaster time bomb.

 

But the other reason so much sugar is added is because it is cheap and adds a lot of weight to the product.  Adding more weight gives the consumer a sense of more value added.  Would I pay $8 for ½ pound of non-sweetened Blueberries, or $8 for a full pound with sugar?

 

 

Why Nuts?

 

Often when discussing the health benefits of nuts, one will hear that you shouldn’t eat too many due to the amount of calories in them. But to the contrary, that’s exactly why they should be eaten. Because when we start discussing ‘how many calories’ something contains we need to start distinguishing between satiating calories and ‘empty’ and ‘quick release’ calories.

 

We’ve been lectured that a calorie is a calorie. All calories are not equal. Satiating calories contain more macro and micro-nutrients and example is complex carbohydrates versus simple carbs like pasta, white breads, crackers, and candy

 

Below are Mixed Nuts compared to the world’s #1 candy and the world’s #1 chip snack food. The nutrition labels are generated from Cronometer and can be viewed at the end of this section, or use the scan codes.

 

Here is a list of the top 13 snack foods in America.

https://www.mashed.com/637305/the-most-popular-snacks-in-the-u-s/

 

 

And a list of the Top 10 Globally – PepsiCo-Lays is #1

https://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Article/2013/11/20/Top-10-snack-brands-how-to-compete-with-PepsiCo#

 

 

If you are prone to getting kidney stones you may want to consider low oxalate nuts as high levels of oxalate can add to stone development.  Please read this article from ‘The Kidney Dietician’- https://www.thekidneydietitian.org/low-oxalate-nuts/

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The FlavForward™ Green Tea & Ginger Juice Challenge

 

Measurements:

1 Ounce = 28.3 grams

8 ounces = 1 cup = 226.4 grams

8 cups = 64 ounces =

16 cups = 1 gallon = 128 ounces = 3.7ml

 

Regarding Purchasing Ingredients - When buying food products purchase the best quality that is affordable. Organic is better, fresh is better, non-antibiotic meats, etc. There are some foods that do not need to be organic.  Such as avocados (which are also one of the top 5 healthiest foods we can consume), broccoli and others. (15 Foods You Don’t Need to Buy Organic)

 

One example product is green tea. Organic Matcha is recognized as the best to consume. But if you don’t drink any green tea now, then any green tea is better than none. Lipton will work.

 

 

Parameters of the Challenge:

 

1. Record your weight on day 1, and at the end of 8 weeks.  Note the difference.  You can weigh yourself daily during the study or not at all - totally personal choice. But science has proven that those that weigh themselves every day, at the same time and preferably shortly after you get up, and before you consume anything.

2. Each day record how many grams of ‘added sugar’ you consume.  Accuracy is great, but estimation is fine.

3. Drink Green Tea every day – ideally 32 ounces

4. Drink Ginger Juice every day – ideally 16 ounces or more.

5. Drink any other fluids you normally drink, especially water.

6. Put lemon in your water each time you drink it.

7. Eat a handful of nuts and take a drink of Tea/Ginger Juice before you grab your normal snack food. After the Juice and nuts go ahead with your snack.

8. No need to change anything else you normally eat unless you choose to.  Example would be to use BOCHA sweet instead of sugar when you need to -and for a limited amount of time.

9. No need to record what you eat, how much you eat, etc.  The only daily data point is how much added sugar. If you want to keep this data, it will be helpful.

 

PURPOSE OF THE CHALLENGE:

We must retrain our tongues and brains to embrace or at least tolerate ‘less sweet’, ‘non-sweet’ and/or a ‘little bitter’.  We have built up a preference for added sweetness, so like anything we do, to make a change we need reprogram our brains and bodies – which is inherently difficult.

 

1. By drinking the recommended quantities, we are assuring that we are drinking enough water/fluids each day

2. By drinking Green Tea with Lemon/Clove and homemade Ginger Juice we are able to eliminate added sugars from our main source of fluid intake

3. Bring a ‘mindfulness of consumption’ about how much added sugar we consume

4. Keep the study simple by requiring only 1 daily data point – amount of added sugar consumed – if you want to.

5. Determine if after 8 weeks you notice any less reliance on sweet.

6. Not require any other changes to eating or exercise habits as part of the challenge - although both are encouraged

7. If you desire, keep a daily journal of how you feel, changes, emotions, etc.

8. If you can’t do this for 8 weeks, then likely you need to have a coach or mentor

 

A special note on item #7: Here’s the thing about how our bodies burn sugar. Ready sugars, such as the ones we drink in sodas, eat in candy, pasta, and processed foods is metabolized before any other sugars. Extra sugar that can’t be used is stored as a fat cell to be used later when there isn’t any ready sugar.

 

Eliminate ready sugar and the brain still needs fuel so it starts using fat cells. It’ll consume fat cells until ready sugar appears. If we have sugar for breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning-afternoon-evening snacks – then the brain never calls on fat cells. They stay on the bench. Too much sugar and the bench has to keep getting bigger to store more fat cells.

 

The actual equation of weight loss is really simple:

 

0 Sugar Intake = Weight Loss

 

But that’s the rub. Our food processing industry has addicted us to sugar so quitting isn’t just that simple.

 

Note:  BOCHA Sweetener is not a glucose or sucrose but a pentose sugar, xylose, which doesn’t impact insulin. Plant fibers are broken down into hexoses and pentoses.  BOCHA is extracted from a superfood, Kabocha Squash, also known as Japanese Pumpkin.  Use in moderation and as needed only f sweet is needed in transitioning to less/no sweet. I used it in chocolate frosting and cookies for a few months until I no longer needed to binge. But remember the goal is to not want sweet.

 

Both Ginger and Green Tea are known to have very positive health effects.  Both contain Flavonoids, which are available only in plants. Green Tea is known to reduce inflammation, protect against some cancers, help reduce weight, prevent heart disease improve circulation and be beneficial in limiting heart disease.

 

Healthline- Benefits of Green Tea: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-green-tea-per-day

 

Ginger’s health benefits have been known for centuries.  It is used to reduce nausea, help with weight loss, osteoarthritis, lower blood sugars and reduce the risk of heart disease, treat chronic indigestion along with reducing menstrual pain, lower cholesterol and prevent cancer.

 

Healthline- Benefits of Ginger: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-proven-benefits-of-ginger#8.-May-help-lower-cholesterol-levels

 

A major benchmark Danish study showed the higher the Flavonoid intake the lower the risk from brain diseases such as Dementia & Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, as well as inflammatory diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Cancer.  Ginger Beer and Green Tea represent the easiest way to get more of these powerful antioxidants into our bodies, organs and cells.  And with a minimal change to our daily habits and at minimal additional cost.

 

Danish Study: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11HlaOKbXI6b26GkfuT6kY_qVyhj1F94I/view?usp=sharing

 

Go to a doctor with High Blood Sugar and likely you’ll be told something like:  ‘You’ve got to reduce or eliminate extra sugar from your diet’. But it’s likely you are not told how to do that other than to keep sweets out of your home.

 

There are products that can be used such as strips you put on your tongue to block the taste of sugar, supplements that block in part carbs and sugars and patches you apply daily to curb your addiction.  They are expensive and frankly, likely not going to be done long-term.  Plus, I just don’t see how these products change your desire for sugar by simply blocking it. In addition, they don’t address the single most important key to our health – drinking enough water.

 

The U.S. National Academics of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommend that in addition to the water in our food, women need to consume about 10 cups (80 oz) of fluids a day and that men consume 14 cups (120 oz).  Of course, it does variey by individual. You can also get an estimate by multiplying your weight by 2/3 and that’s how much water you need to drink.  For me, 143 lbs X .666 = 95 ounces which is equivalent to 2 cups of coffee, 2 cups of tea, 2 glasses of water, and another 6 cups of water. Even at 80 ounces, think of drinking 2 ½ of 2 Liter containers. It’s an amount I had never come close to drinking on a daily basis.

 

GREEN TEA

Having a 32-64 ounce container helps in self-monitoring how much is being drank each day.

 

1. Fill the 64 ounce container 2/3 full with water

2. Place 6 tea bags (1.3 grams) in and let sit on the counter overnight.  In the morning remove the tea bags and ‘squeeze the liquid’ from them into the container.

3. Add ¼ - ½ cup of fresh lemon juice, or bottled lemon juice to taste.  Meyer Lemons are great as they aren’t as sour, but more expensive

4. Add a few ice cubes to your water bottle and fill 70%-100% with Green Tea. I recommend  adding Ginger Juice to the Green Tea.

 

Often I’ll also add some Lime juice, Elderberry or Pomegranate juice, or other type of supplement.

 

 

FlavForward™ GINGER JUICE

 

There are two types of Ginger Juice. One is fermented and designed to be drank separately or added to the tea, while the basic juice is concentrated and designed to be added to the tea.

 

FERMENTED FlavForward™ GINGER JUICE

This takes about 15-20 minutes total time to make two 2L bottles of fermented, fresh, yummy, and no sugar Ginger Juice. For the ginger, yeast, lemon juice, Cream of Tartar, and sugar the total cost is only about $2.00 for 4 liters of juice.

 

You will need 2-3 empty 2L clear plastic soda bottles, a funnel and a fine mesh strainer. Two of the 2L bottles will be filled at a time so that when you open the second bottle you can make more Ginger Juice and have 2 empties ready. 

 

NOTE: Don’t use more sugar than the recipe calls for. Using 1/2 cup of sugar for four liters of Ginger Juice means that when it is done fermenting that it contains no sugar – see labroratory certificate below.

 

1. Add 4-5 cups of water to a medium size saucepan (6-8 qt) and let it start to heat.

2. Wash, then grate, or grind in a blender, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the FRESH Ginger.  Add the Ginger to the water.  I recommend starting with ¼ cup to see how the strength is.  Can always add more on later batches. I use 1/2 cup or more

3. Add 1 teaspoon of Cream of Tarter

4. Add ½ cup of lemon juice

5. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 5-7 minutes.

6. Lower the heat to a simmer and add 1/2 cup of sugar.  Mix until dissolved. Then turn off the heat. Don’t use more that 1/2 cup sugar as the fermentation process will use up the sugar and the juice will be sugar free. (See the food lab certificate below)

7. Add ice cubes to bring the temperature down to 80-85 degrees (approximately).  If you cool it too much, just add some heat.  If too hot the yeast will not ferment

8. Add a packet of yeast (same that is used for baking).

9. Mix well and put the cover on the pan.  Allow to sit for 3 hours with stirring once after about 15-20 minutes to make sure the yeast is dissolved.

10. At the end of the 3 hours, gently mix the contents.  Pour half the contents through the strainer into each of 2 of the plastic bottles.  Make them equal and then fill with tap water to about 2 inches from the top

11. Set in your bathtub and throw a towel over them.

12. For the next 48 hours vent the bottles once in the morning and once in the evening. I’ve found that a quick ‘open & close’ is better than a slow release. Just close it up before it bubbles out.

13. After 48 hours place in the frig and enjoy! Will last refrigerated 10-14 days

14. It is preferred not to add any sweetness as it will help retrain your tongue quicker.

 

BASIC FlavForward™ Ginger Juice:

This is quick and simple and designed to be added to the tea., rather than drank separately. 

 

Simply grind ½ cup of Ginger, place into 3-4 cups of boiling water and allow to boil for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool, put into a container, and refrigerate.