Is Sugar Bad For Your Brain?

5.3 million Americans currently have Alzheimer's disease, and that number is projected to sharply increase as our population ages. As we look at various ways to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, including mild cognitive impairment, one of the many areas that has been studied frequently is that of sugar.

We Americans, in general, love our sugar. But is it possible that sugar increases our likelihood of developing dementia?

Research on Sugar and Cognitive Functioning

There's an already established link between type 2 diabetes and the development of dementia. But how does sugar affect people who don't have diabetes?

Multiple studies have been conducted on how sugar, or more specifically, glucose levels in our blood, impact cognition. A few of them include the following:

• In 2008, the journal Neuroepidemiology published research that measured the fasting insulin levels of more than 1,400 middle-aged women who did not have diabetes. Beginning 10 years later, the researchers measured the cognitive ability of these women over the next four years. They found that the women who had higher insulin levels in mid-life were more likely to experience cognitive decline later in life.
• In 2013, the journal Neurology reported on a study where researchers again found that higher blood sugar levels were associated with significantly poorer performance on cognitive tests measuring delayed recall, memory, and learning. This study involved 141 participants with an average age of 63 years old, none of whom had diabetes.

• An article published in 2013 in the Physiology and Behavior journal described research involving 98 participants without diabetes. The scientists measured each person's cognition by using the Stroop test, which is widely considered to be an accurate measure of the brain's executive functioning ability. The results indicated that participants with an inability to regulate their glucose levels achieved lower scores on the Stroop test, indicating decreased cognitive ability. The researchers stated, "Our results indicate that even mild hyperglycemia in the non-diabetic range is associated with attentional processing difficulties in a sample of younger adults." 

How About Sugar Intake?

The British Journal of Nutrition in 2011 outlined a study that sought to determine if sugar intake (not blood glucose levels) affects cognitive functioning. 737 people without diabetes, ages 45 to 75, were involved in this study, which was part of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study conducted from 2004-2009. The participants' cognition was measured by a variety of tests including the Stroop test, clock-drawing test, digit span test, and verbal fluency tests. These results were compared to the amount of sugar ingested by each person. The researchers found that in general, higher levels of sugar intake were correlated with lower cognitive scores.

Effect on the Brain

Not only does research show a connection between cognitive functioning and blood sugar levels, it also has demonstrated a correlation with actual brain size and structure. A study reported in Neurology found that higher blood glucose levels in people without diabetes were correlated with brain atrophy (shrinkage) in the hippocampal areas and the amygdala.

White sugar or refined sugar is the problem and it should be avoided like the plague. 

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want. 

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon, BN.com, iBook, Kobo, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smash words.com. If you use the smash word promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (PJ42H). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

What's In Your Diet Pills?

I've been unavailable for a couple weeks and I haven't posted anything for almost 3 weeks but I have been doing a lot of research. One article I read by accident was in the New York Times about the FDA. I promise you this is not boring. Anyone who is trying to lose weight needs to know this.

The FDA or Food and Drug Administration that regulates the manufacturing of vitamin supplements and diet pills has been called on the carpet for knowing the dangers of a chemical called BMPEA used in supplements and other pills and keeping quiet for the past two years.

All of this is now coming out in the open because Canada health authorities have called this chemical a "serious health risk" and banned the chemical from being used and pulled the products containing BMPEA from the shelves. This product was pretty widely used in nine different supplements.

Now it's been published that the FDA isn't properly policing the supplement industry because top regulators come from that same industry. It's like sending the Fox to guard the Hen House.

All of this comes at a time when the Federal Government is trying to put more regulation on the supplement industry that would include diet pills.

I've never been a fan of taking diet pills but I know many people trying to lose weight will get desperate after trying dozens of different diets. I've written lots of posts about diets and why they don't work, but having said that, I also know that desperation will cause people to use desperate measures and "pills" are a desperate measure. In my experience, pills will do more harm than good. Let me explain. Diet pills will usually cause quick weight loss of a few pounds but not without side effects. Some people become very nervous, others become weak, sometimes diet pills affect your sleep habits. And if you can't sleep that causes a whole new set of problems.

Some people are already on prescription drugs and then introducing a new drug can cause bad side effects and could counter your other drugs. Diet pills are more than just a supplement like vitamin D. Diet Pills are chemicals that will change behavior. And that's exactly what they are supposed to do. The simplest form of diet pill will at least curb your appetite. So the manufacturers think that if we can get you to eat less, you'll lose weight, it's that simple.

But it's not that simple. Losing weight is about losing body fat. If you don't eat properly you might lose some weight, but you'll be losing mostly muscle and you might actually increase your body fat but still lose weight. I hope I didn't confuse you. You can lose weight by losing 10 pounds of muscle in your arms and legs but add 3 pounds of fat to your waistline. You step on the scale and you weigh less, but your waist is getting bigger.

How can that be? How could I lose all that muscle? Actually, most people who lose weight will lose more muscle weight than fat. Muscle weighs far more than fat. If you look at a turkey, for instance, a raw whole turkey has yellow fat inside the Caracas,   take a cup of pure fat and then a cup of pure white breast meat and weight each one and you'll see the meat weights more.

So why do we lose more muscle than fat? Because you have less appetite and eat less, you lose your energy. You have to eat quality foods with lots of nutrition to keep up your strength and keep you active. You get your energy from the food you eat and you need that energy to stay active and burn fat.

I'll follow-up on this later in the week. There is a science to losing weight and I'll write more about the science and why heavy people can change and we shouldn't hold them responsible for their weight until we know the whole story.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want. 

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon, BN.com, iBook, kobo, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smash words.com. If you use the smash word promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (PJ42H). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Smoking Can Cause A Pot Belly

A common fear among smokers is that they'll pile on the pounds if they quit the habit. But new research has found that heavy smokers are more likely to get pot bellies.

Scientists say that while people who light up may have better control of their overall weight, heavy tobacco use tends to push fat into central areas, resulting in a protruding tummy.

Having an "apple shape" is known to be less healthy than being "pear-shaped." People with apple shapes have more weight in their waist and belly areas. People with pear shapes have more weight in their hips and thighs.

The researchers reviewed data from 29 studies involving 148,731 people with European ancestry who were either smokers, former smokers, or people who had never smoked. The information detailed the smoking habits of the volunteers, as well as their weight and waist circumference.

The analysis, published in the BMJ Open journal, revealed that some smokers had a genetic variation linked to smoking more and having a lower body mass index (BMI). But it also showed that while overall BMI in heavy smokers was lower, their waist circumference was higher than non-smokers once BMI was accounted for.

Bigger Tummies

Professor Naveed Sattar, of the University of Glasgow, who helped lead the study, explains that while smoking lessens weight overall, it tends to push fat more into the belly area.

"So, when smoker[s] put on weight, they will show bigger tummies for same weight gain than non-smokers, and this may also be linked to their greater risk for diabetes," Sattar said in a statement.

"If confirmed, a tendency for smokers to acquire an 'apple shape' might provide a novel health promotion message to encourage smoking cessation," he said.

In my personal opinion, I think smoking or any other addiction the mother might have can get passed down to the child. The nicotine in the tobacco will be in the bloodstream of the mother and will be passed through to the child. So addiction like smoking or drinking alcohol can be passed through to a newborn. 

Also if the parent has this Pot Belly shape from smoking and has his or her body fat concentrated around the waist I believe the child will inherit the same tendency to have their body fat located in the same areas regardless of whether they smoke or not.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want. 

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon, BN.com, iBook, Kobo, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smash words.com. If you use the smash word promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (PJ42H). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT FUTURE YOU

I HAD TO REBLOG THIS POST FROM THE "NO-BRAINER EXERCISE" WEBSITE.  THIS IS SO TRUE AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY MORE PEOPLE DON'T GET IT.

TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT FUTURE YOU

When something is done well, you might as well use it. But make sure to credit the source.

Why don’t we exercise enough?

Is it because we are too lazy? Not disciplined enough? Unable to stay motivated?

If you’ve read my most recent post, you know those are essentially the questions we were left with at the end. Because we have all the evidence we need about why we should exercise.

If you’ve read anything else on this blog in the past, you know the answer is not in motivation or discipline, two strategies that will fail you eventually, or drive you (and many around you) nuts.

It is pretty clear that only the strongest Purpose can keep us going in the long term. Yet for most this sense of Purpose remains elusive.

So while it seems we have tendency to be lazy, the truth is slightly different. You could say we are “wired” to be lazy, to economize our efforts, and only the strongest of wills can hold firm on their self-commitments.

By the way, this is not a figment of my imagination, or some wild theory I just came up with. It comes from research in behavioural economics, which others could probably explain better than I can.

But I’m going to explain it to you in my own words. With the help of visuals from a really good talk I recently watched on YouTube. (Even if you think you don’t have time, if you are serious about understanding fitness and long-term health, you should be watching that talk. After reading this post.)

The Truth

Most of us have a strong discounting rate when it comes to our “Future Selves”. (That’s a term borrowed from economics, and it is highly accurate in meaning. However, most of us are not bankers and economists, thankfully. So…) To put it more simply, I hope, the problem is as follows: when you think about the way Future You will be, the possibility of a healthy and active Future You is not seen as important enough because it is too far into the future.

Even though you want to be healthy and fit (who doesn’t?), the Future You is too remote, too distant, too hard to see clearly. The present, and very near future, occupy all that your mind can really consider and act upon. No, I’m not saying we live only for the present, but we have a strong bias in favour of the short-term instead of the long-term.

Those of us who have a much stronger Purpose typically enjoy a stronger sense of that Future Self. In essence, to them it is easier to keep their eyes on the prize. (Back to our economics/finance terminology, a stronger sense of the Future You comes from having a much smaller discounting rate). In other words, a strong Purpose can be understood as considering the distant future as equally important, or even more important, than the present or near-future.

Let’s see how this works

Look again at the image at the top of this post.

You have two pictures of Future You: one that is healthy and fit, and one that is frail and, probably, suffering from some illness(es). The road to each Future You is a series of short-term actions, choices that happen everyday, with their specific consequences:

Two images of Future You…

Although there is no absolute certainly about the outcome, we know for sure what the odds are:

Feeling lucky, punk? It is all about playing the odds… I know what my money is on.

Take a good, hard look at those two Future You. Can you see them well? Which do you want to really be Future You? I bet I know.

So what happens? Why is it still not a complete no-brainer to exercise regularly?

Well, each of us considers those futures against the present. It is a decision process in which you pit Present You against Future You. At least in terms of enjoyment:

If the future appears not important enough, you are likely to pick doing nothing.

Conversely, if the Future You is clear enough, and important enough, your choice would be otherwise:

If Future You is “important” enough in your mind, you will act accordingly. Most of the time. Well, often enough.

That’s basically it. How well you can see Future You, and how you manage to keep Future You in mind on a daily basis, influences how you behave. How much you are eager to exercise regularly.

This works whether Future You is simply a healthy and active Old You, or an incredibly fit and muscular Two Years From Now You, or Winning A Race in 6 Months You. Future You is what you envision yourself to be like at some point in the future. Personally, the only Future You I think is truly worth having in mind, having as a Purpose, is Healthy And Active Old You. Which should make You exercise regularly, and in a reasonable way…

Future You, which becomes the source of your Purpose, is not the only contributing factor to exercising regularly, as we’ll see next time. But it is a necessary beginning. Without it, you must fall back on motivation, or worse, on discipline.

The good news is that you can improve how Future You influences Present You. You need to look at Future You regularly.

So keep a picture of Future You where you can take a good look at it everyday, just as you head out to exercise…

Walk To Lose Weight

Walking is the best exercise for beginners to lose weight. But how much and how to walk, all these things will make a difference in weight loss. The following post will give you a step by step guide to "walking for weight loss".

When it comes to getting in your 10,000 steps a day, an essential building block of your good health, there really is a right way to put one foot in front of the other and a whole lot of wrong ways. And making those missteps can discourage you from getting the physical activity you need. So here’s a step-by-step guide to walking wise:

1. Don’t overextend your stride. It may seem like fun, but stretching your stride puts pressure on your shins, throws off-balance and risks injury. Better way: Keep your head level (don’t bounce up and down) and your body centered. Push off your back leg for power.

2. Roll through your step. Make each step a rolling motion from heel to toe; avoid flat-footed strides. Good equipment: You’ll need well-cushioned, well-heeled, flexible-soled shoes that bend at the ball of the foot.

3. Let your arms help you. Bend arms 45-90 degrees and let them swing naturally with each step. The use of arms when quick walking helps you maintain momentum.

4. Chin up; look ahead about 10-20 feet. You’ll be able to clearly see your path while keeping good posture, so important for proper breathing and muscle tone. Engage your core, too, so you support yourself using your pelvic and stomach muscles.
Now grab your step-counter and a walking buddy -- you’re hitting your stride!

Don't forget to start a good diet plan that will give you more energy and help you burn that fat. All the walking your doing won't help you lose fat if you don't fix your diet. Look for my e-books at all the online bookstores.

You can contact my on LinkedIn or Twitter (@ray0369)

I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon

A Weight Loss Program Might Help You

Weight loss programs can help a person when they don't have a clue how to start. I personally never was able to stick with a program, but that was 20 years ago when these programs were not very flexible and didn't give you much choice in the foods you ate. But today things are much different and the novice who hasn't  had any luck in the past with these programs might find one that will work for them.

Finding a weight loss program can be quite a challenge. It takes time, mental toughness and support to change lifetime habits. But it's a process you must learn in order to succeed. Regardless of which of the many weight loss programs you decide to join, you alone are the one who has the power to lose your excess weight.

We are flooded with success stories every day on television and in newspapers, magazines and tabloids, all of them about people who have lost their excess weight and kept it off with a new miraculous weight loss program.

Diets and weight loss programs are generally more flexible now than they once were. The meals are attractive and can often be prepared in a matter of minutes. Low-fat and low-calorie foods are on shelves everywhere.

You will probably need to learn new, wiser eating skills. You will want a weight loss program that gives you some control, rather than imposing one rigid system. Look for one that offers a variety of different eating plans so you can choose the one that's best for you.

Keep in mind, too, that your weight loss program will most likely include some physical exercises. Look at the exercising aspect of your program as fun and recreation and not as a form of sweaty work.

If you are willing to take the few simple steps that lie between you and fitness, you will soon begin to feel better, and the improvement will reflect in every part of your life. These are the new weight loss programs of today. The new programs are designed to get you healthy and as you get healthy and feel healthy the weight will come off.

A rule of thumb that I follow when making recommendations, is not to spend a lot of money and don't sign-up for a long-term program. Weight Watchers is a good program for beginners but you want to "pay by the week" until you're sure this is for you. The people who always drop-out of programs that require going to a gym or somewhere for a meeting is that over time you always find a reason not to go. People drop out because their lives are busy and over time other things take priority. Choice a plan wisely or do it on your own.

Over a couple of decades, I lost my excess body fat by changing my diet. I did it on my own, just like I quit smoking. Make up your mind that you want to be thin and you can do it.

Look on my Home Page and click on the Tab "Diet". If you stick to that program you will lose weight. The pyramid give you numerous food choices every day, stick to the pyramid, and only drink what it says. I did push it a little, with tea and coffee but I drank them black. Wine very little and lots of water. It worked for me and you can eat all you want if it's on the pyramid. 

Overweight and Out-Of-Shape, What Now?

I'm not going to paint a rosy picture about how easy it's going to be to lose your fat, but losing that fat is essential. You don't have to worry that much about what the scale says, your goal should be to lose inches in the truck section of your body. The rest will take care of itself. The bad fat your doctor doesn't want you to have is the fat around your waist. When you measure your waist at the navel it should be half your height. I'm 72 inches tall, my waist should be a 36. I don't mean a 36 pant size, I mean 36 inches at the navel.

So even if your weight is in the normal range, and you can check your range on several different websites, if your waist is too large you need to lose some of that fat. There are two ways fat can build-up, over the top of your muscles or under the muscle layer. Under the muscle layer is very dangerous. You may think that your stomach is solid muscle but if you have excess fat under that muscle then it's surrounding your organs. The body will only add about one inch of fat under the skin, maybe a little more around the waist and then it will start to fill the fat cells under the muscle layer. Your liver and your heart are where your doctor doesn't want excess fat. That excess fat around your organs will slow down body functions. That doesn't mean you move slower, it means that instead of your liver being able to work on all the body function (more than 100 functions), it might only have time for the critical ones. Fat around the liver causes "fatty liver disease, fat around your heart causes "heart disease".

So what can you do about it now? First, you'll have to change your diet and not just temporarily. You have to start eating healthy and that means eating fresh and eating clean. So what does that mean? You can probably get more info from "health and fitness" websites than I can give you in one post, but just to simplify things. "Fresh" means you stat buy only produce (fruits and veggies) that are fresh, not frozen. Meat and fish that's fresh and whole grains nothing processed. That means cereals, pasta, and bread that's whole grain. Whole wheat is not whole grain. Whole wheat is processed flour that strips out the nutrition during the processing. You want to avoid anything containing processed or enriched flour.

Also, you have to be careful how you cook food. Cooking oil is your enemy when you're trying to lose fat. First of all, no fried foods, no foods or drinks that are sweet. Fruit is your new dessert. Nuts and seeds are good in moderation, but you need some every day. Cooking oils can be deceiving, most of them are blended oil, some might be good oils but some are bad. They can blend oils in one bottle and call it "olive oil" as long as it's mostly olive oil. And they do the same thing with other oils like "canola". Companies will use 20% palm oil or a mix of other tropical oils and they don't have to put that on the label. When I buy oil for cooking I buy 100% extra virgin olive oil. That means the olive oil is from the first or second press of the olive. Even if the oil is a blend it's all from the first or second press and you're getting all the goodness from the olives. If you buy the oil that comes from Italy or Spain you want the oil that's bottled over there. I say that because Italy and Spain have laws to protect the quality of their oils. Government inspections are a serious thing and no one wants to lose their license to export olive oil. Spain has better control and purer Spanish olive oil. Italy is actually the biggest importer in Europe of olive oil, from other countries. So I would think that Italian olive oil must be blended with oil from other countries, whereas Spain is more real Spanish olive oil. Be careful buying cheap brands. The very best and very expensive olive oil comes from Morroco, but Spain is my pick for high quality for a reasonable price.

So after you straighten out your diet, you will start to have more energy.You have to be on your new diet for a few weeks before you start to feel better. Just being on your new diet will make you feel healthier and then you should start a walking routine, about 30 minutes a day more than you walk now. You want to build up to 10,000 steps a day. That's what you want to do every day to lose inches. 10,000 steps can be a big increase for some of you, so build up to it slowly and don't try to do the whole thing at one time. Try and do some walking early in the morning and then finish up after dinner.

75% of your food should be vegetables and fruit, 15% fish, poultry and some meat and the rest whole grain. Drink mostly water, some coffee or tea and a glass of red wine a couple time a week. Try and go heavy on the fish and don't be afraid of mercury. Go on the internet and look for seafood low in mercury and you'll be surprised how long the list is.

If you stick to this new diet and do the walking every day in just 3 months you'll feel much better and look much better and if you stick with it, you will lose that fat and you'll love yourself for doing it. Good health is a one-way road so you can't go back. If you want to live a healthy life, you have to work at it every day and never look back.

You can tweet me with questions at #ray0369

I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.
gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon