In reality, our bodies are able to deal with sugar and utilize it quite efficiently,
but the constant overconsumption of sugar pushes the body to the limit and
ultimately ends up taxing the pancreas. In other words, if you eat a baked potato
or a small cookie and follow it up with exercise, you’ll be fine because your
body will burn off the excess sugar. But if you consume cereals, fatfree milk,
potatoes, and orange juice without burning off the excess sugar, you’re on the
road to straining your pancreas, gaining weight, and developing diseases by
raising your insulin levels to dangerous levels.
I know some of you might be thinking, “But I know a girl who drinks soda all
day, and she stays skinny!” Everybody is different. Why some of us become fat
or develop diabetes, and some do not, depends on the amounts of sugar you
consume, exercise habits, and genetics. I personally do not have the genes to be
thin, and I seem to gain weight by just looking at food. But it’s undeniable that
sugar has pushed countless Americans to the limit and contributed to the rise in
the rate of obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes. Take a look around. Believe me—
all this obesity is not from eating shrimp, eggs, and other cholesterolrich foods.
It is from all the sugar, fatfree processed products, cereals, and soda we
consume.
Figure 2.7: Modern Staples of Western Diets
The Current Mainstream Dietary Recommendations Are Outdated
In 2006 the largest study to look at the link between heart disease, cancer, and a
low-fat diet found that a low-fat diet offers no benefits. The study, published in
February 2006 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was not just
any ordinary study. It was so expansive that it’s likely to be the final word on
low-fat. Yet for some inexplicable reason, the respected medical authorities
refuse to update their low-fat recommendations. Here are some other examples
of current mainstream dietary recommendations we all bought into, despite the
fact that new research has proven these recommendations to be completely false:
• Margarine is healthy. Butter is dangerous. Now research indicates that the
exact opposite is true.