Limiting Sugar and Choosing Whole Foods to Support Healthy Aging

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning with us today is Dr. Michalos and Live Long and Prosper. And he’s somewhere in the Greek islands, somewhere, one of those islands, someplace. And are you eating healthy, Dr. Michalos?

0:14 Speaker 2 Yeah, absolutely, John. Studying the Mediterranean diet, interviewing centenarians, and learning more about why they live long and they have a great life expectancy. Today I want to talk about a very important thing. that affects longevity, and that’s the consumption of sugar. And a common thing in the centenarians is that they avoid sugar. And diabetes is one of

0:38 the things that can affect longevity, so it’s important to control it. And sometimes things like, for example, high blood pressure or cholesterol have no symptoms, but diabetes often starts with symptoms like thirst, frequent urination, and sometimes even blurred vision because when your sugar goes up, It causes the lens in the human eye to swell and can affect

0:59 the vision. And sometimes if the diabetes is more advanced and the sugar is very high, it affects the tiny blood vessels, and you can get leaks in the back of the eye, which cause fluid and what’s called edema, and it can make your vision blurry. Another thing that we now know is... Dr.

1:16 Speaker 1 Mihalos, let me ask you one question, because it always comes up when I talk to diabetics and I talk to people. One of the problems with sugar, it’s cane sugar that wasn’t discovered in the New World to the, I guess, the 1500s when Columbus came to America. And so genetically, it doesn’t fit the European people. It doesn’t

1:41 fit a lot of people around the world until after the 1500s. So our bodies are not getting used to it. But that is the reason. So everybody knows the reason. So genetically, you know, I was born on the island of Nisidos. There’s no such thing as cane sugar. But tell us the effect between cane sugar and regular sugar.

2:10 Like I’ll give you, like I’ll eat a grape, which... All of us in the whole world have been eating grapes for thousands of years. Give us the differential.

2:23 Speaker 2 Well, the differential is that it’s like a slow release. Picture gasoline fuels a car and sugar, glucose fuels the body. When you eat a peach or a fig, that is releasing the gasoline and the fuel slowly and filling up the gas tank. When you eat pure cane sugar and your gas tank only holds 10 gallons, it’s like shooting

2:46 in 25 gallons in one shot. So the system gets overwhelmed. And what has to bring the sugar down? Your pancreas. So your pancreas has to make insulin, and it says, oh, my God, and insulin is the taxi cab that carries the sugar into the cells. So all of a sudden— So bottom line.

3:02 Speaker 1 Doctor, bottom line is cane sugar is like jet fuel or even worse— Versus, you know, the fruit sugar is like, you know, whatever.

3:19 Speaker 2 Diesel. Absolutely. Absolutely. That’s why I dedicated with my co-author an entire chapter on diabetes and the importance in the new book, The Death of Aging, that’s on Amazon, because it’s so important that people understand that sugar control affects heart disease, affects obesity, affects health. Even Alzheimer’s, they even think that Alzheimer’s may be partially type 3 diabetes where

3:44 the brain cells can’t utilize the sugar properly because you’ve overwhelmed the system and all these, like you said, the new cane sugar that we have.

3:52 Speaker 1 Question. I always come up with questions. Question. Does that mean if it’s type 3 diabetes that diabetics are more prone to getting Alzheimer’s?

4:04 Speaker 2 Yes, they are. They’ve shown that they’re more prone, and that might also explain why alcoholics who drink a lot of alcohol, which generates high sugar levels, may also, besides being a toxin, may also contribute to increased risks of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s. So we’re learning more and more about it, and that’s why it’s important to eat more

4:24 farm-to-table and let your body digest it and slow release the sugar like regular gasoline instead of, like you said, jet fuel. That’s a great way to describe it. and other things in the diet, even the types of bread.

4:38 Sourdough bread is a more slow-release sugar. Pure white bread that’s been adulterated is fast-release sugar.

4:45 Speaker 1 It tastes like crap. I mean, I don’t enjoy it. Yeah, exactly. I enjoy good old-fashioned Italian bread with sesame seeds on top and a real hard crust.

5:00 Speaker 2 Absolutely. And moderation is everything. And that’s what we learned from studying the centenarians. And that’s why their gut microbiome is different than everyone else. But these are all amazing things. And we have to keep studying and learning about all the different tests. And that’s why I even made a whole page on the tests that you have to do

5:20 to find out if you have diabetes earlier. in the new book. But people, just keep listening to WABC for more amazing health tips. Control your blood sugar, and that will help you to live long and prosper.

5:34 Speaker 1 Well, Dr. Peter Michalos, thank you very much, and enjoy the Greek islands, and just enjoy that sunshine, enjoy that blue water, and God bless you, and God bless America, and I’ll meet you at 100 years old.

5:51 Speaker 2 Thanks, John, for always getting the truth out. And for more information, visit thedeathsofaging.com.