There is an abundance of damage that may be happening to our bodies without any adverse symptoms to let us know. The food diary will help us with obvious digestive issues and help us see when the brain is being affected because we get moody and depressed, however, it won't help us know what damage is being done on a microscopic level. Less obvious long term damage caused by diet includes inflammation that may be occurring that doesn't cause pain now but will in the future, brain damage on a molecular level, fat cells being comfortably formed, and functional but borderline high or low levels of blood sugar that cause strain on all our organs without spiking or crashing us. Start reading not only food labels but the latest science on controversial foods we eat.
Although some books may seem extreme, even to the point of turning everything you thought you knew about food upside down, they provide valuable insight into what effects food can cause and give you meaning and purpose behind your resolve to keep yourself healthy. For example, in "Grain Brain" Dr. Perlmutter exposes possible negative effects gluten may have been causing us all for centuries, and what he in his experience has found may help people with health problems who have "tried everything" medical but found benefits from eating a gluten free diet. You will be scared to eat wheat after reading, but that will fade and you will at the least be left being very cautious about how much gluten you consume. In "Fat Chance" Dr. Lustig explains scientifically what is going on in our hormones and digestion when we ingest sugar and refined food, like how sugar turns off the hormone Leptin which tells your body when your caloric intake is sufficient for the amount of energy you expend, and explains how our food industry in the past 30 years has turned obesity from a personal accountability problem to a victim of our culture problem. You will be aware of the problem and it will give you power in fighting being a victim because you will know what and who the real enemy is. In "Diabesity" Dr Kaufman talks about her experience with the obesity diabetes epidemic, how it is affecting over half the population and if you aren't one of the lucky ones affected now it certainly will affect you eventually, and what we must to do stop it. You will leave her book realizing even though its "not affecting me" it is indeed affecting you, and certainly will affect our children, and we all must do something about it.
There are many other great books to read about blood sugar and food science, and the truths will start to become evident as you read different opinions, date, and experiences. For example, all three above authors including others (i.e. Diane Sanfilippo and Leslie Korn) agree on one thing: it's not cholesterol that is the killer, in fact our brains need cholesterol to function properly and omitting fats in favor of carbs is a deadly mistake. Slow death, yes, but death nonetheless. Walk about different from what we all have been taught for centuries from health organizations and food industries! Dr. Perlmutter states, "Cholesterol is a critical brain nutrient essential for the function of neurons, and it plays a fundamental role as a building block of the cell membrain. It acts as an antioxidant and a precursor to improtant brain-supporting elelments like vitamin D as well as the steroid related hormones (e.g, sex hormones such as testosterone and estrogen). Most important, cholesterol is looked upon as an essential fuel for the neurons...
And now we have the evidence in the scientific literature to prove that when cholesterol levels are low, the brain simply doesn't work well; individuals with low cholesterol are at much greater risk for dementia and other neurological problems. We need to change our attitudes about cholesterol and even LDL (low density lipoprotein); they are our friends, not foes. You'll soon see that we've been barking up the wrong tree--blaming cholesterol, and LDL especially, when coronary artery disease has more to do with oxidized LDL. And how does LDL become so damaged that it's no longer able to deliver cholesterol to the brain? On of the most common ways is through physical modification by glucose. Sugar molecules attach themselves to LDL and change the molecule's shape, rendering it less useful while increasing free radical production."
Again it's the sugar which is demonized, and rightly so. Sugar depletes, and it causes imbalances in many many ways. But you don't understand that unless you do the research. I never would have know that taking pancreatic enzymes would help my sugar damaged, gluten damaged, genetically vulnerable body absorb my food better if I hadn't done my research. Research gives you armor and weapons, and without it the determination, the know-how, or even the desire to fight this battle will be missing! In many ways I'm on the caboose of this train, many people before me
have said what I want to say, but many still refuse to see and
understand and are letting themselves fall prey to the food culture. I've managed to escape the snare and want the same for you. I'm asking you to take this journey with me.
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