Living Nourished Lives

On this day that we American’s celebrate our independence from Great Britain, may we all also be independent of all unhealthy food addictions.  Even though I lost 30 pounds last year with Shaklee 180 weight management products, this year, I  have been focusing more on learning about our modern processed foods and how to eat in such a way that is truly healthy and nourishing for my body!

Shaklee 180 allowed me to remove two meal “decisions” from my life every day, which really helped me 1) Stay eating and not skipping meals and 2) Not obsessing about what I wanted to eat.  I was amazed at how free I felt in not having to devote as much time and energy to thinking so much about food.  Now that I have lost my excess weight, most days I still have one Life Shake, because I know how good they are for me and since I usually have it for breakfast, it means I still eat when I’m usually busiest.  However, that means I am not just choosing what is healthy to eat for dinner, but also for either breakfast or lunch too.  This has made my life more complicated because the way I might think best to eat is not always what my family is accustomed to eating…quick, highly processed foods that I have bought for years for my children are a staple They like buns, bread, chips, crackers, and desserts!

About a month ago, in a thrift shop, I happened upon a 1998 book called “Sugar Busters, Cut Sugars to Trim Fat”  by several doctors.  This book helped me realize the effect that too much Insulin (from high sugar and refined flour meals) has on reducing our ability to lose weight.  Basically, a high sugar meal induces the body to secrete a high amount of Insulin to deal with that meal.  The problem with this is that Insulin not only signals the body to store fat, but it also prevents the body from mobilizing already stored fat!!!  Think about that for a minute.  High insulin levels gives out the message:  “Don’t get rid of any fat and store more fat too!!!  Let that sink in…

No wonder our highly processed, sugary, American Diet is conducive to obesity.

At the same time, there are studies showing that a high protein meal not only keeps Insulin low, but it increases levels of Glucagon.  This is important to know because Gucagon encourages the mobilization of stored fat.  So not only is protein important for building healthy cells in our body (I want to do a post soon on protein), but when trying to lose excess weight,  it is pretty beneficial!  And even though I am not a scientist, from the Shaklee 180 program, it is the amino acid, Leucine that is actually responsible for signaling for the burning of stored fat and not “burning” muscle in the absence of sufficient calories.  When combined with Shaklee’s Metabolic Boost Supplement, you really do burn fat and not muscle.

Now, while this information is eye opening and informative, there is one big problem.  Many of us are addicted to our Sugary American Diet (SAD) and so just about nobody wants to volunteer to give up refined sugar, let alone refined white flour or other highly processed carbohydrates.  According to the “Sugar Busters” book even potatoes in natural form are so starchy that they induce the production of high amounts of Insulin.  But what is the big deal?  Why do we have so much resistance to giving up something that we know is not good for our health?  Why are so many addicted to sugar?

Well, a couple weeks ago, I happened upon an interview that gives answers to this dilemma.  I want to share it with you here today because it ties in new information regarding Leptin which was discovered in 1994, but wasn’t so well understood until 2004.  Now, Leptin is responsible for signaling our brain that it is time to stop eating and get active.  However, it was discovered that high levels of insulin in our body is bad for another reason too: it blocks the brain from recognizing the presence of Leptin, so we don’t get that signal to “stop eating and get active”.  The Leptin is there, but our brain does not “see” it when there are high levels of Insulin.  Essentially, the body associates high amounts of insulin with starvation and thus, it blocks the body from recognizing the presence of Leptin.

All of these pieces of information have expanded my understanding of how detrimental those refined sugars and flours are and the interview with Susan Peirce Thompson PhD. by Ty Bollinger has opened my eyes to understand why our bodies react to refined, processed sugar the same way that it does to drugs like heroin and cocaine.  Their effect on the brain is so similar (easily forming addictions in people who are highly susceptible to addiction) because they are plant based substances that have been highly refined and processed into something that ends up not being recognized by the body as food.  This explanation makes sense!  I have a strong desire to break free and be INDEPENDENT from addiction to these foods!

I do feel more empowered to do this since my weight loss, but we live in society….as in amongst family…and just because I am on board wanting to eat healthfully, I have a family of people that I share meals with that are still being affected by the addiction that these highly processed foods so easily encourage.   There is so much truth to how the acceptance of cutting out these “yummy” but health damaging foods may be necessary when you draw the analogy to cigarettes or alcohol.  Those who have ever struggled with addiction to these always do better when these are completely removed from their life experience and I actually grew up in a home where my mother did not feed us sugar.  We did eat honey sweetened products, and while too much of those could be just as bad in the sense of Insulin, because it is found in nature, our bodies are made to process it naturally and from my experience as a child, this seems accurate.  I do not believe I was ever addicted to sweets or breads (we ate only home-made, freshly ground, whole wheat, honey sweetened desserts and breads).  As soon as I embraced sugar and refined white flour in my teens, the flood gates were opened to addiction.  It didn’t happen overnight, but after eating several years of the “normal” Sugary American Diet, I would say I was hooked.

I would say that my experience using Shaklee Life Shakes for two meals, together with the metabolic boost, last year, gave me a vehicle with which to remove a lot of the thought process and consequently the obsession with “What to eat?”   In addition, it made my diet instantly more natural since Shaklee will not use artificial colors, sweeteners, flavors or preservatives (another area adding in substances that are not recognized as food).  Now Susan Thompson used a 12 step process to help get rid of her food addictions and while I don’t know what all that entails, I can tell you that I did notice the positive effect of not having to constantly “choose” what to eat three times per day (only once), had on making it easier for me to 1) focus on other more important things and 2) realize that food, while necessary, shouldn’t be something to obsess about.  I want to share this 30 minute interview with Susan Pierce which will highlight for you the science behind food addiction and open your eyes to our plight when it comes to nourishing our bodies in a healthy way.  I keep learning and I appreciate people who share what they learn because I learn so much from people like that and this is why I want to share this important information with others.