Dr. Clark's Brain Based Blog

Why Kids Need Sugar

http://www.doctordavidclark.com

What law is there that kids need something sweet? 

Can somebody please tell me where it’s written that a child needs to have something sweet to drink or something sweet to eat? 

This is one of those "collective consciousness things" that's wormed it's way into the subconscious of parents everywhere.

This is insane. 

You know, I’m working with a lady right now who’s got an autoimmune thyroid condition, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis--that’s the name of it.  And we’re talking... and one of the main things we have to do for her is help clean up her diet.  We’ve got to get her away from sugar; we’ve got to get her away from gluten, away from these other things. 

And we’re going over her diet history at our follow-up appointment, and she says something to the effect of,

“Well, I don’t have those LIttle Debbies for me anymore, but the kids like that.”

And I said, “I’m sorry?  What?”

SHe says...“The kids like that.” 

So I said, “It’s okay for them to have Little Debbie Snack Cakes but it’s not okay for you to have Little Debbie Snack Cakes?”

And she kind of thought about it and she said, “Well, I never really thought about it like that.” 

I said,

“They don’t need that stuff.  You’ve been brainwashed by advertising pointed directly at your kids that tells you that it’s okay that they drink SunnyD and sports drinks, and they need to have peanut butter and jelly in their lunch box.  That’s BS.”

So many of the chronic problems that walk into my office, both neurological and metabolic,  start with what we’re eating... and the path to sickness starts when we’re kids. 

My little girl goes to a daycare and I kid you not...

...I was there the other day and I saw this 10 month old baby being fed pudding. 

That’s right...pudding. And then washing it down with a bottle of fruit juice (to be fair, diluted). 

Where does that mindset come from?

You do not need to get calories from sugar. 

And kids, for God’s sakes, don’t need to get their calories from sugar.  Get calories from food. 

Yeah, some foods have sugars in them, but let’s not just give them license to eat whatever they want and drink whatever they want.

It’s no wonder we have a childhood obesity problem in this country.  But this is also why degenerative conditions are on the rise--the bad habits started as  a youngster.

Many of the problems that you will see when you get older, diabetes, memory, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, all of these are linked to abnormal blood sugar.

So when I look at anybody, I don’t care what the problem is, I’ve got four priorities. 

# 1. Anemia

# 2. Blood Sugar regulation

And three and four we’ll talk about at some other time. 

Every cell in your body runs on sugar.  Every cell in your kid’s body runs on sugar. 

There is no physiological reason why your childs needs to have something sweet.

They want something sweet because they’ve had something sweet before and now they’ve got a little bit of addiction to it.  The brain chemistry is changed.

There’s a place in the brain called the nucleus accumbens that's starting to fire and that’s where it starts, people. 

Do yourself a favor and stop doing this to your kids.  They do not need it. 

Now, attached to that, I mean we’re talking about fruit juice, and I wasn’t gonna say this, but I’m gonna get it out now.

 I have a relative whose pediatrician told her that her 10 month old needed to start getting more of his calories from juice.

Are they trying to make the kid diabetic at an early age? 

Kids don’t need fruit juice.  I know, that sounds heretical. You might think, “Whoare you?  Why do you have to say this?”

Believe me, they don’t need fruit juice.  Give them maybe some whole fruit, some pureed fruit, but don’t give them fruit juice. 

Why?  Because it is straight up sugar.  (Yeah, I know it’s fructose, but it is sugar.)

You need the fiber to slow things down.

So here’s the takeaway for today---

Don’t let your kids get started on a bad dietary habit that’s gonna eat themselves into chronic degenerative conditions down the road.

 Have some foresight.  They don’t know.  Train them now. 

You need to be the influence on them that shows them  what they need to eat and drink...

Not TV...not commercials...not cartoons.

Oh...and obviously kids DON'T need sugar.

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© 2009 Dr. David Clark

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Dr. David Clark
Functional Neurologist
Functional Endocrinologist
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://budurl.com/DrClarkonFacebook

How to Get the Most Nutrition from Vegetables

http://www.doctordavidclark.com

In my private practice, there are basically three components to my treatment plan for anyone (no matter the “diagnosis,” label or condition):

1. Diet and lifestyle
2. Supplementation
3. Clark Brain-Based Rehab®.

Let’s talk about #1—diet.

You are what you eat and what you absorb. 

Many people have eaten themselves into chronic conditions such as diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Peripheral Neuropathy, PCOS…

The good thing is, what goes in your mouth has a profound impact on whether or not you’re going to get better.

So what I want to do today is tell you how to get the most out of the vegetables that you’re eating.  (That assumes that you are eating vegetables.) 

A recent study in Spain compared cooking methods and determined which methods protected the nutrients the best. They basically cooked these vegetables in all these different ways and then measured their antioxidant levels.

Fruits and vegetables are full of antioxidants.  They’re the things that help protect us from the damaging effects of oxidation.

Oxidation is part of life. Just by being alive and breathing, you are oxidizing a little.

If oxidation is sped up, then you age faster and your organs can be damaged.

So retaining the antioxidants in your vegetables during cooking is crucial to good health.

Here’s what they found…

1. Eat tomatoes with fat

If you want to absorb the most beneficial phytochemicals from tomatoes you need to eat them with fat.  They’re referring to lycopene.

Lycopene is the thing that gives tomatoes that red color.  Lycopene is extremely important for prostate health and a lot of other functions.  Lycopene is absorbed maximally when you eat the tomatoes with a little bit of fat.

I’ll give you an example:  Tomatoes and a little bit of olive oil. 

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Now, for me, this brings up the question of where are you even getting your tomatoes from to begin with, because if you can get the maximum amount of lycopene if you eat them with fat then let’s get a tomato that has the maximum amount of lycopene to begin with.

My recommendation to you is always buy organic if you can because it’s without pesticides and insecticides. Next down the list, buy local. Local organic tomatoes. You can probably find those at a farmer’s market.

If you’re going to use tomatoes at all, please get the highest quality. Because it’s going to be fresher. It’s going to have more of these antioxidants in them to begin with
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2. When you grate things, when you increase the surface area, you actually make it easier for you to absorb more of the nutrients. 

What are the ways that you should cook your food so that you will retain the maximum amount of nutrients in the vegetables? 

Eat them raw.  Shred the things, eat them raw. 

In fact, you should try to eat something raw every day because the enzymes and the vitamins that are in those raw vegetables are destroyed partially when you cook them. 

There’s no way around it.

When you cook vegetables you’re going to destroy the things that make them good for you.  So my suggestion to you is to cook them lightly steamed. 

What does that mean? 

That means get a little steamer basket, put it on top of your oven, on top of a pot and lightly steam it.  The more heat you use, the more water you use, the less nutritious those vegetables are going to be.

So some people say that you would even microwave vegetables. I’m sure you’ve seen the disposable microwavable bags.

Do not cook food (microwave or not) in plastic. Not even a “convenient” plastic bag.

The hazard is this--the chemicals in the plastic end up in your food.

But just lightly steam them. Steam them so they are al dente--- which means they’ve still got a little bit of crisp to them.  Don’t make them mush (like cafeteria vegetables).

So if you want to cook your vegetables and get the maximum benefit of the nutrition in them, you need to use less temperature and less water. 

The absolute worst way you can cook your vegetables is to use a pressure cooker or to boil them.  You might as well just eat paper (for the fiber).

Oh, and if you’re going to use vegetables that aren’t fresh, use frozen. 

Canned vegetables are essentially void of nutrients. 

So that’s my vegetable nutrition tip of the day.  I’ll be talking to you soon. 

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© 2009 Dr. David Clark

    

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Functional Neurologist
Functional Endocrinologist
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://budurl.com/DrClarkonFacebook