I read with great interest the article “ Isocaloric fructose restriction and metabolic improvement in children with obesity and metabolic syndrome” by Robert Lustig, MD. This unique study was recently published in Obesity journal. The experimental trial included 43 obese children who were placed on a low sugar diet for 9 days. The 9-day diet matched the number of daily calories the participants consumed prior to the study. The only difference was that sugar was reduced from 28% to 10% and substituted for starch. Chicken teriyaki was replaced with turkey hot dogs. Bagels substituted for pastries… The quality of the diet itself did not change. Children continued to consume a processed food kind of diet but with less sugar. The purpose of the study is to isolate the effect of sugar on health independent of weight gain or calories ingested. The children weighed themselves daily, and if they were losing weight, they were told to eat more of the provided food in order to keep their weight the same throughout the study.

At 10 days, there was a significant decrease in mean arterial and diastolic blood pressure, a decrease in fasting glucose and insulin resistance and a significant drop in VLDL and LDL. These results are impressive. Robert Lustig has clearly demonstrated that not all calories are created equal, and sugar is toxic. Sugar independently of weight gain or calorie intake can wreak havoc on your metabolism leading to a myriad of chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia…

At Houston Weight Loss Surgery Center, we insist on eliminating sugar, in all its forms, from our patient’s diet. There is no other way around it. We know it is difficult because sugar is as addictive as drug of abuse like cocaine. Sugar is present in most food items you buy of the shelf in American grocery stores. Indeed, patients at Houston Weight Loss Surgery center have one important skill to learn and maintain before and after bariatric surgery: Home cooking. Whether you are undergoing a gastric sleeve or gastric bypass unless you prepare most of your food at home you will have difficulty maintaining weight loss and improving you health. No one adds sugar to a homemade dish of baked chicken or oven roasted veggies. The food industry has to add sugar to processed food in order to preserve the item, improve its taste and make it more addictive.

Take home message: Let food be thy medicine. What you put in your mouth will either make you healthier or sicker. It is your choice. Take control of your diet and eating habits. Drop the sugars and look for alternatives in nature made complex carbohydrates like whole grains, and root vegetables like Parsnips, sweet potatoes, and carrots…Check you local grocery store or farmers market for in season produce. Follow our Facebook page for weekly recipes and call us for any dietary question that concerns you.