The Sugar Switch - Triangle of Disease

The Three Points of Breakdown Behind All Disease Processes

In the last article, we learned about how your gut biome is a delicate, complex living ecosystem that must be kept in healthy balance. We also learned about the critical connection between the human brain and the gut.

In today’s article, we will learn about what Pharmacist Ben Fuchs’s describes as “The Triangle of Disease”, which is his explanation of what is at the root of the majority of all chronic degenerative disease situations.

At the end, it will be obvious to you why it is so important to cut back on your sugar consumption for the betterment of your health.

There are three components that make up the Triangle of Disease:

1) the digestive system
2) the blood sugar system
3) the adrenal-thyroid system

Basically, when one system goes down or does not function properly, it has a negative effect on the others. When all three systems are failing, this is where the majority of all chronic degenerative disease conditions get their start.

First, we start with the digestive system. It is comprised of your stomach and gut, mainly. When we have poor eating habits and consume a high amount of sugar, we end up with a candida bacteria overgrowth situation, or dysbiosis of the gut. In simple terms, it means you have a messed-up gut.

Over long periods of time, dysbiosis will lead to the thinning of the intestinal lining. When that happens, small bits of undigested foods can enter into the blood stream. By this point, we already have a high amount of sugar entering in the blood due to a poor diet, but now we add undigested food into the picture. This creates what is called “disglycemia”, or dirty blood.

When you have junked-up dirty blood that full of contaminants, undigested foods, and a high amount of sugar, it won’t be able to deliver the proper nutrients to the last system comprising the Triangle of Disease… the adrenal-thyroid system.

The adrenal-thyroid complex is responsible for distributing energy. The adrenals allocate energy for emergencies, and the thyroid gland allocates energy for day-to-day activities. But when the blood sugar system is not delivering the proper nutrients that this system needs in order to produce the body-regulating energy hormones, everything goes haywire.

One of the reasons so many degenerative disease conditions start at this point has to do with the fact that the brain cannot regulate what is going on in the body. Stress is usually involved, and in combination with the high blood sugar situation, the stress hormones trigger the attack and breakdown of organs and systems of the body.

I could write an entire book about how the Triangle of Disease condition manifests itself into disease conditions. But the overarching point is that high sugar consumption is the biggest culprit for the beginning situation that leads to most all degenerative disease developments.

An ounce of disease prevention is worth a ton of disease cure. My greatest hope is that I can influence people to make the dietary change that will put you in the best position for avoiding suffering and breakdown altogether.

But I also hope to encourage everyone currently living with a chronic degenerative disease that a dietary change, specifically cutting sugar out of the picture, can help spur remission and healing!

Carlton Flowers
VitalHealth Discovery

The Balance of the Intestinal Ecosystem & Gut Brain Link

How the Dysbiosis Condition DEVELOPS Over Time

In our last article, we learned about the mechanics of the gut biome hormonal imbalance and how it leads to sugar addiction. Today we will dive deeper into the gut biome, how it is ever so delicately balanced, and talk more about the pathway of communication between your belly and your brain.

Your Gut & the Rain Forest – A Comparison

To better understand its nature, I like drawing a comparison between your gut and the rain forest. The rain forest is a complex ecosystem that has thousands of species living in perfect balance. When you throw off that balance, the rain forest suffers.

Your gut biome is strikingly similar. The wide variety of microorganisms living within must also be kept in a state of healthy balance. When that balance is thrown off, the biome becomes unhealthy and the body suffers much in the same way that the rain forest would.

It’s actually quite an extensive ecosystem. The number of microorganisms living within it is ten times more than the sum total of all the cells that make up the entire human body. That’s why it is critically important to maintain a proper healthy balance. Its health is directly connected to the overall health of the body.

To greatly generalize, there are “beneficial bacteria”, and “non-beneficial bacteria” living inside of your intestines. A proper balance consists of 80% beneficial bacteria versus 20% non-beneficial bacteria in your gut.

The first question that might pop into your mind is, “why do we even have non-beneficial bacteria living in our bodies?” The reason is, they help your body to know how to react to pathogens. It’s part of your immune defense system.

But here’s the kicker…

The organisms that live within your gut are “smart”, and they have evolved in such a way that guarantees their survival. The non-beneficial bacteria don’t just naturally stay under the optimum level of 20%. Under the right circumstances, they’ll surpass that level.

All they need is the right food supply. That’s why the Candida bacteria hijacks your brain to ensure that you are feeding them what they need to overpopulate and control your gut.

The Gut Brain Link

The connection between the non-beneficial bacteria in your intestines and your brain is often called the Gut Brain Link, or “GBA” for short. In our last article, we learned how these microbes communicate their message to your brain in order to influence your eating habits.

The GBA, or pathway of communication between the candida bacteria and your brain, can take place along several different pathways. Experts say that there are as many as 7 in total. The main pathway is through the Vagus Nerve, but the communication also takes place through neuroendocrine signaling (by way of gut hormones), interfering with tryptophan metabolism, and also by altering your intestinal permeability.

We don’t need to get into the nitty gritty biochemical explanation of each of these pathways. There are plenty of super smart cellular biologists and medical doctors specializing in gut biome research that can bore us to tears with research papers on the topic. We just need to realize that complex communication is going on between your belly and your brain, and you are being hijacked without your awareness.

However, the most important thing to know about is the end result when your body’s communication system has been hijacked: It marks the beginnings of a candida overgrowth condition.

Candida overgrowth is often called Dysbiosis of the gut. Others call it Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth syndrome, or “SIBO” for short. But it basically reflects the condition of microbial imbalance.

This condition of imbalance is the first step in the development of a myriad of chronic degenerative disease conditions. Sadly, most won’t know there is a problem until the damage is already done. It can take years, and even decades before the degenerative symptoms manifest.

When left unchecked, candida overgrowth will lead to a thinning out of the small intestinal lining. This is due to the nature of the candida bacteria to burrow deeply within the cell walls. Over extended periods of time, physical damage results with the degradation of the lining. That’s when things start to head south and the symptoms start to pop up.

And remember, all of this happens because of the ability of the non-beneficial bacteria keeping control of your dietary habits without you being consciously aware of the fact that your gut biome is severely out of balance.

This is certainly enough information to “digest” for now (sorry, I couldn’t resist). In my next article, I will talk about “The Triangle of Disease”, a term coined by Pharmacist Benjamin Fuchs, which is the condition that is the foundation for 95% of ALL chronic degenerative disease situations.

After I scare you with the gory details of how the disease conditions develop from the condition of imbalance, we will start the process of learning how to stop the sugar addiction dead in its tracks and turn your switch to the OFF position permanently!

Carlton Flowers
VitalHealth Discovery

GO TO PART 4 - The Triangle of Disease

The Sugar Switch - The Bio Science Behind The Addiction

The Mechanics of the Gut Biome Imbalance

In the inaugural Sugar Switch article, we learned “why” you crave sugar. In this step, we will take a deeper dive into the world of the gut biome and discuss exactly how the candida bacteria take over your mind in Star Trek Borg-like fashion.

If you are in a state where you constantly crave carbohydrates and sugary foods, it is highly likely that you have an intestinal yeast infection. Some call it “SIBO”, or Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. Others call it “dysbiosis of the gut”, which is basically an imbalance between the types of organisms presently living in your gut.

Did you know that Candida bacteria is a type of yeast? It’s the little monster that is most responsible for causing sugar cravings. When they overpopulate your gut, they can elevate your insatiable desire for junk food.

Here’s a real-world example that illustrates this situation…

When you bake rolls, you use yeast. Yeast must have sugar in order to grow. “Rising” your bread results from yeast reproducing and creating gasses. Candida is a yeast, and also needs sugar in order to rapidly populate.

So, the question remains, how does the Candida bacteria get you to crave the sugar it needs?

Here’s how…

Candida bacteria cause strong carbohydrate and sugar cravings, because they can “urge” you to feed them what they want to eat. The simple explanation is that they produce neurotransmitters that are sent through the bloodstream to your brain, tricking you into craving what they want. That’s why I associate Candida with the Borg.

The reason why you crave sugar is due to a hormone imbalance. Hormones are the messengers of the body that let the brain know what is going on in the gut, organs, and limbs. The appetite-regulating hormones are leptin and ghrelin. They are called “neurotransmitters”.

Leptin sends the signal to the brain that you are satisfied. It turns off hunger. Conversely, ghrelin sends a signal to the brain to increase eating. It is often called the “hunger hormone”. These are 2 very important hormones in the group that regulates satiety. Satiety is simply gratification or satisfaction in eating.

Candida bacteria have the ability to mess up this delicate hormone balance by sending signals to the brain that override your body’s natural signals. In fact, Candida overgrowth is directly connected to a condition called “leptin resistance”. We will get into what that means in a future article.

To put it simply, the Candida monsters constantly bombard your brain with the message “DUMP DOWN MORE SUGAR”. Your brain rewards you for obeying this command when you gulp down that Vanilla Coca Cola or snarf down that dozen of heavenly Krispy Kreme donuts. That’s why they seem to taste so good.

Now you know why sugar is so addictive. The more you eat, the more the Candida overgrowth gets out of control. As the signal becomes stronger due to the rapid growth, the cravings become worse over time. It can be insatiable, because the satiety hormones are thrown out of whack.

When a person with a messed-up gut situation eats junk foods, it causes the brain to release opioids and dopamine. These are the same neurotransmitters associated with the rewarding effects of drug abuse. However, sugar has been studied extensively and has been proven to be more addictive than cocaine.

In my next article, we will learn about what happens when you don’t address your sugar addiction. We will also cover how you can start the process of ending it, and give you plenty of motivation for taking immediate action.

When you become aware of the myriad of inflammatory problems and chronic degenerative disease conditions that arise from sugar abuse, you’ll be ready to get your addiction under control BEFORE you experience the needless, senseless pain and suffering that will develop years down the road.

Carlton Flowers

GO TO PART 3 - The Balance of the Intestinal Ecosystem & Gut Brain Link

The Sugar Switch - The Pathway to Turning Off Your Internal Sugar Craving Mechanism

The Introduction - Why You Crave Sugar

Make no mistake about it, we are in the midst of an epidemic in the United States. It is centered around our seemingly uncontrollable urge to consume sugar. In fact, it is the most popular ingredient added to foods in our country!

While our consumption of this readily available substance is completely out of control, the majority of people are unaware of the fact that there is a systematic and scientific way of breaking the addiction.

I have named it The Sugar Switch method, and it is my goal to educate as many people as possible on how to deactivate this switch and take control of your own dietary habits.

Today, the average American consumes about 150 pounds of sugar in one year alone. That amounts to about 3 pounds (or 6 cups) of sugar per week. Nutritionists suggest that Americans should only derive about 10% of their diet from sugar, but the amount of our consumption is far above this level. That is why we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic that is at the root of the majority of chronic degenerative disease conditions.

Most people are unaware of the fact that the urge to consume sugar comes from organisms that have hijacked the control of the foods that you eat. They reside in your digestive system along with all of the microorganisms that number in the trillions, with at least 1000 different species. The average person has at least 2 kilograms of known bacteria that have over 3 million genes, which is 150 times more than what you have in human genes alone.

An individual who craves junk carbohydrates and sugar likely has an overabundance of the candida bacteria, which is primarily responsible for the addiction to sugary foods. I like to compare these microorganisms to the Star Trek aliens called “The Borg”. The Borg are cybernetic organisms, linked in a hive mind called "the Collective".

In the Star Trek series, The Borg would forcibly transform unsuspecting individuals into becoming “drones” by injecting nanoprobes into their bodies and surgically augmenting them with cybernetic components. The Borg’s goal was to achieve perfection by overtaking the minds of the individuals they hijacked. This is exactly the method of survival that the candida bacterium employ when they overrun the gut of an individual who is addicted to sugar.

The candida bacteria needs sugar to thrive. In order for them to overtake the gut of a person, they get you to eat what THEY need to rapidly grow and overtake the majority of the other species of bacterium in the digestive tract. In order to accomplish this feat, they take over your mind, forcing you desire the foods that will benefit them the most.

Reversing the desire to consume junk foods that keep you sick is the basis of what I call “The Sugar Switch”. It is all about becoming consciously aware that you are no longer in control of making the right decisions to keep you in a state of health.

Turning off the sugar switch means understanding how your body has been hijacked, and then reversing the power of the candida bacteria invasion by eliminating it within your system. Once this “alien Borg” organism has been forced into submission and put back into proper balance within the digestive tract, you recover the control of your brain and thus the foods that you crave.

Therefore, key to overcoming sugar craving is understanding this mechanism by which your body has been overtaken, and by knowing the exact organism is that is causing the problem. Once this is understood, you can start the process of curing the disease condition responsible for the addiction to sugar and high carbohydrate junk foods.

My series of articles labeled “The Sugar Switch” will carry you through the process of understanding how your digestive system works, and how to put your gut biome back into balance the way it was designed to be by the Creator.

I invite you to come along and take the journey with me in taking charge of your health, and getting on the pathway to weight loss and reversal of the many chronic degenerative disease conditions that come with with it!

Carlton Flowers
Creator of The Sugar Switch

GO TO PART 2 - The Bio Science Behind The Addiction