Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease

by Robert H. Lustig

There, a bunch of enzymes (proteins) digest the food into even smaller components, such that dietary fats are digested into fatty acids, dietary protein is sliced into amino acids, and carbohydrate is cleaved into simple sugars (mostly glucose,

But we can’t digest dietary fiber, so it remains intact. The fiber speeds the rate of transit of the food through the small intestine (see chapter 12), while limiting the rate of absorption of the other nutrients.

The hedonic pathway comprises a neural conduit between two brain areas: the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NA, also known as the reward center), both of which are

Pleasure occurs when the VTA signals the NA to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter. It’s a signal from one brain center to another. When the released dopamine binds to its specific dopamine D2 receptor in the NA, the sense of pleasure is experienced.1

ROS require the help of antioxidants to quench them before they have a chance to do damage.

Sugar is more dangerous than its calories. Sugar is a toxin. Plain and simple.

all successful diets share three precepts: low sugar, high fiber (which means high micronutrients), and fat and carbohydrate consumed together in the presence of an offsetting amount of fiber. Anything after that is window dressing.

But if the majority of us were able consistently to ignore our physiologic responses screaming for that doughnut, there wouldn’t be a need for this book. Your body will always work against you, and you’re doomed to fail.

Wow! That is pessimistic. See Equinox.