Much of my work here is to give you an honest assessment of what I deem to be the truth in the current moment based on my obsessive work ethic.
I aim to dispel lies and bring clarity to many subtopics within the health space.
Sugar is no exception to this rule.
Many people, including mainstream health “authorities” have it wrong. They’ve horrendously missed the mark on sugar and now the masses believe it’s evil because that’s what they’ve been spoon-fed most of their adult lives.
First, let’s start with a foundational understanding.
Sugar metabolism is the process by which energy contained in the foods that we eat is made available as fuel for the body. Your cells can use glucose directly for energy and actually prioritize that as the first line of energy production
Yes, your cells can also use fatty acids for energy, but that’s not what it prefers.
Furthermore, every single carbohydrate you consume breaks down into glucose within the body. Some foods release it at a more rapid rate than others, but the rule still stands.
So just from an energetic standpoint, you can’t avoid sugar.
It’s an inherent part of your being.
Now why would something like that inherently damage your body?
It wouldn’t, yet people often believe otherwise because they’re unable to understand the broader context around sugar consumption.
Types of Sugar
There are only 6 different types of sugar:
1. Glucose: This is the most common type found in nature. No matter what type of sugar you consume, it gets converted into glucose within the body. Glucose is what our bodies can transport through the blood and use within our cells, our muscles, and our brains for energy. There’s no reason to fear this.
2. Fructose: Yet another ubiquitous natural form of sugar found in fruit, some vegetables and honey. It’s the sweetest tasting form of sugar. Fructose is not taken up directly into the bloodstream, but rather sent to the liver first.
You can take anything too far, but the beautiful thing about fruit and honey is that such nutrient dense options have a self-limiting factor.
In other words, it’s difficult to over indulge in them because they satiate you to a degree that processed junk will never achieved because it’s designed to be over eaten.
I dare you to eat 5 bananas, 3 apples or a jar of honey in one sitting.
It won’t happen.
A lot of the fear around fructose is based on poorly designed studies and the artificial use of high fructose corn syrup which is harmful to the body due to how it’s made and because your body perceives it as a foreign agent, rather than real food.
There’s no reason to fear fructose.
3. Galactose: Galactose is rarely talked about because it’s not actually found in nature by itself. Galactose pairs with glucose to form lactose.
4. Lactose: Lactose is the combination of glucose and galactose. It’s a natural sugar in all milk products, including human breast milk. You have no reason to fear this type of sugar, but make sure you get the highest quality raw or VAT pasteurized A2 dairy.
Our bodies evolved to digest and process these natural milk sugars. Dairy quality is the factor which matters most.
5. Maltose: Maltose is glucose and glucose. Sounds odd, right? Well, it’s just the byproduct of other natural sugars fermenting.
In the case of alcohol, sugars from sucrose or fructose, perhaps from grapes such as in wine or wheat and sucrose such as in beer, are fermented by yeast bacteria, and maltose is created. But by the end of the fermentation process, hardly any maltose remains in the finished product.
You don’t have to place much of your attention on this form of sugar.
6. Sucrose: Sucrose arises from the combination of glucose and fructose.
This is the same sugar you find in your kitchen, whether it’s white sugar, brown sugar, light brown sugar, raw sugar, turbinado sugar, confectioner's sugar, or granulated sugar. It’s made by the process of refining of sugar cane and sugar beets.
Other foods contain natural sucrose as well, including honey, maple syrup, some fruits, and vegetables.
Notice how some foods, like honey, have a mix of many sugars. Unlike sugar-cane derived table sugar, which is nearly 100% sucrose, honey is a mix of fructose on its own, glucose on its own, and sucrose.
You shouldn’t fear this type of natural sugar either.
High Fructose Corn Syrup
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is an artificial sugar made from corn syrup.
Excessive consumption of this artificially created sugar concoction is laughably easy to achieve for the standard American or anybody who regularly consumes processed junk.
To make HFCS, enzymes are added to corn syrup in order to convert some of the glucose to another simple sugar called fructose.
Now, let me ask you a question..
Where would you find this in nature?
Nowhere because we didn’t evolve to eat corn syrup.
Therein lies the fundamental problem: Your body doesn’t recognize this as real food. The way it interacts with your body is totally different to the consumption of raw honey or fruit.
Natural vs Added Sugars
None of these natural forms of sugar are inherently bad or evil.
Yet, we have the dilemma of overproduction and overuse in the food industry, combined with over consumption by the consumer.
The devil is in the dosage.
Of course you can abuse sugar consumption and create negative outcomes with that habit over time, but that’s on you as the consumer, not the sugar you consume.
Today, it’s easy to over consume sugar.
But here are three questions I have for you:
What type of sugar are you consuming.. real sugar from nutrient dense food sources or artificially produced sugar which isn’t found in nature?
What sort of lifestyle are you following.. a holistic one based on foundation principles that align with your health or a standard American one?
How is the state of your current metabolic health?
The context is EVERYTHING.
Yet that’s what people miss because they don’t educate themselves properly.
A Strong Case For Why Natural Sugar Isn’t Inherently Unhealthy
This will really shift your perspective and seal the final nail in the “sugar is inherently bad for you” coffin.
Walter Kempner, a medical doctor and research scientist, is the father of modern day diet therapy and creator of the Rice Diet.
Now, I don’t stand by this diet.
I only bring it up to strengthen my point on this subject.
Kempner’s Rice Diet program began at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1939. The treatment was a simple therapy of white rice, fruit, juice, and sugar, and was reserved for only the most seriously ill patients.
Although low-tech, the benefits of the Rice Diet far exceed those of any drug or surgery ever prescribed for chronic conditions, including coronary artery disease, heart and kidney failure, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and obesity.
Originally used for only short time periods and under close supervision due to concerns about nutritional deficiencies, subsequent research proved the Rice Diet to be safe and nutritionally adequate for the majority of patients.
A major breakthrough occurred by accident in 1942 when one of Dr. Kempner’s patients, a 33-year-old North Carolina woman with chronic glomerulonephritis (kidney disease) and papilledema (eye disease) failed to follow his instructions.
Because of Dr. Kempner’s heavy German accent she misunderstood his instructions to return in two weeks, and after two months, she finally returned, with no signs of deficiency, but rather with robust health.
The woman had experienced a dramatic reduction of her blood pressure, from 190/120 to 124/84 mmHg, resolution of eye damage (retinal hemorrhages and papilledema), and a noticeable decrease in heart size.
This is what led Dr. Kempner to expand this intervention to other areas.
The following are typical examples of the benefits Dr. Kempner observed from the Rice Diet:
I was shocked the first time I heard about this and read into it deeply.
Reduction of Massive Obesity: In one article the results of 106 massively obese patients treated as outpatients with the Rice Diet, exercise, and motivational enhancement under daily supervision were reported. The average weight loss was 63.9 kg (141 pounds). Normal weight was achieved by 43 of the patients.
Curing Severe Hypertension: In the beginning, Dr. Kempner treated only patients with near-fatal conditions, like malignant hypertension (blood pressures in the 220/120 mmHg range). In this emergency condition people often suffered from heart and kidney failure, and eye damage (with retinal hemorrhages, exudates, and papilledema). Today such patients are treated with powerful medications and laser eye surgery, with far greater risks and costs, and far fewer benefits. The safe and effective Rice Diet treatment for eye damage and kidney damage has largely been forgotten.
Stopping Hemorrhages and Exudates: The eyes are a window to the condition of the blood vessel system and major organs throughout the body. By looking (with an ophthalmoscope) into the back of the eye (retina) a physician can actually see ongoing damage, which is not limited to the eye, but also happens in the kidneys and all other tissues. Photos of the retina show how the Rice Diet stops the bleeding (hemorrhages) and leaking (exudates) from blood vessels. This is a powerful demonstration of the body’s ability to heal given the supportive environment of a healthy diet.
I first learned about this while getting a routine eye exam.
You can see mine below (perfect eyes by the way).
Reversing Heart Disease: Narrowing of heart (coronary) arteries due to atherosclerosis causes chest pains and changes in the electrocardiogram (EKGs showing inverted “T” waves). The Rice Diet relieved chest pains and corrected EKG abnormalities. In other words, the Rice Diet can potentially cure common heart disease, which affects more than half of Americans. Modern-day heart doctors routinely prescribe heart surgery for blocked arteries, with far greater costs and risks, and far fewer benefits.
For those wondering what the diet consisted of, refer to the picture below.
If sugar was the demon people make it out to be, this wouldn’t be possible.
It’s a stunning illustration lost in history to the masses.
The Four Driving Causes of Chronic Disease
Now we get to the real culprits.
I’ll likely keep this section relatively brief because this is turning out to be my longest Substack article thus far.
You can pretty much trace most chronic disease back to the introduction of industrial, refined vegetable oil. That shit has, bar none, had the most damaging impact on our physiology because it destroys the mitochondria, impedes with fat and sugar metabolism and causes all sorts of downstream dysfunction. Everything from thyroid issues to obesity to type 2 diabetes to cancer.
Refined vegetable oil, lack of mineralization, a misaligned circadian rhythm and toxic agents in our are environment are the four drivers which carry the most weight.
We now recognize the toxicity of trans fats, yet fail to realize that already oxidized oils such as canola, sunflower, safflower, soybean, etc. are the same exact thing.
We know that most Americans consume processed junk which means they’re consuming less nutrient dense food than ever before. Mineral and nutrient deficiencies are the result.
We know that society has built an artificial world which has stripped us of our natural circadian rhythm. Artificial blue light is the norm now.
Lastly, our environment is polluted with heavy metals, glyphosate, pesticides, hormone disrupting chemicals and more which disrupt our ability to detoxify properly.
When you take the bird’s eye view and see all of this for what it is, it’s no surprise why we’re in this position on a societal level.
I hope you learned something from this article.
It was a joy to write.
Now living a healthy lifestyle is harder than ever for many of you gentlemen today.
That’s exactly why I do this work - to help coach you through the entire process from A-Z so that you have more energy, deeper sleep and the leverage to focus on other areas of life like family and career.
Much love,
Zaid