Chapter 1: Why It's Easy to Get Hooked on Sugar, But Hard to Quit
Our bodies can naturally burn either sugar (in the form of glycogen) or fat for fuel.
But because we consume excessive amounts of sugar all day every day and rarely go more than a few hours without eating, our bodies have become reliant on sugar for fuel and have lost their ability to burn fat.
Sugar is like burning fuel, and just a few hours after eating, your body signals you to refuel.
Then you reach for high-carb, high-sugar foods in search of more glucose.
--- pp.32~33

The food industry knows that we have a physiological and emotional attachment to sugar, and they work tirelessly to exploit this.
(…) “Food companies don’t put heavenly sweetness into things you expect to be sweet, like soda, ice cream, or cookies.
They went around grocery stores, adding sugar to previously unsweetened products to create a heavenly sweetness.
Now, even bread boasts a heavenly sweetness with added sugar.
Some yogurt products are as sweet as ice cream.
“Hey, some brands of pasta sauce have as much sugar in 1/2 cup as two Oreo cookies.”
--- pp.34~35

Chapter 2: How Sugar Hurts Our Bodies
Have you ever heard the saying, "Cancer loves sugar"? Unlike other cells in the body, cancer cannot use fat as fuel and relies solely on sugar to survive.
This is because they rely on fermentation, known as anaerobic respiration, for energy instead of the oxygen that healthy cells use.
In this process, only sugar is fermented, not fat.
(…) eliminating sugar from your diet could make it much harder for cancer to spread, much like cutting off terrorist funding.
In short, the party is not our friend, it is cancer's friend.
--- pp.69~70

Chapter 4: Calming Your Cravings
Anyone who wants to suppress hunger, lose weight, and overcome cravings needs to regulate their leptin levels.
Otherwise, you'll be tempted to continue eating foods that trigger dopamine release, far exceeding your body's calorie needs.
This pattern of eating purely for pleasure is so common that a new term has recently been coined: "hedonic hunger."
Longing is not a need to sustain life.
It is an addiction to pleasure.
Leptin resistance is also the reason why people who are addicted to sugar always crave sweets.
--- pp.88~89

Just as cells can become desensitized to insulin and leptin, taste buds can also become desensitized to sweetness.
Have you ever felt like you needed to eat more and more sugar to satisfy your cravings? This is because your taste buds have become dulled, requiring you to eat more to re-experience the sweetness you crave.
(…) When the sensitivity of the taste buds is restored, the taste of food changes.
Bad food tastes bad and good food tastes much better.
When I was addicted to sugar, I could drink three glasses of cola a day and it tasted good, but if you gave me broccoli, I would throw up.
Now the situation is the opposite.
It's not that the cola recipe has changed, it's that my taste has changed.
(…) I guarantee you that if you cut out sugar, healthy foods will taste just as good, or even better, than sweets and carbs!
--- pp.89~90

Chapter 6 Step 1: Supplement Your Minerals
I believe that maintaining adequate mineral levels is paramount to good health.
Unfortunately, most of us are severely deficient in minerals, and sugar is a major contributor to this problem.
This is because when you consume sugar, your body has to use its mineral reserves to recover.
Consuming more minerals every day will ensure your body has the nutrients it needs to heal itself and function efficiently.
Plus, by suppressing your sugar cravings, you'll be able to move through the remaining six steps of the program much more easily.
Few people can endure withdrawal symptoms for long on willpower alone without first supplementing with minerals.
--- pp.135~136

Chapter 7 Step 2: Add Healthy Fats
Just as eating sugar burns sugar and makes you crave more sugar, eating fat burns fat and makes you crave more fat.
The average person's fat cells store tens of thousands of calories.
When we start feeding our bodies healthy fats, our bodies think, 'Oh, I'm getting good calories here.
You might think, 'I'm sure more calories will come in, so it's okay to let go of the extra calories I've stored up.'
Therefore, you can lose weight by burning body fat.
--- pp.156~157

Chapter 8: Step 3: Eat Protein Smartly
The amount of protein needed to maintain and repair the human body is much less than you might think.
If you consume more protein than that, it will be converted into glucose through gluconeogenesis in the liver.
This means that any unused protein raises blood sugar and insulin levels and triggers fat storage.
This is also why high protein intake is associated with weight gain.
--- pp.167~168

A common lunch item, the ham sandwich, is terribly harmful to your health.
It's almost like putting cancer between two sugar tsunamis.
Why is that? As mentioned earlier, processed meats have been linked to colon cancer.
Additionally, wheat bread is high in gluten, as well as amylopectin A, a carbohydrate that is unusually difficult for pancreatic and stomach enzymes to digest, which can cause blood sugar levels to rise very high.
--- p.176

Chapter 10, Step 5: Regulate Meal Times
The most important thing you can do right now to reduce the number of meals you eat is to finish eating at least three hours before bedtime.
That means if you go to bed at 10 PM, you should finish eating by 7 PM.
Why is that?
Our bodies don't need energy before we fall asleep.
Since muscles do not need glucose, all food consumed is stored as fat.
Forcing your body to metabolize food during these low-energy times causes your mitochondria to produce more free radicals, causing more damage.
Also, because it takes several hours for the stomach to completely empty, lying down to sleep on a full stomach can easily cause stomach acid reflux.
Moreover, when your body focuses on digestion while you sleep, it takes away energy from other things it should be doing at that time: repair and detoxification.
--- p.199

Chapter 12 Step 7 Increase your exercise volume
To borrow a phrase I like, motion is emotion.
Movement makes me feel better.
When you feel good, you make healthier choices.
You might want to eat a salad or drink a vegetable drink.
On the other hand, if you don't move around much and don't have healthy ways to reduce stress, you'll find yourself reaching for junk carbs to comfort yourself.
--- p.221

Chapter 13: Creating a Sugar-Free Lifestyle
The relationship between sugar and sleep goes beyond simple energy supplementation.
Studies have shown that four consecutive days of sleep deprivation (4.5 hours of sleep per night) can impact insulin sensitivity, particularly in fat cells.
This means that if you don't get enough sleep, you become insulin resistant.
Fat cells also need sleep to stay in optimal condition.

A 2010 study found that sleeping only four hours for two consecutive nights reduced leptin, a hormone that regulates hunger.
This helps explain why we crave sweets when we're tired.
When your body doesn't properly secrete leptin, your hunger and satiety signals become dulled, leaving you feeling constantly hungry and never full.
--- pp.252~253

Health is our most precious asset, too important to be left to chance or managed carelessly.
Sugar robs us of this precious gift and causes millions of cases of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia every year.
You now have a weapon in your hands: a clear goal and action plan to break free from the sugar addiction that threatens your life and the lives of your loved ones, and to use your time, energy, and resources for health instead of disease.
It is now your turn to use this weapon.

--- p.255