I found this “Fed Up” documentary interesting and wanted to share the trailer with everyone. I’m glad a movie with this subject material finally made it mainstream. It’s also gives you one more reason to start a garden!

Everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong. FED UP is the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see. From Katie Couric, Laurie David and director Stephanie Soechtig, FED UP will change the way you eat forever.

My Take

I also wanted to spout off a bit from my perspective on diet. I share similar views with the video, and think high sugar and high carbohydrate diets are slowly killing us. Clearly this view is shared by many due to the increase in popularity of the keto diet, a low carbohydrate program that forces the body to burn fats. As popular as this is, it can be fairly difficult to maintain or start due to how strict it can be. Our family follows a version of the Paleolithic diet and have cut out processed oils (PUFA’s), sugars, and grains out of our diets for the last three years. We’ve felt great, leaned up, gained muscle and gotten stronger. I think there’s something to it, but don’t just listen to my anecdotal story. Check out the sources from the “Fed Up” documentary. Do your own research. Try a diet change for 30 days. The most obvious thing is that we Americans consume tons of high energy foods and live sedentary lifestyles, and you can’t do both. Here are some things you can do to help your health:

Help Your Health!

by guest blogger @jodirundfitness

Take out the added sugar

In order to do this, you must read labels! It now comes in many names. The higher on the ingredient list, the more sugar the product contains. Here is a list a few in which to help you detect:

Agave nectar,
Anhydrous dextrose,
brown sugar,
brown rice syrup,
cane crystals,
cane sugar,
corn sweetener,
corn syrup,
corn syrup solids,
crystal dextrose,
evaporated cane juice,
fructose sweetener,
fruit juice concentrates,
high-fructose corn syrup,
honey,
liquid fructose,
malt syrup,
maple syrup,
molasses,
pancake syrup,
raw sugar,
sugar,
syrup,
white sugar,
fructose,
lactose
maltose,
carbitol,
concentrated fruit juice,
corn sweetener,
diglycerides,
disaccharides,
evaporated cane juice,
erythritol,
Florida crystals,
fructooligosaccharides,
galactose,
glucitol,
glucoamine,
hexitol,
inversol,
isomalt,
maltodextrin,
malted barley,
malts,
mannitol,
nectars,
pentose,
raisin syrup,
ribose rice syrup,
rice malt,
rice syrup solids,
sorbitol,
sorghum,
sucanat,
sucanet,
xylitol,
zylose.

Sugars added to foods have been linked to a lowered level of essential micronutrients and an increase in body weight. Normal sugar consumption is now abnormal and humans are paying the price with obesity, type II diabetes, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and insulin resistance, to name a few. When you become resistant to insulin, the hormone that clears glucose (sugar) from your bloodstream, your body needs to release higher and higher amounts of insulin to try to clear the blood. “80% of men who are 25 years or older are resistant to insulin to some degree” (1). This is startling news. Eventually, your body reaches a point where the glucose cannot be pushed into the tissue and just remains in the bloodstream. Unregulated insulin will cause damage to the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and this will quickly result in a downward spiral of health complications. Sugar is killing us slowly! If you want to reverse the damage done by a high sugar diet, you might also want to see a Dentist in West New York or a dentist in your area at least once every six months for a checkup. Sugar can lead to issues such as tooth decay, gum disease, and cavities so therefore it is vital that you say on top of your oral health and oral hygiene.

Get rid of processed foods

Processed foods is where you will find an abundance of the hidden sugars, PUFA‘s, starches, fillers, and what not. Grain based products are very high in processed carbohydrates, which your body turns into glucose and stores as fat. Grains also contain lectins and gluten. Lectins are toxins that a plant develops to protect itself. These lectins cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract and also pull vitamins from the intestines. Gluten can cause abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating, diarrhea, headaches, joint pain, mood disorders, and more. A large majority of people have none of these outward symptoms, yet their insides are riddled with inflammation, preventing absorption of valuable micronutrients.

You must move!

Not only does it make you feel better and look better, research has found that resistance training and exercise can effectively clear glucose and insulin from the blood stream. (Diabetics who perform resistance training can clear glucose from their system without needing medicine (2)). Start a garden!

Eat real food

The “low-fat” and on-the-go packaged food craze that so many have embraced is robbing our bodies of essential fatty acids and micronutrients while at the same time introducing a conglomerate of bizarre food additives (and substitutes) in quantities in which the body has never had to metabolize. Bottom line, stick to whole, real foods at all costs; and again…..start a garden!

(1)Center for Diseaes Center. “Benefits of Strength Training” cdc.gov/physicalactivity February 24, 2011. Web.

(2)Gordon B A, Benson A C, Bird S R, Fraser S F. Resistance training improves metabolic health in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 2009; 83(2): 157-175. [PubMed]