Well, after the epic journey up Kilimanjaro in January
2012 my aim was to complete further high altitude climbs in 2013.
Unfortunately, my plans were thwart! WHY? WEIGHT GAIN through bad eating
habits and limited physical exercise.
With a renewed focus in October 2013 I took a long
look at my mountaineering ambitions. On November 1st 2013 I started a new
way of living--- No more refined foods! WHY? In one word 'Sugar'
It is has been claimed by US Health
experts that "Sugar is so harmful that it should be controlled
and taxed in the same way as tobacco and alcohol,” Researchers say that
sugar indirectly contributes to 35 million deaths a year worldwide.
US health scientists, have argued that there has been a
massive rise in diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes since we
began eating more sugar contained in processed food.
Researchers (who published this article (Sugar
'is toxic and must be regulated just like cigarettes', claim scientists)
argue that many of the health effects of excess sugar consumption are similar
to those of alcohol, and that sugar should, therefore, be controlled and taxed
in a similar way. They advocate introducing a tax on processed foods with added
sugar, limiting sales during school hours and placing age limits on purchase.
Sugar has been rated as more dangerous to health than saturated fat and salt,
which the heath researchers call dietary “bogeymen”.
Why do they think sugar is dangerous?
The authors say that although sugar is described as “empty
calories”, a growing body of evidence suggests that fructose (one component of
table sugar) can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of
other chronic diseases. “A little is not a problem but a lot kills – slowly,”
they say.
The authors argue that sugar meets all the four criteria used
by health policy makers to justify the regulation of alcohol. These are:
Unavoidability. While sugar was only available as fruit and honey at certain
times of the year to our ancestors, it is now present in nearly all processed
foods. In some parts of the world people are consuming more than 500 calories
worth of sugar per day.
Toxicity. There is growing evidence that excess sugar has an effect on human
health beyond simply adding calories and can cause many of the same problems as
alcohol, including high blood pressure, high blood fats, insulin resistance and
diabetes.
Potential for abuse. The authors argue that, like tobacco and alcohol, sugar acts
on the brain to encourage dependence. Specifically, it interferes with the
workings of a hormone called ghrelin (which signals hunger to the brain) and it
also affects the action of other important compounds.
Negative impact on society. The economic and human costs of these diseases place
excess consumption of sugar in the same category as smoking and drinking.
What does this mean for me?
I really took a look at my eating habits and using
myfitnesspal iphone app I started to log all my foods. I started an
eating habit of ' if you can't pick it, if it doesn't grow and if it
doesn't move' then don't eat it.' This meant that bread, pasta and all other refined
foods were out. My result after one week (including every other day 5K runs)
was 12lbs of weight loss. What was most
alarming was that I cut my calories intake to 1400 calories a day and yet I
was struggling to eat so that I ate that many calories.
With the every other day
runs and the ' if you can't pick it, if it doesn't grow and if it doesn't move'
then don't eat it’ my mountaineering dreams are back on track! Additionally, my
skin, my hair, my health, my sleep patterns, my concentration have drastically improved…
Try the new eating regime ….
