Brain Death Diet: Sugar Does A Body Bad

Richmondchironeu • November 4, 2019

Hello everyone:

There are just certain ‘foods’ available today that simply do not support a healthy brain and body…and sugar is one of those things. When consumed in the amounts that the typical Standard American Diet allows, it is proven to be harmful. The rule is: avoid any foods with added sugars. Here is a link to a great article about the multiple impairments caused by sugar on the brain:

https://www.verywellmind.com/how-sugar-affects-the-brain-4065218

Hey…what about artificial sweeteners? Well, the news is actually worse.

https://neurogal.com/neuro-blog/2018/12/29/are-artificial-sweeteners-toxic-to-the-brain

http://mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/progressinnutrition/article/view/5901

All of the above links are thoroughly referenced. Here is a quote from the paper above:

“Therefore, the present article review aimed to summarize the results of most relevant studies concerning side effects of artificial sweeteners. Accordingly, a search of several databases was performed to identify all related manuscripts from 1980 to 2016. As a result, most of the available animal studies demonstrated that chronic exposure to artificial sweeteners led to increased body weight, impairment of glucose and insulin homeostasis, alteration in gut microbiota, neurobehavioral effects and also induction of kidney injury and cancer.”

Bottom Line: Avoid artificial sweeteners and use in limited amounts things like local honey, stevia and luo han gou, all of these are readily available in most supermarkets and health food stores.

Here are a few more ‘nails’ in the coffin for sugar. Please be aware that there are plenty of well done studies showing sugar has negative impacts on brain function, cognition, mood control, depression, anxiety, memory etc. Please avoid processed foods and especially those with added sugars.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938417304328

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5332116/

From the above study: ”The consumption of healthy foods is correlated with good cognitive function. These results suggest that diet is closely related to cognitive function, even in healthy children and adolescents.”

PS: here is a link to find the the names for at least 61 hidden sugars in foods:

https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/hidden-in-plain-sight/#.Xb7dXi2ZNQI

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Health News Update: Inflammaging is Bad News

By Mark Smith • August 25, 2025
Hello everyone: I think I have mentioned inflammaging before but never really focused on it. So, let’s dig into this interesting topic. Inflammaging is when chronic, low-grade inflammation develops with age as dietary and environmental stress accumulates, contributing to the development of all of the various age-related diseases and health issues. It results from a loss of control over systemic inflammation, which tends to come from an unbalanced and dysregulated immune system. One of the key drivers of inflammaging is diet…which means that one of the key tools to slow and reduce aging is our what we eat as well as what we don’t eat. In this paper, the authors reveal that the typical Western Diet (what science calls the Standard American Diet or S.A.D.) is the best example of a pro-inflammatory diet pattern. “ Conclusion: Inflammation is a key physiological process in immunity and tissue repair. However, during aging it becomes increasingly more chronic. In addition, we found that certain foods such as saturated fats have pro-inflammatory activity. Taking this into account, in this review we have proposed some dietary guidelines as well as a list of compounds present in foods with anti-inflammatory activity. It must be taken into account that the amounts used in the studies that detect anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds are very high, and the intake of a single food to achieve its anti-inflammatory power is not feasible. (My Comment: what this means is that it is the overall dietary pattern that matters the most.) However, the combination of foods rich in compounds with anti-inflammatory activity could exert beneficial effects during aging and in pathologies associated with inflammation and in reducing the detrimental effects of foods with pro-inflammatory activity. Therefore, we can conclude that the compounds in our diet with anti-inflammatory activity could help alleviate the inflammatory processes derived from diseases and unhealthy diets and thereby promote healthy aging. Thus, we can use diet not only for nourishment, but also as medicine.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8389628/ anti-inflammatory diet and health aging https://www.healthline.com/health/5-minute-guide-to-inflamm-aging Bottom Line: We all must age, and how we do so is largely under our own control. To create an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is not that difficult, especially if you put it all together in stages. Start with a clean, whole-food, unprocessed plant-based food plan. And to begin, first focus on what you can add into your menus and use those additions to sort of crowd out the things that are more inflammatory…sugar, refined grains, processed and pre-packaged things. Set realistic goals such as going plant based one or two days a week, or even one meal…just start and gradually work up. It has to be doable so don’t stress. Next, start moving and doing regular exercise at least three times a week…and find what you enjoy doing and focus on that. Then add activities that de-stress you, whether that is socializing, church, meditation, prayer, yoga, etc. Overall, shift your attention to giving love to things that love you back. Sugar, drive-thru and processed food like thingies do not love you back but apples or kiwis or berries or veggies do. Sitting around does not love you back but going for a short walk after a meal does love you back. Hang out and give love to the people you really like to be with, they will most always love you back. Create a love you back lifestyle and see how you feel.

Health News Update: Blocking Internet on Smartphones Improves Mental Health

By Mark Smith • August 18, 2025
Hello everyone: I frequently hear about mental health issues with the people in our practice. They could be experiencing depression, or anxiety, feel flat, can’t focus or sustain attention, or may not feel well in general. These comments can come from anyone of any age…I can hear from parents about their kids, or it may be themselves experiencing these feeling. So, when I read this paper, it felt important to share it because we all seem to have mobile phones. Here is how the paper is summarized: “Concern about how smartphones affect users is widespread: half of American smartphone users—and 80% of those under age 30—worry that they use their device too much, and correlational research suggests that smartphone use is negatively related to mental health and cognitive functioning. However, few large-scale experiments have tested for causal effects. We report such an experiment, finding that blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks reduces smartphone use and improves subjective well-being (SWB) (including life satisfaction and positive affect), mental health (more than antidepressants), and sustained attention (as much as being 10 years younger). Despite the many benefits mobile internet offers, reducing the constant connection to the digital world can have large positive effects.” https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites&utm_term=randomized%20controlled%20trial&utm_content=randomized%20controlled%20trial&_kx=fARhTo_gi8X3B_2-MaeO_RyzUl9tvT3tr4re-Dy7cNQ.my75y6 Bottom Line: It seems like a smartphone ‘timeout’ can be very beneficial for mental, emotional, physical health and can be an important part of stress reduction. The world today, with nearly instant communications, the almost constant bad and anxiety promoting news, and the fast pace of data consumption can add up to significantly stress us out and pull us down…or just simple keep us distracted. From what I can see, a ‘timeout’ may be just what the doctor ordered.
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