Daily Learnings: Thu, Jan 04, 2024
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nutrition: Processed Foods and Sugar
Notes from an episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast, featuring Dr. Robert Lustig, discussing how sugar and processed foods impact your health.
Important Note: I’m not a scientist in any way, especially when it comes to biology or endocrinology. These are my notes as I synthesized the information, and likely have mistakes. I don’t believe that these mistakes negate the effectiveness of the learning, and I was impacted by my synthesis of this information. That said, don’t quote me on the specifics here…
- Sucrose is the bonding of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule
- High fructose corn syrup is effectively the same thing, only the bond is “looser”
- Metabolically, sucrose (table sugar) and high fructose corn syrup are the basically the same thing
- Fructose is really the thing to avoid, as “sugar” is really fructose and glucose
- Your gut microbiome needs to be remembered and kept in mind
- It’s lower down in the intestine, meaning that food has to travel longer to get here
- The more you feed this
- Fiber is king
- Higher fiber intake is really beneficial
- Fiber assists with lining your intestine with a sort of gel that will assist in foods passing lower into the intestine, and thereby feeding your microbiome
- Insulin is kinda the bad guy
- Takes fats and turns them into adipose tissue really effectively
- Increases appetite
- Decreases reward center “highs”
- No-calories and “artificial” sweeteners
- Regardless of the caloric content of the sweetener, there is still an insulin response when you ingest them
- This causes adipose tissue buildup, increased appetite, and decreased reward responses in the brain / nervous system
- Overall nutritional takeaways
- Really limit / avoid sugar and processed foods
- Dr. Lustig is pro-dessert, but not for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Be moderate in your eating of it
- Avoid higher-carb-based meals
- Whole foods, foods higher in protein, vegetables, higher-fiber foods are things to focus on
- Really limit / avoid sugar and processed foods