You know, it can cause

glycation in the skin.

It can cause some gumming up in the brain.

It can cause problems with the pancreas.

From when you're a little child

you probably had been rewarded at

least once with sugar. If you're

a good little boy or girl,

they might give you a sweet, and so

you ended up developing a sweet tooth,

some people call it. But what is

the impact that sugar has? I mean,

without a doubt, our brain requires sugar.

It's the primary nutrient of the brain.

But excessive or deficient amounts of

sugar going into the brain can cause

cognitive dysfunction, or

let's say cognitive impairment,

let's put it that way.

So I'd like to talk about sugar for a

moment and the impact that sugar has.

First, I'd like to talk

about taking sugar. There are

different types of sugars.

There's complex carbohydrates

that break down into sugar slowly.

There are simple sugars that go right

into the bloodstream and spike it,

and then usually have it fall.

And then there's also natural sugars

from eating fats and proteins that body

metabolizes and creates back into

sugar. The brain requires sugar.

So I don't want to say that sugar's

bad or good, but like anything else,

even water, too much water or too

little water can cause problems,

and the same thing with sugar.

If we eat more sugar than ideal,

it definitely impairs our cognitive

function. We get a spike, we get manic.

When we get manic, we tend to

see positive and optimistically,

and we're basically blind

to some of the downsides.

And then when we fall

and the spike goes down,

we tend to be more

pessimistic and irritable,

and therefore we are not thinking

clearly and not centered and not pros.

So anytime we eat spikes of sugar,

it affects our cognitive function,

it causes a spike and then a decline.

And what's interesting, if

you eat sugar more than ideal,

you can create a leptin

resistance and as a result of it,

you can then lose the feedback mechanism

that the hormone leptin normally does

to let you know when you're satiated

and you can tend to overeat.

So excessive amounts of

sugar also has an impact on

leading to overeating and then

obesity and type two diabetes

and cardiovascular conditions. And

eventually, if we gain some weight,

it can affect our hips and our

joints and our knees and our overall

energy levels,

which makes us more vulnerable to

emotional vicissitudes and emotional

volatilities. So the question is,

is are you overeating sugar <laugh>?

If you're going and having a Starbucks,

you might want to go and do a little

research on how many sugar teaspoons are

sitting in a Starbucks. I know for myself,

I learned from Paul Bragg when I

was 17 years old not to eat white

sugar, white flour or white salt.

So I haven't added salt to my diet or

eating sugar in my diet or eating white

flour in my diet for 51 years.

I try my best to try to fill

my body with food that's real.

That's not empty calories. But

in the process of doing it,

I do eat fruit, fruit sugars. I do

eat vegetables that have sweet in it,

that's like carrots and beets.

And I also do eat breads.

And that breaks down as

complex carbohydrates to sugar.

And my brain has adequate sugar.

But I noticed that if for some reason

there's a little bit more sugar than

normal, that's why I don't

drink a lot of fruit juices,

I'll have just a sip of one,

because it's too much sugar and it spikes

and then you go down and when you do,

you're volatile and you're emotional

and your brain doesn't, you know,

it doesn't have stability. In fact,

if you end up with too much

sugar spikes and then let downs,

you automatically tend to get your brain

focusing on your amygdala response.

You tend to be a more

emotional and volatile.

And instead of getting into your

executive function where you have

self-governance and executive

functions where inspired vision,

strategic planning, executing plans,

self-governance, you tend to lose that.

You tend to be irritable and you'll

tend to bite and spite and react.

So I tell people that you might

moderate your sugar intake.

It really does make a difference.

It's not hard to prove and see if you

just moderate it for a week and see the

impact. But you might

want to stop and ask,

is the coffee with the sugar,

the tea with the sugar,

the desserts with the sugar,

the foods, without realizing it,

that's fast foods that has

sugar in it, are you really,

even the yogurts out there,

I I eat plain Greek yogurt,

I don't eat anything

that has sweets in it,

so I'm a very much a carbohydrate

calm down carbohydrate person. You

know, it affects your your teeth,

it affects your immune system, it

affects your cardiovascular system,

it affects your emotional volatilities,

it makes you decrease your probability

of having cognitive centeredness and

mastery by overeating

sugar. But at the same time,

if you are fasting and you don't have

any sugar that's released in the brain,

then you end up with problems

too. So too little is not wise,

it's just the right amount of food.

And my experience is that, you know,

I don't add sugar and I don't add

honey and I don't add sweetening,

I don't eat anything with sweets

like that. It's just not my thing,

other than fresh fruit. That's

the sweetest thing I eat.

And I don't have volatility.

I have stable energy and it's,

and my brain function keeps

alert and sharp because of that.

So I'm just letting you know that it

might be wise to stop and take a look and

do an inventory about your

sugar intake. You know,

it can cause glycation in the skin. It

can cause some gumming up in the brain.

It can cause problems with the pancreas.

When you do you get feedbacks in

the brain and back in your feedback,

as I said to leptin and ghrelin,

it throws off your eating patterns.

It also, if it's eating too much

sugar and creates a need for insulin,

because your blood

sugar's so high, it's got,

it's like stimulating it with

glucagon, it now needs some insulin,

you can eventually burn out your pancreas

trying to create that much insulin

and overdo it.

And there's definitely signs that it

affects the brain when it does it.

The brain has to have a stable,

steady centeredness of sugar.

And if you spike it and then,

you know, go the other direction,

sometimes you overeat on sugars and sweets

and stuff and then you end up having

a high, as you know,

and get manic and do crazy things and

set too big a goals in too short of

timeframes, then crash and then feel

like you can't accomplish things,

and all these things impair the executive

function and stop you from mastering

your life. And the other way around,

I found out that people who are not living

by priority, not bringing the blood,

glucose, oxygen into the forebrain,

not having executive function,

not moderating their behaviors,

allowing themselves to go

back into their amygdala,

which requires a little less sugar

than the executive functioning areas,

then what happens is that area starts

to make us impulsive and instinctual and

make us, you know, avoid and seek

and be distracted and emotional.

And we're not centered and focused.

So if we don't, it works two ways,

if you're not living your life

by highest priority actions,

you tend to go in and activate your

amygdala. And at the same time,

if you're eating sweets,

you tend to also activate the amygdala

and not the executive function.

So cognitive impairment is going

on when you overeat sugars.

And I tell people just to be

moderate on it. Like I said,

if you go to the Starbucks and you go

there and they put a load up a bunch of

syrup in there, corn syrup and

things of this nature and sugar,

and then you add sugar to it,

this to me is insane. I mean,

if you look at how many,

just go look on the line and go look

at how much the average person consumes

sugar, the amount of tablespoons or

pounds of sugar that people eat in a year,

it's ridiculous.

And they wonder why they have health

problems and cardiovascular and over,

you know, obesity. I mean,

if you go look at pictures in

the 1930s and 40s and even 50s in

America, you didn't see

the obesity we have today.

And part of it's because of sugar intake.

We have complex and simple sugars that

we're overeating and we're not being

told, we're not being educated, or if we

are being educated, we're ignoring it.

And I'm just very grateful I learned

from Paul Bragg when I was 17 that that's

not the thing to feed your body with.

You're either living to eat or eating

to live. And I'd prefer to eat to live.

I'd rather ask myself what's the highest

priority things I can be filling my

body with and to help me have

the most cognitive function.

I have an important function of

educating and researching and learning.

I want my brain working. So

that's why I don't eat sugars.

I don't add sugars to my diet other

than simple fruit and in moderation.

And I have steady stable

energy because of that.

So I tell people to moderate their sugars.

And I didn't say eliminate them, I

just said moderate them. Eat wisely.

You know,

think about what you're actually feeding

your body and think about the amount of

sugars that you're consuming, because

it's going to pay a price. You will,

like I said, type two diabetes is

not necessarily caused by the sugar,

but it does wear down the pancreatic

function if you just consume

sugars constantly and eventually it

is a factor in diabetes. And again,

with the leptin resistance, that's

another factor of overeating.

And both of those conditions we know are

leading to problems and we don't even

realize we're doing that. So be moderate,

stop and reflect and look

at what you're eating.

And stop and reflect and look

at what you're prioritizing.

If you're not prioritizing your day

and living by your highest values and

getting your executive function

to govern your behavior,

and if you're not prioritizing what you're

eating and making sure you're eating

to live and perform and not just

eating for immediate gratification,

which is sugar, because

people want a reward,

and it's one of the most addictive

compounds you can find on the planet is

sugar. I mean, people think,

oh my God, I love you,

I'll give you chocolate

and sugar and sweets,

and that's a crazy message to give

somebody because it's not to their

advantage to overeat sugar.

But a little moderation,

I'm not against having

your sweet occasionally,

but just be aware that the content of

what you're feeding your body is affecting

your psychology.

And if you want to maximize your mental

function and your cognitive function,

eat wisely. Prioritize what you're

eating, prioritize what you're doing,

prioritize what the actions you're taking,

prioritize who you're associating with.

If you're not prioritizing your life,

other people are going to infiltrate it,

and impulsive behaviors will take over.

If you're not, I always say

that impulsive, addictive,

and compulsive behaviors and immediate

gratifying behaviors are compensations

for unfulfilled highest values.

That's why I tell people to make sure

that they prioritize their life and

prioritize their actions and

prioritize their food. If you do that,

you're more likely to keep yourself stable

and steady and focused and energized

and vital and help have wellness.

Without a doubt there's

effect of gaining weight.

If you've gained any weight and

you've added too much sugar,

you're paying a price. And I could

go down the list, I mean from tooth,

as I said, cardiovascular, weight, I mean,

I've seen people that gain a little

bit of weight and they're only 10 to 20

pounds overweight, but every pound they're

overweight it affects their joints,

it affects their cardiovascular

function, I mean,

it just goes on and on. So take the

time to prioritize what you eat.

Take the time to prioritize what you do.

Take the time to prioritize what

actions you're taking every day,

who you're associating with every

day, how you're living your life.

If you're not living for an inspiration,

you're probably going

to fall for desperation.

And eating sugar is not the

way to maximize your potential.

Eating excessive sugar. Eat

moderately. Sugar has its benefits,

it has its drawbacks. Your

brain must have it for fuel,

but it doesn't require you to eat sugar

all day long. Eating natural foods,

fats and proteins and other foods,

your body knows how to

convert that into sugar.

It has sugar metabolism to do that

to make sure your brain is stable.

But just know that if

you eat simple sugars,

stuff that you see in

quick foods or whatever,

you will end up having spikes and troughs

and you'll increase volatility and

you'll be more emotional and you'll be

less stable and your cognitive function

will be impaired. You'll be manic

and then depressed and you know,

hyper and then eventually

irritable. And if you want that,

then I guess that's fine,

but you'll pay a price.

It's wiser to eat moderately and

think about what you put in your body.

So I just know that that's one of the

reasons when I teach the Breakthrough

Experience, I teach people

how to prioritize their

life, prioritize their doing.

Imagine this, if you have

something really, really,

really important to do and

you know it's happening,

you're about to get married or you're

about to go and put on that wedding dress

or you're about to go on a beach holiday,

and you know you're going to

have to be looking your best,

you will very discipline yourself

because you have something meaningful and

priority that you're focusing

on. As a result of it

you don't tend to go into volatilities

and you don't tend to overeat sugars,

because you're more disciplined,

because you know better.

But if you don't have anything that's

filling your day that's inspiring to you,

you're more vulnerable to engage,

that's why most people will blow their

diet on Friday night and Saturday night

and Friday and Saturday afternoon and

evening or whatever and then they'll get

back in discipline again by Sunday

night because they know they've got

accountabilities and responsibilities

on the following day.

That's why I'm a firm believer in keeping

yourself busy in high priority actions

so you're not as vulnerable to your

immediate gratifying amygdala's responses.

Because that's when you tend

to want to overeat sugar.

And then the sugar then

has a vicious cycle,

it's affecting executive function

and you get into a vicious cycle.

That's why prioritizing what you do

and prioritizing what you're eating is

important.

That's why in the Breakthrough Experience

I teach people how to take command of

their priorities, take command

of what their values are,

prioritize what they're doing,

asking themselves really what's

priority as far as eating,

prioritizing who you're hanging out with,

if you're hanging out with people that

are very inspired by what they're doing

and going places in life, you'll

tend to move in that direction.

If you hang out with people

that are victims of history,

you'll hang out in that direction,

you go in that direction.

So prioritize what you do in your

life and watch the difference.

That's why I teach in the Breakthrough

Experience every weekend to help people

take command of their life and be masters

of destiny, not victims of history.

And sugar in excess does not help you

become master of destiny. In moderation,

like many things, moderation

and consistency is one thing,

but excesses will, you pay a

price for that. So compensate,

<laugh> for this maybe excess sugar by

maybe stopping and reading and reflecting

and thinking, is this really the highest

priority thing to feed my body with?

It's your body. It goes by

quick. Your life goes by quick.

I'm nearly 70 years old <laugh> and I'll

be 70 in a few months and here I am you

know, I realize how fast that goes.

So you want to feed your mind and

feed your body wisely. Anyway,

that's my message for today and I hope

to see you at the Breakthrough Experience

so I can teach you how to prioritize

your daily actions according to your

highest values and to prioritize what

you're eating so you can take command of

your life and get the most out of life,

because life goes by pretty quick and

you might as well do everything you can

with everything you were given.

I look forward to seeing you at the

next little weekly presentation.