Sugar is Not a Treat | Jody Stanislaw | TEDxSunValley

Summary

In the TEDx Talk Sugar is Not a Treat by Jody Stanislaw, she discusses the often-overlooked importance of the pancreas and its beta cells in managing blood sugar. She explains how overconsumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates can lead to beta cell burnout, or prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Stanislaw emphasizes the impact of sugar on the body, likening its dangers to smoking, and highlights the benefits of reducing sugar intake. She shares both her personal experiences as a type 1 diabetic and simple, effective dietary changes to prevent and reverse the damaging effects of excessive sugar, advocating for eating habits that prioritize balanced blood sugar levels to improve overall health and energy.

Highlights

• Wow! Most people don't even think about their pancreas as a vital organ. But it's a real hero when it comes to managing sugar! 🎖️
• Did you know that high sugar intake can lead to beta cell burnout, aka prediabetes or type 2 diabetes? Not cool! 🚫
• Brace yourself! Even that 'healthy' breakfast granola can be sneaky sugar in disguise. 🙈
• Jody's lived experience with type 1 diabetes turned into a lifelong study of sugar’s effects. Knowledge is power! 🔬
• Think cutting sugar is overwhelming? Think small changes, like starting your day with protein. It’s easier than you think! 🌅

Key Takeaways

• Beta cells are crucial for managing blood sugar, and overworking them can lead to burnout, causing serious health issues like type 2 diabetes. 💡
• Sugar and refined carbs are more harmful than they seem. Even seemingly healthy foods can be culprits in overworking your beta cells. 😮
• Reducing sugar intake doesn’t mean eliminating it completely. The 80-20 principle can help keep your diet balanced and healthy. 🍏
• Small lifestyle changes, like eating protein for breakfast, can significantly improve your energy levels and overall health. 🚀
• Jody’s personal journey with type 1 diabetes offers a unique perspective on living a healthy life by moderating sugar consumption. 🌱

Overview

Jody Stanislaw brings a whole new perspective to how we view sugar and our bodies, focusing on the underappreciated pancreas. Through a fun yet eye-opening approach, she teaches us the life-saving functions of its beta cells—you know, those tiny bits working tirelessly to keep our blood sugar in check! Jody warns how our dependency on sugar-laden foods is like pushing these little guys into overdrive, leading straight to serious conditions such as diabetes.

Listen up, sweet tooths! Our favorite sugar boosts might just be the sneaky culprits behind long-term health issues. Jody’s personal adventures with type 1 diabetes morph into profound lessons about dietary balance. She’s here to show us that embracing a thoughtful mix, such as the 80-20 rule, can guide us to a healthier, happier existence without tossing out all the sweetness.

Feeling sluggish, edgy, or just plain 'off' after meals? Bam! Jody shows it might just be sugar playing tricks on you. Luckily, her simple tips—like that breakfast protein boost—not only dish out hope but inspire real change with a pinch of fun. Say hello to better energy, mental clarity, and maybe even joy, all while sparing our precious beta cells from burnout!

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Vital Organs and the Pancreas The chapter introduces the concept of vital organs, highlighting their significance to human survival. It encourages readers to reflect on which organs they consider essential to life. The heart is specifically mentioned, likely as one of these indispensable organs. The transcript suggests that a deeper exploration into the roles and importance of these organs, possibly focusing on the pancreas in later sections, will follow.
• 01:00 - 02:30: The Role of Beta Cells and Insulin The chapter discusses the often-overlooked importance of the pancreas, particularly emphasizing its role in human health. While organs such as the brain or lungs typically come to mind, the pancreas is critical, especially due to its beta cells and insulin production. The speaker, a naturopathic doctor, aims to educate the audience about the pancreas, pointing out its location behind the stomach and left lower rib cage.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Beta Cell Burnout and Its Consequences Chapters delve into the crucial role and vulnerability of beta cells, which are small but vital components of the body, weighing only about two grams. Comparable in size to two almonds, these cells are often overlooked despite their critical function. They are essential for survival, as without them, and lacking medical intervention, death would occur within weeks. The chapter underscores the necessity of beta cells in processing sugar and refined carbohydrates, explaining their function in the body's metabolic processes.
• 04:00 - 06:00: Reversing Beta Cell Burnout: A Personal Insight The chapter titled 'Reversing Beta Cell Burnout: A Personal Insight' explains the function of beta cells in the human body. Beta cells act as security guards for our blood by monitoring sugar levels. When there's a surge in blood sugar, beta cells trigger the release of insulin, which functions like dump trucks to remove sugar from the bloodstream. Insulin helps to transport sugar to the liver and muscles or store it as fat, as excess sugar needs to be managed effectively to prevent negative health impacts.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Impact of Sugar on Mood and Health The chapter explores how certain foods, particularly those high in refined carbohydrates, can overwork the body's beta cells, which are responsible for managing blood sugar levels. It highlights that not only obvious sugary foods like cake and ice cream contribute to this issue, but also foods that are often considered healthy, such as yogurt, granola, cereal, bread, pasta, and even alcohol.
• 08:00 - 09:30: Misconceptions and Hidden Sugars in Everyday Foods The chapter discusses the hidden dangers of consuming everyday foods that contain hidden sugars, even when eaten in moderation. It explains how the consumption of these foods triggers beta cells to produce insulin, which can lead to 'beta cell burnout.' This condition is a precursor to prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, and the chapter emphasizes the importance of being aware of this risk to avoid such health issues.
• 09:30 - 11:00: Health Implications and Global Diabetes Statistics This chapter discusses the vulnerability of beta cells in relation to diet and long-term blood sugar management. It explains that as beta cells weaken over time, blood sugar can reach dangerously high levels. Without intervention or dietary changes, there is a risk of becoming dependent on daily insulin injections to survive.
• 11:00 - 14:30: Simple Dietary Changes to Reduce Sugar Intake The chapter focuses on the possibility of reversing beta cell burnout through simple dietary and lifestyle changes. The speaker, a diabetes specialist and type 1 diabetes patient from a young age, emphasizes the lifelong impact of sugar and the differences between type 1 and the pandemic of type 2 diabetes.
• 14:30 - 16:00: Conclusion: Empowerment Through Diet and Lifestyle The chapter discusses the speaker's experience with type 1 diabetes, emphasizing how their immune system attacked and destroyed their beta cells when they were seven years old, necessitating insulin injections to survive. The speaker reflects on living with type 1 diabetes as a gift in some ways, as it motivated them to avoid sugar, illustrating the empowering impact of diet and lifestyle choices on managing the condition.

Sugar is Not a Treat | Jody Stanislaw | TEDxSunValley Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Translator: Tanya Cushman Reviewer: Peter van de Ven Take a few moments to think about your most vital organs in your body, those organs that you cannot live without. Okay, got them? Excellent. You probably thought about your heart.
• 00:30 - 01:00 I bet "brain" popped into your mind. Lungs. But did any of you think, "My pancreas, I can't live without my pancreas"? I'm assuming most of you probably didn't. I'm a naturopathic doctor, and I love educating people about the importance of the pancreas, which is located right here, tucked behind your stomach, behind your left lower rib cage. Inside your pancreas is a small cluster of cells
• 01:00 - 01:30 called beta cells. You only have two grams actually; it's the size of, like, two almonds. Well, these life-giving cells surprisingly get no attention, yet if they were to wither away, in the absence of medical intervention, you would literally die within a few weeks. That is how important your beta cells are; you would die. Here's how they work: Anytime you eat sugar or highly-refined carbohydrates,
• 01:30 - 02:00 that sugar circulates in your blood from your head to your toe, throughout your body. The beta cells are the security guards for your blood, and as soon as they see this rush of sugar, they send the alarm bells off. They call in a team of dump trucks to haul all of that sugar out. Well, the dump trucks are called insulin, and insulin's job is to pick up all that sugar out of the blood and feed it to your liver, your muscles, or store it as fat because you don't want all that excess sugar hanging out in your blood.
• 02:00 - 02:30 This seems pretty innocent, right? But here's the problem: Millions and millions today are overworking their security force. Overworking your beta cells doesn't happen [only] with obvious foods, like cake and ice cream, but it also happens with highly-refined carbohydrate foods, like yogurt and granola, cereal, bread, pasta, alcohol -
• 02:30 - 03:00 even when used in moderation. Anytime you eat these foods, your beta cells send the alarm bells off to make more insulin. And this is scary because - just like anything that gets overused, from cars to computers - the parts eventually wear out, leading to beta cell burnout. This is another name for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes which you really don't want to suffer from.
• 03:00 - 03:30 Beta cell burnout can happen to anyone, and it has a lot to do with your food choices. As your beta cells weaken through the years, the blood sugar level starts to rise to a dangerous level, maybe even unbeknownst to you. If the beta cells get really weak, and you don't pick it up - your diet doesn't change - you'll likely need to take insulin injections every day for the rest of your life to stay alive.
• 03:30 - 04:00 But the good news, the good news is reversing beta cell burnout is entirely possible. Just with a few small dietary tweaks and lifestyle changes, especially when caught early. I specialize in diabetes. I also am an expert because I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was just seven years old. So the effects of sugar have been a lifelong study for me. Now, the cause of type 1 is very different than the pandemic of type 2 today
• 04:00 - 04:30 that we're hearing so much about. In type 1, the immune system attacked and killed all of my beta cells. Killed them - they're gone. When I was seven. Why it did this is still not understood. But as a result, without my beta cells I take insulin injections every day, and I've taken over 100,000 in my lifetime, thus far. Living with type 1, in a way, has been a gift, though, because I'm so motivated not to eat sugar.
• 04:30 - 05:00 When I eat sugar, my blood sugar level skyrockets and I feel awful; I get a headache, I feel cranky - if the phone rings, I don't want to get it because I am irritable - and I just want to take a nap. Most people walk around oblivious to this direct correlation between what you've eaten and how you feel, so the negative effects on all of you living with beta cells - you're lucky enough to still have them - is much more subtle, but potentially just as deadly.
• 05:00 - 05:30 The good news is saving your beta cells is entirely in your hands. You know, this talk wouldn't have applied even ten years ago, when sugar wasn't added to everything that we eat, and it was just used as a special ocassion. Are you aware that there are only ten companies that own the entire world's food brands?
• 05:30 - 06:00 And the reality is the sweeter a food is, the more it sells. So when you eat sugar, you might immediately feel a rush of energy and kind of feel good, think "Wow, sugar makes me feel great!" But the reality is an hour or two later, if you pay attention, you'll likely feel zapped. You might not be able to concentrate; you might kind of want to take a nap; or you might want to eat more sugar. If we keep doing this over a lifetime,
• 06:00 - 06:30 the beta cells get weak, the blood sugar level slowly starts to rise, and over time, high-blood sugar causes heart disease, kidney failure, strokes, gangrene, blindness, alzheimer's, lower-limb amputation, depression, violent behavior and more. The amount of deaths called by sugar - all of these afflictions combined - leads to more deaths than automobile accidents.
• 06:30 - 07:00 Imagine that. At the rate we're consuming sugar today, sugar is not a treat. Ladies and gentlemen, at the rate we're consuming it today, sugar has become a gradual death sentence. But the good news is, like I said, this is something, a major problem, that we have in our hands. My patient Pam, she was just freaking out; she thought something was entirely wrong with her.
• 07:00 - 07:30 She said, "I'm just tired all the time. I feel good in the morning, but then I drag, and I can't focus, and I'm cranky. Something is wrong with me. Will you check my thyroid? Do I have a brain tumor? Is that why I can't think?" I said, "Pam ... before we run all those expensive tests, I just want to ask you, 'What do you have for breakfast?'" And she said, "Well, I have a vanilla latte - get a few extra pumps of vanilla because I love it -
• 07:30 - 08:00 and then I have some zucchini bread." I said, "Well, okay, let me tell you something. Vanilla is syrup - you realize that, right? - it's not the vanilla bean, it's the syrup, lots of sugar, and zucchini bread - might as well call it zucchini cake. I mean let's be real, okay? Zucchini muffin, whatever. It's all cake - muffins - they're just cake without frosting." So I said, "Before I run all these expensive tests, why don't you just start your day with protein? Let's just have a handful of eggs for breakfast,
• 08:00 - 08:30 maybe some sliced apples with peanut butter. When you start your day with balanced blood sugar level, I think your energy is going to be a lot better, just saying." Two weeks later, I get an email full of exclamation points: "Nothing's wrong with me. I feel great. I'm having protein for breakfast, and everybody's like, 'What have you done? You're so happy now.'" Changing your life can be this simple; it doesn't have to be overwhelming. But I get it.
• 08:30 - 09:00 It's so easy to fall into the traps laid by the 1.5 trillion dollar processed-food industry today. They label so many high-sugar foods as healthy: Gummy vitamins - right? - they're gummy bears, let's not be ... come on. Yogurts - many yogurts today, blueberry, strawberry yogurt - they have more sugar, ounce for ounce, than Coca-Cola. Kids are eating fruit chews today. Kids, are you aware they're not fruit?
• 09:00 - 09:30 They're not fruit; it's sugar and fruit flavoring. There was this study done in rats that showed chronic sugar consumption creates as much damage to the brain as abuse done in childhood. Teens are drinking less soda today, but they've replaced it with sports drinks and energy drinks. These drinks are shamefully being touted as healthy, yet they are a key part of the obesity epidemic that's spreading today. And, all of you parents out there and grandparents and loved ones,
• 09:30 - 10:00 the birthday parties, right? The six-years-olds, they just ate their cake and ice cream, and now they're running around like a bunch of screaming banshees. This behavior is a direct result of the sugar intake. This happens in schools every day, and the sad thing is we're still doing it as adults: pasta and beer ... pizza and beer, pasta and bread. It's the same effect.
• 10:00 - 10:30 According to the World Health Organization, there are over 420 million people today with type 2 diabetes, and that number just keeps going up. In America alone, if our eating habits do not change in the next few decades, that will be one in three. That means it will likely be somebody you know and love, or it might be you. We have all become so brainwashed
• 10:30 - 11:00 to think that sugar on a daily basis is okay. Frankly, it's reminiscent of when doctors used to endorse smoking. Remember that? The posters of the athletes on the bikes smoking? Listen to this - this makes me so angry: I volunteer at diabetes camps, so I see kids and what they eat every day, every summer, and the standard recommendations given to children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes today,
• 11:00 - 11:30 is that they can eat as much sugar as they want and just take more insulin for it. The blood-sugar fluctuations that this way of eating causes to their precious, growing bodies is a medical tragedy. And it is devastating because the solution is so simple. We need to eat less sugar. Now, I've got to admit I love cookies,
• 11:30 - 12:00 so I'm not talking about never eating sugar again. Let's be real here, right? When I work with patients, I teach them the 80-20 principle: 80% of the time, keep your food in healthy, wholesome choices, and then put your sugar in the 20% - put it over here. The highly-processed carb foods? 20% - over here. But we've got it switched, right? We're kind of like 20 healthy and 80 sugar. Ahhh.
• 12:00 - 12:30 Our future depends on a healthy society. Your contribution is needed in today's crazy world. Sugar is never going to get you feeling your best. And sugar is never going to help motivate you to have a great day. Look at Pam. So I ask you this: Would you like to have more energy? Would you like to have less anxiety? A better memory?
• 12:30 - 13:00 More productivity? Better skin? Better sleep? More joy? Reducing sugar and highly-processed carbohydrate foods from your diet could change your life. I see it every day with patients I've helped all around the world. Now, you might be feeling resistant, like, "Oh, just overwhelmed. Just like making a big change, I feel paralyzed." Or you've tried it before, and you've failed.
• 13:00 - 13:30 Have no fear; I have you covered. Because when you want to make a big change in your life, you have to start with just small steps. That's all you need. So I've got you covered. I have three steps for you to try over the next - you can apply them today. If you're feeling really motivated, try all three. Number one: [HAVE PROTEIN FOR BREAKFAST ...] [eggs, nuts, cottage cheese, sliced apple with peanut butter] Start your day with balanced blood-sugar level.
• 13:30 - 14:00 Then you're giving your body that balanced energy. Trust me, you don't want to be like this - I do it a lot. I do my best to avoid it but ... Have protein for breakfast. Number two: Next time you're feeling that you just want a sweet; you just had a meal but now you're like, "I want something more after dinner or after noon," you want a sugary snack. Grab a glass of water first. Being dehydrated actually can feel like being hungry.
• 14:00 - 14:30 And so why don't you try water first? You'll probably feel more energized because a 5% decrease in hydration can correlate to a 20% decrease in energy. So you'll have more energy, and you probably won't need that sugary snack that will only pop you up for a little bit and then drop you. Okay, number three: There are so many wonderful low-carb replacements now for high-carb foods. Pizza crust that's made out of cauliflower; pasta can be made out of zucchini noodles;
• 14:30 - 15:00 and - I love cookies - so I make chocolate chip cookies out of almond flour and stevia as my sweetener. There's so many great ones out there. In conclusion, what I want to leave you with is this, if it isn't already obvious, reducing sugar in your diet could be life-changing for you. Life-changing.
• 15:00 - 15:30 Please, you have beta cells; protect them. You have the knowledge, and you have the power. And if you reduce the sugar in your diet, you'll be using your meals as they were intended to: to fuel you into greatness. Thank you. (Applause)