Last week I discussed how current eating disorder treatments do not utilize the benefits of clean eating and how polluted foods attack the liver. This week I will talk about how polluted foods inhibit gut and brain function. 

POLLUTED FOODS ATTACK THE GUT 

As you have heard me say before, polluted food drives Leaky Gut Syndrome, which is a serious threat to our general health, given that 90% of the immune system is in the gut. Remember the only way you can end up with an autoimmune disease is by first having a leaky gut. That in itself is reason enough to protect the gut. But the toxic nature of the food also creates a situation which causes bad bacteria in the gut to overtake good bacteria, which can lead to gut dysbiosis and malnutrition, and then liver stress. Finally ending in food allergies or even cancer. It looks like this according to my model. 

POLLUTED FOODS ATTACK THE BRAIN 

When it comes to attacks on the brain, the biggest culprit is sugar. Excitatory neurotoxins such as those found in high fructose corn syrup damage the brain in an interesting way. We know that the pancreas produces insulin, but it turns out that the brain also produces insulin, and this brain insulin is necessary for the survival of brain cells. Brain insulin is very important because it helps regulate the neurotransmitters that are critical for new learning and memory. Here is how this looks using the FPD Model:

Insulin is needed to lower blood sugar. Too much sugar depletes insulin. Memory function is impaired and dementia follows. In recognition of this link between sugar and impaired brain function, Alzheimer\’s disease was tentatively dubbed Type 3 Diabetes in early 2005. 

Given how dangerous sugar is, the question is why are we still eating so much of it? 

The answer is: Sugar Addiction.

Two hundred years ago, the average American ate 1-2 pounds of sugar per year or ½-1 teaspoon per day. Today, the average American consumes over 100 pounds of sugar in one year. Whoa! Other estimates suggest an average of 42.5 teaspoons of sugar per day. That sounds crazy until you consider the fact that a 12 oz. Coke has 12 teaspoons of sugar. If you tried to eat 12 teaspoons of sugar, it would probably make you sick, but many people drink 5 or 6 Cokes a day, or the equivalent of 60 to 72 teaspoons of sugar a day! Sugar is damaging but this much sugar is catastrophic. 

Why is this happening? Because food polluters have figured out how addicting sugar is and that if they load up their products with it, we will eat or drink more of it. Remember sugar is as addicting as cocaine. For individuals with Anorexia, sugar seems safer than fat and it provides much needed energy. But this is a slippery slope as it often evolves into Bulimia or Bulimarexia (Anorexia and Bulimia). One of the consequences of residential treatment is sugar addiction which is the result of pushing sweets during treatment to cause more rapid weight gain. 

To combat the weight gain that follows, some people turn to dieting, restricting, and even purging. Of course, that doesn’t work. It deprives the body of even more nutrients, and the result is either unwanted weight gain or unhealthy weight loss, both of which have destructive consequences for the body, one of which is increased need for more sugar. Talk about a vicious cycle.