YOUR 2025 BRAIN BRAWN MINI RESOLUTION SUGAR DETOX: WEEK 1

Added Sugars and Neurodegeneration

 
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been called Diabetes Type 3 in the literature. While this is a misnomer because it fails to acknowledge all the other modifiable lifestyle factors and nonmodifiable environmental and genetic factors that influence the development and progression of AD, it does drive home the point about excessive added sugar consumption and the risk to neurological health. A 2023 U.S.-based study on adult men and women found those with the highest daily consumption of table sugar teaspoons (58 grams or 14 teaspoons) had nearly twice the risk of developing AD than those with the lowest intake (27 grams or 7 teaspoons). 
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Keep in mind, the recommended maximum consumption of daily teaspoons of sugar for women is 6, and for men, 9. (That is the ceiling, not the goal). The average American consumes 22 teaspoons!
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How does sugar impact the brain?

A diet high in added sugar promotes inflammation. This includes neuroinflammation which, as discussed, this leads to neuronal injury, and even death of brain cells. Neuroinflammation is implicated in Parkinson’s disease (PD), AD, dementia, schizophrenia, MS and ALS


A diet high in added sugar negatively impacts the microbiome. What is the microbiome? The microbiome and sugar consumption are an example of the many inter-related resolutions we will discuss in 2025, we have a future Motivated Mondays on the microbiome’s connection to brain health later this year.


A diet high in added sugar damages blood vessels, including those in the brain. The blood brain barrier is a filter, composed of capillaries (small blood vessels) designed to protect the brain and central nervous system from pathogens and toxins. A diet high in added sugar reduces the integrity of the blood brain barrier, increasing permeability.
 
A diet high in added sugar promotes the development of amyloid in the brain. Amyloid prevents brain cells from communicating with one another.


A diet high in added sugar can lead to Type 2 diabetes. The type of diabetes affected by modifiable lifestyle factors, has been said to almost double one’s risk of AD and other forms of dementia. Prediabetes also increases that risk.

 
Thus, our first resolution is to remove added sugar from our diet.

 We aren’t going to ask you to go cold turkey out of the gate! Our plan is to look at a different meal each week and remove the added sugars. We begin with breakfast because it is the WORST offender in most folks’ diets.
 
We hope this process will help you treat sugar as just that, a treat-and not an acceptable ingredient in every meal.
 
To be clear, for our purposes this month, we are discussing added sugar. Sugars that occur naturally in food are generally OK for the average person (there are exceptions). Nature wraps it up in a package of fiber, vitamins and minerals that makes it a wholesome option. On the other hand, added sugar is where the trouble begins. Outside of what you add from your sugar bowl, or what’s obvious in a cake, sugar is hidden in many foods such as bacon, ketchup, cold cuts, salad dressing and nut butters to name a few that surprise most folks. As a result, we must learn to read labels.
 
Keep in mind, manufacturers have a litany of names of added sugars/sweeteners you may not be familiar with so vigilant label reading is imperative! Here are those hidden names.
 
Most food manufacturers are now required to list the added sugars on the nutrition label. However, they didn’t make it easy for consumers to understand because they made it as a percentage of your total daily intake. How many people do you think actually know how many calories they consume each day in order do that math? Here is an example of how the new labels appear.

But who has the bandwidth to figure that out? Here is a simple formula to make it easy for you!
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• Added sugars are listed on labels in grams, and there are 4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon.
  
  
• Divide the total grams of added sugar by 4 and you have the total teaspoons in a single serving of that food item.
  
  
• So, for example, one single serving of vanilla Activia yogurt has 12 grams of added sugar, so 12 divided by 4 = 3 teaspoons of sugar in that one little container!

Here is a printable handout for your refrigerator:

​A few folks will be tempted to look for sugar-free (SF) substitutes as an option; heed our warning: DON’T! Sugar substitutes are, in most cases, worse for you than sugar! Why is that?
 
It is established that artificial sweeteners:
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• Adjust the palate towards requiring sweeter-tasting foods, ultimately leading to more sugar consumption. This is because they taste inherently sweeter than sugar itself, shifting the expectation of the palate
  
  
• Make you hungrier: That’s right, you can’t fool Mother Nature! When we consume food, the palate sends signals to the brain to expect food/calories. When the promised calories are not forthcoming, the brain objects and sends hunger signals making you consume more calories.
  
  
• Adjust the gut microbiome towards obesity: It’s sad but true—there are gut microorganisms (the gut microbiome) which lend themselves towards obesity, artificial sweeteners feed those bugs, increasing their population in your gut.

 

No-Sugar-Added Breakfast Options

So now you know the ceiling (not the goal, but the cap) on how much added sugar to consume in a day: women = 6 teaspoons, men = 9 teaspoons, as well as how to find and calculate sugar on a label. Geared up with all this information, what will you eat for your no-added-sugar breakfast this week?

There is always a veggie omelet; plain oatmeal with banana and unsweetened peanut butter; smoothie made with protein (unsweetened yogurt or protein powder), greens and frozen fruit. And here are a few additional recipes to consider:
 
For those accustomed to cereal in the morning

• There are limited number of cereals out there (even those labeled “heart healthy” or “wholesome”) that do not have added sugar. Here are a few.
• If those don’t interest you, a “bowl” may trick the brain into thinking it’s getting its cereal
• For the adventurists, there are recipes out there for breakfast soups  

Salad for breakfast! Yes, protein, greens and fiber served right up!
 
No time? Make-ahead this veggie-packed breakfast frittata or purchase one of these Grab-n-Go breakfasts: waffles or freeze-dried meals.

PRO TIP: A few things will tame sugar cravings, like protein; greens; fiber; and plenty of fluids (with no added sugar, of course).

​We will see you next week when we take added sugar out of snacks! Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. 

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: ELIMINATE ADDED SUGAR
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