The Truth About Sugar and Heart Disease

Article by Jeff Lemlich

By Jeff Lemlich. There they sit on my living room shelf:   Emmy awards, won during my time as a special projects producer for CBS Miami.  Seeing these statues should be a source of pride -- after all, everyone wants to feel appreciated.

But as I gaze upon two, in particular -- for "Heart Disease:  Beating the Odds" and "Cholesterol Counts" -- the realization hits me that maybe I'm not all that proud.  The realization hits me that we, and our viewing audience, may have been duped.

It wasn't our fault.  After all, it was a quarter of a century ago, and back then the things we reported were things that were accepted as fact.  High cholesterol leads to heart disease!  High fat diets also increase our risk!  Odds are your doctor will still tell you that these things are true.

I am not a doctor and have conducted no research, but I know what has worked for me, and I know the tricks that big business uses to advance their own agendas.  Now we are learning how, and why we have come to accept certain things as fact, when in some cases it's very possible (and likely) that exactly the opposite could be true.

Case in point:  a recent report published in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggesting that the sugar industry paid tens of thousands of dollars back in 1967 for a favorable report in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.  That report minimized the link between sugar and heart health, and laid much of the blame on saturated fat.

It came at a time when there were competing studies: one looking at the relationship between high-sugar diets and the heart disease epidemic, and another that pointed to saturated fat and dietary cholesterol.   Guess which theory won out?

According to internal sugar industry documents, a top industry executive cooked up a plan to shift public opinion through "our research and information and legislative programs." (see source #1 below).   The industry then (according to the documents) paid big bucks to be able to hand-pick what was published in that study, which in turn influenced the government's dietary recommendations.

To this day, doctors still warn their patients about saturated fat, while believing that sugar promotes... umm... tooth decay.  (Then again, we still believe that fluoride in our water supply is the answer to tooth decay.   Google "the truth about fluoride" for a real eye opener.)

It was recently revealed that Coca-Cola and Pepsi sponsored 96 national health organizations, pouring lots of money into their coffers while opposing measures such as cigarette-style labels on junk food. (see source #3 below).

According to a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, soda companies have recently been funding scientific "research" about sugary beverages.   

Is that a conflict of interest?   It sure sounds like one to me.

Studies are now pointing to inflammation -- not cholesterol, not saturated fats -- as the leading cause of heart disease.   As Harvard Medical School's Dr. David Ludwig points out, replacing fat in food products with starch and sugar corresponded with the rise in obesity and diabetes. (see source #2 below).  Ludwig points out how some of the most calorie dense foods -- nuts, olive oil, and dark chocolate, among them -- are associated with less weight gain than processed grains, potato products, and other high carb foods that are part of the government's recommendations.

In other words, we were less obese, and heart healthier, when our diets included whole milk, full-fat salad dressings, and fatty meats.  I'm not saying those things are necessarily good for you, just that they're not necessarily the boogie men we were taught to think they are.

In the '60s we were told that "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down".   We were inundated with songs in which sugar was something great -- the sweetest treat for the sweetest guys and gals.

What we didn't know was how sugar manufacturers were pulling the strings, making us much sicker as the decades wore on.   It's something that everyone needs to hear, if we have any hope of reversing this epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Yes, it  would have been nice to have had this information 25 years ago, when we researched, wrote, and produced our news reports.   We did a good job of telling the story (or what we believed to be the story) and production-wise, we probably earned the awards we received.

The news series helped my own awareness...

To be fair, there was some great information in there that's still relevant, such as how to read nutrition labels, and identifying some of the bad things to avoid (partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup, among them).   Working on those two news series increased my own awareness, and led to a commitment to always read the label before purchasing anything. 

Yet reading a label can only go so far when there's so much confusion about what's good for you, and what's not.  I'm a firm believer in food healing, but the opposite side of the coin is also true.   Replacing highly-processed party treats with whole foods is a good place to begin.

Cholesterol counts?  Maybe... or maybe not.    Heart disease:  beating the odds?   You still can... by keeping an open mind, and not just blindly accepting what special interests want you to believe.

Guest Blogger Note:

Jeff Lemlich is an ex-news producer for Channel 4 (and at one time, Channel 6) in Miami.  He is the music historian for Florida when it comes to Garage Bands of the 1960's.  Jeff is also the author of the book, Savage Lost, and you can learn more about him on his website, SavageLost.com .  Health, well-being, and Mind Body fitness are very important to Jeff Lemlich. This blog post was written by Jeff Lemlich and I'm sharing it exclusively on the Mind Body Thoughts Blog.

Credits:

1. "Heart Disease:  Beating The Odds" aired in 1990 on WCIX-TV in Miami.   Dr. Steve Greenberg and John Roberts (now with Fox) were the reporters.
2. "Cholesterol Counts" aired both as a news series and on an installment of the WCIX public affairs show "Insight" in 1992.  Dr. Steve Greenberg and Ken Matz were the reporters , with Cheryl Stopnick providing valuable assistance.

Sources:

1. How The Sugar Industry Shifted Blame To Fat
   New York Times, September 12, 2016
   http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html
2. Doctor:  Low Fat Diets Stuffed With Misconceptions
   CNN, October 13, 2016
   http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/opinions/debate-low-fat-diet-ludwig/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool 
3. Big Soda May Be Messing with Our Most Trusted Health Organizations
   Huffington Post, October 2016
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/soda-companies-fund-health-organizations_us_57fbee6ae4b068ecb5e0e944?

Disclaimer:

This article is meant for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice.  Please consult your medical provider for any health decisions regarding this information.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Mind Body Thoughts and Jeff Lemlich

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Physical Body Issues

We need to have a chat about this topic.  I mean, while most of us truly understand this, somehow it has been hidden from our consciousness and so its like we don't understand much about physical body issues.

Everyone wants to blame physical body issues on some "name" or "condition" or "health condition".  While they may be the result of this and you might be able to prove that it is true, you're missing half the equation of healing.

Its like having a hole in the bottom of your rowboat and you think that the only way to keep sailing is to take a paper cup and empty out the water.  You only focus on the paper cup (i.e. the name or condition or health situation) and focusing on it to take care of the issue which is water coming into your rowboat.

Modern Medical Paradigms

An Apple A Day
www.womenspost.ca

In an article, An Apple A Day, by Andrea Zeelie, posted on womenspost.ca, I have to take issue with the author's conclusion.  While Andrea Zeelie does post some relevant pieces of information and discussion points, I feel that her own paradigms limit her conclusions. 

Like so many others on the internet, the name of Steve Jobs is being used in all types of articles and websites as if everyone knows Steve Jobs personally.  I realize that this is how the internet world works, but I don't agree that this is what is always best for our society and culture.  Of course history will render its verdict after years have elapsed.

On to the article and important stuff - Andrea Zeelie claims that if Steve Jobs would have listened to the medical establishment and followed normal procedure, that he would most likely still be alive today.  In her claims, alternative medicine does little to heal people unlike the practices of modern medicine.  This is exactly what is missing in this world when it comes to health care.  We burrow down in our own area of expertise and claim that anything outside of that will do very little to help heal the body.  When we go to our respective corners of our own beliefs, we limit the potential of the human race.  Unfortunately, far too many do not even comprehend that they operate from a set of derived beliefs rather than a truth based system.

False Assumptions In Healing And Clinical Errors

Candy For Medical
Treatment

On KevinMD.com, there was an excellent article on clinical errors.  While I realize this was written more for the medical community, it applies to healing and alternative practices.  I'll let you read the full article but I'm just going to highlight a few that stuck out to me as I was reading it.  The following is my own take and perception on these items.  They are not meant to be aligned with the article on KevinMD.com that I reference. 

1)  The Placebo is just as powerful as modern medicine.  While many pharmaceutical companies do not highlight the effect of placebos, they often heal just as well as the medication or treatment.

2)  Many diseases do not all of the sudden show up.  There is a progression over time.  They are gradual.  Identifying what is going on in the person's life prior to the symptoms appearing is critical.  Learning how to help the client change their life is more likely to offer long term healing, rather than a quick fix.

Clutter In Our Life, Part 6

Clutter #6 - Health care, Doctors, and Medicine
Part 6 of 10

At one time, I thought the only way you became healthy was going to your doctor for a checkup and then running to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions the doctor prescribed. Of course, after some life changing moments I went through, I woke up and realized that I was chasing an illusion instead of something based upon reality.

Doctors, medicine and health care do have their place. Please do not misunderstand me! However, when we fail to take care of our bodies and we fail to heal ourselves from our past, going to the doctors for answers is like jumping off the edge of a cliff and hoping we'll fly like the birds and butterflies do.

We as humans pound our bodies to death each and every day, then we wonder why we get the pains we do, the heart disease, diabetes, cholesterol problems, as well as anxiety, depression and various other conditions. Most of these things are a result of us ignoring our bodies and numbing ourselves to what we feel.

If we spent as much time taking care of ourselves as we do listening to the medication advertisements on TV, we might all be surprised at how much healthier we become. Our country is spending records amount on so called health care and in reality, we are no more healthy than we were 50 years ago.

Taking a pill or drug to treat one symptom so affects some other part of the body that the next thing we find is we are treating another system of the body. It becomes a viscious circle until one day we will find that that drugs and pills have done us in.

Come back tomorrow for part 7 of this series, Clutter In Our Life. Below are the various parts to this series that you can read as well.

Clutter In Our Life Series
- Introduction
Part 1: Spending our hours watching TV news
Part 2: Keeping Ourselves Constantly Busy
Part 3: Numbing Ourselves
Part 4: Following Blindly
Part 5: Food Choices
Part 6: Health care, Doctors, and Medicine
Part 7: Hydrating Our Bodies
Part 8: Thinking We Have The Answers
Part 9: Exercise Is For Another Day
Part 10: We Fail To Evolve
- The 30 Day Challenge


Blog Post & Images (c) 3/20/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Most Common Misdiagnosis In Medicine

Somatization and conversion of emotional and repressed feelings, personality disturbances and unconscious psycho-biological states are responsible for an incredible amount of misdiagnosis and human suffering.

Slide from Seminar with Dr. Paul Canali
Unified Therapy, A Breakthrough Nervous System Re-Regulation Therapy
Nov 2010

Health Care

I continue to be amazed at what our country, society and world views as "health care". If you say "health care", the first thing that comes to the mind of most people is going to a doctor for check ups, tests, medications and procedures. Ok, it might include a few other things to a few other people, but mostly that's what is portrayed in this world.

While there is a need for doctors and medicine and health care as described, that is only half of the picture. I know the medical association, the doctors, the pharmaceutical companies do not want you to think otherwise. For if you do, their corporate profits will go down.

Contrary to what 99% of the population thinks, there are so many other things that one can do to take care of their health. Yet, those things are in the minority and somewhat sampled on an occasional basis. And if you do not agree, just take a moment and look around you to see what the vast majority of people are doing for medical care. That is where the proof is to what I am saying.

In order for us to shift the paradigm that we have all fallen into, we have to examine some basic facts.

• #1 Much of our life experiences including our past, influence our present moments. If we do not deal with the past, it will deal with us. That is a plain, pure and simple and a proveable fact!
• #2 We often ignore the true message of the pain or health condition we are facing because it is easier to pop a pill, than to deal in the nitty gritty stuff of our life. Sometimes pills are needed in certain situations but they should not be the first thing we turn to.
• #3 We often make much more out of the situation then we need to because often (I'm not going to say always or 100% of the time) but often there is some emotional, mental or spiritual side to whatever medical situation we are facing. There is more to the picture than meets the eye.
• #4 We often feel solace and comfort in placing a label on the condition we have. However, the danger in this is that now we live up to that label after we find out all we can about it. We may not realize we do this but often labels we put on ourselves or our conditions hold us back more than they help us.
• #5 The mind is extremely powerful in healing our body if we allow it to do this. The placebo effect is now being found through research to do as much healing in physical ailments as the actual drugs themselves.
• #6 As a culture, we have relied on research to provide us with the answers and solutions that we need to either help treat ourselves or our loved ones. Yet, research is a big business with many dollars being thrown around and in order to evaluate the research, we need to follow the money trail. In following the money trail, analysis of the research results can be evaluated more accurately. Research and statistics do not necessarily mean that the conclusions are 100% accurate.
  
• #7 Fear is one of the most common culprits for making seeing eyes blind and by that, fear rules this world in so many ways and it blinds us to what is really and truly going on. Fear is valid when you are running from the tiger but fear has no place when you are trying to discover the intricacies of your body, the world around you and the universe.
  
• #8 Being with pain is very difficult whether it is your own or someone very close to you. As humans (especially when we have allowed fear to come into our lives), we struggle to be with someone or our self that is in pain. It is a natural part of our biological lives but when it becomes the sole arbitrator of our life or our loved ones, than we have lost site of the possibilities that exist.
  
• #9 Supplements and health drinks and potions and snake oil are widely used in the world by people who believe they will work. Often they cost so much money and while there is much science and research to back up the claims, these products fail to live up to the expectations. Remember the placebo effect? Remember to, that even in these so called "alternative health" means, you need to follow the money trail and evaluate them accordingly. Even with expensive price tags and miraculous claims, these things are not always what they seem to be. Look at them and evaluate them through open eyes that do not close.
  
• #10 Possibilities are endless! Let me repeat that. Possibilities are endless! Be careful, locking yourself into one paradigm thinking that this holds all the answers for you. For when you are thinking this way, you have given up on the possibilities that exist.
  
• #11 The answers we need are within us. In our society we fail to listen to ourselves, our bodies and our thoughts. We fail to connect to that which is within us. Within each one of us is a master healer. When was the last time, you listened to yourself and I mean truly listened to yourself? For when we do not listen to ourselves (to thine own self be true), we give our power up to someone else and we lose so much of the potential that is right within our bodies, our minds and our spirits.
• #12 Consider what is going on in your life the next time you get an ache or a pain or something seems off. Often what is happening in your life will show up in some physical way within your body. Have you ever heard someone say, "my back is killing me" as they over exert themselves without rest, or maybe my "legs are tired/hurt to move" when they are struggling to make a decision of their path in life? Do I need to say any more or is the picture clear?
  

Each one of us needs to evaluate what is best for our lives. If we do not take the time each day to listen to our bodies, to go in and clean out the closets of our lives and to give ourselves rest, than how can we expect to be healthy inhabitants of our own bodies?

Health care is not about procedures and taking pills. Health care is about getting to know your body in every way possible and then listening to your inner self in finding the most potential for your life that you can. There is so much more out there than the advertisements show us each and every day. We've become people with eyes that are closed when we so badly need to open our eyes and claim everything we can.

The potential exists and the possibilities are endless. How much will you close your eyes to? How much will you allow yourself to open your eyes and see?

The Placebo Effect

Placebo in Latin means "I shall Please" and has its origins in medicine that was used more to please the patient rather them benefit them. Today, placebos are used in many forms that most of us would not even recognize. While many of the regular health care procedures we gravitate towards appear to be backed by scientific studies, many of the same positive results can be done without these routine health care procedures.

Placebos are anything from a sugar pill to an inactive or fake medication or treatment which is designed to mimic a drug or medical treatment and given in the same way. After a placebo is administered, any improvement in the health and well being of the individual whether felt, observed or measured is called the placebo effect.

In 1955, the work of Henry K. Beecher, titled "The Powerful Placebo" was published. In 15 trials, he claimed that 35% of the 1082 patients documented, were satisfactorily relieved by the placebo alone. Some researches now suggest that placebos can be just as effective as any medical treatment.

When I was a kid, my grandparents had been involved in a car accident on the way to our house. They were not seriously injured and were released after being checked out. While they rested at home, the doctor had prescribed some pain pills for my grandfather to take if needed. He of course needed them and so he took them as if they were treats. Unfortunately, we lived in a rural area, so he quickly ran out and because it was the weekend, there was no place to obtain these from until Monday. My mom, growing tired of hearing my grandfather complain about the pain he was in and how badly he needed the pain pills, devised a plan to treat him. She took the little sugar candies we got at Halloween called smarties and told him that these were very high powered pain pills. She convinced him that they were much better than his regular pain pills even though he questioned her that they looked like candy. And believe it or not, they worked. I actually remember him remarking to my mom that these pain pills were the best things he had ever taken.

When I worked around farms and would make visits with the Veterinarians, we had what we called the "boiling water option". Sometimes you needed to treat the people taking care of the farms as much as the animals. So often I would run into situations where some of what the care takers would see was not real. They perceived it was but from an objective mind, you just could not isolate what they saw. So instead of wasting money on medications that were not needed, we would find ways to make it look like we were doing more than we were. Often, we joked that we were "boiling water" so to speak but in all reality, it was a placebo. It worked every time!

In many clinical research trials, placebos are given to all test subjects prior to the start of the test without any of them knowing this. If there is a positive response during that time, then this test subject is kicked out of the trial results. In fact, more often than not, the prefrontal regions of the brain showed changes in activity as a result of the placebo.

Consider how many times you go to a doctor and you tell them your symptoms, which of course results in them giving you a "name" for the condition you have as well as a "medication" or "treatment" to get rid of the condition you have. While there are situations where this form of medicine is necessary and critical, much of it is interfering with not only the function of the mind and body but with the messages the body is trying to alert the person to. There is great power in having a name to put to our condition but often times, it becomes a hinderance because we tend to vibrate towards the condition instead of vibrating to heal it.

In our society, we are so closed off and shut down to all the messages that our bodies put out in a day. We barely listen and if we listen, we have almost inactivated that part of us which is there to help us. Instead we want to numb that which we feel and get rid of it so we do that through many different methods in our days including medications and medical treatments. If only we learned to listen to our bodies and listen to the messages from the pain or from what we felt, we would offer ourselves so much more than we could possibly imagine. The mind is very powerful and the body has the ability to heal itself from many of the conditions we face. Please don't get me wrong in that I am suggesting medicine or medical intervention plays no role because it does. However, until we learn to listen to ourselves first, we are only short changing life for ourselves. The more you interupt the normal balance and homeostasis in the body with the introduction of outside cures, the more you inflame the situation and force the propagation of it into other areas of your life.

While there are scientific reasons and research for medicine to suggest certain procedures, more often than not, the person may alleviate the symptom only to find the onset of another symptom or condition. Yet, in our society, this is the way we view things because as I say again, we have shut ourselves down to listening to our bodies. Some of the messages and pains coming through are more than we have the tools to deal with and so it is easier to just turn everything off. The only thing is, it is much more dangerous in the long term for our life.

I remember one lady I know that told me how she had suffered from a severe stroke at one point in her life. Talking to her and getting to know her, you could not tell that she had suffered from this condition. What astounded me more though was when she shared with me that she did not go through the normal health care routine to recover from it. She used alternative methods completely and recovered fully. She did not use conventional means to recover. There are many stories like this that I'm sure we have all heard and yet for some reason, we chalk them up to being some sort of miracle (which sometimes it may be) or we think that it only happens to others. We are the ones in control of our bodies and our health and we need to take that role much more serious than we do.

When I was paralyzed in 1991, the doctors didn't fully seem to know how to treat me or get me beyond my physical limitations. It was as if they were going to let time takes it course in whatever way it turned out. My impression was that they really didn't have a clue on how to get me from the point I was to the point I am at today. For years I struggled to fully regain all parts of myself even though most people would have not noticed what I saw in myself. At first, I had no clue how to get there and it took much discovery, searching and time for me to find my way.

Today we are blessed with the internet and especially google searches. There is a wealth of information out there and a wealth of experience that many people share about the conditions they have experienced. Many times, if we look long enough through the internet, we will find alternate ways that others have used to treat their own conditions and illnesses. Many times, these are not through conventional health and medicine that our society subscribes to.

So my challenge to you is if you are going through some type of health condition as long as it is not life threatening, consider the following points. (if you are in a life threatening situation, than by all means find qualified medical help. Use your common sense here, please).

1. Listen to what your body is telling you and see if there are any current, past or just prior events that may be going on in your life. See if these events have any connection to your situation in the moment because many times they do. We just have to listen to our bodies.
2. Search and seek out information through the internet, others or your higher power to help you find the best course of treatment for yourself. This could include the use of medical help and it may also include forms of treatment that you have never tried or are not aware of.
3. Don't stop there! Keep searching for more information, discovery and knowledge because as you find one piece of the puzzle, it will open up more of what you know. You may not have any knowledge of how to get past this in the moment, but if you start searching, you will find the way through.
4. Realize that pains, conditions, illnesses are often situations that are designed to get our attention and tell us something. It is our body's feedback mechanism and all to often, we ignore this. Start listening to it. Start allowing it to help you harvest more from your life and experience as a human. We are much more than we currently know.
   

I have seen conditions in people healed that I didn't think were possible and I have had this happen within myself as well. It isn't far fetched and it isn't some new age mumble jumble. This is real and it happens every day. Our bodies are wonderfully designed and they constantly work towards balance or homeostasis. It is what we do to our bodies and how we respect and listen to them that takes us out of balance. Stress, trauma and daily events in our lives do impact them as well, but we are designed to be much more than we currently are. Embrace that part of yourself and see youself for all you are, not what you aren't!

Chiropractic Documentary - Part 3

See the truth about Chiropractic and how much is possible with it. This is part 3 of a 3 part series and is a very good source of information.

Chiropractic Documentary - Part 2

See the truth about Chiropractic and how much is possible with it. This is part 2 of a 3 part series and is a very good source of information.

Chiropractic Documentary - Part 1

See the truth about Chiropractic and how much is possible with it. I've used Chiropractic at times in my life and it has helped greatly. Just like with medical doctors, there are good ones and bad ones. However, Chiropractic has a lot of possibility and potential. I've seen it work many times in myself and in others when medical doctors and medicine offered no relief. This is a part 1 of a 3 part series and is a very good source of information.